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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76999 ***
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriber's note: Odd, inconsistent, and sometimes incorrect,
+spellings have been retained as printed.  A Contents has been added
+for reader convenience.]
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Cover art]
+
+
+
+  FRESTON TOWER:
+
+
+  A TALE OF THE
+
+  Times of Cardinal Wolsey.
+
+
+  BY THE
+
+  REV. R. COBBOLD, A.M., R.D.,
+
+  Rector of Wortham,
+
+  AUTHOR OF "MARGARET CATCHPOLE," "MARY ANNE WELLINGTON,"
+  "ZENON THE MARTYR," ETC.
+
+
+  WARD, LOCK AND CO.
+  LONDON: WARWICK HOUSE, SALISBURY SQUARE, E.C.
+  NEW YORK: BOND STREET.
+
+
+
+
+  TO
+
+  THE REVEREND JOHN CONNOP,
+
+  IN ACKNOWLEDGMENT
+  OF HIS UNSOUGHT AND UNMERITED KINDNESS
+  TO
+  THE AUTHOR AND HIS FAMILY,
+  THIS HISTORICAL
+
+  Record of Piety connected with the County of Suffolk,
+
+  IS WITH UNFEIGNED PLEASURE,
+
+  Dedicated
+
+  AS A MEMORIAL OF FRIENDSHIP,
+
+  BY
+  THE AUTHOR.
+
+
+
+
+  Contents
+
+  Preface
+  I. Genius
+  II. Rivalship
+  III. The Greeting
+  IV. The Conversation
+  V. The Castle and Company
+  VI. The Excursion
+  VII. The Visit
+  VIII. The Event
+  IX. College Career
+  X. Ellen and Her Suitors
+  XI. The Conversation
+  XII. The Palace
+  XIII. The Reception
+  XIV. The Recluse
+  XV. The Judgment
+  XVI. Judgment Continued
+  XVII. St. Ivan's Warning
+  XVIII. The Fall of the Palace of Wykes
+  XIX. St. Ivan's Funeral
+  XX. A Memorable Night
+  XXI. The Pain of the Swimmer
+  XXII. Wolsey
+  XXIII. Changes
+  XXIV. Affections
+  XXV. The Letter
+  XXVI. The Journey
+  XXVII. The Interview
+  XXVIII. The Marriage Procession
+  XXIX. The Marriage Ceremony
+  XXX. The Revelation
+  XXXI. The Punishment
+  XXXII. The Monasteries
+  XXXIII. The Reformers
+  XXXIV. The Arrest
+  XXXV. The Letter
+  XXXVI. The Summons
+  XXXVII. The Arrival
+  XXXVIII. The Departure
+  XXXIX. The Change
+  XL. The Interview
+  XLI. The Argument
+  XLII. Enjoyment
+  XLIII. Hospitality
+  XLIV. The Fall
+  XLV. The Courtier
+  XLVI. Goldwell Hall
+  XLVII. Pride
+  XLVIII. The Plot
+  XLIX. The Fool
+  L. Christmas Day
+  LI. The Incendiary
+  LII. The Conflagration
+  LIII. The Pursuit
+  LIV. The Last Visit to the Tower
+  LV. The Last Event
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Preface headpiece]
+
+PREFACE.
+
+Upon the banks of the beautiful river Orwell has stood for centuries,
+and still stands, Freston Tower.  Every sailor belonging to the port
+of Ipswich knows it well; every traveller in the county of Suffolk,
+who has any love for the tranquil in nature, must have noticed, if he
+has sailed from Ipswich to Harwich, this picturesque object towering
+above the trees, and looking upon the widest expanse of water which
+the river scene affords.
+
+Thousands of conjectures have been formed as to its origin and use.
+After many years of promised hope to unravel the mystery, the present
+work will afford an entertaining and instructive record of its origin.
+
+It will be found connected with the history of one of the most
+learned youths of his age, even with that of the Boy-Bachelor of
+Oxford; with the stirring events of the Reformation; with the pride
+and downfall of the proudest Chancellor England ever knew, and will
+afford a lesson to readers of both sexes of the punishment of
+haughtiness, and the reward of true nobility and patience, even in
+their present existence.
+
+In sending forth the present edition, the Author is gratified by the
+thought that some benefit may arise therefrom to the Hospital in his
+native town.
+
+RECTORY, WORTHAM.
+
+
+[Illustration: Preface tailpiece]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Chapter I headpiece]
+
+
+FRESTON TOWER.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+GENIUS.
+
+Who is that youth walking upon the soft sands of Frestonstrand,
+intently meditating upon the contents of an old parchment-covered
+book, with silver clasps, which, from their length, proclaim that the
+work is one of some considerable size and depth?  He seems to devour
+that work; and, if a stranger might judge from his countenance, to be
+enjoying, with great relish, the sentiments it contains--for, every
+now and then, he soliloquizes in a foreign tongue, as if repeating
+with admiration the lines he has been studying.
+
+That book he holds in his hand is the first edition of the greatest
+Grecian poet ever printed.  It is the Iliad, printed by Aldus, who
+first cast the Greek alphabet in the year 1476.  The book has been
+lent him by Lord De Freston, his distant kinsman, and he is on his
+way from the ancient town of Gypesswick (now called Ipswich) to
+return it to its rightful owner.
+
+Like a true valuer of his treasure, he seems to store up in his mind
+the most beautiful passages it contains.  Every now and then he
+pauses, and, with his dark eye averted from the book, he scans the
+beauty of the scene around him.  He is walking beside one of the
+loveliest rivers in England, and at a spot where hill, dale, wood,
+and water, under the influence of the bright beams of the rising sun,
+exhibit nature in those splendid colors which an early riser only can
+appreciate.
+
+That eye, even in its glance across the waves of the river Orwell, is
+a most thoughtful one; for it can view all the tracery of nature, and
+find a corresponding beauty in the poetical ideas which crowd in upon
+his mind.
+
+He has been reading high-sounding words, heroic actions, and exalted
+feelings; and his breast is as naturally inspired with the thoughts
+of what he has read as his eye is with the view before him.  But
+nature is not able to chain down his soul to any terrestrial object,
+nor can the charms of scenery engross his attention; for his spirit
+seems on fire with enthusiasm, and his eye swells with a conscious
+hopefulness in himself, arising out of the question--For what purpose
+am I born?
+
+The cap he wears proclaims him but a youth, and the curling locks,
+hanging from its sides and sweeping over his face, bespeak a native
+gracefulness, which well accords with his intellectual features.
+There is a golden tinge upon his brow, and a ruddy, healthy glow upon
+his cheek, which says that his occupation as a student has not been
+confined to an unhealthy cloister.
+
+He is but a boy, yet there were many men in his day, who, after years
+of application, could not retain the memory of what they read with
+half the ease of that extraordinary youth.
+
+The fact was, as was afterwards proved, his genius was as
+comprehensive as his energies were active, and a spirit was then
+stirring in him, a mind in embryo, which, though not confined to the
+drudgery of the scholastic routine of study, comprehended at a glance
+the value of education, and made him the greatest schoolmaster of his
+age.
+
+As the beautiful stream then flowing before him in a sort of endless
+wave upon wave, that youth seemed desirous to command as endless a
+reputation; for his immortal mind possessed an unslaked thirst to
+discern every species of wisdom which either letters, nature,
+observation, or reflection could unfold.
+
+Such was the genius of him who then stood upon the banks of the
+Orwell, imbibing wisdom with an ambitious desire of distinction which
+no future eminence could satisfy.
+
+It was the youthful Wolsey, who, then unknown to fame, was noted by
+many of the best spirits of that age and country, as a boy of most
+acute intellect, and of an understanding beyond his years.  He had
+left his native town early in a beautiful spring morning, to go by
+invitation to the castle of Lord De Freston--a nobleman celebrated
+for his great learning as well as his benevolent disposition.
+
+The youth had left many friends in the town of Ipswich, who had
+encouraged his love of study, by lending him manuscripts and books,
+which he could not otherwise have obtained.  Richard Peyvale, one of
+the most learned of the portmen of the town, and the compiler of the
+'Ipswich Doomsday Book,' had been the first to discover the latent
+superiority of his mind; for, in an examination of boys in the Free
+Grammar School, the son of Robert Wooly or Wuly so acquitted himself
+in classical knowledge as to carry off the great prize given by Sir
+Humphrey Wyngfylde, to be presented by the town-clerk, which was done
+by Robert Bray, before the bailiffs, governors, and portmen of that
+ancient borough.
+
+This was probably one of the spurs to genius.  But Wolsey--the boy
+Wolsey--soon discovered so much dross amidst the confined system of
+school studies, that he told his father it was no use his sending him
+to school, for old Mr. Capon could teach him nothing more.  Hence,
+after his twelfth year, he was under no tutors, but formed his own
+reading; and was frequently applied to, by many learned men, to solve
+difficulties of construction, which to him were very easily accounted
+for.
+
+Every classical work then known to the world, and within the reach of
+the wealthy, whether from private families or from public libraries,
+was obtained for him upon loan; and at one time he had in his own
+garret, in the gable-end of his father's house, then dividing the two
+great streets in St. Nicholas, leading from Peter's Priory to the
+centre of the town, such a catalogue of eminent books, that had they
+been his own, he would have thought himself the wealthiest man in the
+land.
+
+The names of Homer, Sophocles, Thucydides, Euripides, Xenophon,
+Plato, Horace, Cicero, Plautus, Pliny, Tibullus, together with the
+Scriptures, were familiar to him; and he was so great a man in his
+boyhood, as far as classical comprehension went, that he scarcely at
+any after-period of his life had to study these writings again.
+
+It was not to be wondered at, then, that a boy with such precocity of
+intellect--such a handsome youth too as he really was--should be
+noticed by the richer and more independent portion of the community.
+
+Lord De Freston had married a niece of the elder Daundy, one of the
+wealthiest and most enlightened of the inhabitants of Ipswich, and
+had, therefore, become connected with the female branch of Wolsey's
+family, for Joan, his mother, was sister to Edmund Daundy.  He was a
+very early patron of the young student; and took such interest in his
+cousin, as he called him, as laid the foundation of his greatness in
+after life, though the youth's pride had well nigh lost him his
+friendship.
+
+But there he stood upon the Freston shore, and caught the sound of
+the early matin bell, which came pealing from the opposite bank of
+the river, from the Priory of Alneshborne.  The sound of the bell,
+and the mood in which the youth then stood, accorded well with each
+other.  The former called the monks to prayer, and in some measure
+roused Wolsey from the reverie, and made him think of time.  He
+looked intently along the bright gleaming waves of the Orwell to see
+if he could not discover some object which ought to interest his
+attention.
+
+De Freston's lofty turrets were in view, peering over the spring
+foliage, just breaking forth in yellow tints from the oaks of the
+park.  The castle shone conspicuously white, as the rays of the
+gloriously rising sun struck upon its walls.  All nature seemed
+alive.  The rooks were taking their flights for the distant marshes;
+the cuckoo's note saluted the early morn; and so bright and clear was
+the sky, that even the lark rose joyfully, carolling with his lively
+note, as if going to seek a purer clime than could be found on this
+earth.
+
+Had not ambition inflated his breast, Wolsey would have enjoyed to
+the full the exquisite scene of that April morn.  But ambition had so
+fired his genius that even the lovely river then flowing before him,
+the light of the heavens, the birds of the air chaunting their
+praises, and the monks at their matin prayers, had no charms for him.
+Not even the consciousness of classical knowledge could just then
+satisfy his mind; for he had received an indirect promise from Lord
+De Freston that he should go to Oxford, and such a vision of future
+glory had opened before him, that even his native town, with all the
+cordial friends it contained, were completely thrown into the
+back-ground.
+
+Ambition is a syren who deprives of rest those who are once charmed
+by her voice; and when she prompts to grandeur, and all the
+imaginative self-consequences of a great name, fame, and power, there
+are no cruelties through which she will not urge her victims, and,
+like fabled deities of the heathen, cover them with her mantle or
+cloud of invisibility.
+
+Moral reflection founded upon the only motive worthy of exertion, the
+good of others, is a very distant object in the aspirations of a vain
+man.  Destroy selfishness, and all that is laudable, honorable,
+great, and worthy in the human character will then shine forth, and
+whether present success shall attend it, or future generations
+celebrate its worth, it cannot be destroyed by disappointment, since
+the serenity of equanimity is the same, whether the individual be
+humbled by the praises of men, or exalted by their persecutions.
+
+Selfish ambition, however plausible or deluding, cannot bear, with an
+equal mind, the frowns of adversity.  Success forms the criterion of
+its own excellence; and it can no more enjoy the quietude of
+retirement, than a famous actor can relish the coldness of his
+audience.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+RIVALSHIP.
+
+The young student was evidently expecting to see something upon the
+waves of the Orwell more attractive than even the book in his hand,
+or the scenery before him; for, as the matin bell of the priory came
+pealing over the waters from the opposite shore, the warder's horn
+from De Freston's castle was heard to blow.  The signal appeared to
+be well understood by the youth, who immediately began to close his
+thick and heavy tome, and to adjust the silver hooks of the clasps
+into their sockets.
+
+His eye was turned towards the bend of the river, round which, close
+under the dipping boughs of the old chestnut trees, a boat, impelled
+by four stout rowers, was making progress against the wind, but with
+the tide in their favor.  The sparkling waters which dashed from the
+head of the skiff, as the oars struck the waves, glittered with
+scarcely more lustre than did the eye of the youth, whilst he
+surveyed the expected comers, and awaited their approach.
+
+He stood upon a ledge, or very ancient hardway, called John of
+Wiltshire's Gap, nearly opposite to the great gate of his Wherstead
+domain, which domain was forfeited to the crown after the
+decapitation of that ill-fated nobleman.
+
+The scholar was as well known to the rowers as they were to him, for
+it was often their privilege to meet him by their lord's orders, at
+the very spot where he then stood.  No sooner did they see him than
+they redoubled their efforts, and soon brought their boat to ground
+with the usual salutation of 'Ready, Master! ready!' as they
+respectfully rose to make way for him to go astern.
+
+There must have been something remarkably captivating and even
+commanding in the manners of the youth at that early age; for, not
+only was he noted for his scholastic acquirements by the sober,
+grave, learned, and wise, but the sailors of the port, who
+occasionally rowed him upon his native stream, whilst he was deeply
+engaged in skimming over the pages of his book, would delight to
+rouse him from his reverie, on purpose to hear his conversation and
+remarks.  He took peculiar delight in boarding the foreign vessels
+which came into the port, with cargoes consigned to his uncle Daundy;
+and often acted as interpreter whilst he amused himself with trying
+the brains of the Flemish, Dutch, French, or Norwegian seamen.
+
+The boat's crew hailed him with pleasure, for they looked upon him
+not only as the favored guest of their master, Lord De Freston, but
+they knew that he was the peculiar favorite of Ellen De Freston,
+their master's graceful daughter.
+
+Thomas Wolsey had received an especial message to breakfast with Lord
+De Freston, and to meet his Lordship's cousin, William Latimer, then
+a learned student at the University of Oxford.  It had been part of
+Lord De Freston's promise that he should return to Oxford with
+Latimer, if Wolsey's father, and his fond mother Joan, could part
+with him, their only child.  At all events, he was to be introduced
+to his future friend; and the nobleman had promised, that both he and
+his daughter Ellen should use all their influence with his friends,
+that very day, to obtain permission for him to go to the University.
+
+Bright beams of future glory illumined the mind of the youth, as he
+took his station in the boat, and became a little more abstracted and
+thoughtful, and less communicative with his rough acquaintances than
+was his wont.  They dropped their oars in silence, on gaining no
+reply from their usually animated scholar, and were all of opinion
+that they had never beheld him so little like himself as at that
+moment.  At almost any other time, and under any other circumstances,
+a thousand questions would have been asked, and as many remarks made
+upon their costume, their boat, their lord, their lady, the wind, the
+weather, the wave, the tide, the monks of Alneshborne, and their
+father confessor.
+
+But Wolsey was now silent.  He watched the waters curling past the
+boat, as if he were making a calculation of the tide by the number of
+successive waves that passed him.
+
+As he did not give a single word to the men (and no men are more
+inquisitive than sailors), they could not endure his silence.
+
+'How now, my master, you heave us no log to-day, though we deserve
+your smile perhaps more this morning than any other.  What's the
+matter, master?  You seem to have cast anchor upon a dull shore, and
+are as mournful as if your vessel had gone to wreck upon the rocks.
+A-hoy, master! tip us a stave.'
+
+But deep thought seemed to chain the scholar's mind, as the frost
+would bind up the river in the darkest days of winter.  Yet his brow
+was smooth and calm as ice without a fall of snow.  There was no
+ruffle upon it, but a fixed and settled tone of thought that seemed
+to say he was immoveable.  He did not speak, and yet he altered his
+position, and cast his eyes wistfully upon the turrets of the castle
+as they came in view of the venerated walls.  'Ay, master, 'tis a
+fine old building, is it not?  I should like to see your young honor,
+or your worship, or your reverence, comfortably hauled up there, high
+and dry: 'tis a friendly port, master, and comfortable quarters
+thereabouts.'
+
+It was not until they came full in view of the green slanting lawn
+which came down to the water's edge, directly in front of the castle,
+and the young man's eye caught eight of three figures standing upon
+the very edge of the landing-place, that his features lightened up
+with expression:
+
+'Who is the third person standing with your master and his daughter?'
+he asked.
+
+'He's alive now, Jack, I'll warrant!' archly observed one of the
+rowers.
+
+'And so he may well be,' said the other; 'a little rivalry will do
+the young scholar good.  He has so long had his own way, that perhaps
+he might think no vessel could sail as well as his own.'
+
+'That's my young mistress's cousin,' replied the man, 'and I hear,
+master, he's all at sea, like yourself.'
+
+'What do you mean, my man?'
+
+'Mean, sir? why, that he's as clever a chap as you are; that the
+broad sea of knowledge is as well explored by him as it is by you,
+and that he can talk to our young mistress in as elegant and
+entertaining a manner as yourself.'
+
+There are some words which, from their homeliness, may do more to
+rouse the spirit within a man than all the classical beauties which
+he had studied in his youth; and at that moment these words, from a
+common sailor, proved to Wolsey that even men of few words, and no
+letters, can form no mean idea of intellectual pleasure.
+
+He was effectually roused, for, till then, he certainly had no
+conception of a rival in letters with any living man he had yet met.
+He had found none to appreciate his talents so purely, so highly, and
+so encouragingly, as Lord De Freston and his daughter; and it might
+be truly said, that none could do so better than that learned and
+elegant scholar whose life had been devoted to study from his youth.
+
+He had married the niece of the wealthiest Commoner in the land, and
+married her not for her property, since he was himself the owner of
+vast estates on the banks of the Orwell, as well as in the vale of
+Worcester.  He had espoused the niece of Edmund Daundy, M.P. for
+Ipswich, and the most extensive merchant in that port.
+
+His lady, with whom, for the first six years of their married state,
+he had lived in harmony and happiness, was taken from him at that
+most anxious period when she had just given birth to a son and heir.
+Infant and mother died, leaving him one bright companion, the image
+of her mother, and in qualities of mind and heart superior even in
+childhood to most of her sex.
+
+Lord De Freston had thus become very early engrossed by the education
+and training of his affectionate daughter, and such was the delight
+he took in her, and so well were his parental anxieties repaid by the
+capacity, diligence, and sense of duty of his child, that years had
+imperceptibly fled away, until he found her growing more and more
+upon his affections.
+
+He now made her his companion, not only in his studies, but in all
+his worldly affairs.  She was, indeed, the admiration of all who knew
+her, and had such a powerful mind, such a cultivated taste for
+literature and for all the elegant arts, then in their progressive
+rise in this country, that Ellen De Freston was as famed upon the
+banks of the Orwell as Madame de Stael, or Madame d'Arblay, in
+after-days for their precocious powers.  Hers, however, were of a
+different stamp, of a far deeper kind; and mind in that maiden might
+be said to have a texture so pure, that it gave unwonted charm to a
+face almost as beautiful as her intellect.
+
+Young Wolsey, about her own age, was so attracted by these wonderful
+qualities, that it is not to be wondered at, that he should feel an
+interest in the only being he ever saw calculated to inspire him with
+the hope of excelling for the sake of pleasing her.  Such was the
+delight he took in her society, and such her pure pleasure in his,
+that distant relatives as they were, Lord De Freston looked upon them
+as brother and sister; and neither he nor his daughter had the
+slightest idea of their young friend ever imbibing any deeper feeling
+than the love of literature, and the joy of sharing its pleasures.
+
+So fondly wedded in mind to this counterpart of his existence had he
+imperceptibly become, that half the cherished elegancies of Grecian
+and Roman literature had been treasured in his heart on purpose that
+he might breathe their euphonious harmonies in the ear of his cousin
+Ellen.  She, too, was ambitious of convincing Wolsey that she
+appreciated his talents, but she never had a dream of his aspiring to
+any nearer intimacy with her than a classical interchange of thought.
+
+It was not to be wondered at, however, that in that early stage of
+their acquaintance, the youth at fourteen should be sensible to the
+personal as well as intellectual attractions of such a being as the
+heiress of De Freston.  No feeling of his youth or of his life was
+ever purer than that which he then entertained towards his benefactor
+and his friend.  It was like the brightest beam of light gleaming
+upon the path of youth, when that refined sentiment of soul burst
+upon him.  It was like the morning clouds, tinged with the prospect
+of the rising sun, and proclaiming the approach of a lovely day.
+
+He gazed at the stair as the boat approached the spot where Ellen De
+Freston, between the tall and portly figure of her father and the
+slender frame of William Latimer, stood awaiting his arrival.
+
+There was some sensation of pain which stole over his proud spirit at
+that moment, as he looked at the young man's figure, and beheld his
+favorite, Ellen, resting her arm upon that of the scholar.
+
+'Shall I,' he asked himself, 'shall I, indeed, meet a rival!  Oh! if
+our merits be but weighed in the balance by the weights of future
+attainments, either in science, knowledge, industry, or application,
+I fear not the issue.'
+
+It was a bold thought--the indication of a noble mind, though a
+feeling of rivalship might at the moment create a pang of jealousy.
+The man who feels all honor, and endeavors to prove himself worthy of
+the favorable regard of any one whom he loves, and to whom he
+attaches the idea of being able to reward his exertions, is a worthy
+competitor to enter the lists of love.  The noblest souls in
+existence must breathe with such hope, and their exertions and
+attainments, their talents and their virtues, must form a bright
+beacon to guide their onward course.
+
+The only drawback is, that all mortal rewards, be they what they may,
+are not enduring, and therefore fall short of satisfaction.
+
+  'As when the eastern sky is tinged
+  With clouds transparent, golden fring'd.
+          Bespeaks the coming sun:
+  So love anticipates a ray,
+  Bright as the orb's arising day,
+          Before his course is run.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE GREETING.
+
+A merry laugh and cheerful greeting saluted the ear of Wolsey as he
+stepped from the boat to the stairs, and received the cordial welcome
+of De Freston.
+
+'How is our uncle Daundy?  He is a loyal subject to his Majesty, and
+as friendly a supporter of the rights of the inhabitants of Ipswich
+as any man who lived before him.  How fares your father, and your
+good and estimable mother?  Thomas, let me introduce you to my cousin
+Latimer.  There is so much wisdom in your young brains, that you must
+be akin to each other at Oxford, if not related by blood.'
+
+The scholars bowed, and each could discern in the ease of the other,
+that there was more within worth knowing than any external qualities.
+They had never met before; but each had, through De Freston, obtained
+considerable knowledge of the character of the other.
+
+Latimer was five years older than Wolsey, and already possessed the
+advantages of an Oxford school-training, and a university
+scholarship; so that, though he had heard much from Ellen and her
+father of young Wolsey's attainments, and, though he knew them
+capable of forming a good judgment, nevertheless he could not avoid
+feeling himself superior to his new friend, which Wolsey, from having
+attained a conscious superiority over every one with whom he had yet
+conversed upon classical subjects, was not in the least disposed to
+allow.  He was desirous to meet Latimer, as much to measure himself
+by him, and judge of his chance of future acquirements, as to see one
+of whom he had heard so much, and who was a relative of the noble
+lord, his patron and friend.
+
+'I am glad to meet you, Master Latimer,' he said, with the ease and
+importance of a man of years and station; 'it has unfortunately
+happened hitherto that, in your various visits to your relatives in
+this country, it has never been my lot to enjoy one hour of
+conversation with you.  The Lady Ellen can tell you with what avidity
+I have read your letters, and indulged with her in those descriptive
+powers which you have so ably used upon the subject of this Tower.  I
+hope you have already found that neither your elaborate plan of
+architectural beauty, nor your advice concerning the periods of
+studious regularity, have been neglected.  Many have been the hours
+of improvement which have been permitted me in the society of these,
+our mutual friends--varied, indeed, according to your express
+instructions, and I can truly add, never tediously employed.'
+
+There was something so manly, so easy, so unaffected, and yet so
+convincing in this youth's manner of address, that, in a moment,
+young Latimer was convinced that he had no common character to deal
+with.  The thought of superiority vanished, and he found himself
+compelled, by the unexpected dignity and simplicity of the speech he
+had heard, to reply instanter upon terms of equality.
+
+'My loss has equalled yours, but I will hope that, from this day
+forward, we may become better acquainted, and have more frequent
+opportunities of exchanging our opinions upon those classical
+subjects which are at this time beginning to circulate more freely
+among the nations of Europe.  I see you have been reading the first
+printed edition of Homer, which I had the gratification of forwarding
+to Lord De Freston, and I am glad to see it in such hands, for I
+understand you can appreciate the beauties of the poet in every
+passage.  I long to have some hours' conversation with you.  My fair
+cousin has had the privilege of hearing you read the whole of the
+"Iliad," and she has greatly excited my curiosity concerning you.
+The Tower is complete, and both Lord De Freston and Ellen tell me
+that the place I proposed for acquiring knowledge is so good a one,
+as to make each day, nay, each hour, so devoted, of incalculable
+profit.'
+
+'You must come with us, Thomas, to the Tower, at once,' laid Lord De
+Freston's daughter; 'I have ordered breakfast in my favorite room,
+and I shall confine you all, the greater portion of this day, for the
+indulgence of your conversation.  I have often had each of you as my
+companion through the successive gradations of my ascending steps of
+knowledge.  To-day you must permit me to be a listener to both.  I
+greet you, therefore, as my guests in the library, and if you will
+only pursue the thread of your discourse upon ancient minstrelsy, I
+will be as unwearied as Penelope, and, I am sure, far more happy.'
+
+'You do me great honor, Ellen.  I can never refuse any of your
+requests, and one so agreeable as this it would be a punishment to be
+excused.'
+
+'On with you then, young people! on, to the Tower!' exclaimed her
+father.  And without more ceremony, whilst De Freston remained behind
+to give some charge to his boatmen, the young people bent their way
+towards a lofty tower, embosomed in the trees of the park, but
+commanding such scenes of the river and its banks, as, even now, in
+the nineteenth century, could not fail to create admiration.
+
+The Tower still stands, apparently in the pride of beauty, looking
+over the waves of the Orwell; and the author has ascended to its
+summit, and indulged, years long gone by, in thoughts which now find
+their way into these pages.
+
+Freston Tower was first designed by William Latimer, whence it was,
+for many years, called by the name of '_Latimer's Tower_.' It was
+built by the Lord De Freston, his kinsman, who was related to the
+unfortunate William de la Pole, who took his final leave of his
+Suffolk friends at this spot, before he was beheaded upon the broad
+sea.
+
+The converse of the party, as they went towards the Tower, touched
+upon this point, and, singularly enough, was introduced by Wolsey, as
+an example of ill-fated ambition.
+
+'My father tells me that it was from this place that William de la
+Pole, the first Duke of Suffolk, took his departure thirty years ago.
+What an ambitious family has that been, and how soon do the rewards
+of iniquity fall upon the wicked!'
+
+'My grandfather,' replied Ellen, 'was the last friend that met him at
+Ipswich, and brought him on his way to our castle.  The vessel which
+was to bear him into exile could not get higher up the river than the
+channel opposite the priory, and from this spot my father's barge
+carried him on board his foreign ship.  Alas! he soon heard of his
+destruction!'
+
+'And must wo not own, fair Ellen, that the retributive hand of
+justice was here displayed against the murderer of the good Humphrey,
+Duke of Gloucester?  No sooner is de la Pole beyond the precincts of
+his native power, than he finds he cannot escape.  Oh! that
+Gloucester's friends had prevailed to keep the Parliament in the
+metropolis, and this blot upon the escutcheon of the Duke of Suffolk
+would never have been seen.'
+
+'Say, rather, Latimer, that it would have been well for the merchant
+of Ravenspurn to have kept to his northern port, at the mouth of the
+Humber, or have come no further south than Hull, than to have
+purchased lands, title, and fame, to fall by such a foul and fiendish
+crime, and to finish his right of nobility in England!'
+
+'I do not hold with thee, Wolsey, in such a doctrine, that man is
+never to aspire to lift himself beyond the mud.  The mouth of the
+Humber may give birth to as noble blood as the banks of the Orwell;
+and, if I mistake not thy spirit, thou wouldst bid fair to be a
+candidate for nobility.'
+
+'It should not be my wealth that should entitle me thereto.  The
+king's favour should be purchased with wisdom, not with gold.'
+
+'Yet wisdom brings gold as naturally as that folly wastes it.'
+
+'Ay! but it wastes faster than it is attained.  But here we are at
+the Tower.'
+
+'Come, then, in to breakfast; I see Lord de Freston coming; let us
+drop the subject of the de la Poles: it always carries with it a pang
+to my father's heart.'
+
+The party then stood before the celebrated Tower, the construction of
+which arose from an accidental conversation between De Freston and
+Latimer, two years previous.  The latter had seen the uncommon genius
+and application of Ellen to study, and had remarked to her father
+that, if her studies were not diversified, she would lose the
+sprightliness and vivacity of youth, and forget quickly what she had
+learnt with difficulty.
+
+'The way to retain anything is to let an impression of it remain upon
+the brain.  Overstrained toil does but enfeeble the body, as
+overstrained application to any mental pursuit will assuredly one day
+create disgust.  It will actually impair the powers of perception;
+and men who, at one time, have been the most intellectual students,
+find themselves overpowered by not being able to diversify their
+occupation.  Besides,' added Latimer, 'I have found the body sicken,
+the brain turn dizzy, and the whole man enfeebled by too much
+application to one subject of thought.  Hands were given us for
+manual labor, and our feet for bodily exercise, so that our frame may
+be preserved in health.  Therefore, I say, diversify the occupation
+of your daughter's time and mind; and body and soul will be
+benefited.'
+
+'Ah!' replied De Freston, 'the theory is good, but how is it to be
+done?  It is now that I feel myself a widower, when my faithful
+child, rising into womanhood, requires the matronly guidance of a
+mother.  If you could project a plan likely to be successful in its
+operation, you would indeed add a charm to my existence I could not
+easily repay.'
+
+'I can fully imagine your anxiety; and, had I a daughter, at your
+time of life, and with your means at hand, I would follow the very
+plan I now propose.'
+
+'What is it, cousin Latimer?  What is it?'
+
+'Simply this: I would build a tower in the liveliest spot of my
+domain.  Every room of that tower should command an extensive view of
+the beautiful scenery around me, and I would dedicate each to a
+different occupation.  Each should claim a separate hour for the work
+to be performed, and the higher story should possess the greatest
+charm; so that neither the hands nor the head of my child should be
+weary.'
+
+'Well said! young philosopher.  Let me hear your proposition more
+minutely laid down.  I can imagine the utility, and see much good in
+your proposal.  I will carry it out if you can satisfy my daughter as
+well as myself of the probability of its having a beneficial
+tendency.'
+
+'To your daughter, then, as well as to yourself, will I unfold my
+scheme.'
+
+It was agreed that the young man should write down his plan, and
+submit it to De Freston and Ellen on the following day.
+
+This was most gallantly and ably done by young Latimer in the
+following poetical lines, which were presented to De Freston after
+the evening's meal:
+
+
+  De Freston's Tower.
+
+  Let not thy daughter's mind be fix'd
+  On learning only, but be mix'd
+    With arts and studies light:
+  And let her progress be to rise,
+  Through woman's duties to be wise.
+    She will thy care requite.
+
+  Nor let her in a cloistered cell,
+  Like monks and friars dully dwell,
+    Deprived of Nature's face.
+  Let life and liberty be seen,
+  With health and energy, to glean
+    Whate'er has virtue's grace.
+
+  The mind is useless, if the hand,
+  No occupation can command,
+    To ease the learning gained;
+  The eye grows dim o'er books alone
+  And dull and heavy in its tone,
+    If once 'tis overstrained.
+
+  Had I a daughter, I would try
+  To give of learning such supply
+    As other works should crown:
+  I'd build a tower six stories there.
+  With rooms ascending by the stair,
+    Each one with purpose known.
+
+  I'd choose a spot, whence far and wide
+  Yon lovely river in its pride
+    Glides gracefully along;
+  Where every room which higher rose,
+  A scene extended should disclose,
+    Fit theme for poet's song.
+
+  The basement story on the ground,
+  Should be with benches fitted round,
+    And wide the porch and door,
+  That here my daughter every morn,
+  Should know the wants of the lowly born,
+    And listen to the poor.
+
+  The story next I'd dedicate
+  To works of industry, of late
+      Becoming females bland:
+  To needlework or tapestry,
+  Her active fingers should apply.
+      Taught by some Flemish hand.
+
+  The story next--to music's sway
+  I should devote, that she might play
+      On lute or lyre with skill:
+  Her voice accompanied should sound,
+  Enchanting through the groves around,
+      And make all nature thrill.
+
+  My next to art of painting raised,
+  Should be with lightest windows glased.
+      A studio bright and clear:
+  The tints of nature should be seen,
+  Landscapes and figures intervene,
+      Alternate studies here.
+
+  My next should be with books supplied,
+  And writing instruments beside,
+      With learning's aids at hand:
+  This study should devoted be,
+  To learning's richest treasury
+      All other rooms command.
+
+  My last and highest should be given
+  To contemplate the stars of heaven,
+      And study their design:
+  Astronomy should here unfold
+  Worlds upon worlds, whose works untold
+      No mortal can define.
+
+  And here sometimes at night I'd be,
+  To let my daughter clearly see,
+      How works of wisdom shine:
+  The fires above her soul should charm,
+  As fires below our bodies warm,
+      That we may not repine.
+
+
+So gratified was fair Ellen with this poetical device, that she
+scarcely closed her eyes that night for thinking of the spot, and of
+the kind of ornamental tower which should be raised for such a
+purpose.  The next day, the site was fixed upon by Lord De Freston
+and his daughter; and Latimer promised to make plans of the
+dimensions of the rooms, and drawings of the elevation.  How
+beautifully the works were completed even the lapse of so many
+centuries has not failed to prove.  Workmen were soon engaged,
+Daundy's ships brought the Caen stone for ornamental copings, and the
+bricks from Ipswich were soon laid, and a tower, according in every
+respect with the plan of the projector, was erected.
+
+It was before this building that the party then stood, and not until
+the previous day had Latimer beheld his fair project carried into
+execution.  He had, from time to time, visited the work, and had
+corresponded with Lord De Freston and his cousin Ellen, concerning
+its completion.  This, however, was his first visit since the
+graceful tower had been opened, and dedicated to the purpose for
+which it had been projected.  Ellen, indeed, had occupied the
+different rooms as dedicated to her pursuits.
+
+The lower room, to charity, from 7 to 8 o'clock.
+
+The second, to working tapestry, from 9 to 10.
+
+The third, to music, from 10 to noon.
+
+The fourth, to painting, from 12 to 1.
+
+The fifth, to literature, from 1 to 2.
+
+The sixth, to astronomy, at even.
+
+There was a turret from this last chamber upon which the only
+instruments then used in descrying and describing the stars were
+often fixed, when the evenings were such as would allow an
+observation, from the leads of the building, of the illumined sky.
+They arrived at the foot of the Tower, where awaiting their approach
+numerous applicants for the bounty of the Lord De Freston were
+sitting upon the benches around.  A kind word Ellen had for all, a
+gracious greeting she gave them, and after distributing various
+donations, and making suitable inquiries, she dismissed them, one by
+one, to their respective homes, through the different paths across
+the park.
+
+Ellen welcomed her visitors, and followed them up the winding
+staircase into the first apartment.  She would not allow them to stop
+and admire the handy work she was then engaged in, namely, a piece of
+tapestry for Lord De Freston, representing the death of Harold, at
+Battle.  Neither would she pause to indulge them that day with the
+sound of her harp, though there it stood, and before her some of the
+Welsh lays then so celebrated among minstrels.  Neither would she
+permit them to waste time upon the beautiful scenery from her
+painting-room, though the bay-window from this height gave exquisite
+views for the lover of the picturesque.
+
+Breakfast was set out in the room of literature, and thither she
+hurried them, determined that she would pass over the usual routine
+of her every-day engagements to gratify her mind with the
+conversation of her two intellectual friends.
+
+'I have but a short day for your company, as my father has determined
+to go to Ipswich upon the business so interesting to you, Thomas
+Wolsey, and we must all accompany him this afternoon.  Let us, then,
+lose no time in thinking about the progress I have made, but let your
+conversation be concerning those things by which you are surrounded.'
+
+Handsome shelves, containing costly manuscripts and volumes of such
+works as were then printed, graced the sides of the room, and the
+only vacant places were the angular spaces between the windows.
+
+Breakfast was placed upon a small table in the bay-window, and
+consisted of such plain fare as milk, eggs and butter, with a few
+preserves, which were the supplies for the table in that early day.
+It is true that the serving-men in the lord's hall had more
+substantial feast, for cold venison and boar's-head with large
+quarters of pork, were consumed upon broad wooden plates, and not a
+few of those plates were seen upon the long tables in the hall, so
+large was this nobleman's domestic establishment.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE CONVERSATION.
+
+It would be something strange in these days to find man's tongue,
+through fear, prevented from discoursing upon any subject, political,
+physical, or religious.  Men are so enlightened, and civil and
+religious freedom are so strongly established in this kingdom, that
+no one is afraid of investigating any subject.  Truth does not
+require any power but that of God to support it, and having his, it
+will predominate unto the end, through all discouragements and
+persecutions.  The man who loves his kind will stand the least in awe
+of death, or of any consequences whatever arising from that position
+in which his faith in God may place him.  But the men, in our day,
+who do not look deeply into times gone by, can scarcely conceive the
+terrors into which men were driven in those days when Freston Tower
+was first inhabited.
+
+Throughout the length and breadth of England, in the years 1484 and
+1485, awful divisions were created by the dissensions of the houses
+of York and Lancaster.  Men scarcely trusted each other with open
+declarations of loyalty, or with their equally prevalent hatred of
+King Richard III.  Nor were they much less happy in their feelings
+concerning their religion.  The absolute power of the Pope had begun
+to be called in question.  Wickliffe's Bible was doing its work, and
+Caxton's press began to disseminate the light of truth amidst
+inquiring minds.
+
+Yet, upon the subject of religion, faith and practice seemed to be at
+a most appalling distance from each other; and men did not like to
+speak before strangers, even of the God who made them, for fear of
+incurring the threatened censures of the Papal Hierarchy.
+
+It was a singular thing that politics and religion should chance to
+be the first subjects discoursed upon by the young men, then
+partaking of their earliest meal in the library of Ellen De Freston.
+This conversation arose from the circumstance of De Freston having
+received a curious edition of Æsop's Fables.
+
+'I have a curiosity to show you here, young men,' said De Freston;
+and he took down from a shelf over the entrance-door, a volume,
+having the royal arms engraved, or rather worked, upon the inside of
+the cover.  'You are learned, Master Latimer--can you decypher the
+character?'
+
+'Ha; I perceive,' replied the youth, 'this is a book I should have
+thought would never have been sold, at least, not until the death of
+her to whom it was given.  It is Edward the Fourth's gift to his
+mistress, Jane Shore.  How did you come by it?'
+
+'Lord Latimer, your father's friend, purchased it at the new
+bookseller's in Ludgate; and knowing my taste for anything new, or
+old, in such works, sent it to me as a present and token of his
+esteem.'
+
+'I thought, father,' said Ellen, 'that you told me this wretched
+woman was no more; that she died two years since, under the severe
+penance inflicted upon her by the order of the Protector.'
+
+'Hush!' said Wolsey, 'hush! call not Richard, the Protector! call him
+King, or you will be deemed disloyal.  I would, on purpose to share
+your accusation, call him murderer, not protector.'
+
+'You would be a traitor, then, according to your own showing,'
+replied Ellen: 'but is not Jane Shore dead?'
+
+'It was reported that she was.  That she did penance is certain; that
+the king, in the days of his protectorate, did accuse Hastings of
+secretly plotting with this woman, whom he called a wicked witch, to
+afflict his person with decrepitude, is equally certain.  But I hear
+she is still alive, and that Richard, though he persecuted her so
+unmercifully, has pardoned her, and given her in marriage to Thomas
+Hymore, who compassionated her sufferings and petitioned for this
+mercy.'
+
+'Alas! beauty is a dangerous possession,' added Ellen, 'where the
+laws of God reign not in the heart.  I am glad to hear she is a
+penitent.  May mercy be with her!'
+
+'This is certainly the signature of Edward.
+
+[Illustration: Edward's signature]
+
+R. E. to J. S. Rex Edvardus, ad J. S.  It is valuable, as the first
+book having numbered pages, and a great acquisition this will be to
+science.  I sigh, my lord, to think how this country is torn asunder
+by faction.  When I last left Worcester, I can assure you men were
+there ripe for revolt.  Richard is detested, his vices are so
+glaring, and his cruelty so great, that he reminds me more of the
+tyrant Domitian than of a Christian king.'
+
+'Christian, indeed!' exclaimed the ardent Wolsey.  'Christian?  He
+has murdered three relatives, who stood between him and power, and
+could Richmond but be reached, his neck would soon be stretched upon
+the block.  I hope he will escape! nay, more, I hope to live to see
+the day when he may be King of England.'
+
+'Hush! hush! young spirit,' added De Freston.  'Though we be five
+stories from the ground, you would soon be five feet under it, could
+Richard gain any knowledge of your language.'
+
+'Yet I assure you,' added Latimer, 'these were things are openly
+discussed at Oxford, though each man, since the death of Buckingham,
+fears a traitor in his servant.'
+
+'That hateful Banister must be the vilest of the vile.  It was not an
+open enemy that betrayed poor Buckingham, but the very man who owed
+him suit and service, and pretended to be so grateful for his bounty.
+Had I been John Milton, high sheriff of Shropshire, I would have
+stabbed the traitor to the heart, who could betray such a confiding
+and afflicted master as the generous Buckingham.'
+
+'I little thought,' said De Freston, 'that I should try your loyalty,
+young men, by introducing Æsop's Fables to your notice.  I perceive,
+however, that your sentiments accord with my own, though I may not
+choose to speak out upon so slight an occasion.  I can truly say,
+however, may the houses of York and Lancaster unite, and the
+divisions of our Christian land be settled.'
+
+This last expression, 'Christian land,' gave rise to a sudden
+ejaculation upon the part of Wolsey, which rather surprised his
+friends and auditors: but at that day the youth's soul was full of
+the love of truth, and he hated most heartily the mummeries of a
+religion, which at that period were carried to the very verge of
+absurdity.
+
+'Christian land!  Oh! when will peace heal the divisions of this
+Christian land?  In nothing will this country be more divided than in
+its ideas of the profession of Christianity!'
+
+This was a bold declaration from so young a man, and it surprised
+Latimer, for though De Freston and himself entertained the
+enlightened views of that period, when men began to look into the
+Scriptures for truth, and into their souls for worship, Wolsey had
+started at once the expression of an opinion which both had
+entertained, but neither had declared.  This led to such an animated
+conversation upon the errors and absurdities of the times, the almost
+absolute dominion of the Pope, and the terrors of the Inquisition,
+that had information been given to the authorities of St. Peter's
+Priory, all present might have incurred the penalties of heresy and
+conspiracy.
+
+But Ellen De Freston was too well known for the strict piety of her
+life, her conformity to all the good usages of the times, and the
+enlightened benevolence of her disposition, to be affected by the
+breath of slander.  It was not that there were no envious persons in
+that day, as in this, who were jealous of her superiority.  There
+were individuals who were her equals in station, as well as others
+who were her inferiors, who could not brook the praises which were so
+freely given by those who were fortunate enough to know her.  She
+was, however, happily ignorant of these attacks.
+
+There are, in this day, many maidens who infinitely prefer the
+companions of mind to all the dignity of titled wealth and
+preponderating influence of station.  But, in that day, outward pomp,
+external beauty, high rank, and large estates, exercised an influence
+over everything.
+
+It was from no love of making herself conspicuous for singularity,
+that Ellen devoted herself to intellectual pursuits.  Her father was
+a man of mind, a man of virtue, of a superior intellect, and she had
+an hereditary taste for these things.  Permitted to think, and to
+express her thoughts, she was treated with deference, and gently
+argued with in things which her young mind could not fully
+understand, and hence her love of truth, and of searching for the
+truth, and obeying its dictates when understood.
+
+Though she seldom discoursed much with her preceptors upon the sacred
+volume, yet, with her parent, she would hold long and interesting
+communications, which rarely failed to increase their mutual
+estimation of each other.
+
+When the subject of religion was introduced by Thomas Wolsey, she
+maintained that deferential silence which she thought best adapted to
+her position.  Latimer was much pleased with Wolsey's views, and, as
+some of the stars of the Reformation were then beginning to shine,
+both in England and in foreign countries, the young men entered into
+the spirit of the Wickliffites and Hussites with a degree of
+toleration, surprising indeed at that day, especially in the
+neighborhood of a town so celebrated for its papal institutions and
+prevailing bigotry as Ipswich was.
+
+A century before, and this town had an episcopal jurisdiction; but it
+had now merged into the See of Norwich, and Goldwell then held his
+court in the ancient residence called Wyke's Bishop's Palace.  The
+Church looked very closely to her rights, her possessions, and
+professions, and almost one-half of the wealth of the kingdom was in
+the keeping of ecclesiastics.  Lands, houses, castles, monasteries,
+priories, livings, together with estates and jurisdictions, giving
+them power over the persons and lives of men, prevailed throughout
+the land; all in subjection to the Pope; and though at the close of
+the reign of Richard III., the bloody wars between the Houses of York
+and Lancaster for a time diverted men's attention from the growing
+tyranny of the Hierarchy, yet, when these houses became united,
+ecclesiastical sway assumed a frightful temporal power in this
+country, and met with consequent detestation.
+
+It is singular that, at this period, Wolsey should have been such an
+advocate for the dissemination of truth, who was soon afterwards the
+strongest supporter of the dogmas of Rome.  What circumstances were
+conducive to this change of mind in one so bold, so brave, so
+elegant, and so eloquent, and, at that time, so truthful and so
+virtuous, will be presently seen.
+
+It is not intended to give, at full length, the detail of the
+conversation then going on in that elevated chamber of Freston Tower.
+It may suffice, for the reader's information, to say, that books were
+taken down from their shelves, their merits freely and easily
+discussed, their beauties expatiated upon, and passages from poets,
+historians, and orators, read with spirit, and devoured with that
+delight which kindred classical minds only could enjoy.  Latimer and
+Wolsey proved themselves worthy of the fame they afterwards
+acquired--the former as the Greek tutor of the learned Erasmus, the
+latter as the great patron of literature throughout the kingdom,
+whose works of art remain to this day to prove the elegance of his
+mind, and the profuse liberality of his spirit.
+
+Ellen was delighted; she sat with unmixed pleasure to hear the
+scholars dilate upon their subjects.  She found the hours stealing
+away quicker than she wished them to do: nor was her peculiar taste
+for elegance of diction forgotten, and, in certain points of dispute,
+she was called upon to decide which was the most chaste and perfect
+translation.
+
+It is strange, but too true, that the most learned men are so jealous
+of the laborious stores of knowledge they have obtained, that they
+will scarcely ever condescend to communicate them to the female sex,
+or to express their knowledge before them; as if they were not to be
+the companions of man's mind, as well as of his domestic affairs.  It
+is true the world has seen such couples as Andrew Dacier and his
+beloved wife, Anne, in a past century, and that it does see, in this
+day, a young and most learned lord in this land, famous for the style
+of purity in which he writes his ancient and modern histories,
+appreciating the elegance of his lady's mind, and enjoying its
+cultivation; but in those days it was a rare thing indeed for a
+female, and she young, beautiful, and wealthy, to be permitted to
+join in those studies which were then considered too exclusively
+masculine.
+
+In the mind of Wolsey, at that period, there lived the thought that
+such happiness he might one day share more intimately with the
+beauteous Ellen.  It was a thought that had taken full possession of
+his soul, and he trembled as he avowed it to himself.  He had
+ventured to indulge in the suggestions of Hope--that bright morning
+star that guides the young mind to distinction, and lightens up even
+the darkest caverns of despair, when the barriers of wealth and
+station stand between the object and the aspirant.
+
+Wolsey's hope seemed to dawn upon him through the vista of future
+years of learned fame, like the sun rising over a most extensive
+wilderness; or, it seemed to him, like the light of a distant cottage
+which the poor traveller descries in the darkest night, upon some
+pathless moor, with which he connects the associations of home and
+comfort.
+
+He had these feelings in his soul, and if for a moment they were
+diverted to the subjects of future ambition, fame, and glory, they
+always seemed to return again to the same point.  Never was he more
+anxious to distinguish himself in the eyes of Ellen than at that
+period; and it is true that he shone with most uncommon splendor, and
+made Latimer confess that he was not only a better scholar than
+himself, but that he had a more comprehensive genius.  Both De
+Freston and his daughter were proud of their young and learned
+acquaintance, and much enjoyed their intellectual conversation.  How
+long this might have lasted no one could have told, had not De
+Freston broke off the discussion by reminding his daughter of her
+engagement to go to Ipswich.
+
+'We must not spend much more time here, Ellen.  Our mid-day repast is
+ready in the hall, and if we do not get off in time, we shall hardly
+be able to visit our friends.  Come, my child, let us proceed to the
+castle.'
+
+A shadow of disappointment passed over the brow of Ellen, but it did
+not remain there.  She had taken her share in the discourse, and
+would have prolonged it, but that she knew well the wisdom of
+obedience to her father's suggestions.  She rose, therefore, and, for
+a few moments stood admiring the brilliant scene from her lofty room,
+in which she was joined by those enthusiastic lovers of nature.  The
+very turn of the conversation upon the broad waves of the Orwell, the
+distant hills and woods of the opposite shore, and the moving ships
+in the distance, then with clumsy and cumbersome hulls, yet
+picturesque enough to enliven the landscape, proved that Latimer was
+correct in his view, that deep study should be diversified with
+pleasant scenery to make both agreeable.
+
+He rejoiced to see the lively glance which that broad view of the
+Orwell called forth from Ellen's countenance.  It played like a
+sunbeam through the shade of the grove upon her graceful brow,
+ornamented as it was with a profusion of tresses, nature's richest
+ornament.  At that moment the old hall bell announced the mid-day
+dinner, and the whole party descended to the castle.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE CASTLE AND COMPANY.
+
+To describe a baron's hall, as in the fifteenth century, with all its
+cumbrous materials inside and out, would be, no doubt, very engaging
+to the antiquarian reader; and Freston Castle, Freston Hall, or De
+Freston's Mansion, as it was at various periods designated, if
+minutely described, would fill many a page which the general reader
+would be glad to be excused.
+
+Not that it would be otherwise than entertaining, for the Lords of
+Freston had each added something to the style of his predecessor, and
+there was as great a variety of the Gothic from the year 1111 down to
+1485, as could be found in any house in the eastern counties of the
+kingdom.  It vied with the ancient castle of Caister in its
+castellated front and lofty turrets, its old Norman windows,
+loop-holes, and bastions, and, standing as it did upon one of the
+most picturesque spots throughout East Anglia, it commanded, in that
+day, general admiration.
+
+It was one of those castles which were exempt from the fines to
+Peter's Priory, on account of the Lord De Freston having granted a
+hide of land on the opposite shore to the then learned priors of
+Alneshborne; and hence it was considered extra parochial, and the
+church and chapel of De Freston as belonging to the immediate
+jurisdiction of John De Freston, who appointed his own ecclesiastic
+from among the preachers or prebends of Wykes Ufford, and, after
+that, from Gypesswich (Ipswich).
+
+It is 'but justice to the memory of the De Frestons to say they were
+good Catholics, not good for their gifts of foolish and vain things,
+but for their benevolent offerings for the poor.  Their splendid old
+hall, gracing the banks of the Orwell, for several centuries was
+remarkable for the liberality displayed within it, not only to the
+inhabitants of Freston, Arwarton, Holbrook, Wolverstone,
+Chelmondiston, Harkstead, Tattingstone, and Bentley, on the western
+side of the river, in which parishes the Lords of De Freston held
+estates, but in all parts of Suffolk, Norfolk, and Gloucestershire,
+where their property was situated, they had their benevolent houses,
+in which the dole of charity was meted out to the surrounding poor.
+
+Their great residences were at Freston and Malvern; for, connected
+with the Latimers, they held much sway on the borders of the Malvern
+Hills.  Their head-quarters were at Freston Hall, a fortified
+mansion, exhibiting traces of decay in some parts of the then
+elaborate workmanship of the fourteenth century.  A most noble park
+lay around the castle, extending along the beautiful banks of the
+river, including many a grand chasse, where deer and game of all
+descriptions might be found.
+
+Part of the great tenure by which this property was held free from
+the interference of the religious houses in Ipswich, as well as
+temporal authorities of the borough, whose power then extended to the
+waste marshes upon the borders of the park, was the furnishing of
+three fat bucks for the 8th of September, to the borough, on the day
+of the election of bailiffs; and, on St. Peter's day, two bucks to
+the Abbots of Bury, two to the Prior of St. Peter's, and one to the
+Black Canons of Dodness; from all other charges whatsoever the Barony
+of De Freston was exempt.
+
+But our party, joyful in the society of each other, bent their way
+from the lawn which surrounded the Tower to the broad and open space
+before the castle.  So level did the grass at a little distance
+appear with the foundation walls of the building, that were it not
+for the distinct evidence of the huge drawbridge and portcullis, no
+one would imagine that a moat ninety-eight feet wide extended round
+the walls.  The building was a square with four towers, the
+south-eastern front of which, facing the Orwell, was then in its most
+perfect state.  It was only at certain periods, when the distant
+dependencies of the barony came to pay suit and service to the Lords
+of De Freston, that the other wings of the mansion were inhabited.
+They were not suffered to decay; but, as they were not constantly
+used, they were only visited occasionally by the lord, who left it to
+his household steward to see that all things were kept in order.
+
+'It is a beautiful spot,' said Latimer to Ellen, as they approached
+the spacious front of the building, 'and I hope it may never again
+see the troubles with which it was visited when the Earl of Leicester
+and his Flemings came from Walton Castle, and were opposed by John De
+Freston and his troops.  This looks not like a place of slaughter,
+Ellen; yet many a brave youth did your ancestors' bowmen send to the
+bottom of the waves, before the enemy could effect a landing, or
+reach this spacious green sward.  How thankful should we feel that we
+can walk in peace free from such terrors; but other parts of the
+kingdom are, at this moment, in arms, and the Baron De Freston will,
+I fear, have to send his quota of men to the wars of the Roses!'
+
+'Let him keep neutral if he can, say I.  He is out of the reach of
+the severity of the contest, unless Richmond should choose Suffolk
+for his field of action.  I trust my father's hall will be at peace
+as long as his honored head shall be erect!'
+
+'Amen!' added Wolsey.  'This place is too peaceful, too blessed in
+its inhabitants, to be disturbed by faction.  It has a charm in my
+eye which, I trust, no bloodshed will ever destroy!'
+
+'You are a partial friend, Thomas; but I wish all men felt towards it
+and its inhabitants as you do.'
+
+'That do not I,' thought Wolsey, 'unless, indeed, I were the foremost
+and most favored of all;' but he only replied, 'I have reason to be
+partial, Ellen.'
+
+'Perchance, Thomas, the issue of our interest this day may make you
+more partial than ever towards my father and myself, though your gain
+must be our loss.'
+
+'Wolsey, will not that be some consolation to you, when in Oxford, to
+know my fair cousin here will be daily a loser by your absence?'
+
+The youth blushed, feeling conscious that both his hopes and his
+fears might be excited during his residence at the University; but
+the color soon disappeared, and he joined in the conversation without
+any appearance of embarrassment.
+
+'If Ellen can promise herself the same pleasure in my progress,
+neither she nor I can be a loser by my residence at the University,
+however prolonged it may be.'
+
+'I assure you, Thomas, I shall take a most lively interest in your
+success.'
+
+'He will not fail, Ellen, to be well repaid for his labors, should he
+win your approbation.'
+
+'Let him go on as he has begun, and his success will be considered to
+form part of the honors attached to the house of De Freston.'
+
+Now, though Ellen, in this speech, meant no more than to convey an
+idea of a certain degree of patronage which the House of De Freston
+had already exercised in the behalf of the young aspirant for future
+fame, yet, upon such a temperament as Wolsey's it produced an
+impression not easily to be effaced.  The blood circulated warmly
+through his frame as he thought of the possibility of his being able
+to bring honor to the house of De Freston, and to be deemed worthy of
+the hand (for his ambition had conceived the possibility of such an
+accomplishment) of the beautiful and enlightened heiress of De
+Freston, the chief happiness of his life.  Wolsey could only bow and
+promise to do his best, and repeated that it was one of the greatest
+pleasures of his existence to have met with a person who had led him
+to the foot of the hill on which the temple of Fame was built, and
+was ready to welcome him upon his arrival at the summit.
+
+The party arrived at the drawbridge, where the old warder, with his
+battle-axe in hand, as if he were then watching for his safety, or
+expecting the arrival of a foe, saluted his master.  He was in his
+niche in the side of the right-hand turret of the drawbridge, and
+presented his lord with a packet of letters, which had arrived since
+he went to the Tower.  These were placed in the pouch or pocket of De
+Freston, then worn externally, beneath the belt which bound the
+leathern jerkin of the noble, and was wrought with ornamental gold
+embroidery, and studded with the head of the bear.  This crest of
+that ancient family was adopted in consequence of the reputation of
+his ancestor, who arrived with William the Conqueror, for great
+personal strength, in expressed in the following motto:
+
+  'Who meets De Freston must beware
+  The arms and courage of the bear.'
+
+
+On the summit of the two towers, at either entrance of the arch
+forming the outer and inner gateway of the drawbridge, were the
+well-carved colossal figures of a rampant bear, facing each other,
+forming a barbarous, but, at that time, very common capital to the
+huge square pillars of the gateway; and, in the arms over the old
+porch, the bear hugging a foe was said to represent the manner in
+which the founder of the family, after having broken his sword,
+rushed in upon his enemy, and, seizing him, crushed him in his arms.
+
+At that time, when the barons of England were expected to decide
+which rose they would wear, it was almost a disgrace not to have
+their castles ornamented in every part with the especial rose--red or
+white--which they espoused.  It is singular that a flower should be
+the symbol of contention throughout the whole kingdom.  The Lord De
+Freston lost nothing of his reputation by commanding his adherents to
+espouse neither side.
+
+They reached the Baron's entrance-hall, where Ellen's maid stood in
+readiness to receive the mantle and hood of her mistress, and to
+await her retirement to her room.  The retainers, in their military
+habiliments still, as in war-like days, assembled in rank and file in
+the ancestral hall: and every day with their burnished arms, their
+broad breast-plates, and high peaked helmets, made their appearance
+at the mid-day meal, before the baron or his mareschal.
+
+The utmost regularity prevailed in that mansion, and the absence of
+any member of the establishment was observable immediately.  All
+raised their right hands to their helmets as De Freston and his
+daughter entered.  His archers rested on their bows, his spearmen on
+their spears, whilst his boatmen, with the Flemish pea-green jackets
+and woollen hose, looked, in their sea-faring dresses, the most
+independent among his retainers.  Fifty spearmen, as many archers,
+twelve boatmen, grooms of the chambers, and grooms of the stable,
+together with domestics, in-door and out, were all assembled in that
+spacious, lofty hall; and before they filed off into the great
+dining-room, or, as it was then called, the steward's refectory, they
+had to make this daily assembling a conspicuous part of their duty.
+Every man's name was chalked upon the boards of the house the day of
+his coming into his lord's service, and his place and position.  It
+was part of the steward's office to call over their names, and
+signify the cause of absence to De Freston.  In this manner, before
+partaking of their master's meat, every man was inspected, and it
+added no little to the pride of the lord, as of pleasure to his
+vassal, to be recognised daily for punctuality and cleanliness.
+
+'A man is mighty,' thought Wolsey, as he surveyed the band of
+warriors and retinue of servants, 'a man is mighty who can depend
+upon himself without these adjuncts!  Yet he who is popular with his
+own people, who serve him heart and hand, and without many
+protestations but with faithful deeds, must feel strengthened in his
+castle.  Should I ever be a lord, I will take pleasure in seeing my
+retainers marshalled in this way.  It must add to mutual regard, and
+make a man appear to himself of some consequence.'
+
+After a word or two with the officer, De Freston dismissed his
+servants, who retired to the great feast daily prepared for them, and
+which, with forest rangers, watchers, warders, soldiers, and
+serving-men, was always a joyful meeting.  It was then that they were
+permitted to arrange themselves around the great log fire, and speak
+of the adventures by flood and field any of them had heard, or
+manifest their regard for their master's honor; and many a boy
+imbibed that feudal loyalty which induced him to devote his life to
+his superior.  The iron helmet rang upon the broad stone pavement of
+the room, as each soldier threw it off, and exposed to view a manly
+countenance, then covered with profuse locks and thick beard, and
+took his seat among some of the less encumbered domestics.  Wit, fun,
+and frolic, had then their hour, and tales of the stables, of the
+river, of the park, the town, the village, the country, and often
+tales of love circulated rapidly.
+
+Some would talk of the great doings of the former Barons of De
+Freston, the feats of his followers, and the perils they had escaped.
+Then was discussed, too, that all-important question with all the
+retainers, the settlement of their beloved mistress.
+
+'I have no faith in these learned gentry,' exclaimed a sturdy fellow
+of the name of Bigmore, whose fathers had served the Lords De Freston
+for many generations.  'I have no faith in these learned gentry for
+the lord of my young mistress, though, bless her heart, she is worthy
+of the most learned man in the land; though old Joe Jordan, with his
+usual long face, declares that there will never be another warrior in
+the house of De Freston.'
+
+'So say I now, Hugh--so say I now; and if I do say it, may be, I may
+not regret the day I see it, should I see your troop disbanded and
+peace and liberty reigning without the help of the sword.  You laugh
+at me as a mechanic, as my lord's carpenter; now, to my mind,
+building peaceful habitations is far pleasanter than building
+castles, towers, or fortifications.  I say now, that the tower of
+peace which we have just finished on the banks of the Orwell,
+unsuited as it is for attack and defence, will stand longer than many
+a baron's castle, and, may be, outlast even the habitation of its
+builder.'
+
+'Why true, Master Jordan, it is but a slight concern, and might be
+easily battered to pieces.'
+
+'And for that very reason men will not think it worth their while to
+attack it.  It is built for my lady's tower.  It is merely for her
+pleasure, that she may not be weary in het pursuits of science, and
+that no one may interfere therewith.  Warriors as you are, you would
+none of you fight against a woman, and therefore will this lady's
+tower be respected, aye, should all the warriors be set in battle
+array against each other, and the bloody rose meet the pale one in De
+Freston's park.'
+
+'Ah, well! methinks, Jordan, thou wouldst have thy mistress marry a
+priest.'
+
+'And pray why is not a priest as good a man as a lord?'
+
+'Why?  Because he may not marry!'
+
+This created a laugh among some who were always glad to hear old Joe
+Jordan's remarks, though they might not be exactly in accordance with
+their own.
+
+'That is their misfortune, not their fault.  I would not be a priest,
+to take such a vow.'
+
+'I'll tell thy wife of thee, Master Jordan,' exclaimed Abdil Foley,
+one of the journeymen, who happened to be then employed in fitting up
+some frames belonging to the tapestry-room in De Freston's Tower.
+
+'And she would thank thee for thy pains, and say, Bachelor Foley, do
+thou marry, or else turn thou priest and get thee into the cloister.'
+
+'Abdil, thou hast got an able answer.  Go to and get married.'
+
+'I will when it suits my purpose!'
+
+'Well, friends, here's a health to our young mistress; and may she
+marry a nobler lord than her father, if he can be found in the land.
+What do you say to that, old Joe?
+
+'I say, as an independent man would say, it may be improved upon.'
+
+'How so?'
+
+'Will you all drink it if I give it you improved?'
+
+All vociferated 'Yes.'
+
+'Well, then, I say, Here's a health to our young mistress and may she
+marry the man of her mind.'
+
+'Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!'
+
+'But may that man be a lord!'
+
+'May that be as it may be.  Our lord's a deserving lord.  A good
+master, kind friend, upright, learned, wise, independent, generous,
+and great; and if all the barons of England were like him, their
+nobility would be an ornament to them, and they would be ornaments to
+the people; but I say it with no disrespect to our master, God bless
+him! there are many lords who visit him not half so good looking, nor
+half so knightly, nor half so learned, nor half so well behaved, as
+either Masters Latimer or Wolsey, now the guests at his table.'
+
+'Well, which would you have for a master?'
+
+'That is not for me to choose--I could serve either; for they have
+both held much converse with me while the tower was building, and I
+can perceive both are learned, both are gentlemen.'
+
+'I think she likes young Wolsey,' said one, 'but surely she will
+never marry a merchant's son, and the owner of the butcher's shambles
+at Ipswich.  My uncle there, John Carrington, is one of his tenants,
+and told me that old Wolsey is as strict a master as if he had
+nothing else to live upon than the rents of the butcher's shambles.'
+
+'Our lord,' said another, 'did not scruple to marry a merchant's
+daughter, though he was a rich one, it is true!  Why, then, should
+not his daughter smile upon a merchant's son; and that son such a one
+as he is?  Hey, Master Bigmore! this is true logic.'
+
+'I don't understand your logic.  I am for supporting the house of my
+master, and not letting it fall.'
+
+It was in such manner that the men of De Freston frequently occupied
+that hour of their meals; and let education do what it will, it will
+no more prevent the current of observation and reflection in the
+kitchen than it will prevent many of those who call themselves most
+enlightened religious professors talking about their neighbors, and
+interfering much more in their families than any servants do in their
+master's affairs.  It is as impossible to stop men from thinking
+about national subjects as to control the conversations of their
+domestics when they see things passing before their eyes, either in
+the parlor, or the chapel, or the hall.  Good masters will not always
+make good men, nor good domestics cease to serve bad masters; but
+evil masters seldom fail of conveying evil consequences to their
+dependents.
+
+In those days of feudal grandeur it was of as much or of more
+consequence than it is in these enlightened times that a lord should
+stand well with his vassals.  Though his power was great over their
+lives, yet his own life and state much depended upon their support.
+Happily, no such tyranny now exists, unless it may be said to have
+sprung up in the nineteenth century, in the horrible tyranny of that
+law which now enslaves the poor.  The future consequences to this
+country, under this new system, remains to be seen; at present, great
+is the misery experienced; and it will be so whilst the liberty of
+the subject is so shamefully infringed upon as to make poverty an
+excuse for imprisonment, where crime only should be punished.
+
+We may approach the days of high pressure upon liberty, and whilst we
+are speculating upon the rapidity of motion, we may be only forging
+chains for our confinement.  'We shall see!' is the expression of
+many a man who sees more than he chooses to discuss; but may we live
+to see more peace and prosperity, industry, simplicity, and
+contentment, than we do any of us see or know at the present time.
+
+Dinner was in the banqueting hall, and De Freston, his daughter, and
+friends, sat as they did of old, at one long table, all on one side,
+while the serving men stood opposite.  The banners of De Freston
+waved over the head of the gallery leading to the upper rooms, while
+the old carved chimney-piece, representing the battle of the giants,
+one party ascending on the right hand column of the fire-place to the
+grand contest, whilst the left hand represented them hurled down with
+rocks from Jupiter Tonans, who, in the very centre of the cross beam,
+was with his fiery eagles sending forth his thunderbolts.
+
+Bowls of polished wood contained the simple meal of the day, and
+though silver and gold cups stood upon the table, no forks, but
+fingers only, tore asunder the limbs of fowls, the slices of venison,
+or whatever else was served up before the Lord De Freston.  It is
+true that a huge sword-like scimitar or knife was used by the steward
+of the table to sever for my lord the portions from the baron of
+beef; but ere the morsels could be reduced to the size fit for the
+mouth, they must be torn asunder by the delicate fingers which
+conveyed them to the teeth.
+
+But men were not less cleanly or happy in their feasts than they are
+now.  The water was poured upon the hands, the napkin more frequently
+applied, and conversation was far less formal, and much more general
+than at present.  The lord and his daughter performed the duties of
+hospitality, conversed with their guests upon the great discoveries
+then making in the world; and the wonders of navigation were thought
+as much of in those days as the wonders of steam are in these.  The
+powers of the compass were then first discussed; and Captain Diaz,
+the celebrated Portuguese navigator, had sailed round Cape Stormy,
+now called, or soon after then called, the Cape of Good Hope.
+
+Nothing more gratified our party than to speak of the wonders of the
+press.  Wolsey declared that the monks should all turn printers, and
+that every monastery ought to have a press.
+
+Had such been the case, it is much to be feared that truth would not
+have triumphed as she did.
+
+The meal was soon over, and the party prepared to take their
+departure, according to previous arrangement, for the Port of Ipswich.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE EXCURSION.
+
+The state barge of Lord De Freston was moored against the stairs, or
+huge oaken steps which led down directly from the shelving bank of
+the park to the waves of the Orwell.  Six men, with broad oars in
+hand, prepared to thrust them through the round loop holes in the
+gunwale of the boat, for thowles were then unknown, and the barges or
+boats of the noblemen who lived on the banks of that far-famed river,
+were things of such size, as required able-bodied men and strong
+hands to urge them over the waves.
+
+Unlike the little cockle which went bounding over the Orwell in the
+morning to meet the anxious Wolsey, this was a magnificent affair,
+somewhat after the shape of the Nautilus, and floating apparently as
+high out of the water.  The huge bear rose rampant at the prow, and
+looked as if he would grapple with anything he met, whilst the seat
+at the stern was elevated, and with rude, but elaborately carved
+work, afforded room for as many persons as there were rowers in the
+boat.  If any attendants went in the state barge, they squatted down
+beneath the hind paws of Bruin.  They were not permitted to intercept
+the view; but were mostly hidden by the sailors.
+
+'I wonder, messmate, how our moody young scholar liked his reception
+at the Tower to-day.  I thought he looked rather gloomy upon the
+view.  At all other times he was wont to be as brisk and bright as a
+light-hearted sailor-boy.  I'll warrant he has something aboard his
+skull which presses heavily on the spirit.'
+
+'Ah!  Jervis, that boy, heavy as he appears to be, has more brains in
+his head than all we six put together; and he makes more use of them
+now than we shall ever make of ours.  Never mind his being a little
+dull this morning; maybe our mistress smiling upon the young Oxonian
+may make him a little thoughtful.  Did you not tell me that he was
+going to Oxford, or some seat of learning, for a time?'
+
+'It was whispered so among our people, and Mistress Ellen's maid was
+heard to say her mistress would be very dull when young Master Thomas
+went away.'
+
+'Well, then, art thou surprised that young Master Thomas should be a
+little thoughtful at leaving such a lively friend as our young
+mistress?  I'll warrant now, Jervis, if our lord were to order thee
+to go by sea to the mouth of the Severn, and to wait his pleasure on
+that river, thou wouldst think of the maid Fanny, as much as Master
+Thomas does of her mistress.  I never knew a youth in love--and I
+believe this young scholar is so--that was not moody; sometimes fit
+for nothing, sometimes as close and almost as stupid as an oyster.
+Young Wolsey was hard enough to open this morning.  But have ye all
+got your oars in hand? for yonder they come from the castle, and we
+must be prepared.'
+
+'Heave out the plank from the stern, Osborne!' exclaimed the old
+steersman, 'and fasten it to the head of the stair.  Heave the barge
+round, and point her prow to the Priory!  Gently, boys, gently!
+There, lay her stern as near the bank as you can!  Leave off talking
+about your betters, and mind your own business!'
+
+Six rowers, and this cockswain, whose long boom for a rudder bespoke
+a very primitive kind of steerage for himself.  His seat was a strong
+oaken plank, through which this long oar or steering-boom was to be
+thrust, and upon which, seated upon its broad beam-end, he was
+observed to possess the most elevated position in the boat.  Full
+three feet below his exalted post was the deck, if so it might be
+called, whereon De Freston and his friends were to take their seats.
+
+Though Wolsey had never breathed a word of his devotion, yet these
+men appeared to be fully cognizant of it.  The world will canvass the
+actions of a man, let the circumference of his orbit be what it may.
+It will talk for us, and at us, and make us drink sometimes the
+waters of bitterness, even when we would live in peace and harmony
+with all.  There was no kind of evil will, however, in the
+conversation of De Freston's boatmen, as they spoke of young Wolsey
+and his love affair.  Love sails as freely with seamen as with
+landsmen, and its pleasures were in as high estimation amongst those
+young fellows, in their green Flemish jerkins, as it could be in the
+heart of any of their superiors then coming along the slope to the
+Orwell.
+
+The scholar soon appeared, all smiles and animation, as he handed the
+lovely Ellen across the plank to her seat, and gave a nod of
+recognition to the men, to whom, in the morning, he had scarcely
+spoken a word.  They saw his altered mien, and rejoiced in that
+vivacity which now gave light to his countenance.
+
+The lady Ellen also was now on board, and when did the heart of a
+British sailor ever fail to feel respect for the fair and honored
+daughters of England, whenever chance gave them the opportunity of
+showing them their esteem?  With cap in hand, they saluted the lady
+and their lord.
+
+'Give way, my good men!' he cried, 'and hasten with all speed to the
+town!  We must go to Gypesswick and back this afternoon.  Is that the
+Prior's boat, Herbert, close under the Donham shore, or is it
+Fastolf's barque?'
+
+'It is the Prior's barge, from the port with provisions.  I saw
+Fastolf's barge go down the river to the Haugh an hour ago.  We shall
+have time and tide enough in the channel for the way, my lord.'
+
+The old sailor gave the signal, the men thrust the oars through the
+holes, and soon, in stately grandeur, the lofty barge of De Freston
+was seen gliding past the banks of the Orwell.
+
+The channel took almost a direct course from Freston Castle to the
+shores of the Priory of Downham, or Doneham, and swept, with a
+graceful curve, beneath the then overhanging woods which stood so
+prominently upon the projecting cliffs of the Orwell.
+
+Wolsey and Latimer vied with each other in directing Ellen's
+attention to the beauty of the scenery, and in recording the
+different historical facts relative to the places which had been the
+scenes of daring exploit in the different periods of English and
+Danish warfare.  Ellen could appreciate the beauties of the scenery,
+but her gentle heart shuddered at the idea of bloodshed, as every
+Christian female heart must do.
+
+It was with far greater pleasure that she heard Wolsey recount the
+worthiness of the brotherhood who then inhabited the walls of
+Alneshborne Priory.  He spoke of their learning and devotion to deeds
+of charity, and represented them as an exception to any other of the
+religious communities, then so prevalent in the kingdom.  There was a
+raciness, fluency and force in his descriptive powers, which charmed
+even Latimer, who, though comparatively a novice upon the river, was
+alive to the spirit of poesy in which his companion indulged.
+
+The tide had turned, but the channel was then both deeper and wider
+than it is now, and took a far more grand and oceanic sweep.  The
+soil of centuries which has flowed down from the Gipping into the
+Orwell, and different streams which have deposited their sand and
+slime, have formed that immense track of ouse, which, swelling into
+steep, muddy banks, has now conglomerated into vast fields of slimy
+clay, upon which green samphire and long weeds have grown, and very
+much narrowed the mighty channel, which, in that day swept, as an arm
+of the German Ocean, up to the walls of the town of Ipswich.
+
+It was then no uncommon thing, even in summer, to see the wild swan
+with his straight neck and yellow beak, sailing up the stream,
+followed by the brood of cygnets bred upon the flats of Levington;
+and in winter, the wild fowl from distant climes sported in thousands
+of flights, until they actually blackened the silvery waters around
+them.  Gulls of every class used to whiten the ouse at low water, and
+coots used to blacken the waves at full-tide; now nothing of animated
+nature can be seen but a long, green track of seaweed, with perhaps a
+solitary swan, or a lonely gull.
+
+But the barge is dashing away with the speed of good stout rowers,
+amidst the beauties of the wave and the shore, and Ellen's smile
+restores much of its wonted happiness to the heart of Wolsey, who
+only the more and more strove to make a favorable impression upon her
+mind, by bringing forth from the treasure-house of his intellect,
+such instances of his classical knowledge as should make her remember
+the last day when he went up the river with his patron and patroness.
+
+It was indeed for his sake that she visited the town of Ipswich at
+that moment, in company with her parent; to urge upon Robert Wolsey,
+his father, the imperious necessity of sending the scholar to Oxford.
+Both De Freston and his daughter were carried away by their
+enthusiastic feelings in patronising this youth, and anticipated the
+day when he would rise to be an ornament to his country, and an honor
+to themselves.  The thought of doing an act of kindness to Wolsey
+gave a peculiar degree of interest to the journey.  Ellen, in
+particular, quite gloried in the thought of being of service to one
+who had been to her so congenial a companion.
+
+The magnificent banks of the Orwell, opening their views on each
+side, on as lovely a late spring day as it was possible to see, added
+a great charm to the excursion; and, as they swept in view of the
+ancient town, they could not but admire the grand semicircle which
+the wharf and Peter's Priory, and different religious houses in the
+distance, then afforded.
+
+But, as they neared the town, and beheld the tower, turret, house and
+hall, of the great merchants and burgesses of the borough, the old
+pilot called the attention of his lord to the number of boats then
+leaving the quays and sides of the river.
+
+'Methinks, your honor, that all Ipswich is turning out to meet on the
+wave; their numbers seem to increase, and I certainly never saw such
+a float of boats upon the river before!'
+
+'I see something on the wave before the boats,' replied De Freston.
+'Now it disappears--now it meets us--now it turns, and the boats seem
+gathering round it.  What can it be?'
+
+'I see it now, my lord, I see it; and I think I discern two fish
+which the inhabitants of the town in their cockle-shell boats are
+pursuing.  Yes, I see them plainly.'
+
+'Come up, my child,' said De Freston, 'or if not able to ascend
+hither, if you can stand upon the seat, you will see a lively scene.
+Come hither, let the two young men be your supporters.'
+
+The river, as they approached the town, seemed alive with boats, and
+it was evident that the people in them were engaged in pursuing two
+large fish, which were in vain trying to escape down the channel.
+One seemed larger than the other, and the declaration of Herbert at
+the helm soon pronounced what they were.
+
+'They are two dolphins, old and young, and I think they have wounded
+the young one, and the parent will not leave it.'
+
+And so it literally was.  The pursuers had harpooned the lesser fish,
+and with several boats joined together were towing it from its
+mother, who, with that extraordinary instinct which this fish has
+often been known to display, preferred following its young to death,
+to making its own escape.  Many times it was seen to return and run
+its nose against the exhausted body of its offspring, as if
+endeavoring, with maternal anxiety, to teach it to follow her; for it
+would, the moment after, dive down the current of the ebbing tide,
+and then seem to wait the approach of the wounded dolphin.  It would
+then return with redoubled anxiety, and, unable to induce its young
+to follow, would lay itself alongside, and regardless of boats,
+blows, and harpoons, keep with it until they drew towards the shore.
+Even then it would not return, but as De Freston's barge came along,
+the heart of Ellen was grieved to see such maternal solicitude
+followed by a train of blood which actually streaked the waves.
+
+'Alas! poor dolphin!' she exclaimed, as she saw it dragged to the
+shore opposite the creek, then leading up to Wyke's Bishop Palace in
+the hamlet of St. Clement.  'Alas, poor dolphin! thou didst deserve a
+better fate!  For thou hast respected the laws of nature more than
+cruel man!'
+
+She sat down in the barge and wept.  De Freston had intended to have
+landed, and his men would have been equally glad to have seen a
+creature so rare in the Orwell.  He urged them to proceed at once,
+without delay, to the landing-place beside St. Peter's Priory.
+
+It was a long time before Ellen could rouse herself from the
+sorrowful feeling into which the recent incident had thrown her; and
+she spoke not a word until the hand of De Freston assisted her to
+land, and then it was--
+
+'Father, I shall never forget the dolphin and her offspring.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE VISIT.
+
+The outer wall of St. Peter's Priory then abutted upon the waters of
+the Orwell, and formed a long river border, from the Common Quay
+nearly to the first lock gates where the Orwell and Gipping meet.  At
+the junction of the two rivers, where the salt water and fresh salute
+each other at high tide, there was formerly the termination wall of
+the Priory, and the southern gate to the town of Ipswich.
+
+At this point was, at low water, the celebrated Stoke Ford, where the
+Danes entered the town; and Terkettel, the Danish giant, was slain by
+an archer from the wall.  The channel of the river swept along close
+under the walls of the Priory; and though the cells of the monks did
+not face the waves, yet there were light niches or loop holes in
+those walls, through which, if occasion required, any one ascending
+by ladder, or frame, might discharge his arrows upon an enemy.
+
+There were small Saxon arches, equidistant along the wall, which gave
+a degree of light and elegance to that otherwise dark and dreary
+brick fortification.  The Priory was then in its greatest prosperity
+and had vast possessions in the town, on the banks of Stoke, and
+along the meadows of the winding Gipping.
+
+De Freston's barge had been espied coming up the river, and the
+Prior, for many reasons, paid court to the lords of De Freston.
+Independently of the many donations he received from the charity of
+his ancestors, he had only a few days before received substantial
+proof of the liberality of the present lord, who had presented to the
+fraternity, for the shrine of St. Peter, two massive candlesticks of
+silver, together with twelve ornamental brass ones for the chapel.
+
+There was, therefore, nothing surprising in the fact, that when De
+Freston came to St. Peter's, or the Southern Gate, he should be met
+by the Prior and six canons, bareheaded, to solicit a visit to their
+monastery.
+
+'Prior John.' said the nobleman, 'I am sensible of thy kindness, but
+I cannot now accept the offer of thine hospitality.  I am visiting
+Ipswich upon business, and must return again by moonlight to my own
+castle.  But I would crave thy charity for these my boatmen, if thou
+wilt give them rest and refreshment, beneath the roof of the porter
+until such time as we come back.'
+
+'Most assuredly, De Freston!  We should have been proud to have
+entertained thee, thy daughter, and thy friends; for we are not
+unmindful of thy love for our institution, and know well thy devotion
+to the ways of thine ancestors.  Our books record thy gifts.'
+
+'Say nothing of them, Father John, say nothing of them, and think of
+them less.  If thou wilt receive my men, I will not forget it when I
+next pay my vows at St. Peter's shrine.'
+
+'They shall be made welcome.  The boat can be moored to the Priory
+steps, and, Antony, conduct the men to the lodge.  We will see that
+they shall be taken care of.'
+
+The men were glad enough to be so located for a time, for they knew
+well that, however seemingly self-denying and outwardly stern the
+Prior and his brotherhood might be in ceremonious matters of
+religion, there was no lack of good cheer within their walls, and no
+failure in their supply to any whom they made welcome.  Gladly they
+followed Antony, after their master had departed with his daughter
+and the young men for the interior of the town.
+
+They had not long been seated on the polished oaken benches of the
+lofty room, in the interior of Antony's lodge, before they were
+visited by some of the fraternity, under pretence of seeing if they
+fared well.  There was no doubt of that; but the Friar was curious,
+and when did a monk note a stranger of any consequence and not desire
+to know more of him?
+
+'Who is the young man with thy master?' asked the inquisitive Simon,
+as he placed a huge leathern black jug of Prior's ale upon the table
+before Herbert, the pilot.
+
+'That is Master William Latimer, my master's kinsman, from Oxford.'
+
+'Ho! from Oxford! and dost thou know why and wherefore he is come?'
+
+'I know not, your reverence, why or wherefore he is come; but we have
+our thoughts, good father.'
+
+'So have all men, Herbert, so have all men; and I dare say now thy
+thoughts were as much toward thy mistress as towards the young man?'
+
+'I don't know that, father; I seldom trouble my head about things
+that don't concern me; and when I said we had our thoughts, I was not
+then thinking of our mistress.'
+
+'Humph!'--and the Friar seemed a little disappointed--'hath he been
+long at the castle?'
+
+'But three days, father.  He came to see Freston Tower finished and
+adorned, and to bring his presents of learned books to the Lady
+Ellen.'
+
+'And did he bring them for her?  I have heard thy mistress is
+wonderfully clever for her years.  Our young townsman, who
+accompanies them, tells me thus much.  But dost thou know the object
+of thy master's visit to Ipswich this afternoon?'
+
+'We have our thoughts, and it is said amongst us that it is to settle
+about Master Thomas Wolsey's going back with this young learned
+Latimer, to Oxford.'
+
+'Ho! ho! that is it, is it?' and the brother returned from the lodge
+to report to his principal what he had made out of the Lord De
+Freston's visit.
+
+Now there was nothing uncommon in all this, for the monks of Ipswich
+knew everything going on around them.  They had time to talk over the
+condition of every nobleman, and to calculate upon what might be got
+from them, for the benefit of their community.  Prior John had
+noticed the abilities of Wolsey, and, as books were scarce, and more
+valuable than land, and he saw his great love for these, he had
+indulged the youth with many an hour's study in his own cell, and had
+hopes that he would one day be useful to the Priory.
+
+It was the fact that at that very time the party were on their way to
+the house of Edmund Daundy, the wealthiest man in Ipswich, who was
+related to Wolsey, and connected with De Freston.
+
+He was one of the most benevolent-minded men of his day, whose works
+of charity remain to this hour.  Singularly upright, generous, pious,
+and devout, he conceived it to be his duty to devote the first fruits
+of all he obtained to purposes of benevolence, so that no ship
+brought home his merchandise, no speculation answered in which he
+engaged, but he set apart a portion of his profits upon every article
+to a fund for doing good.  His prosperity became so great, and his
+punctuality so conspicuous, and his store laid by for charity so
+accumulated, that he seldom refused the prayer of an applicant for
+his bounty.  He founded schools for the young, alms-houses for the
+aged, a market-cross for traffic, and a chauntry for a priest to pray
+for his own soul and those of his relatives.  His munificence was
+proverbial:
+
+  'If bricks be sold for Daundy's gold,
+  The town of Gypesswick will ne'er be old.'
+
+As much as to say that his wealth could purchase bricks, for which
+Ipswich was then celebrated, more than could be made and used for
+centuries in renewing the town.
+
+His magnificently old carved and ornamented house stood in the very
+centre of the town, in St. Lawrence parish, and nearly fronting the
+then gates of St. Lawrence Church.  It was situated between two very
+opulent mansions, that of John Fastolf and John Sparrowe, gentlemen,
+who, together with the said Edmund Daundy, at different periods,
+represented the borough of Ipswich in parliament.  The family of
+Fastolf had a residence in Ipswich, and at the Haugh, beyond
+Alneshborne Priory; and though they had castles at Caister and at
+Woodbridge, they resided the greater part of the year at Ipswich.
+
+Edmund Daundy, though he had so much interest with the monks of
+Alneshborne as always to have apartments in that Priory devoted to
+him, never deserted his native town, but lived and died in it,
+beloved for every amiable virtue, and deeply regretted when he was
+taken away.
+
+The object of De Freston's visit was to persuade him to intercede
+with Dame Joan Wolsey, or, as it was then termed, Wuley, to part with
+her son for a time, that he might go to Oxford.  There was no kind of
+difficulty, in a pecuniary view; though, had there been such, it
+would have been no disgrace whatever to his after career.  But, as we
+have said, Wolsey was related to Edmund Daundy, a man who was ready
+to serve him, hand and heart.  With such powerful friends as De
+Freston and Daundy, there could be no difficulty, as has been stated
+there was by some writers, in his being sent to Oxford.  All the
+circumstances of the time tend to corroborate this fact.
+
+His father, likewise, was an independent man, upon the most intimate
+terms of friendship with all the leading men and merchants in
+Ipswich, and had no mean estates at the very period when some
+biographers speak of his poverty.  His will is fortunately in
+existence, and is now acknowledged, by all modern historiographers,
+to prove that he was a man of considerable possessions.
+
+He leaves his property to his wife--for his son Thomas had, before
+his decease, intimated his intention of becoming a priest; and this
+may be the reason for the father's 'lands and tenements in St.
+Nicholas' parish, and his bond and free lands in the parish of Stoke,
+being left to his widow, and only a priest's portion, for prayers,
+being appointed for his son in that will.'
+
+The fact was, Thomas Wolsey was an only child, the pride of his
+parents, and the particular hope and delight of his attached mother.
+She had been alive to his disposition from infancy; she saw his eager
+aptitude for learning; she first fed and then encouraged it, and,
+being herself a woman of considerable attainments for her day, she
+rejoiced in the growing fame of her son.  She had, however, taken a
+decided aversion to the priesthood as a profession for her son, and
+fearful lest, by going to Oxford, she should lose him, she had set
+her face against all the suggestions of his friends, and the
+arguments of her relatives.
+
+If prejudice alone had operated upon the mind of this excellent
+woman, she would not have been, as she was, so calmly forcible in her
+decisions against the measure; but she little thought what a powerful
+battery was to open its artillery upon her that day.
+
+The party arrived at the mansion of the wealthy burgess, and was
+welcomed by him with that hearty favor which he always bore to De
+Freston and his friends.
+
+'Right welcome art thou, most noble lord--right welcome to my house
+and home.  I did not expect to see thee, fair maiden, but, as thou
+art come, thou must be a coadjutor in our suit; and, if I mistake
+not, thou wilt carry more weight with Mistress Joan than all our
+united forces.'
+
+The maiden felt a little surprised, and, if truth be told, young
+Wolsey felt a no small degree of joy in the interest excited at the
+moment.  Ellen could not help saying--
+
+'I cannot conceive, my dear friend, how I can have more weight with
+Wolsey's mother than thou hast.  She has been very kind and attentive
+to me in a thousand ways; but she is no kind of debtor to me.  I am
+rather under obligation to her.  Is it not so, my father?'
+
+'She has always shown herself very partial to thee, Ellen, and, I
+must say, has taken a most motherly interest in thy behalf; for, as
+soon as I lost thy mother, she was incessant in her kindness towards
+thee, and recommended that good old faithful nurse, Dorothea, whom
+thou didst lose last year.  Thou art indebted to her likewise for thy
+present maid, Fanny; and she has worked with her own hand, and sent
+thee by this young scholar many a little comfort for the furnishing
+of thy tower.  These certainly are indications, as Master Daundy
+says, of strong predilection; and if those who love us are in any way
+to be influenced by us, I see here a very proper occasion for the
+exercise of that influence which thou mayest possess.'
+
+'And I can tell thee,' added Daundy, 'more than this.  It was but
+last evening I was speaking to her upon the very subject which we now
+discuss, when she said: "If anything could induce me to let Thomas go
+to Oxford, it would be Ellen De Freston expressing a wish that he
+should go."'
+
+A blush mantled upon the cheek of Ellen, as she looked innocently
+enough at Wolsey, and caught his glance of intercession.  The boy's
+whole soul was wrapt up in the interest he then excited.  His own
+heart told him at once the cause of his mother's favor towards Ellen,
+and though he dare not, even to his heart, breathe the hope that she
+would see it--nay, indeed, hoped that she would not--yet he
+entertained a sort of indefinite idea, that she might one day
+perceive that, for her sake, he would do anything.  The youth's
+animated countenance must have quickened her perception, or she was
+struck with the possibility of doing him service, for she replied--
+
+'Could I but think I could persuade her, the effort would be nothing
+for me to make.  I have strong arguments to back me, have I not,
+cousin Latimer?'
+
+'Indeed you have, Ellen!  I will say it before my young friend, that,
+in your letters, you only did him justice.  I did not expect to find
+your descriptive power of character so just as I have found it in the
+talents of this youth.  Thomas Wolsey, you are little aware what an
+advocate you have had.'
+
+If ever Wolsey felt abashed, it was at that moment, yet he found
+words to reply--.
+
+'I know not,' he said, 'how to speak my gratitude to Ellen De
+Freston, or her father.  They have been the brightest fosterers of my
+love of literature, and of every virtue which can prompt a young man
+to exertion.  Should Ellen succeed in her petition to my mother, for
+my father has already acceded to the persuasions of his friends, I
+shall for ever feel indebted to her, and in future years, if my
+exertions should be crowned with success, the greatest joy I can feel
+will arise from the consciousness of the approbation of such a
+friend.'
+
+'Come, then,' said Daundy, 'I can see clearly we shall be able to
+effect our purpose.  I never saw a mother more against her son's
+entering the Church than is Dame Joan.  She trembles, Thomas, lest
+thou shouldst become a priest, and, knowing the restrictions which
+would be placed upon thee, as the child of Rome that thou must then
+become, she fears that thou wouldst be sworn to give away all thine
+affections, and that she should lose thy love, thy attention to her,
+and thine interest in life.'
+
+'I know my mother's fears.  I have, however, endeavored to combat
+them; first, upon the grounds that I never think of becoming a
+priest, though I told her then that it would be wrong in me to make a
+vow that I would not.  Then I have represented to her the field of
+glory open to one who enters the cloister, and would show her what
+fame, what present and future joy, there was in the employment which
+the Pope now gives to all the sons of the Church.  She thinks every
+priest must be lazy, bigotted, and superstitious, and, at times,
+almost makes me think she is, or would be, an heretic.  But she
+shakes her head at me, tells me I am young, that we think differently
+as we grow older, and often take steps too precipitately in our
+youth, before our judgments are formed, of which we afterwards
+bitterly repent.  Now I wish to go to Oxford that I may obtain an
+insight into learning, such as this, my native town, cannot afford
+me.  I wish to study logic and the laws of my country, as well as all
+the literature of this and foreign lands, and I cannot do it better
+than by going to Oxford; can I, Master Latimer?'
+
+'Most assuredly not.  I can be of some service to you, and will, if
+your parents consent.  I am very intimate with Grocyn the learned and
+newly-elected prebend of Lincoln.  He has more influence with
+Magdalen College than any man.  He wishes, most heartily, to
+introduce into that society men of first-rate classical ability; and,
+as he is Divinity Reader there, he has obtained a promise that those
+whom he can recommend for letters, shall be admitted upon that
+foundation.  Now I know Grocyn would be glad to hear from me, and if
+friends here will find me a messenger, I will forthwith write and
+recommend Master Thomas Wolsey; and I greatly deceive myself if he do
+not distinguish himself and gratify us all.  This is what I can do!'
+
+'And, doing this!' added De Freston, 'you will lay us all under
+obligation.  Come, Thomas, your prospects brighten!  I think, with
+all these promises in hand, we cannot fail in obtaining our suit.'
+
+'Then let us no longer delay.  Ellen, as the oldest friend of Dame
+Joan's, I shall offer thee my hand.  We will walk to St. Nicholas.  I
+have but to leave a message for Master Cady, upon the subject of the
+market, and it is not out of our way.  So let us be moving; we shall
+be back in time for our evening meal.'
+
+The party were soon ready, and Daundy and Ellen led the way.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE EVENT.
+
+Strange things occur when we least expect them, and often either
+further or retard the progress of our views so unaccountably, that
+with all our wisdom we could never effect what is often done by
+accident.  We call it accident, or chance, but, call it what we may,
+there are designs fulfilled by man of which he has no kind of
+presentiment; and only after performance are they looked upon as
+providential.
+
+The party, as merry as friends intent upon doing mutual good could
+be, bent their way round by the market-place, where the butchers'
+shambles, a square-built, ancient building, then reared its four
+sides.  It has been misrepresented that one of these stalls was kept
+by Robert Wolsey, the father of our young scholar; but all the stalls
+belonged to hire, which he had received as the security of his wife's
+dower from the wealthy family of Daundy.  The whole of the butcher's
+shambles, which they were then approaching, were rented by the
+different occupiers of Robert Wolsey and just in the same manner as
+any of the great property in Grosvenor Street might belong, upon
+leases, to the Earl of that name; or the property in Lambeth, held by
+lease from the Archbishops of Canterbury, might be said to be the
+property of that See.
+
+It would be unjust to any of the great men who own considerable
+estates in houses, shops, and tenements, built upon their grounds, to
+say, that they were, originally, bakers, butchers, brewers, mercers,
+or hardware men.  Yet upon no other ground was Wolsey's father
+denominated a butcher.  He was a merchant and a man of property, and
+married a lady of one of the highest families, short of nobility, yet
+truly noble in deed.  The party were walking from the market-place
+towards St. Nicholas, where Wolsey's father resided, in a house which
+formed the termination of two thoroughfares now called St. Nicholas
+Street and Silent Street.  They were proceeding in front of the area
+or open market-place by the shambles, just as two surly mastiff dogs
+were growling and quarrelling for a piece of offal which had been
+thrown to them.  They were huge, tawny mastiff dogs of great power,
+and most formidable appearance.  After eyeing each other with savage
+fierceness they flew to the conflict.  Daundy, at any other time,
+would have passed by such savage contests among men, boys, or dogs,
+but having De Freston's daughter upon his left arm, and the animals
+passing a little too near him, bearing each other down, he hurled at
+them a small short stick he had in his hand.  Had he boldly struck
+them, and kept the weapon in his hand, they might have been cowed,
+but as he had inflicted a blow and thrown away the weapon, they
+turned furiously upon him and his companion, who, in an instant, were
+borne to the ground.
+
+One savage seized the loyal burgess by the throat, and though he was
+kicked, and pulled, and beaten by Latimer and De Freston, he
+maintained his grasp.  Ellen was seized by the arm, and the beast had
+already torn her garments, and the blood was starting from his jaws.
+It was then that Wolsey displayed his presence of mind and his
+prowess, for not choosing to waste his time upon the animal's sides,
+he seized a huge shin-bone of an ox, which lay upon the butcher's
+stall, and instantly dealt such a blow upon the mastiff's skull as
+dashed his brains upon the pavement.  He then raised the terrified
+Ellen, who had fainted away with pain, and whilst a butcher, with a
+cleaver, administered the same punishment to the other mastiff, he
+had carried the poor girl into Cady's house, and committed her to the
+care of its good mistress.
+
+Wolsey still kept the shin-hone in his hand, and when his fellow
+townsmen saw him walking to his own house with the weapon, and they
+knew what he had done with it, they would have carried him in their
+arms in triumph to his father's house.  But he had hastened home to
+tell his parents of the accident, and to request his mother to
+provide accommodation for Lord De Freston's daughter.
+
+Dame Joan was by no means content with preparations: she ordered her
+servants to follow with a litter and went at once to Cady's house.
+Ellen was glad to see her, and confided herself to her care.  Daundy
+was most severely bitten in the throat.  It was thought best he
+should go to his own house, while Ellen was conveyed to Dame Joan
+Wolsey's.
+
+This was an arrangement to which De Freston could not do otherwise
+than assent; for, as the dogs were in a state of mad rage at the time
+when they flew at them, it was impossible to say what the
+consequences might be if the patients were neglected.  To Dame
+Joan's, then, his daughter was borne, and, as might be expected, was
+for some days in a state of feverish excitement concerning her wound.
+
+It was a grand hour for Wolsey, and he was proud of that ox-shin
+bone; he called it his friend in need: he had it cleaned, and tipped
+with silver.
+
+'I will never part with it,' he said to De Freston, 'and if ever I
+should be worthy of a coat-of-arms, it shall serve as my crest.'
+
+'It was a brave and judicious act, Thomas,' added De Freston, 'and
+one for which Ellen and I shall ever feel grateful.  Had you not
+killed the mastiff, he might have killed my daughter.  The act is
+worthy of your energy, Thomas, and I should be glad to see your crest
+exalted.  I shall leave Ellen with your mother with as much
+confidence as if she were at home; but I will send her maid early in
+the morning to assist dame Joan's household.'
+
+De Freston had a melancholy return to his castle; indeed, he would
+not have gone at all, had not his daughter requested that he would
+attend to some things which she had proposed doing.  On that
+beautiful evening, Latimer and De Freston took their seats upon the
+stern of the barge, and departed for the castle.  Daundy did well,
+and so did Ellen, who did not forget to intercede with Dame Joan in
+behalf of Wolsey.
+
+'As thou dost urge it so warmly, fair maiden, and dost seem to take
+such interest in the fate of my dear son, Thomas, I will not oppose
+it further: but if he should take to the priesthood, I shall never
+forgive myself, or--'
+
+'Me--thou wouldst say, my dear friend.  But why take such a hostile
+view of the priesthood.  Men of letters, men of wisdom, men of piety,
+men of godliness all enter into holy orders, and I see no reason why
+you should lament, should your son be so resolved.  I heard him say,
+however, that he had no such intention, and methinks you should be
+content with that declaration.'
+
+'I am content, but I dread it, because I know that Thomas is not
+fitted for that sequestered life which the cloister calls for.  He
+is, in his nature, social; in his heart, generous; in his soul,
+ambitious; in his habits, domestic; and if he should find a partner
+suited to his mind, he would be an ornament to his country.  But
+priests must not marry--must not have property--must not love their
+parents--must not dress as other people do--walk or talk as other
+people; but are tutored in ways which appear to me suppressed,
+deceitful, and unfeeling, if not unnatural.  I have but one son, and
+I confess I should like to see of that one a line of honorable
+descendants; but if Thomas should be a priest, I shall blame myself
+for listening to your persuasions.'
+
+'I do but intercede for him as he deserves.  He has gained the love
+of every one here, and possessed himself of all the knowledge here to
+be obtained.  I admire both him and his talents, and should be glad
+to see him a distinguished man.  I am persuaded he will be such; for
+the energies he has put forth in my behalf have shown him to be of a
+strong frame, and the thirst he has for science, literature, and
+languages, proves that these, with proper encouragement, might render
+him equal to some of the greatest men in the land.'
+
+This conversation took place when Ellen was recovering.  Her father
+became her constant companion under the roof of Wolsey; and Daundy
+having been pronounced out of all danger, the parties met somewhat
+oftener.  A favorable answer was received from Magdalen, and it was
+soon agreed and arranged that Wolsey, under the auspices of William
+Latimer, should taka his departure for Oxford.
+
+The very event which afterwards turned to his ill account, among his
+enemies, was looked upon at that day as worthy of all honor.  Wolsey
+took for his crest the arm holding a shin-bone, and in the second
+volume of Edmonton's 'Heraldry,' the arms of Wolsey are emblazoned,
+and a naked arm embowed, holding a shin-bone, all proper, is adopted.
+In other parts of the kingdom, where his arms are found, there is
+also represented the mastiff's head.
+
+It is not likely that Wolsey, so proud a man as he afterwards proved
+himself, and so very particular in all things appertaining to
+dignity, should have chosen for himself a crest which could cast any
+degree of obloquy upon his origin.  Had he been a butcher's son, he
+would either have acknowledged it, or have sought to conceal it.  We
+do not find that he any where alludes to his origin, nor that he
+makes mention of the circumstance which induced him to adopt the
+heraldic emblem of this great deed.  He had his arms emblazoned in
+the days of his prosperity, and before the cardinal's hat superseded
+the shin-bone, in every part of his house the same crest ornamented
+his balustrades, his plate, his pictures, and his canopies.  However
+much this might have been perverted by his enemies, beyond all doubt
+it was chosen by him to denote a brave action.
+
+The following poem is supposed to be written previously to Wolsey's
+departure from his native town.  It was breathed in the solitude of
+his own study, and addressed to her who then held such sway over his
+affections.--
+
+
+  De Freston's Daughter.
+
+  Hail! beauteous creature of thy race,
+  Most glorious in form and grace!
+  In every feature purely bright,
+  Reflecting innocence as light;
+  Calm dignity is on thy brow,
+  Intelligence doth round thee glow,
+  And thou art lovely, and of gentlest kind,
+  My kinsman's daughter, and my kindred mind!
+
+  Fair Ellen, were yon rich domain,
+  Yon castle, tower, and portly train
+  Of serfs and vassals, in their state,
+  Attendant on my nod to wait;
+  And riches of all Europe mine,
+  And thou couldst say, no wealth was thine
+  Then wouldst thou be as much, or more, to me,
+  Than now I wish the scholar were to thee.
+
+  Alone, I'm seated in my cell,
+  My studies weary me unwell,
+  My thoughts distracted, mind no more
+  The beauties of the classic lore;
+  For all I read, or hear, or see,
+  Remind me, Ellen, but of thee
+  And if of thee I can alone have thought,
+  My heart would fain of thee alone be taught.
+
+  Fair Helen was not half so bright,
+  Though heroes for her met in fight,
+  Though Paris lov'd, and sons of Troy,
+  With aged Priam, lov'd the boy
+  Who stole her.  Helen was not fair,
+  If virtues thine with hers compare;
+  For thou, in grace, in modesty, and mien,
+  Transcendent far the far-famed Grecian Queen!
+
+  Thine head is Grecian, brow is high,
+  Expansive as the summer sky;
+  And crown'd with locks of flowing hair,
+  Such as thy mother, Eve, might wear,
+  When first to Adam she appeared.
+  And Paradise of Eden shared;
+  So open, innocent, and calm a brow,
+  None but the purest of her daughters show!
+
+  Thine eyes half shaded by thine hair,
+  Dark flowing down thy forehead fair,
+  Cast forth their beams, inquiring how
+  All things created ought to bow
+  To Him who made them.  E'en of me
+  They ask what worship ought to be;
+  And, when I view them, I confess I feel
+  As if their radiance would make me kneel.
+
+  To see that eye intent on thought,
+  Which learning has in wisdom taught;
+  And see its glance to heavenward bend,
+  As if thy spirit would ascend
+  And bring down answers from the sky
+  To all that seems a mystery:
+  Its swelling orb, as rolling sphere at night,
+  Glitters in aqueous moisture pure and bright.
+
+  Thy form, how graceful! like the fawn
+  Bounding along the spacious lawn;
+  Or, as the lamb at morning light
+  Skips from the fold in sportive flight,
+  Enjoying life, so oft I've seen
+  Thy form light bounding o'er the green
+  To meet me coming.  O! that I could be
+  Ellen De Freston, ever near to thee.
+
+  Oh! if to learning's seat I go,
+  And Fame's bright wreath should crown my brow
+  And honors raise me to the height
+  Of all ambition could requite,
+  And every tongue and every hand
+  Should give me all they could command,
+  Fair Ellen, still I'd lay them at thy feet:
+  Thou couldst alone my happiness complete.
+
+  Whilst now before me visions spread,
+  And seem to crown the aspiring head,
+  And call me from my native town,
+  And drive away the darkest frown,
+  My life has dreaded that alone
+  I should be lost and left unknown:
+  The visions now so clouded which I see,
+  Is lighted up, fair Ellen, but by thee!
+
+  Thou in the distance shining bright
+  Appearest like a speck of light,
+  And brighter as the present cloud
+  The darkened foreground seems to shroud,
+  Whilst full on thee the sunny ray
+  Descends as beaming as the day,
+  When full of glory, I shall see thee shine,
+  And hope to call De Freston's daughter mine!
+
+
+Had this poem but been sent to Ellen before the youth left Ipswich
+for Oxford, it would have explained to Lord De Freston the nature of
+the feelings of the writer; but it was never sent; it was seen by
+Wolsey's mother, and copied, but it was supposed and intended to be
+kept secret by the young aspirant for fame.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+COLLEGE CAREER.
+
+The youth departed from Ipswich with the love of many hearts
+following him, and with no lack of things requisite to make his
+career at Oxford brilliant.  He was introduced by a student who had
+already gained University honors, and was looked upon as a man of
+sound learning and piety, and one eminently calculated to judge of
+Wolsey's capacity.  Wolsey and Latimer were friends under the most
+pleasing circumstances which could possibly arise between two young
+men: congeniality of mind, pursuit, and honor.  The latter, when he
+found Wolsey at Ipswich, covered himself with glory by writing that
+letter to Grocyn, dated April 29th, 1485; wherein he says: 'I have
+found a youth, inferior in years, superior in knowledge; with far
+less opportunity of cultivating the elegancies of literature, yet
+with infinitely greater industry than young men generally exercise
+who have those opportunities.  He has a genius superior to mine, and
+already surpasses me in the acquirement of the Greek language.  I can
+only say for him, what he might truly say for himself:
+
+  "Major rerum mihi nascitur ordo."'
+
+
+Young Wolsey, at Oxford, had a glorious struggle within his soul to
+win the distinction he sought.  His letters to his mother frequently
+breathed the hope that Ellen De Freston took an interest in his
+welfare.  Supposing that this pure motive of distinguishing himself
+had for its object the fair lady of Freston Tower, the course he was
+pursuing was one far more honorable and arduous than the daring
+actions of war or enterprize.  Courage of no common kind, and
+application of the most intense nature, were then inseparable from
+honor.  The means of acquiring knowledge were more clogged and
+difficult than they now are, and the mind of the scholar was far more
+burdened with absurdities than it is in this enlightened age.  But
+all that patience, industry, perseverance, and high talents could
+accomplish, Wolsey performed.  He won every prize nobly, fairly, and
+against men of superior years and longer application, but not of
+equal ability.
+
+In one year, and that the very first in which he went to Oxford, he
+was acknowledged the first man of his day.  So much so, indeed, that
+the president, tutors, divinity reader, and fellows of Magdalen,
+pronounced him fit to enter the theatre against all opponents before
+the termination of that one year's residence at the University.  He
+was permitted to go in for his bachelor's degree after one year.  He
+did so, and was the first man in all academical pursuits, obtaining
+the degree of Bachelor of Arts before his fifteenth year had been
+completed.  Wherever he went, he was designated by the title of the
+Boy Bachelor for it was never known before, and certainly never
+afterwards, that a degree conferred not as honorary, but as actually
+attained by competition, was given to so young a lad.
+
+Wolsey was not young in manners, ideas, attainments, or knowledge.
+It was, singular in him at that early period, and served him well in
+after years, that a certain ease of deportment, of conscious mental
+capacity, and quiet expression of countenance, gave him a commanding
+influence among men of years, station, and power.  He appeared,
+whilst at Oxford, to be a man whose wisdom had the command of all his
+passions, and who was never betrayed into any excess of bad taste, in
+manners, morals, or general conduct.  He gained the good will of so
+many that it was impossible for him or any one not to feel elated in
+some measure at his success.  Little did the world know how deeply
+moving in his young soul was the thought that Ellen De Freston would
+be gratified with his progress.
+
+Nature, love, honor, truth, and grace, shone in his course as he
+strove to gain a reputation that should place his name above all
+plebeians who moved upon the world's surface.  Virtuous feelings were
+at that time so cherished in his soul, they commanded the inmost
+movements of his heart.  Though his parents watched his onward
+progress, and were delighted to recount to Edmund Daundy, their rich
+relation, the great and rising fame of their son--though the meed of
+imputation was given him by all his Ipswich friends, yet he anxiously
+looked for sympathy and encouragement in the daughter of De Freston.
+
+Is there any period of life more fraught with love and hope than when
+the scholar gains his first distinguished prize? when youthful
+competition fairly tests his abilities, and honor, like the sun,
+rises in golden grandeur before him?  He feels the warmth of the
+praises bestowed upon him, and hopes that his dearest kindred may be
+gratified.  Perhaps he has a hope that one, whom he is ambitious of
+pleasing, may be captivated with his talents, and reward him with a
+sweet smile of approbation.  There is no disgrace to any young man in
+being so prompted.  His affections being pure, his views will be
+exalted.  Thrice happy is he if his whole life's struggle shall be a
+steady impulse of this kind, capable of so existing to his latest
+hour.  There are few such young aspirants who, in their day of youth,
+can see through the transient troubles of their tide.  It seems to
+them as if it would flow on, and on, and on, and never turn.  Alas!
+the ebb must come, and the stream of life decrease; the channel must
+become narrower and narrower, the waters of life diminish, until,
+becoming a small calm rivulet, it vanishes into the ocean of futurity.
+
+At times, Wolsey was, in his younger days, subject to depression of
+spirit, arising either from too great application to study, or from
+that more probable cause, the heart-yearning sickness after the
+object of his affection.
+
+Soon after Latimer was made Fellow of All-Souls, and Wolsey elected
+Master of Arts, the former entered his friend's apartment in
+Magdalen, and found him in this melancholy meditative mood.  It was
+no easy thing at such times to rouse him, for though constitutionally
+robust, and mentally powerful, having made most surprising progress
+in logic and philosophy, he would be sometimes so depressed as to be
+unfitted for the duties of his station.
+
+He filled various offices in his college from the year 1488 to 1495,
+before he took orders, and was extremely active in superintending,
+even before he was elected master, the progress of youth in the
+schools belonging to the college; but at times he would confine
+himself to his rooms, and endeavor to conceal from his most intimate
+friends this depression.
+
+The fact was, that in his letters to his mother he had sought for
+some favorable report of Ellen De Freston's interest, and, if
+possible, a word of attachment which might inspire him with hope.  At
+that period the communication between Ipswich and Oxford was only by
+pack-horses and special messengers.  Young men did not often visit
+their friends during their academical career; and, if progressing
+favorably at the University, they were content to let their relatives
+perceive their affection by their devotion to the studies of the
+place.  Had any letter from his mother given him encouragement to
+come home, Wolsey was not the man to delay.  It was when he was in
+one of these abstracted moods, that Latimer came to announce to him
+that he was going to Ipswich, and thence to a foreign country, to
+Padua, the seat of learning, especially of perfection in the Greek
+language.
+
+'I must visit Freston Tower again,' he said; 'can I not convey some
+token of your regard for old and early associations?'
+
+'Are you really going to my native town?' he answered, apparently
+with deep interest.  'Yes, my friend, I would have you call and see
+my parents, and commend me to them.  Tell them I want for nothing
+here; that I send my duty, love, and greeting, and hope that they
+continue in health.  Commend me also to my old friends Daundy,
+Sparrowe, Cady, Smart, and Tooley, and tell them all that I am so
+mindful of their early fostering care of me, that I will not forget
+their bright example of encouraging learning--that I am devoted to
+it, and will do my best endeavors to promote it at Ipswich.'
+
+Here he paused, and Latimer replied--
+
+'And Lord De Freston--and Ellen! no message for them?'
+
+'Yes, yes!  I have a message to the former.  Tell De Freston that I
+never forget him; that I am very proud of all his congratulatory
+letters; that I think of his castle, of his lovely tower, of the
+beautiful banks of the Orwell, of his love of literature.  Yes!
+convey this, my first prize, to him, this beautiful edition of the
+first New Testament ever printed, which was in the memorable year I
+came to Oxford.  Tell him, from me, that I have proud pleasure in
+sending by your hand such a token of my regard.'
+
+He took down from his book-shelf a splendid edition of the Novum
+Testamentum, Nicolai De Lyra, beautifully bound in vellum, with a
+Latin inscription upon the exterior of the cover, to Thomas Wolsey,
+scholar of Magdalen.
+
+This work had every capital letter throughout its pages illuminated
+with blue and red paint.  The text is superb, and the marginal notes
+elaborate, and beautifully printed at Nuremberg, in the year 1485.
+
+'And what for Ellen, Thomas?'
+
+'Ah, Latimer!  What can I send her?  I must confess I would gladly
+send my whole library, if you would take it, in token of the happy
+days we have spent together in De Freston's Tower.  And you will be
+there, Latimer, participating in the joy of such a scene and such a
+mind!  Oh! how dull, how dark, how dismal, do these cloisters appear
+compared with my walk along my native banks, and Ellen De Freston's
+converse and company.  Those were bright days, most bright and
+glorious days; I would I could be with you, but it cannot be!  I must
+perform the duties I have undertaken.  Speak a kind word for me to
+Ellen, and say that the scholar never forgets his instructress.  Tell
+her she is as a polar star to my existence, and that the
+newly-discovered power of the needle and magnet points not more truly
+and constantly to each other than my regards to her.'
+
+'Do you love her, Thomas?  Will you commission me to tell her so?
+And shall I mention the matter to Lord De Freston?'
+
+'No! no! no!' replied Wolsey, hastily.  'You must not say so much,
+not exactly that; that would not be what I would commission you to
+say to that beauteous creature.  I am not in a condition of life yet
+to employ an ambassador for such a purpose.  This, however, you may
+state--that I shall count it the happiest day of my life when we meet
+again.'
+
+'I will repeat it for you, Wolsey, with all my heart.  In the
+meantime, despair not.  You have a great deal to do in the
+University; let it be done with vigor.  I will speak you fairly to
+all your friends, and most fairly to the fairest.'
+
+'You are indeed my friend, Latimer, in this, as all other cases.  I
+have had all the honors Grocyn could heap upon me, through your
+recommendation, and how shall I repay you for your friendship?'
+
+'Wait until I ask you, Thomas, and when I do, may it be such as you
+can perform.  I have now to urge upon your friendship only to
+remember that I am constantly your friend.'
+
+'When I forget that, may I forget father, mother, and friends; even
+Ellen De Freston herself; and as I can never do that, so can I never
+do the other.'
+
+And thus they parted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+ELLEN AND HER SUITORS.
+
+Whilst Wolsey was pursuing his honorable career at Oxford, and paving
+his way to future fame, the maid of Freston Tower was not less
+honorably distinguishing herself for every amiable virtue.  During
+the greater portion of the year, the graceful building was her daily
+resort.  Not that she neglected the duties of society; for she became
+the ornament of De Freston's Hall, and was celebrated for her beauty,
+her learning, her piety, and accomplishments.  There were few who
+really knew her but loved her.
+
+She was received, as she had every right to be, among the noblest and
+wealthiest of the land, and now that she had arrived at an age when
+the last trace of girlishness vanishes in the graces of womanhood,
+she commanded much homage.
+
+The fair sex, though not in that day remarkable, generally speaking,
+for the cultivation of letters and for the most part precluded from
+scientific pursuits, had as great a sway over the persons and manners
+of the age, as they have at this day.  Fair ladies were highly prized
+in the land, and stately and ceremonious were the attentions paid to
+them in public, however much neglected in the castle.
+
+The bloody wars between the houses of York and Lancaster had now
+terminated; and in the persons of the reigning sovereigns, Henry VII.
+and Elizabeth, the contending families became united, and this
+example was beginning to be generally followed.
+
+As soon as these differences were terminated, that is in the
+following year, the first rose-plants were cultivated in England.
+All the flowers which the friends of the opposing parties wore were
+sent over from the continent: there might be some exotics, but not
+till the wars of the roses terminated did the banks of the Orwell,
+and Ellen's garden, exhibit plants of both the red and white rose,
+and hers were some of the earliest planted in England.  Not for
+thirty years after did they become generally cultivated throughout
+the country.
+
+Ellen grew to womanhood beloved.  She was not only admired, but she
+was sought after by many who courted an alliance with the family of
+De Freston.  She was an heiress too of no mean possessions, as well
+as of high connexion.  Had she been disposed to wed highly and merely
+for nobility of blood, the De la Poles were accounted sufficiently
+noble to claim equality with any in the land.  Independently of
+estates, of good personal carriage, and fine countenance, she
+possessed a mind like a diamond of great value, fit to make its
+possessor incomparably happy.  Nor was she without suitors, led to
+her by the fame of her beauty, her acquirements, and her fortune.
+
+Lord Willoughby, of Farham House, in the county of Suffolk, was one
+of the first to endeavor to create a sympathy in the fair maid of
+Freston Tower for his own person and establishment.  He was a frank,
+independent nobleman, of gallant mien, and ever deemed the foremost,
+whether with horse and hound, or helm and spear.  He was lofty in his
+carriage, vain of his person, and proud of his feats; and according
+to his ideas, whoever he took to be his wife must be considered to
+have acquired infinite honor by the alliance, and must observe an
+obsequious servility before him: for, an equal in a man he could
+scarcely brook; and, as to a woman, though Ellen might be his wife,
+she must never expect to be his equal.  She had wisdom to perceive
+this, and declined the proffered honor.
+
+Lord Ufford, from Orford Hall, a man of gaunt figure, approaching to
+gigantic stature, broad shoulders and expanded chest, with vast
+domains in the county of Suffolk, became a rough and formal suitor
+for the maiden's hand.  This nobleman was remarkable for having a
+most unsightly countenance; but having a fine castle on the banks of
+the Aide, and considerable territory on the sea-coast, together with
+rich lands, woodlands, highlands, lowlands, and sands, he was a kind
+of autocrat whose word was not to be disputed.
+
+Camden relates a curious circumstance of a sea-monster being caught
+by some of his villains, while it was basking upon the desolate
+shores of the Aide, not a great way from Orford Ness.  Old Ralph de
+Gogershall, from whom Camden takes the tale, says, the monster went
+directly out of the sea, and through the river, up to the gates of
+his castle, and was there captured.  It was most probably a species
+of seal--perhaps a stray walrus from the northern regions.  Having
+been borne by its captors to the castle, Lord Ufford had a strong
+cage made for it by the sea-side, and took great delight in feeding
+it with fish, and such watery sea-cale as grew upon the North Vere.*
+Hence grew preposterous tales of his attachment to this monster,
+which, it was reported, had a head so much like his lordship's, that
+the latter must have been a most marine-looking animal.
+
+
+* A large desolate track of shingle and clay, separating the river
+Alde from the sea, upon which the Orford Lights now stand.
+
+
+He went to pay his court to Ellen, but as may readily be supposed, he
+was not successful.  On the day that his suit was refused at Freston
+Tower, the sea-monster escaped and was heard of no more.
+
+Richard Fitz-john, of Dunwich Castle, and the noble Rous, of
+Dennington Hall, though barons not upon very friendly terms at that
+time, were both suitors to the maiden of Freston Tower; but neither
+successful, though both were men of high honor and renown.  Felton,
+of Playford; Naunton, of Letheringham; Corbett, of Assington; and
+brave Sir William Coppinger, whose fame for living like a lord became
+proverbial, were numbered among the aspirants.  The first wanted
+temper.  The next, though famed for deeds of munificence, had a very
+uncultivated mind; and the last Ellen considered would love his table
+more than his wife.  So they were all rejected.
+
+Sir Thomas Crofts, of Saxham, a man as proud of his person as of his
+estate, did what he could to win the lady to his mind.  He had much
+knowledge of letters to aid him, but was so personally vain, he could
+scarcely control himself when Ellen, not consenting to admit his
+pretensions, told him, she was herself proud, very proud; and,
+therefore, must decline his offer.
+
+Fitz-Gilbert, the first Earl of Clare, came to see if he could
+persuade the maiden to join her fate to his.  He was skilful in war,
+and equally skilled in music: and there were other things in which
+few could bear comparison with him.  He was elegant in mind and
+person, yet he pleased not Ellen; and he took his rejection so to
+heart, that music became distasteful to him; and not until he heard
+of Cavendish's unsuccessful suit, did he become reconciled to his own
+loss.
+
+One of her greatest suitors was John Mowbray, from Framlingham
+Castle; a man so high and mighty, that he thought, with his splendid
+establishment, any woman would be glad to accept him.  He cared not
+for books, or science, taste, or mind.  He left such things to those
+who had any inclination for them.  A rich dower he could offer, and
+he did not calculate upon having a refusal; but he was mistaken.
+
+Cove, of Covehithe, a very honest unassuming man, of good property,
+noble heart, and generous blood, made an offer of all he possessed;
+and Ellen much admired his principles and character, but did not
+accept him.  Neither did she accept Sir John Bouville, Sir James
+Luckmore, nor Warner, of Wammil Hall.  Tendering, of Tendering Hall,
+met with no better success--Lanham of Lavenham equally failed.
+
+Sir Robert Drury, who could break swords as well as words, and use
+both dexterously, was not sufficiently persuasive with his words to
+obtain the maid of Freston Tower.  Neither Kedington nor Jermyn of
+Raesbrooke succeeded.  If valorous conduct could have won her William
+Lord Helmingham must have been successful; for none of the warriors
+of Suffolk were braver than he.  Sir Richard Broke, of Nacton, was
+his equal, but excelled him, neither in the warlike field, nor in the
+lady's bower.  Sir Edward Edgar, of Glemham, was one of the last of
+the bold but unsuccessful Suffolk suitors.  And now it was that
+people began to think she had sworn to live and die a recluse.  But
+Ellen De Freston was not a cold and cheerless maiden, who evaded
+society and friends, and shunned her fellow creatures like a nun.
+She delighted not in the cloister to read books and tell beads, and
+to kneel before the Prior in the confessional, and vow allegiance to
+the Pope of Rome.  Ellen was possessed of such true nobility that she
+was never afraid of losing or compromising her own dignity in
+conversing with a gentleman, though he was not so highly bred, but
+better read than many a noble.
+
+She was alike benevolent to all who visited her father's mansion, for
+life and love were in her soul, and she could behave ill to no one.
+She well knew the ignorant phantoms and fallacies of her day; and
+though she conformed to the church in most of its observances, she
+was by no means an admirer of its tricks and follies.  She read the
+Bible in Latin and Greek; and drew therefrom the just laws of God,
+and could separate the dross of superstition from the good seed of
+religion.
+
+There were few nobles at that time who ventured to think for
+themselves concerning matters of religion.  The Church of Rome, or
+rather the Papal power and its hierarchy, had obtained such dominion
+over the landed gentry, merchants, and squires, that the care of the
+soul was left to the priest, and to obey human penances, human
+penalties, human obligations, with the sanction of ecclesiastical
+authority, was the all-sufficient devotion of the period.
+
+Few read the Word of God to improve their souls.  A superficial
+knowledge of the events of Scripture, so that the plays and holy
+representations, in the shape of acting or pictures, might be
+understood, was considered sufficient for any nobleman.  Letters,
+learning, literature, and the love of God, were all mere names, fit
+only for the monasteries, abbeys, priories, and religious houses in
+the kingdom; and, as long as men paid their offerings at Easter, and
+gave alms to the poor, told their beads, said their Ave Marias,
+Paternosters, and attended matins, vespers, or saints' days, they
+were considered godly men by the priest.  And who else, on that day,
+had any right to say whether a man was fit to go to heaven or hell?
+
+Ellen, however, determined that the man who aspired to her hand
+should have some knowledge beyond the mere externals of religion.
+However brave he might be in the face of the foes of his country,
+however expert in single combat in the tournament, she would have
+nothing to say to him unless he had learnt to combat internally with
+the sinful propensities of his heart.
+
+It was this secret, which she kept in her own breast, that induced
+her to dismiss so many suitors for her hand.  She boasted not of her
+own knowledge, her own perception, or her own requirements; but she
+did manage to try those who came to court her, by that beautiful test
+of humility which she had herself, in the midst of a superstitious
+age, so piously adopted.
+
+She received all the friends who, according to the custom of the age,
+came to pay court and suit.  She accepted their introduction at the
+hand of her father, and, during the three days allowed for her
+answer, never once appeared to shun the society of the hall, or to
+converse with these nobles; but in that period she contrived to
+ascertain, beyond all doubt, whether the man who was to be her lord,
+had for his Lord the God of truth, love, and charity.
+
+She felt this to be her privilege; to endeavor to use every exertion
+before she bound herself for life to any man, to find out his
+religious principles, and whether or not God was his acknowledged
+head; for she was well assured of that truthful doctrine: 'The head
+of the woman is the man, and the head of the man is God'; and if she
+could not look up to her earthly lord as one who looked up to his
+heavenly Master, she felt she could never expect to be happier than
+she was, and resolved, until such was the case, that she would remain
+single.
+
+She was neither haughty, cold, proud, nor censorious, but, having
+been taught good principles, she was very firm in the maintenance of
+good resolutions.  She despised not nobility, ancestry, honorable
+distinctions, birth, parentage, valour, goodly person, manners, nor
+acquirements; she only preferred good, solid, sound sense, humility,
+and a right dependence upon God; not so much in words, but in life,
+character, conduct, and actions.  She considered faith best shown by
+works such as these; and if she found them not, she did not value the
+possessor of any other qualities, as having those qualifications to
+render her earthly career comfortable.
+
+There were many who, if they had understood this secret bent of her
+youthful mind, might have tried the tricks of hypocrisy to have won
+the prize; but, to the honor of that age, such species of hypocrites
+were then very few; and though, they may now be discerned more
+quickly than they were, yet true love only can possess the power to
+perceive the arts of the pretenders to religion.
+
+There were some in that age who were such bigotted adherents to the
+mere outward forms of sanctity, such devoted slaves of the papal
+domination, that, had they known Ellen's secret, would undoubtedly
+have set her down for a heretic, and in revenge for their dismissal
+might have given information to the ecclesiastical authorities, who
+then interfered with the consciences of men as much as they did with
+their temporalities.
+
+This would have seemed to them but a mere species of duty which they
+owed to the church; and it was no difficult thing then for men to
+drive away every species of natural affection, however innocent or
+virtuous, under the idea of doing God service.  Frequently the most
+malignant passions were vented in what was thought to be holy ardor.
+
+Even Ellen would have been sacrificed to the demoniac frenzy of a
+bigot, had she consented to be the wife of some of those whose
+consciences would have allowed her to have been made a just victim to
+the fiery stake.  So powerfully operated that hideous principle of
+man, trusting his conscience in the hands of fallible man, without
+making the Word of God the ground-work of his direction.
+
+It is true that nothing but the superiorly-gifted and
+superiorly-educated mind of the maid of Freston Tower could have led
+her to adopt the course she did in this selection of a husband.  It
+was wisdom, indeed, in her not to divulge the principle she acted
+upon to any one but her enlightened father, but, confiding in his
+honor, love, and wisdom, she had no fear of exposure.  He was too
+true a father, too fond a parent, and naturally too noble a minded
+man, ever to demand of his daughter a sacrifice which she could not
+willingly, with her full consent, approve.
+
+Lord De Freston too dearly loved, valued, honored, and respected the
+child whom he had educated, to bias her affections.  One thing he was
+quite sure of, that she would marry a gentleman and a Christian, and
+he was content to leave the matter to the direction of His hand who
+governs and orders all things for man's felicity.
+
+It was not to be supposed that the Baron of Freston Castle had no
+pride of ancestry.  He had as much as his contemporaries.  He was a
+man who could uphold the appearance of a noble by as much internal
+dignity and self-composure as any of the judges of the land; but he
+was a man enlightened enough to perceive that nothing unnatural could
+be acceptable to the God of Nature.
+
+He found in the revelation of God everything virtuously natural
+upheld, that corruption only had instilled false principles of
+superstition, which alike defied the laws of nature and of God.
+Though he admired the devotions of piety, he abjured the horrors of
+fanaticism; though he honored men of learning, he despised not the
+ignorant; and only when he found fools claiming, or rather arrogating
+to themselves superior godliness, and showing it in the condemnation
+of others, did he venture upon open rebuke and expostulation.  His
+zeal was even then tempered with such manly discretion that the
+censorious fanatic, confused before the noble, could not but
+acknowledge that he might be wrong; yet seldom, though defeated,
+would he turn and say, 'I am benefited'; such is the difference
+between rebuking a wise man and a fool.
+
+No wonder, then, with such a father, Ellen should feel confidence in
+maintaining her own right to judge for herself in that event which,
+for good or evil, is certainly, with all who do enter into its bonds,
+productive of misery or comfort.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE CONVERSATION.
+
+If there is in England a spot where hill, wood, and water, without
+being too expanded, can be just sufficiently extensive to be
+enchanting, it is the view from Freston Tower over the waves of the
+Orwell.  No poet can fail to imbibe the purity of nature's thoughts
+when seated in or near that spot.  The very sight of the drawing of
+the Tower called forth the feeling of some descriptive stranger,
+whose words are thus recorded in the history of Ipswich:
+
+  'Who can o'er thy summer tide,
+  Winding Orwell, ever glide,
+  Nor with raptured eye confess
+  Many scenes of loveliness,
+  Spreading fair thy banks along,
+  Subjects meet for poet's song?
+  But the scene I love the best,
+  Here is faithfully express'd
+  By the artist's skilful hand,
+  Mightier than wizard's wand:
+  Yes, old Freston, stern and gray,
+  Looking o'er the watery way,
+  Hath for me more charms than all
+  Wooded park or lordly hall!'
+
+
+The tower only is now standing, but how long it may continue to grace
+the Orwell no one can tell.  In these utilitarian days, almost every
+mark of ancient elegance seems to be giving way before the desire of
+making money.
+
+Ellen De Freston was seated with her father in the fifth room of
+Freston Tower, in the bay-window, looking over the waves.  She had
+seen her parent's anxious eyes diverted from his wonted study, and
+restlessly wandering over the banks of the river, evidently not
+surveying the scene with any interest, but ruminating in his mind
+over some thoughts which engaged his soul.
+
+'Father, I perceive you are in deep thought, but not upon the work
+you are reading.'
+
+'Nay, my child, it is the work I am reading which makes me
+thoughtful--deeply thoughtful; for it astonishes me to see how near
+to the language of inspiration a heathen writer conceives to be the
+value of the soul.'
+
+'Ah! my father, what are the sentiments which have moved you so
+forcibly to meditation?  I see you are reading the ancient treatise
+of Longinus, "On the Sublime."'
+
+'I am, my daughter, and will read to you part of the 44th section.
+It is so extraordinary a description of the prevailing sin of man's
+nature, especially where Mammon reigns supreme, that had Longinus
+composed it for the very worst and most abandoned days of the world,
+he could not have placed our corruptions in a stronger light!'
+
+'Is not this grand and sublime, my daughter, and fit for any
+Christian pastor's discourse?' said Lord De Freston.  'How wonderful
+is it, that man, uninstructed by the Gospel, should have so perfect
+an insight into the value of our immortal souls!'
+
+'It is, indeed, sublime: and I thank you for reading it; but can you
+be surprised, dear father, estimating, as you do, the sublime
+qualities of the soul, that I should not marry for money?'
+
+'I did never urge you so to do!'
+
+'No, dear father; but I have seen some anxiety about you lately;
+intimating that I should not send every suitor away from the castle;
+that I might as well live like an anchorite in this tower.'
+
+'I have been anxious for your happiness.'
+
+'I know it well, dear father; and if ever I find a mind like your
+own, you will have no cause for regret that I am married.  You have
+made me dainty in this respect.  I cannot wed lord or squire, unless
+I find myself capable of acknowledging him to be my head; one who
+will regard me, not for my personal estate or appearance, but for my
+mind: that as we steer our course through life, we may mutually
+respect each other, that I may reverence him for his good qualities,
+and he may cherish me as his companion in the ways of wisdom and
+virtue.  For if my lord, whoever he may chance to be, can never bend
+his ear to hear my words, and I cannot aspire to read his soul, how
+can I feel the true control of love?  The hand, if bestowed without
+the heart, and without a sufficient respect for the superior
+qualities of the soul, can never secure happiness, at least to an
+educated mind.'
+
+'It is not for me to say, my dearest child, that your visions are
+fanciful; that you are building castles in the air, and looking for
+too great a degree of perfection in a sinful man.  I own the truth of
+what you have said respecting the power of the mind.  But may not
+contentions arise in the dispositions of intellectual people, and
+produce much discord?  You will never find the soul so free from the
+trammels of earthly things as you desire it to be.  You raise up an
+imaginary being, and make him possess impossible qualities.  Good
+nature, grace, a manly port, and open countenance, with noble deeds,
+and a good name, are surely not to be despised.'
+
+'Nor do I despise them, dear father!  They may win many a maiden, and
+are undoubtedly great and noble qualities: but years of culture have
+so much refined my mind, that I cannot be content with ordinary
+natures.  Cavendish is a nobleman, and more learned than Lord
+Willoughby; I own that Lord Helmingham is brave, and so is Kedington.
+Drury, of Arwarton, is a wise man in his way, and I greatly honor Sir
+Richard Broke.  Mowbray is incomparably grand, but where would be the
+delight of being his Sultana?  No, father, your love is infinitely to
+be preferred.  I would not change it, for all the honors of a
+duchess, if my tongue were never to be permitted that kind of
+interchange of expression upon the best things of life, which I now
+enjoy in your society.  I am contented; I never murmur; I am as happy
+as I wish to be; only let me remain so.'
+
+'I never wish to urge you, my child, into any precipitate marriage.
+You have been so affectionate a daughter, and so dear a companion,
+that without you I should have been miserable.  Yet I am not so
+unreasonable as to desire that you should remain single on my
+account.  I know you will lever marry any one who is unworthy of De
+Freston's daughter.'
+
+'Father, I will only say, I hope not.  This I promise, that even if I
+should see the object like yourself in mind, and he should be a
+suitor for my hand, I will never wed him, though he were as rich as
+Crœsus, or as poor as Lazarus, without your full consent.'
+
+'Say no more upon the subject, my child.  I know your heart; it burns
+pure and spotless in your life.  I do not wish to chain your will, or
+to choose for you; nor even to recommend, much less to urge a suit
+which you could not approve.  I will still hope, that before my sun
+of life has gone down, I may see you settled with the object of such
+affection as you can bestow; a joy to yourself, an honor to your
+husband, and a comfort to your father.'
+
+'Without such hope I will never marry.--How lovely is the day,' she
+added, as if to change the subject: 'and how beautiful, in the full
+flood of this summer sky, appears the silvery light upon the waves of
+the Orwell.  Dear father, I imagine no moments of this life can be
+more pleasant, more truly grateful, than when I contemplate the
+features of nature, and find a tranquillity within, that cheers me
+with the hope of one day enjoying far brighter scenes.'
+
+'You are young, my dear child, and though learned in many works, and
+constantly employed in the cheerful studies of nature and religion,
+you know but little of the struggles of life, which thousands have to
+make.  You may see something of them among the poor, but you are not
+aware of many thousand trials to which men of the highest grades of
+society are exposed.  Scarcely one of those books which so delight
+us, and expand our intellects, but was produced in poverty and
+sorrow.  And even now, at this very time that I am speaking, I fear
+that the passions and prejudices of men will not suffer the truth to
+prevail without a struggle severe, even unto death.'
+
+'Truth will prevail at last, however.  As it is so powerful, it will
+shine more gloriously through the very clouds which would obscure it.'
+
+'You are right, my child; but as yet you know but few hardships.
+Your days smile, your nights are bright like the stars, and you view
+everything with the eyes of innocence.'
+
+'You seemed inclined to reprove me for my too great sensibility in
+the matter of the dead dolphins; but that very weakness proves that I
+saw not with the eyes of indifference the cruelties of mankind.'
+
+'That is rather an extreme case, my child.  In the world you will
+find persons still more cruel in the persecution of their own
+species; and could you bear such scenes?'
+
+'I know not if I may ever see such; I will not anticipate them, but
+will trust that, should they come, I may be prepared with strength of
+mind to endure them.'
+
+'Spoken as I would have you speak, my daughter, and like yourself.  I
+wish for nothing more than such fortification for myself or you.'
+
+At that moment an announcement was given, that a messenger from
+Goldwell Hall (or, as it is now known, Coldwell or Cauldwell Hall)
+had arrived at the castle.
+
+'I suppose,' said Ellen, 'that Bishop Goldwell has arrived at his
+palace of Wykes; and yet the messenger, I hear, is from Goldwell
+Hall, the seat of his deceased brother.  We shall have to fulfil our
+engagement, father, and visit him in Suffolk.  Alice--the proud and
+stately Alice--is to accompany him, and she was very kind to me when
+I was but a child.  We have not seen them for a long while.  She will
+scarcely know me.  I wonder, my father, we have not heard from our
+cousin, Thomas Wolsey, lately.'
+
+'I hear that William Latimer is on his journey hitherward, and will,
+beyond all doubt, be the bearer of letters to us from the far-famed
+Boy Bachelor, as I hear he is called.  Thomas has plenty of ambition
+in his character, and will one day prove himself a remarkable man.'
+
+'He might, I think, have been courteous enough to keep up his
+correspondence.'
+
+'In this, perhaps, he was ungracious; but I can imagine a youth like
+Wolsey rising by his own brilliant talents, and concluding that even
+our attentions to him were solely on their account.  Let us not judge
+him unfairly.  We shall hear of him from our cousin Latimer, and I
+have no doubt it will be good news.  He cannot forget us, any more
+than we can him.'
+
+'But we must prepare to visit the Bishop.  He may, for Alice De
+Clinton's sake, visit the old hall of his brother but our invitation
+is to the palace, and we shall there find that open house and
+hospitality for which Goldwell, the able Secretary of State and
+Bishop of Norwich, is so celebrated.  We have much to do, for we must
+go in state, else Alice, should she be with her uncle, would scarcely
+condescend to own us.  Let us, then, leave the Tower; one farewell
+look at the lovely scene, and then for Wyke's Bishop's Palace!'
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+THE PALACE.
+
+The palace of the Bishop of Norwich, then commonly called Wyke's
+Bishop's Palace, was one of the most splendid buildings in the whole
+of East Anglia.  It was built in those early days when the men of God
+were also, alas! compelled by ignorance to be men of war; who, though
+loving peace, had so many temporal possessions in estates, and fines,
+and properties of various kinds, that they were expected to defend
+them with armed men, instead of with the sword of the Spirit, or the
+Word of Truth.
+
+The building was of very ancient date, and was castellated and well
+fortified with bastions at eight different points, surrounded by a
+moat of great width, with a huge drawbridge on the western front.  It
+was situated in a beautiful valley, surrounded on three sides by
+hills of considerable height, even now called the Bishop's Hills, and
+in what was then called Ufford's Dale, in which were the celebrated
+Holy Wells, where pilgrims came from all parts to visit the font St.
+Ivan, said to have the effect of curing every disease.
+
+The castle, as it might be very properly called, had four
+watch-towers, in which were windows looking towards the four points,
+north, east, south, and west.  In no other part of the structure,
+save the warder's room over the great gateway, was there any window;
+for this building had withstood many an insurrection, and many an
+incursion of the furious Dane, and was not only a Bishop's palace,
+but, in the ninth century, one of the strongholds of the townsmen of
+Ipswich beyond their walls.
+
+There was a great square in the centre, into which all the apartments
+of the palace looked, so that it was not until the visitor had passed
+under the great arch that he could conceive the beauty of the
+building, or form any idea of the extent of its accommodation.
+Externally, its character was sombre, having battlements on all
+sides, enlivened only by the watch towers, plain walls, strong and
+thick, though in its latter days, in the time of which this history
+treats, symptoms of decay began to be visible in various parts, where
+landslips from the springs around had caused considerable
+inclinations of the buttresses.  Still the inside of the area was
+kept up in all the characteristic state of Goldwell, Bishop of
+Norwich, the last of the possessors of a palace at Ipswich.
+
+A small creek at that day ran up the valley in which the palace was
+built, and approached so near it that a boat could ascend from the
+Orwell almost up to the moat.  That creek does not now exist, but in
+its place there are magnificent fish-ponds, and the ancient stream is
+diverted to a use very foreign to its original purpose.*  But the
+palace was not half so grand in its appearance as its stately inmates.
+
+
+* The Cliff Brewery.
+
+
+Goldwell Hall, which then belonged to Bishop Goldwell and was so
+called in his lifetime, was the marriage portion of one of his
+sisters, who married Geoffery De Clinton, of Castle Clinton, near
+Linton, in Cambridgeshire.  He was a wealthy noble, as well as proud,
+and had but one daughter by this marriage, though he had two sons by
+a former wife.  He married Alice Goldwell when he was much advanced
+in years, and could scarcely expect to see his young offspring arrive
+at womanhood.
+
+In consequence of this, and of the loss of his partner, the Lady
+Clinton, he left his daughter to the sole guardianship of Goldwell
+(then Secretary of State) her maternal uncle.  He left the income of
+certain estates in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire, to the
+Bishop, as long as his child should live and remain single, and then
+to be given to her as her dower; and in case of the demise of the
+said Bishop and his niece, then to revert to the heir-at-law of the
+family of Goldwell.  The Bishop's private chapel then stood on the
+opposite side of the hill on which the mansion was built.
+
+Alice De Clinton, the particular care of the Bishop of Norwich, grew
+up under his superintendence a most magnificent woman to look at; so
+much so, that she was generally called Alice la Grande.  She was very
+stately in her person, and always wore a haughty expression of
+countenance.  She was quite a drawback upon the hospitality of
+Goldwell; yet, strange to say, she possessed a great degree of
+influence over the Bishop.  He was liberal beyond what was usual in
+his day, and was never but once betrayed into an act of persecution,
+and that was in the case of one single heretic, John Bahram, whose
+death-warrant he countersigned not many months before his own exit.
+
+Goldwell was not in spirit a persecutor: he had been possessed of
+very high influence in affairs of State, and was a learned and
+liberal-minded man.  He who was not to be deceived by courtiers,
+could be commanded even by his niece, and yet be blind to her power.
+He was proud of her, but it was because she was proud of herself, and
+would brook no equal.
+
+Her pride was so great as to be proverbial; and most persons were
+glad when Alice De Clinton was not at the palace.  She would yield to
+none--not even to her uncle, the opinion she had once adopted.  With
+neither priest nor squire of inferior degree would she ever exchange
+a word, though he might be a visitor in the palace, receiving the
+hospitality of the Bishop.  Her hauteur was so great that none but a
+lord must speak to her; or if they did dare to do so, her uncommon
+expression of disdain was enough to silence any humble-minded man.
+Her bounty to the poor was never bestowed from pity.  She gave the
+boon, whatever it might chance to be, as a gift after partaking of
+high mass; but none could possibly feel that relief of spirit which
+acknowledged the blessing was due to the giver, since she would make
+every one to understand he was much more blessed in receiving than
+she was in bestowing.  Alice De Clinton gave with such haughtiness as
+to make the gift painful; so much so, that whenever she visited
+Goldwell Hall, in the neighborhood of Ipswich, it was called by the
+poor _Cold Hall_, so stiff, so benumbing was the influence of her
+miscalled charity.
+
+To the palace of Wykes, in that day, came many of the unfortunate,
+who, in the previous wars of the Roses, and in foreign as well as
+domestic broils, had been reduced to become objects of bounty.
+House, home, board, and lodging, the weary pilgrim and broken-down
+stranger would always find at the hospitable palace.  Those were days
+at least of generosity in this respect, whatever pride or
+superstition might be connected therewith; and, singular as the
+custom would now appear, the Bishop never sat down to his meal at
+mid-day without the company of every stranger in the palace.
+
+Alice had been an inmate of De Freston's castle with her uncle in the
+early days of Ellen's childhood; and such was the meekness of the
+daughter of De Freston that even the proud Alice condescended to look
+upon her as a friend; but it was certainly as a friend beneath her,
+one to whom she might show a kind of patronizing air without any
+compromise of her dignity.
+
+Years had elapsed sines the maid of Freston Tower had been summoned
+to visit Alice De Clinton.  The messenger, however, had arrived at De
+Freston's castle, and the lord and the lady prepared to set forth
+upon their journey.  In those days no carriage came sweeping round to
+the hall-door with their prancing steeds, and gold-laced coachmen and
+footmen; but ladies rode on horse-back, or were borne in covered
+litters to their places of entertainment.  Horses 'with flowing tails
+and flying manes,' dressed with gorgeous trappings and high saddles,
+came from the stables to the mansion.  There was no lack of
+attendants, for a noble then counted his state by the number of his
+retainers.
+
+Ellen and her maid, on palfreys of beautiful jet black, were soon
+ready for the journey to Wyke's Bishop's Palace.  Lord De Freston, on
+a milk-white horse of uncommon strength, one he had received as a
+gift from Lord Willoughby, from Hanover, accompanied his daughter,
+whilst a train of servants preceding as well as following, all
+mounted on black steeds, made him and his Snow-Ball, as he was
+called, so much the more conspicuous.
+
+His horse had eyes so full of fire, and nostrils so expanded, that he
+looked well adapted for the battle-field.  But he was now upon a
+visit of peace, and to a peaceful man: and his cavalcade left the
+castle accompanied by men bearing all the usual luggage which such
+state visits required.
+
+De Freston, indeed, infinitely preferred the journey by water; for he
+was too sensible a man to delight in the mere pageantry of
+appearance, yet he was not insensible to the customs of his age.  He
+had, however, a daughter in whom he delighted, and the thought that
+Alice De Clinton, who loved the forms of etiquette, and would blush
+to see any one she called _her_ friend lowering herself by
+condescension, would be affronted were he to forget the dignity of
+his barony, induced him to take the journey with all his retinue.
+
+They descended the Freston Hill, which was then the boundary of the
+park, and swept along the strand, toward the Bourne Ford, where,
+following the guide who knew the passage, they dashed through the
+briny flood, and paced along the levels of Stoke, the tide of the
+Orwell actually washing their horses' hoofs, as if they were riding
+along the sea-shore.  So beautiful and so clear were the waves of the
+river which then washed the banks of its course, that the receding
+tide left a sand almost as clean as that which borders the German
+Ocean.
+
+So high were the waves at that time at the Prior's Ford, between St.
+Peter's Gate and Stoke, that the party had to sweep round beside the
+narrower stream of the Gipping, and pass over the Friar's Bridge
+before they could enter Ipswich.
+
+The town was at that time celebrated for its religious houses, Grey
+Friars, Black Canons, White Monks, Benedictines, Carmelites, and all
+manner of brotherhoods and botherhoods of papal Rome.  Mendicants of
+all descriptions accosted the industrious with a boldness such as no
+beggars dare in these days assume, for fear of the treadmill.  But
+the terrors of Rome were much greater upon the priest-ridden yet
+industrious Britons than ever the treadmill could be to the vicious.
+Those who were sanctioned by the Pope to beg, carried along with them
+a mandate which few dared refuse to obey.  The anathemas of the
+church were then bestowed with such a plentiful outpouring of bile
+upon such trivial subjects, too, as would have made Longinus laugh at
+the sublimity of their pompousness.  But men trembled then with
+scarcely any conscience, for absolution had its pecuniary price, and
+could be purchased for sins, past, present, and to come.
+
+The holy brethren at the Friar's Gate bent lowly to De Freston as he
+gave them his salutation, and passed on through St. Nicholas Street,
+past Robert Wolsey's house, down to St. Peter's Priory, along the
+warder's way, over the Bailiff's Customs Quay, through the parish of
+St. Clement, into the hamlet of Wyke's Ufford.  The cavalcade then
+proceeded on what was termed the procession-way, leading to the
+shrine of St. Ivan, from which they digressed on the broad Palace
+Road to the Bishop's Gate.
+
+The whole party soon passed over the drawbridge, then under the
+warder's arch into the area of the palace, where the verger, with the
+silver and golden ornaments of office, stood prepared with a number
+of serving-men to receive the noble.
+
+'Here, my men,' said De Freston, after he had assisted Ellen to
+alight, 'ye will refresh yourselves and horses, and then set forth
+upon your return by the way ye came, and see that ye keep well
+together, and enter into no broils with any one.  Ye will be in
+readiness for your summons for our return whensoever ye receive
+command.  Pass on!'
+
+De Freston and his daughter passed into the presence of Bishop
+Goldwell, who was seated in a chair of state at the upper end of a
+long and vaulted chamber prepared for their coming.
+
+He rose, his step was proud and stately, and his large and noble eye
+glanced a penetrating look upon the noble.  Goldwell would maintain
+in private the same dignity which he was accustomed to show in
+public.  He was gracious though grand; his manner mild, bland, yet
+becomingly distant.  Though a man of state, he was also a man of
+ease, and showed what was due to his own person, and what he expected
+even if he did not deserve it--which he did as much as any other man
+could.
+
+He received the Lord De Freston and his daughter with such a
+courteous manner, as only to seem himself to be proud before his
+household.  With the most paternal air he accosted Ellen, receiving
+her hand at her father's request, and led her to a seat, and, with
+great politeness, welcomed De Freston to his palace.
+
+'Fair daughter!' he said to Ellen, 'this visit to my niece affords us
+both infinite pleasure: we have sought it many a day; but I scarcely
+think that Alice will be able to recognise thee; for thou art grown
+up from childhood to such form and feature that I should not, but for
+the likeness to thy father present, have discovered thee to be his
+daughter.'
+
+Then, turning to the father, he added--
+
+'I am proud to see thee, De Freston, maintaining thy years with
+becoming verdure.  Time has laid his hand upon me, and the cares of
+state have borne me down.'
+
+'I hope the years of peace yet reserved for your reverence may make
+amends for all your state anxieties.'
+
+'I thank thee, De Freston, but let me send for Alice at once.'
+
+The Bishop rang a small bell; a female made her appearance, and was
+ordered to inform her mistress that Lord De Freston and his daughter
+had arrived.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+THE RECEPTION.
+
+Alice De Clinton had been made acquainted with the arrival of Lord De
+Freston and his daughter, even before they had made their appearance
+in the presence of the Bishop.  She was engaged in her own private
+apartment, working a cross for the altar of the chapel of Goldwell
+Hall, when her maid informed her of the arrival of the expected
+guests.  She scarcely raised her head from the embroidery to receive
+the tidings.  She ordered her maid to hand her some threads, and
+pursued her work.  It was neither her custom nor her inclination to
+do otherwise.  She had actually received the Bishop's message before
+she condescended to lay aside her work.  None, however, of those she
+called her friends were more highly esteemed than Lord De Freston and
+Ellen.
+
+She rose in due time, with perfect composure, from the embroidery of
+the cross, and leaving the work as if she intended to pursue it again
+after a pause, came very slowly, and with great state, into the
+presence-chamber of the Bishop.
+
+Alice was handsome.  She had a remarkably fine face and figure, but
+her beauty was of that nature which the eye can look upon with
+wonder, without feeling any degree of affection.  She was like some
+of the finely-chiselled figures of the ancients, admirable to look
+upon, but cold indeed to touch.  Nay more, when she approached the
+party assembled in the palace hall, so pale, so stately, so
+immoveably placid, fixed, settled, cool and composed was the smooth,
+white face of the maiden, that, she looked more like beauty in the
+winding-sheet of death, than a creature of life, whose veins
+contained a circulating fluid, warm from the heart.
+
+She approached to meet her guest; not a smile passed over her
+features.  Her high and lofty brow, with its wintry air, formed a
+strange contrast to the sunny brow of the happy Ellen.  The frozen
+expression of one face contrasted with the glow on the features of
+the other.  That eye, too, so large, so glassy, and so stern, was
+strangely opposed to the beaming vivacity of Ellen's.
+
+Ellen received the salutation of Alice with that ease which innocence
+and virtue ever maintain in the presence of pride.  She knew the
+dignity of Alice, and left her to bend as she thought fit, whilst she
+retained her standing place, leaning on the arm of her noble father.
+The haughty maiden broke the silence; but with words that rather
+confirmed than altered the position of pride she had assumed.
+
+'Thou art changed, indeed, maiden, since I knew thee in thy childish
+years.  I can scarcely believe thou art Ellen De Freston, but that I
+see the lord of Freston Hall supporting thee.  I must forget, I
+presume, the day I found thee playful as the young fawn; since, now I
+behold thee grown up to woman's estate.  Thou art Ellen De Freston,
+art thou not?'
+
+'I am the same Ellen, Alice De Clinton, as I was when, in the days of
+friendship, you condescended to treat me as your companion.  I am
+unaltered in heart.  I have often thought of your visit to my
+father's hall, and have longed to see you there again.  I hope we
+shall soon know each other better.'
+
+This reply had the effect of somewhat thawing the icy distance
+between them, for the haughty Alice gave her hand to Ellen, and led
+the way back to her own apartment, leaving the Bishop and Lord De
+Freston to converse upon politics or the more eloquent theme of the
+day, the growing plant of heresy, as it was called, which then began
+to spring up in Ipswich, and in various other parts of the diocese of
+Norwich.
+
+'I am much concerned,' said Bishop Goldwell, 'to observe the
+increasing propensity to heresy which seems to be spreading far and
+wide throughout the kingdom, unsettling the minds of our people, and
+inducing them to call in question our authority as agents of the See
+of Rome.  Thou knowest well, De Freston, that I hold my churchman's
+station as far preferable to my worldly state; that the supremacy of
+the Holy See over all causes ecclesiastical is part of my
+acknowledged creed; that, looking upon the Pope alone, as Christ's
+vice-gerent upon earth, is vicar-general, who has the power of St.
+Peter's keys, to loose and bind, to curb dissent, and to give
+absolute decision in cases of dispute, I refer every difficult case
+to his court, and rest contented in my own conscience with his
+commands.  There are two youths, now inmates of my palace, come on
+purpose to plead with me, concerning the state of their consciences,
+and to ask my ghostly counsel and advice.  One of them is of such
+amiable deportment, such gentle manners, and of such godly fear, and
+disposition to respect his superiors, that I cannot refuse to admit
+him to an audience, and to argue with him upon the state of his mind.
+He speaks with ease and fluency; but I discover much strong prejudice
+under this quick manner, and I know not how to root it out.  Thou art
+learned, De Freston, and canst, perchance, afford me some assistance,
+for thou art a true churchman.'
+
+'I hope I am, my lord, without being a blind one.  I know the
+liberality of your mind, and that you have seen more of men of wisdom
+and letters than most men now living; and I think that you act as a
+Bishop ought in giving audience to a conscientious man.  There are
+many innovations crept into the church by means of the supineness of
+the clergy, and the love of money in the higher powers, which you
+know, as well as I do, ought not to have been admitted.  So many
+fraternities joined to the Papal power, and receiving therefrom a
+sanction for their superstitions, may, perhaps, have created a
+jealousy in the minds of some, which may require much soothing to
+correct.  I heartily wish, churchman as I am, that many of the
+miscalled relics of the priories, and the absurd fallacies of
+miscalled pious customs, were done away with.  What is the name of
+this disputant who has sought you, and whence does he spring?'
+
+'The youth I speak of is John Bale, of Cove.  He is a Carmelite of
+the strictest order of mendicants, claiming his descent from the
+prophet Elisha; rigid and austere in his deportment, and yet so
+humble, and enlightened in letters, I heartily wish his conscience
+was not so tender.  It burns him, he says, so sore, that he cannot
+help complaining to his Bishop, and seeking, at my mouth, some
+consolation.  When I argue with him, he hesitates not to tell me how
+far he admits my authority, and how far he disputes it: prays my
+patience towards himself, and towards my own self when he states
+where he thinks I am wrong.  He says he prays for me, that I may see
+the error of my ways, and may come to the full truth.  They cannot
+conceive in Rome to what state things are coming in England.  I fear
+that these two men, John Bale and Thomas Bilney, are incorrigible
+heretics.  As they claim the privilege of asking my advice, I can but
+be courteous towards them.  I only wish they would attend to my
+suggestions, and be obedient to my mandates.  Thomas Bilney, the
+other disputant, is a man of warm temper though of very clear head.
+I have asked some of my clergy in this town to meet them at the hour
+of noon; and as thou dost know that I admit all kinds of addresses
+without fear of persecution, loving, as I do, discussion, thou wilt
+probably take part therein, and I am sure with discretion.'
+
+'If, in the least degree, I ventured to give my opinion, it would, I
+trust, be on the side of that which I consider truth.  If these
+scholars be not too profound for me, I shall take some interest in
+the discussion, having thought very deeply upon the prevailing
+notions of the times.'
+
+A servant came at that moment to announce a stranger to the Bishop,
+and to deliver a note to Lord De Freston.
+
+'Ah!' exclaimed the noble, 'I have notice of a visitor to your
+lordship's palace, who, though unexpected here, was not totally
+unexpected by me at my home.  He will be quite an acquisition to the
+interest of the discussion, as he is a learned theologian from
+Oxford, alike eminent for his modesty as well as his superior
+attainments.'
+
+'Who is the stranger?'
+
+'It is William Latimer, the friend of the celebrated Grocyn, and of
+the Ipswich scholar, now so distinguished at the University.'
+
+'Latimer I have heard of, and I know Grocyn well.  I presume thou
+dost refer to the Boy Bachelor, whom I have heard of--Thomas Wolsey,
+the son of one of the best tenants I have for the Priory Farm at
+Alneshbourne.'
+
+'The same, father, the same, and will you permit me to welcome to
+your hospitable palace, this friend of mine?'
+
+'Any friend of thine, De Freston, shall find a welcome here, even
+were he not the learned man thou hast represented him to be.  Pray
+bid him welcome.'
+
+The lord followed the servant to the corridor, and there he found
+Latimer waiting.
+
+The greeting was of that kindly nature which had ever subsisted
+between the family of the Latimers and the De Frestons.  De Freston
+was, indeed, attached to Latimer, as a superior in experience and
+wisdom would be to a young friend whom he patronized.  Yet De Freston
+felt a degree of attachment to him, peculiarly interesting for his
+daughter's sake; for, to this young man's perception, plan, and
+proposition, was owing the health, happiness, and comfort of his
+child, through the daily course of intellectual employment to which
+she had become an assiduous and habitual devotee.
+
+'I am glad to see you, Latimer, but sorry it is not in my own hall;
+but you can go on thitherward before our return, for we must stay our
+appointed time here.'
+
+'I heard, in my route, that you were a guest of Bishop Goldwell.
+Knowing his hospitality, I did not hesitate to wait upon you here, as
+I should have found even the beauty of your castle and the lovely
+Freston Tower insipid without their cheerful tenants.'
+
+'The Bishop gives you welcome, and, to say truth, I am doubly glad
+you are come, for I want your aid.  Come with me into my private
+room: I have some minutes of discussion which I would share with you
+before we enter the hall of reception.'
+
+The domestic in waiting soon showed the friends the apartments
+prepared for De Freston; and there, for a few minutes, did Latimer
+converse with his relative upon the all-important matters of the day.'
+
+'First tell me of Wolsey!  He seems to have forgotten us.  How is the
+youth, and does he not send us his greeting?'
+
+'I am the bearer to you of his first prize at Oxford.  So that you
+see he renders to his early patron the first fruits of his success.
+He has sent by me a very valuable Testament, the earliest which has
+issued from the press.'
+
+'I said he would not desert us.  He has been very silent of late, and
+Ellen and myself were fearful lest he was ill.'
+
+'Wolsey is well!  I have delivered letters to his parents and friends
+in Ipswich.  This one is for you; and I can assure you and Ellen that
+you both live in his heart and memory.  He has great cares just at
+the present time, having undertaken to superintend the schools of his
+college.  He is extremely anxious in mind, and though with no bodily
+ailment, yet, at times, I fear the intense application which he
+bestows upon study should affect his spirits.  He is sometimes
+depressed by this over-anxiety, beyond what is usual in youth.  It is
+then I talk to him of home, Ipswich, and yourselves; this rouses him
+and he revives.'
+
+'You should have persuaded him to have come with you, the change
+would have done him good.  We always remember your mutual visit to
+the Tower.'
+
+'I did endeavor to persuade him, but he has a high notion of duty.
+He spoke with enthusiasm of the Tower: told me he never had such
+delightful days as those which he spent there, and dwelt upon them
+with so many sighs, that I am sure the Isis, which passes close by
+his college window, is, in his eyes, insignificant compared with the
+Orwell: still he says Oxford is his theatre of action, and he will
+not leave it until he has seen certain works he has undertaken
+completed.'
+
+'Ellen will be glad to hear you speak of him, for she has certainly
+accused him of being proud, negligent, and almost ungrateful.'
+
+'He is not the latter, though I will own there is too much of the
+former in his composition.  She would not think him either had she
+heard him deliver to me the message of remembrance which he gave.'
+
+'Of these things you must convince her.  We must prepare for the
+public banquet hour; and, but that I know your readiness, I should
+tell you that you will be rather put to it for wisdom, since, at the
+Bishop's table this day, you will meet, I suspect, some stormy
+disputants.  One thing in Bishop Goldwell I greatly admire--his
+hospitality to strangers.  Whilst, at the same time, such is his
+courtesy and kindness towards his inferior clergy, that I believe he
+would support the poorest at the expense of his mitre sooner than see
+him wronged.  He rules them not with a rod of iron, but maintains his
+own dignity, whilst his sons in the church look up to him with the
+assurance of protection.'
+
+'I have heard this spoken of him; but I have heard also that he is
+swayed greatly by the influence of his niece, who is not the
+counterpart of his reverence in suavity.'
+
+'You have heard right, but you must judge for yourself.  Come and
+see, for the hour of meeting him approaches.'
+
+The friends were soon in readiness, and descended together to the
+grand banquet-hall of the Bishop's palace.  It was a spacious
+chamber, more than one hundred feet in length, with six windows of
+Gothic architecture and stained glass, representing six different
+periods of the world.  The first, the Temptation in the Garden of
+Eden; the second, the Flood; the third, the Sacrifice of Abraham; the
+fourth, the Delivery of the Law; the fifth, the Building of the
+Temple of Solomon; and the sixth, the Crucifixion.
+
+The designs were much more splendid in colors than in conception, for
+singular contradictions of unity existed in all the windows.  A
+lady's lap-dog, with a bright gilt collar round his neck, was found
+in the garden of Eden; Abraham had philacteries on his forehead and
+robes; in the Flood, some monks with crosses were seen descending
+down a rushing cataract; in the Delivery of the Law, Moses had a
+mitre on his head; at the building of the Temple, there stood several
+orders of the Roman Brotherhood celebrating high mass, and so many
+impossibilities of fancy crowded into the ornamental portions of the
+sides of the windows, that it was difficult to say what they were.
+Still the light gleaming through the different colored glasses had a
+brilliant effect at noonday.
+
+Thirty guests were expected.  The Bishop's chair was at the centre of
+that long table, and his own family of friends were to be seated on
+his right and left hand, whilst, on the opposite side, were ranged
+the seats of strangers, travellers, pilgrims, or any who might chance
+to claim the hospitality of the palace.  These all waited in a
+spacious receiving-ward, where there was water to wash their feet,
+and clean apparel, if required.  A peep into that room would have put
+to flight all the ideas of modern luxury and modern notions of
+hospitality, even in a bishop's palace.
+
+Various monks from distant parts were there--with various priests of
+various parishes, who came to pay their court to their diocesan.
+Those who came without express invitation were all received into this
+apartment, and prepared for the table of the Bishop.  They had to
+wait with the rest, be they who they might, and were never seen or
+heard until the hour of public entertainment.
+
+In the common room were waiting, amidst friars, pilgrims, monks, and
+mendicants, Thomas Bilney and John Bale, men who, at that day, took
+advantage of the opportunity offered them to speak without reserve to
+Goldwell, who was generally looked upon as friendly at least to
+intellectual discussion.
+
+The noon-bell sounded long and sonorous, so that, in all parts of the
+town, strangers knew that it was the hour of hospitality, and,
+whoever was so disposed, might pass the drawbridge and partake of the
+benediction of the Bishop, sure to find a seat at his board, an
+attentive ear to his history, and, if he had any cause of complaint,
+promise, if he lived within the jurisdiction of the diocese of
+Norwich, that his suit should be attended to.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE RECLUSE.
+
+In the days of Bishop Goldwell, and towards the end of the existence
+of the palace of Wyke's Bishop, there lived a man who came from a far
+country, and took up his solitary abode at the head of the little
+stream which rose from the side of the hill, in the valley of Utford.
+He had existed twenty years in that secluded spot, and was never
+known to shave his head or trim his beard in the course of that
+period.
+
+In an age when superstition reigned supreme, and the poor dejected
+sinner knew not how to worship God in spirit and in truth, without
+flying from the face of men, and seeking something in solitude; in an
+age when the ministers of Rome taught that penance was meritorious,
+the self-immolating sacrifice of solitude became the surest way to
+obtain the crown of the saint; and many were the conscience-smitten
+convicts who were urged to depart from every tie of life, and give
+themselves up to the sternest impositions of devotion.  They would
+retire from the world, live in a cave, kneel a certain number of
+hours on a hard stone before a cross in the wall of their cells, eat
+just enough coarse bread to keep life from departing, and drink of
+the water from some fountain sacred to their fancy.
+
+Amongst the ignorant, these men were looked upon with the most
+profound veneration, were esteemed paragons of excellence; the most
+virtuous, the most pious saints upon earth.  Their names were handed
+down to posterity, their deeds mentioned with respect, whilst they
+themselves deceived their own hearts with the ideas of their own
+fancies for divinity.
+
+At the period of this narrative there existed a devotee of this kind,
+who went by the title of St. Ivan.  He boasted his descent from
+Hurder the Dane; and, because his father, grandfather, or
+great-grandfather had been stolen, when a child in his mother's arms,
+and carried away by the chieftain, Hurder, during a Danish incursion,
+he called himself of Danish extraction.  There was an Ivan de Linton,
+who originally built the chapel of Wyke's Bishop, and appointed
+priests to chaunt a requiem therein, for his father's soul, who was
+saved in the battle with the Danes upon Rushmere Heath, and died in a
+cottage or cave where an old man lived, at the Ufford Dell.  A wild
+descendant of this Ivan came from Cambridgeshire, and became the St.
+Ivan celebrated for his solitary eccentricity.  He was a physician in
+the latter part of the reign of Henry V.; so that he must have been
+an old man when he retired from the world.
+
+For twenty years he administered advice to all who came to him, and,
+as he recommended abstinence for a certain number of hours previously
+to his consideration of plethoric diseases, he obtained wonderful
+celebrity for the cure of the Holy Waters from St. Ivan's Spring.
+Thus the spot was called, and, to this day, bears the name on the
+Holy Wells.
+
+This old man used to perambulate the Bishop's palace every day.  He
+never entered its walls, because he used to say that, when he did so,
+they would fall down, because the palace had been built upon the site
+of the chapel of his forefathers.  He was greatly respected by the
+inhabitants of Ipswich, as pilgrims from all parts came to be healed
+at the well of St. Ivan.
+
+From time to time, as the old man went his rounds, perambulating the
+moat of the castle, he observed, as many others might have done, had
+they as regularly frequented the spot, indications of danger in the
+walls of the building; for the banks of the moat on the castle side
+began to press more and more into the waters, evidently showing that
+a settlement was taking place which must one day be destructive to
+the edifice.
+
+From year to year he had observed these signs, and no doubt expected
+to behold the demolition of a palace which he considered an
+innovation of his rights.  For the twenty years he lived there, this
+was the theme of his prognostication, whenever any friend or stranger
+visited his cell.  His ominous declarations had rather increased with
+his latter years, as the slips into the deep moat became larger.
+
+Lord De Freston had often visited this eccentric man, and finding
+something more in him than the delusions of ignorance, he made great
+allowance for his vagaries.  He found him communicative and
+well-informed upon all historical subjects, though pretending to be
+wrapt up in abstruse fallacies.  He humored his fancies, and received
+from him far more honest disclosures than such men are apt to make.
+But upon the subject of the fall of Wyke's Bishop's Palace, he found
+an uniformity of opinion that made him doubtful of the man's sanity.
+Little, however, did that nobleman know of the daily calculations of
+St. Ivan, and perhaps, had he been aware of them, he would have
+equally doubted their accuracy.
+
+A friendship certainly subsisted between them, which was nurtured by
+the kind heart of De Freston; for, unknown to the recluse, he
+employed poor people, from whom alone the hermit would take anything,
+to supply him with gifts of bread and viands whenever he could
+understand they would be received.  Kind acts are always, one day or
+other, rewarded, let them be done by whom they will; whilst unkind
+ones will as assuredly meet with bitter reflections, if ever
+retribution visit the offender.
+
+Noon, as was stated at the end of the last chapter, was the hour of
+hospitality at that day, when men were less hasty to be made rich,
+and could afford the most wakeful hour of the day for public
+entertainments.  Now, indeed friends visit each other at hours when
+their ancestors were about to retire for the night.  But the hour of
+noon that day was a busy hour in the palace of Wyke's Bishop.  It was
+alive with people passing and repassing, as the dinner-bell in the
+lofty turret kept up its peal.  A joyful sound, indeed, to many a
+poor priest, who was melancholy only, on the prescribed day of
+fasting, when he was bound to keep in his own cell.
+
+Many of the wealthiest townsmen were expected.  The mayor, burgess,
+and portmen, together with their wives and daughters, were to be
+partakers of the hospitality of the Bishop.  Understanding, as they
+soon did, that Ellen De Freston, the amiable daughter and heiress of
+the Lord of Freston Tower, was to be there, they assembled with far
+lighter hearts and livelier countenances than if they had no one to
+meet but her contrast, Alice De Clinton.
+
+There came also, at the invitation of Bishop Goldwell, the priests of
+St. Peter and St. Lawrence, the priests of St. Mary at the Tower, St.
+Mary near the Elms, St. Saviour, St. John, St. Margaret and Trinity,
+then held as one, and of St. Michael, which stood upon the borders of
+the town wall.  These were all assembled in the great hall, or
+banquetting-room of the palace, and took their seats previously to
+the entrance of Bishop Goldwell.  The table was so arranged, in the
+shape of a section of a roof, that the Bishop was seen, as it were,
+from every part of the board, and could himself see every one of his
+visitors.  He could thus be addressed by any one without
+inconvenience, and every speech could be distinctly heard.
+
+As the Bishop entered, the numerous company rose.  His reverence
+came, accompanied by the bailiffs of the ancient borough and their
+friends, together with all such as were acquainted with Lord De
+Freston.  There was Edmund Daundy, Thomas Smart, Robert Tooley, John
+Sparrowe, and several others, twelve in number, who entered from the
+palace reception-chamber into the hall.  The Bishop led the way in
+state, followed by Alice and Lord De Freston, Daundy and Ellen,
+Latimer and the bailiff's wife, and other couples, who were escorted
+to their seats with all-appointed etiquette.
+
+Lord De Freston sat on the right hand side of the chair, or throne,
+and next to him sat Alice De Clinton, at whom no one could look
+without being struck with her cold and haughty dignity.  Next to her,
+to his discomfort, sat William Latimer, who was in every respect a
+gentleman, at perfect ease with himself and others, though far from
+obtrusive.  A daughter of the house of Sparrowe, a very ancient
+family in Ipswich, sat on his right, and then several of the
+burgesses of the town, the priests, and travellers, mendicants, and
+strangers, to the end of the table.
+
+On the left of the Bishop sat Edmund Daundy, and next to him Ellen De
+Freston, and next to her John Sparrowe and others invited as friends,
+and then Thomas Bilney, John Bale, and several of their friends who
+had come with them, to hear what advice the Bishop would give in
+those troublesome times.
+
+The 'benedicite' was chaunted by the priests, and the company
+arranged for the feast partook of the celebrated hospitality of that
+princely bishop, than whom Norwich never, in those Popish days,
+before or after, had a more truly liberal prelate.  He was a man with
+a great degree of knowledge of men and manners.
+
+He professed not a liberality he did not practise.  He was consistent
+in his conduct, and did not condemn the ignorant.  He courted not
+popularity at the expense of public principle, nor made friends of
+the private enemies of the church in preference to the encouragement
+of his own clergy.  He regarded the conscientious scruples of others,
+permitted free discussion before him, and gave his opinions and
+advice with judgment and discretion.  He was superior to the times he
+lived in, and was much beloved, both in private and public.
+
+Whilst the Bishop was entertaining his company, St. Ivan, whose hour
+for perambulating the walls of the palace had arrived just as the
+bell had ceased, descended from his cave.  He bound his loose vest
+round his loins, and, taking his staff in his hands, began his walk
+down the stone steps from his dwelling.  The old man always knew
+everything going on in the palace.  The poor who visited him could
+tell him the characters of its inmates, and frequently they described
+the haughty maid in her true character.  He had that day heard of the
+arrival of Lord De Freston and his daughter, and was observed to be
+more than usually stirred in his mind at the circumstance.  He paused
+as the palace came in his view, and shook his long white locks from
+his forehead as he surveyed the walls.
+
+''Was it for this,' he exclaimed, 'that my venerated sire built on
+yonder site the Chapel of Ufford, that wassail and waste might come,
+and the pomp, pride, and state of a Bishop's See might be gathered
+therein, to greet the nobles of the land, and the inhabitants of this
+town?  Did he, for the space of a whole year, kneel day by day on the
+cold stone with which he laid the very foundation of his chapel?  Did
+he dedicate the same to the saints, and vow to heaven one half of his
+wealth to build a holy temple, where priests should pray day and
+night, and the holy fire should be kept burning upon the altar?  Was
+it for this, that, over his bones which lie there, a Bishop should
+hold his court, and invite all the world to partake of his
+hospitality, whilst I, the descendant of the founder, should be
+doomed to live in the sandstone cave of the Holy Wells, and to see
+the inheritance of my fathers thus polluted?  But it will not be for
+long.  Those walls will fall.  They have not long to stand, perhaps
+not a day.  I must look to it again.'
+
+It was in this strain that the recluse indulged in his own peculiar
+view of things, and entertained a morbid hope that he should live to
+see the fall of Goldwell's palace walls.  He indulged in a propensity
+for the superstitious, and, like an ancient sage, spoke in an
+oracular manner, as if positive of nis own inspiration.  He was,
+however, much more hopeful from his earthly view of the state of the
+building and its adjacent ground, than from any second sight that he
+possessed, and this he hastened that very day to indulge.
+
+St. Ivan, reverenced as he was by all the ignorant, and even
+respected by the learned, was not much regarded by the monks of St.
+Peter's Priory, or the abbots of Bury, on account of his utter
+detestation of their absurd relics, and silly pretensions to things
+they called sacred, which were of no estimation in his eyes--such as
+the shirt of St. Edmund, one of his sinews, his sword, the parings of
+his toe-nails, and other things to which they attributed great
+sanctity; drops of Stephen's blood, a piece of the real cross, the
+coals which broiled St. Lawrence, pieces of the flesh of saints and
+virgins, St. Botolph's bones, St. Thomas-à-Becket's boots, penknife,
+etc., skulls, candles, crosses, and such a variety of holy things,
+one and all of which St. Ivan, like a wise man, laughed at.
+
+Though the monks were jealous of him, and some termed him heretic,
+others entertained a superstitious dread of him, which he well knew
+how to manage.  The learned fraternity of Alneshborne alone paid him
+any respect, and he used to tell Lord De Freston that these
+Augustines were the only monks he ever knew good for anything.
+
+The old man was kind to all.  The austerity of his manners was
+softened by any case of humanity in distress; and it is supposed that
+a disappointment in his life, either in ambition, love, or
+professional celebrity, led him to the lonely cell of Ufford's dale.
+In that day, religion was so clouded with oral traditions, vain
+external ceremonies, and exclusive dogmatical pretensions to superior
+gifts of healing, miracles, and works, that real faith and godliness
+were things almost driven from the earth.  No wonder, then, that a
+man who had perception enough to see so much dishonesty should be
+driven into himself for notions of duty and worship.
+
+There was deep anxiety in his countenance as he glanced into the
+rippling stream from the Holy Wells, and took his way down its
+pebbly, shingly, and craggy sides towards Wyke's Bishop's palace.
+His foot was firm, his eye bright, and except the trembling of the
+hand as he placed his staff upon the ground, but little could be
+discerned of infirmity.
+
+His path lay on the outside of the moat, and was so worn by twenty
+years' perambulations, as to have created a path, known as St. Ivan's
+path; few would walk in it, and hence the old man's observations upon
+the sinking of the walls, and the encroachings of the turfy bank,
+though strictly marked with willow twigs, were unnoticed by others.
+
+That day, all his landmarks were bent prostrate with the waters, and
+with consternation, increased by previous anticipation, he observed a
+certain tremulous motion of the waters, ebbing from beneath the
+castle side of the bank.  For a moment he stood aghast.  He knew well
+what was going on in the palace, the number of souls therein, and the
+imminent danger which awaited every one then feasting at the Bishop's
+board.  Recovering himself from his surprise, humanity prevailed over
+every other consideration, and the thought of so many perishing
+induced him to hasten his steps round the moat.
+
+As he went on, his keen perception became more alarmed, for he
+perceived that the fall of the palace must quickly come.  His
+agitation increased to such a degree, that he could not move quick
+enough, and men were surprised to see St. Ivan, hitherto always slow,
+calm, and gentle, with his hoary hairs and well-composed walk, now
+stepping short and quick with extreme trepidation.
+
+His heart seemed swollen within him; his agitated spirit, now that he
+saw the near accomplishment of what he had been looking for so long,
+was dreadfully disturbed.  He knew it would be in vain to tell the
+warder, the gardener, or the serving men.  He knew they all
+understood that he would not pass the draw-bridge lest it should fall
+upon him, as he himself had issued a sort of oracular declaration
+that when he entered the palace it would fall down.  He, therefore,
+hastened his steps, determined to terrify every one out of the palace
+before the crash came.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+THE JUDGMENT.
+
+The guests were all seated in the ancient palace-hall, and before
+them were placed the profuse hospitality of one whose board was as
+regularly supplied by mayor, portmen, burgesses, commonalty, and
+gentry in the country, as if they were all tenants of the See, and
+bound to furnish the Bishop's board.  There was, in those days, no
+niggard bounty, no measured dole to the comer; but such as could
+feast on ample fare, without intoxicating potions, were welcome to
+the palace.  Latimer had been introduced to Alice as the friend of
+Lord De Freston.  Alice took her seat in the assembly, as if every
+creature before her was her slave.  Her stern, majestic, pale, oval
+face, with the conical headdress of the period, gave her such a lofty
+look, that it was the theme of observation amongst most of the guests.
+
+How haughty is the Bishop's queen! was the speech of more than one of
+the guests, as she surveyed the assemblage before her, and scarcely
+condescended to give a glance of recognition, much less a word, to
+any one.
+
+Ellen De Freston, who had known the failing of Alice, was pained to
+see how deeply it had grown upon her since she had last seen her; but
+she was doubly pained to observe in her a contempt for every one
+there present, but more especially for her cousin, William Latimer.
+
+In vain did he endeavor to elicit one word from his haughty
+companion.  To see the man in whose society men so delighted, whose
+converse was the purest and most gentle, and, at the same time, so
+wise and elegant, set at naught, by one whose pride alone gave her
+any pretension to dignity, was something so revolting to her nature,
+and so foreign to her ideas of respect, that she could not fail to
+feel for Latimer at every attempt he made to address the haughty
+Alice.
+
+The proud Alice would condescend to speak to the Lord De Freston, but
+a supercilious stare was the sole result of every attempt on the part
+of Latimer to draw a word from her.
+
+'He is the friend of my father,' thought Ellen.  'Surely, he cannot
+be aware of the indignity she puts upon that friend by her behaviour.
+He would never encourage such hauteur by engaging in conversation
+with her, if he could see the gentle and manly Latimer treated as he
+in by Alice.  But he sees it not.'
+
+It was evidently observed by Daundy, who was seated near to Ellen.
+
+'Do you see, my fair Ellen, how that haughty maid flaunts at the
+young scholar's address to her?  Latimer must feel himself very
+uncomfortable.  I rejoice that I am not near her; I might be apt to
+forget even the courtesy of the Bishop, and tell her she had better
+keep to her own closet than pretend to come into society, and not
+know how to behave in it.'
+
+'I perceive it,' replied Ellen, 'and I am almost indignant enough to
+wish that you had the opportunity of giving a deserved rebuke to the
+spirit of pride which, delights in paining the humble.  I am sure
+Latimer feels deeply wounded by such treatment.'
+
+If the conduct of Alice wounded the gentle and generous Latimer, he
+was more than repaid by the sign of interest which Ellen evinced for
+him.  It was then, for the first moment of his life, that the thought
+of love came down upon his soul, and dispelled the gloom of sorrow
+which had brooded over his mind at the pride of the fair one near
+him.  It was a similar thought that aroused in Ellen the blush of
+consciousness, as she felt the first throb of the warm blood rush
+from her heart, in sympathy with the architect of Freston Tower.
+
+It was perhaps well, just at this moment, that Latimer and Ellen were
+called upon to listen to the language of orators upon the most vital
+and important subject which could come under human contemplation.
+
+John Bale, who had waited patiently till grace had been chaunted, and
+was expected to speak publicly before the Bishop upon matters
+touching some scruples he entertained, rose.  Silence being enjoined,
+he addressed the Bishop in these words:
+
+'I rise, my Lord Bishop, though with many misgivings, on account of
+the time and place for such occasion, to put a very serious question
+for your judgment.  Nothing where you preside can be said, I trust,
+in an unbecoming spirit, and nothing, certainly, should be spoken
+without charity.  I humbly, pray, then, for the full protection of
+your presence upon this occasion, that if we speak with respect, we
+may not be insulted with ribaldry.
+
+'We maintain that the Scriptures are given by God, to be a chastening
+warning and correction to the sinner's soul, a comfort to the
+righteous, and God's great boon to all the world.  That without these
+Scriptures, commonly called the Bible, salvation cannot be properly
+known and understood.  That they alone contain the truth which we
+ought to preach and teach, and the observances which we ought to
+hold.  That the pious should receive such truth, and the learned
+preach it.  That no man can know anything of God's will or his
+decrees but from the Sacred Scriptures.  That all our learning of
+languages is but to keep these Scriptures pure, and to teach the
+unlearned and ignorant therefrom the sure and certain meaning of the
+Word ones spoken to man.
+
+'We advocate the cause of the Scriptures being placed in the hands of
+the people, and maintain that, so far from this derogating from our
+authority, such a step would tend to increase the respect paid us,
+since all men can then see that the doctrines we preach and teach are
+the solid truth.  That if the Scriptures be withheld, no man's
+judgment can be sound upon what we teach; for without them, it is
+impossible they should acknowledge the truth of our preaching.
+
+'I request your voice and judgment hereupon, to say whether we hold
+or not, in these matters, anything contrary to true discipline and
+the right directions of mankind.  I know your mind to be replete with
+learning, and that you do not despise others, nor would destroy
+research, in the bosom of the church.  I, therefore, the more
+confidently commit what I say to your consideration, and await your
+answer.'
+
+There was a pause among the auditors before the Bishop; though the
+priest of St. Peter looked as if he would tear his crimson vest in
+pieces.  The priest also of St. Saviour's was so much stirred that he
+felt as if the sin of schism was in the very palace.  He rose up from
+his seat like a rampant and roaring lion, and for very rage could
+scarcely keep his hands off the humble man who had resumed his seat.
+He did not, as it was, fail to give him a curse in no very gentle
+terms.
+
+'Heretic!' he exclaimed, 'thou art doomed to the fiercest and
+deadliest death.  Down to the darkest doom beneath, where the devil
+and death prevail.
+
+'Canst thou hear him, my Lord Bishop, defame the very church of which
+thou art thyself a prelate?  Does he dare to mention in thy presence
+his deeds of shame?  Hear him, Bishop Goldwell!  Like Wickliffe, he
+wishes that all could read that he might sell his Bible, and get paid
+for his pains.  He would raise up the people like wild hyenas to come
+and feast upon the priesthood.  Observe how insidiously he turns the
+whole tenor of his argument upon placing the Bible in the hands of
+the common people.  He does not say he would subvert the hierarchy;
+he does not say he would do away with the priesthood; but he speaks
+as if we were all dishonest, and he would not have the people believe
+one word we speak.
+
+'He will not abide by the decision of the Papal power, though he now
+seems to acknowledge thy right of jurisdiction over him.  This is but
+an insidious covering for treachery; for whilst he pays thee court,
+and owns thy supremacy in ecclesiastical affairs, he denies the very
+power by which thou, O Goldwell! holdest thine authority.  His words
+are as smooth as oil, yet he will not own that the church has the
+right of sole interpretation of those Scriptures which he is such an
+advocate for placing in the hands of the people.
+
+'He will not admit that the Pope has the keys of St. Peter; that he
+is the head of the Christian church, and the only infallible source
+from which decision can be given.  He would have the people taught no
+longer to depend upon our teaching, but would have them dispute our
+authority and deny to us the powers of absolution.  So, my lord, he
+would have the people believe they are quite as good judges of
+scriptural things as we are; and shortly they will think they have
+quite as much right to this palace and the revenues thereof as thou
+hast.
+
+'But shall this heretic teach them never to believe in our commission
+to stand betwixt their souls and heaven, to give them their meat in
+proper season, and explain the Word, as we ourselves receive it?  I
+flatter thee not with enticing words, knowing that the judgment of
+the church is with thee, and that thou wilt not fear to pronounce
+that heresy which militates against the teaching of the church.  I
+beseech thee not to cherish and encourage heretics within the
+precincts of thy palace.  I have done.  I await thy judgment with
+confidence.'
+
+He had no sooner taken his seat than the youthful Bilney rose, his
+heart full of sorrow, woe, and trouble, yet throbbing alone for the
+truth.  He had seen, with an eagle's eyes, the sins of the papal
+hierarchy, and sighed to be free from the pestilential darkness which
+covered, as with a veil, the light of the Scriptures.  He addressed
+himself to the Bishop in the following terms:
+
+'Thou knowest, Bishop Goldwell, that I came not here this day, to
+intrude upon thy privacy, or to boast in defiance of thine authority;
+but that thou thyself didst desire that I should speak out candidly
+before others that which I had more privately and conscientiously
+divulged to thee.  I know that thine intention was good in this: that
+thou didst it to elicit the truth, and never intended that we should
+be in thy presence and in thine own palace insulted and have epithets
+of opprobrium cast upon us; nay, that we should be condemned without
+benefit of clergy to the nethermost shades of hell.
+
+'It is the rule of thy board that every man should have full liberty
+to speak, provided he confine his arguments within the prescribed
+limits of decency and order.  I cannot enter upon the all-important
+matters which I conceive it my duty to lay before thee, if I am to
+meet with the same frantic and uncourteous treatment which my friend
+has just received at the hands of the priest of St. Saviour's.  There
+can no charity dwell where rancor burns within.
+
+'Owning thy full authority here, I shall not attempt to speak until I
+hear thee lay down the law of thy palace, and command that we be at
+least so far respected before thee, that we may not be afraid to give
+utterance to whatever we may advance.'
+
+Bilney sat down, and the priests of Ipswich looked a little confused
+at the clear and manly tone of speech with which this young man then
+addressed the Bishop before the company.  There was wisdom enough in
+it to call forth these words from Goldwell.
+
+'Thou art invited freely to speak, and not summoned hither to answer
+to any accusation of crime or heresy, and to deliver thy sentiments
+without any personal fear.  I like thy temper, and must insist upon
+my clergy's observance of such forms of decorum as the courtesy of my
+palace demands.  Thou must not be surprised, indeed, if thy doctrines
+and those of thy friend Bale should create a little rheum in the
+spirits of those so unaccustomed to have any of their decisions
+disputed.
+
+'Thou mayest go on, and should thine opponents, friends as they are
+to me, and subordinate to my authority, conduct themselves in an
+unbecoming manner, thou mayest depend upon the soundness of my
+judgment to give them a merited rebuke.  Hoping I shall hear nothing
+more of acrimony, I invite thee to proceed.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+JUDGMENT CONTINUED.
+
+All paid respect to the person and speech of Goldwell; all
+acknowledged his influence; and, had he rose to retire, not an
+individual would have remained to dispute one moment longer any
+matter whatsoever.  All knew this well; so that, when the Bishop had
+once declared his decision, not the most furious zealot dared to
+utter a word.  Bilney rose amidst the most profound silence.
+
+'I can perceive,' he said, 'most worthy prelate, how very quickly
+these priests of Ipswich judge our motives, how little credit they
+give us for sincerity, and how soon they would gag our mouths, could
+they prevent our speech before thee.  I am glad to find, however,
+that they pay thee the respect which not only thine office, but
+thyself dost deserve, inasmuch as they retain silence at thy command.
+I am silent, Bishop Goldwell, if thou dost command me; but, as thou
+hast given me liberty to speak, I will confine my observations to the
+one point which my friend has taken up upon this occasion--namely,
+the giving the Word of God into the hands of the people.
+
+'Now, if I, or any other person having authority so to do, preaches
+the gospel, is the source whence we derive all our knowledge to be
+concealed?  I would ask, supposing a messenger came to thee to order
+thee to go to such a place, wouldst thou not ask whence he derived
+his authority, what credentials he had to show for thine undertaking
+such a journey?
+
+'No man would attend the bidding of another unless the bidding came
+from a source he could not dispute, and he was convinced it was his
+duty to obey.  So I maintain before thee and all this assembly, that
+when we preach and teach the glad tidings of salvation, the people
+should have the law and the testimony, the Old and New Testaments,
+before them, that they may judge of the truth of the message,
+invitation, or threatenings which we hold forth.
+
+'How is it possible for the people to believe any truth of Scripture
+without the assurance of the Scriptures themselves?  I might as well
+preach the heathen mythology if they are merely to believe what we
+tell them, without our laying before them the grounds of our belief.
+
+'I would never believe there were such persons as Adam, Abel, Seth,
+or Noah, or such an event as the Deluge, or such a person as Abraham,
+or the promise given to him as is recorded, without I had read or
+heard the Scriptures read, from whence the knowledge of such things
+and persons is derived.  And how can we expect that the things we
+would not believe ourselves without such evidences, others should
+take upon a man's mere ipse dixit?
+
+'It is here that men are subject both to credulity and incredulity;
+but give them the whole Word of God, let them see the wisdom which it
+conveys, let them think for themselves, and I am persuaded that we
+need never be afraid of the spread of divine knowledge.
+
+'We cannot pretend to be inspired prophets of God, deriving from him
+a direct communication independent of that which he has once shed
+upon his ancient prophets and apostles.  However secluded and
+separated we may be from the rest of the world--I ask thee, Bishop
+Goldwell--can we derive a direct communication from Heaven beyond the
+written Word of God?  I do maintain then, that we should teach
+nothing for doctrine, but what the Revelation of God has unfolded.
+
+'I would not, therefore, have the Word of God a sealed book amongst
+us, but spread far and wide among all people, that honest hearts may
+see the salvation of God, and glorify the Father of Light from whom
+it proceeded.
+
+'Such appearing, to my mind, to be the wisdom required in the present
+day to drive from men's minds the clouds of darkness, I ask thee,
+Bishop Goldwell, wherein I speak what can, with justice, be called
+heretical?  I should be glad to hear thy decision upon this point.'
+
+The priest of St. Peter rose quickly from his seat, and stood erect
+before the company.  He had his hair shorn with the utmost precision,
+his scalp bald, save the curling edges of grey hair which were
+allowed to cover his ears.  He had a dark, black, piercing eye, which
+told of anything but calmness, every now and then flashing at Bilney
+and at the Bishop, as if it would strike a spark out of theirs to
+consume them.  His spirit was evidently perturbed within him, and he
+could scarcely compose his nerves sufficiently to let his words come
+forth without passion.
+
+He shook his vest with anger, as if he would not be contaminated with
+the touch of such men as spake that day.
+
+'Shall the church,' he exclaimed vehemently, 'hold no more
+traditions?  Shall we teach no kind of observances?  Is the advice of
+our prelates and preachers to be no longer listened to, except it
+accord with the crude notions of this man?  Are the people to run
+wild here and there after such preachers as John Bale and Thomas
+Bilney?  We may as well at once give up our holy vows, and yield our
+right to the power of this wild abuse--that the people are to have
+private judgment, and cavil at our interpretation of the Bible.  They
+hear our anthems, they join our prayers, they attend our altars,
+receive our absolution, and what would they have more?  They want not
+to trouble their heads about the Scriptures.  It is surely much
+better for them to accept what we tell them than to seek to be wise
+above learned men.
+
+'But if their minds become disturbed by such men as these, there is
+no telling what may be the consequence.  The real fact, Bishop
+Goldwell, is, these men have become bitter enemies to the Church of
+Rome, and, under the pretence of introducing the Scriptures to the
+notice of the people, they take every opportunity of inveighing
+against our authority.  They know themselves deserving of censure
+from the church, they subject themselves to punishment, and I should
+think it no more than a duty I owed to the church, if I were in thy
+place, to commit them at once to the custody of some keeper.
+
+'I conjure thee, venerable Prelate, not to listen to their complaint;
+"the poison of asps is under their lips, and they do but flatter with
+their tongues."  I conjure thee, by the vows thou hast taken to
+support the church, to summon at once to thy court at Norwich these
+refractory sons of the church, that they may be made to answer before
+thy dean and chapter for the evil they have done; that if they do not
+cease publishing their absurd notions of religious freedom, their
+mouths may be stopped by thine authority, which, if thou dost fail to
+use, I tell thee before this company that I shall at once make a
+complaint to the Pope.
+
+'It is all very well for thee to make this show of popularity in this
+ancient palace, and at thine own board, but a bishop who is so
+discourteous to his own clergy, and so very partial to these
+recusants, is not, I conceive, faithful to his trust.  I am
+discontented and dissatisfied with the treatment which we true sons
+of the Roman Catholic Church have met with this day, and I conceive
+that a just cause of complaint is given to the hierarchy in Ipswich;
+and, unless a direct distinction be forthwith made in our behalf, I
+shall call upon all my brethren to join me in a petition to the
+higher authorities, that we may be justified in the sight of our
+fellow-townsmen.'
+
+A dead silence pervaded that assembly, and even the Bishop waited to
+see if any other speaker would venture to utter a word.  All eyes
+were turned towards the place where he sat; yet the only person seen
+to move was Alice De Clinton, who, leaning towards the Bishop, begged
+an exchange of place with Lord De Freston, that she might the more
+easily communicate what she had to say in the Bishop's ear.  From her
+well-known character, her stern dignity, and cold-blooded, chilly
+disposition, it was well considered that nothing amiable could
+proceed.  It was with some degree of shame that the Lord De Freston
+saw this female influence exercised, as unbecoming modesty as it was
+the real interest of her sex.
+
+Ellen read in her father's face his dissatisfaction, little thinking
+that the sight of her intelligent countenance would awaken the
+eloquence of her friend Latimer; but De Freston had been speaking to
+him and urging him to say a word upon the occasion.  Alice, however,
+having taken her seat with immoveable frigidity of feature, and
+silence still prevailing, Latimer rose.
+
+'As a stranger to thee, Bishop Goldwell, and to the greater part of
+this company, I should not have risen to give utterance to the words
+of my heart had I not been urged thereto by my learned and truly
+liberal friend Lord De Freston.  He assures me that, so far from
+being affronted with my boldness, thou wilt be the rather pleased
+that I venture to trespass upon the attention of thine assembly.  At
+Oxford we are, as it is well-known, infected, if I may so call it,
+with orthodoxy, overgrown to such a state of particularity as to make
+things in themselves of no moment appear of the utmost consequence,
+and things of the most vital interest of but minor consideration.  We
+are, moreover, intent upon learning, and never doubt for a moment
+that wisdom will ultimately prevail.
+
+'If a youth who departed from this town a few years ago, and who has
+since become so distinguished for his learning and wisdom were here
+this day, I should keep silence before him and thee, well convinced
+that he would be much better able to speak those truths which I
+conceive ought this moment to be spoken.  His relatives and friends I
+see before me, and some of them may not be sorry to hear me reëcho
+his sentiments, though they may regret his absence.  Speaking in our
+theatre, some days ago, upon the same subject this day discussed, I
+heard him declare, in a long and animated speech, the duties of
+students with regard to scriptural learning, and the study of the
+original languages in which the Scriptures were written; but as all
+could not be learned enough to understand many things difficult
+therein, the duty of the ministry is to explain those things, and to
+afford living examples of that faith which they teach and preach.  He
+hoped to see the time when the Scriptures might be unlocked and
+distributed in abundance to feed the people.  His arguments were
+based upon the grounds of truth, that the Word of God can never be
+too widely circulated.
+
+'The clergy, he declared, were but a very small portion of the
+visible church, and would lose nothing of their influence with the
+people by liberating their minds from ignorance of the Word of the
+living God.  In speaking of heresy, he maintained before the whole
+university that it was nothing heretical to disseminate the
+Scriptures.
+
+'I mention Wolsey as my authority for this assertion, not only
+because I know that in this his native place his fame is justly
+celebrated, his learning esteemed, and he himself, though young, is
+so highly respected, but because, Bishop Goldwell, his sentiments
+accord with my own.  I would ask any man here present, who desires to
+know anything of his Redeemer, how he is to do so without the
+Scriptures?  Our Saviour said, "Search the Scriptures, for in them ye
+think ye have eternal life, and these be they which testify of me."
+Now if we can have the Scriptures to search, it is our duty to look
+into them, that we may discover the truth as it is in Him.
+
+'I see before me all the principal priests of the various parishes in
+this town, who all are attached to the ancient See of Rome.  I value
+the preservation of the records of truth there as highly as any of
+them; but I say now, that heresy consists in the introduction of
+impositions, not required by the Word of God.  The impositions I call
+_heresies_, are those of teaching for doctrine the commandment of men.
+
+'I was at Bury lately, and saw what numbers of devout penitents were
+sent from all parts of the kingdom to pay their devotion to a piece
+of St. Edmund's shirt: Is not this heresy?  There I saw what was
+termed the sinew of St. Edmund, his sword, the parings of his toes;
+and are such things to be held sacred?
+
+'The monks showed me certain drops of what they termed St. Stephen's
+blood.  Even if it had been the blood of Stephen, was it an object to
+be worshipped? is not this heresy?  They showed me the coals on which
+St. Lawrence was broiled, Thomas à Becket's boots and his penknife,
+and numerous other things, to all of which they attributed such a
+degree of sanctity, that I was convinced of their ignorance; and
+however much history, revelation, and faith, might induce me to thank
+God for the examples of such men, I could not but think it _heresy_
+to pay any kind of adoration to relics of such things.
+
+'But the spread of God's Word cannot be heresy, nor are those who
+preach it heretics.  God grant that our country may be the foremost
+to spread the light of truth over this benighted world.  Nothing can
+be productive of so much happiness, either to the priest or the
+people, as this enlightenment.  But I have done, Bishop Goldwell, and
+I have only to apologise for the length of time I have occupied the
+attention of this assembly.'
+
+Latimer took his seat, not without a smile of thanks from Ellen,
+which not even the stern expression of Alice could in the least
+chill.  Yet Alice frowned at Ellen as if she despised her for that
+look; and nothing but the rising of Bishop Goldwell to speak to his
+guests prevented her precipitate and indignant retirement.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+ST. IVAN'S WARNING.
+
+Silence prevailed amongst the guests as the venerable prelate rose to
+reply.  Looks, yes, fiery looks, shot to the head of that board
+against the learned Latimer; and even Lord De Freston, with all his
+well-known bounty, liberality, orthodoxy, and piety, did not escape
+the furious glances of St. Peter's priests; nor of the violent
+advocates for the Pope's supremacy.  They gnashed upon him with their
+teeth; and could have wept for very vexation.  So serious did the
+matter seem, that there were many peaceful townsmen who wished most
+heartily that they were at home with their wives and children,
+instead of being witnesses of this unbecoming hospitality.
+
+The Bishop, with great knowledge of the world--a truly liberal heart,
+yet not without deep prejudices, which in that day were not so easily
+subdued as in this, replied:
+
+'I have ever considered it one of the best privileges of my palace of
+Wykes, that here the stranger may speak unmolested, that we may all
+reap the benefit of each other's experience in learning, science,
+travel, or the wonders of nature, art, or industry.  On this account
+has the hospitality of this roof been devoted to the purposes of an
+open free court; wherein as long as men behave themselves with
+courtesy, so long shall they and their communications be respected.
+
+'It has been my lot, frequently, to hear interesting discussions upon
+science, upon the ancient interpretation of words.  Frequently, both
+naval and military works have been propounded, the uses of the
+rudder, and very lately, that new and wonderful invention, the
+compass.  The discoveries of distant shores have been spoken of; the
+manners, arts, customs, and peculiarities of people scarcely heard of
+before are made familiar to us; and we have all participated in the
+interesting information.
+
+'The very openness of my table has afforded the power to suppress
+mere hearsay reports of things, and to bring forward those that are
+trustworthy.  But nothing has so much puzzled the brains of many
+leading liberal men, as the now rising discussions upon the subject
+of religion.
+
+'Each speaker claims for himself sincerity, and we are bound to
+respect what he says as coming from a heart devoted to a holy cause.
+Yet how opposite do I find the tendencies of both.  On one side it is
+maintained that the Scriptures should be freely given to the people,
+and be expanded as the waters of the broad sea over the earth.
+Another maintains that it is unprofitable so to do; that the
+Scriptures should be confined to the contemplation of the learned; so
+that the priesthood alone should be the readers, preachers, and
+expounders thereof, and that the people should he hearers and doers.
+
+'Now there is much truth in both these positions.  We well know that
+if one nation goes to war with another, that which has the best
+disciplined army will generally prevail.  If soldiers were to fight
+just as they pleased, and be under no orders from their superior
+officers, they would soon be but a rabble route, and be easily
+defeated by steady and well-conducted troops.  If battles are to be
+fought, it is evident there must be command and a commander;
+obedience and men to observe it.  Mutual confidence is necessary to
+ultimate success.  Even officers have to obey their superiors, and
+though each must rely on the aid of Heaven for success, yet each must
+obey some superior on earth.
+
+'So do I maintain that obedience is necessary in every department of
+the church, and that if the spread of the Scriptures among the people
+shall tend to disaffection instead of obedience, we do wisely to keep
+the records of religion confined to the knowledge of the priesthood.
+
+'My opinion, therefore, is given freely upon this subject.  It is our
+duty to obey the Pope as our chief commanding officer, who holds his
+head-quarters at Rome.  Your officers receive their commissions from
+him, and are responsible for their obedience to him.  And, as one of
+his marshals, I command you to keep holy your sacred vow of
+obedience, and to fight the fight of faith under his banners.
+
+'I do not see that Wolsey should have any weight whatever in the
+councils of the church.  He is, no doubt, a good and clever young
+man; and is held in very proper estimation among his friends in this,
+his native place; but others in the church are as good and wise as
+he, and their judgment is not to be despised.  Older heads opine that
+it is not at all necessary to salvation that a man should read the
+Scriptures; and I, for one, think if the people are thereby to be
+stirred up to rebellion, they had better never read them at all.
+
+'We do not intend to cite you, Bale and Bilney, to our court, at
+Norwich, to answer for the dissemination of doctrines which we deem
+calculated to stir up strife and contention in the church.  Nor thee,
+Latimer, for thy harsh declarations against the Prior and monks of
+St. Edmund's Bury, albeit we do seriously admonish thee not to let
+words of indiscretion escape thy lips.  To all we freely extend the
+customary privileges of the Palace of Wykes, and declare that you are
+irresponsible for your expressions here this day, but I warn you to
+beware how you take advantage of this custom only to lie here
+observed, and venture to express these vague opinions in the world.
+
+'We command you, by virtue of our ecclesiastical authority, to spread
+no more those doctrines which we do consider tending to mutiny in our
+camp, and exhort you as good soldiers to keep your ranks free from
+disaffection.
+
+'Though we freely pardon the errors of all this day, and shall
+dismiss you in peace to your respective homes; yet we are assured,
+that if these contentions should continue beyond these walls, some
+delegate from Rome will receive ample powers to punish all refractory
+children who may provoke the displeasure of the Holy See.  We spare
+you now, and bid you all obey, and all farewell.'
+
+At the very instant in which the Bishop rose to depart, a voice from
+without exclaimed--'Make way for the Hermit St. Ivan!' and, with
+breathless agitation, the venerable old man strode up to that part of
+the hall directly opposite the Bishop.  It was evident to every one
+that he was fatigued with over exertion.  He leaned against a pillar,
+as if to recover himself--refused to be seated, though he kept every
+one standing around him.  He twice essayed to speak--lifted his arms
+to heaven, and demanded, by his actions, that they would pause a
+moment to hear him.
+
+The sight of the man was enough to interest any one.  His head
+uncovered, his staff in his hand, his eye beaming with philanthropy,
+though evidently excited by his intended communication.  He had,
+indeed, hurried into the hall, he had seen the vibrations of the
+waters, and knew that the walls of Wykes' Bishop's Palace could not
+stand long.  He knew, likewise, that unless he could deliver himself
+in an authoritative and alarming manner, that many souls must perish.
+He had no desire they should, and therefore he assumed a sort of
+prophetical manner of address which the imminence of the danger alone
+warranted.
+
+His warning is given in such quaint, old poetry, and is yet so
+forcible, that to narrate it in a set speech would destroy its
+effect; and to give it in its old style would be tedious to the
+reader.  He must pardon, therefore, its transposition into language
+more in accordance with modern phraseology, though, perhaps, not so
+genuinely characteristic of the hermit.
+
+
+  St. Ivan's Warning.
+
+  'The time is come, proud Goldwell, hear?
+  I speak to thee no more with fear!
+  Though round thee shining lords attend
+  And priests with burgesses may blend;
+  And haughty in thy palace fair,
+  Alice De Clinton has her share,
+  And mocks to scorn whoe'er she will,
+  And bids the hermit's voice be still.
+  I bid her listen to my lay,
+  I call her from this scene away;
+  And tell both thee and her and all,
+  They must obey the hermit's call.
+
+  'The time is come! the warning lake
+  Already doth the palace shake.
+  There stands by thee the haughty maid
+  Whose pride and cruelty are said
+  To govern thee and urge thee on
+  To deeds no bishop yet hath done.
+  The poor despise her though they bow
+  In fear of frowns from such a brow.
+  I, too, have felt within my cell
+  Her hate can burn as demon's spell;
+  For none who humbly live to love,
+  To her can acceptable prove;
+  And were not here a better found,
+  These walls would tremble to the ground.
+  But her I warn to haste away,
+  Nor longer in this palace stay,
+  Lest she and thee, and hers and thine,
+  Be buried by St. Agnes' shrine.
+
+  'The time is come--the doom is spoken,
+  Spells of life and charms are broken;
+  And thou mayst live as yet thy day,
+  But here thy bones thou shalt not lay!
+  No more on thee, Wykes' Bishop's Hill,
+  With verdure green find pleasant rill,
+  Shall smile upon thy turrets' dome,
+  Nor more to thee thy people come
+  To meet thee in this place of peace;
+  Its pleasant days must quickly cease;
+  And men from yonder hill shall say,
+  "How soon does grandeur pass away!
+  There stood in state Wykes' Bishop's Hall,
+  How sudden was its rise and fall."
+
+  'The time is come; I look around
+  On those who now within are found;
+  De Freston, hasten thou away,
+  Nor let thy maiden longer stay.
+  Lest thou shouldst rue the hapless hour
+  Thou didst forsake thy lofty tower,
+  And seek to minister thine aid
+  Of friendship to a haughty maid.
+  Go! haste away.  Oh, couldst thou tell
+  How deeply in my lowly cell
+  I oft have prayed for thee and thine,
+  Thou wouldst respect the hermit's shrine.
+
+  The time is come! fair maid of peace,
+  Ellen De Freston, thy release
+  From danger here will only prove
+  A greater danger in thy love.
+  But haste away! thou dost not know
+  The anger of thy deadly foe.
+
+  The time is come! Good townsmen flee.
+  These walls are tottering, and must be
+  Known as a place of midnight feast,
+  Where owls and bats by day will rest.
+  But never more will matin bell,
+  Or vespers' sound, be heard to tell
+  Wykes' Bishop's priests the anthem raise,
+  A duty to the saints they praise;
+  But bell and belfry both shall fall
+  Before another matin's call.
+
+  'The time is come, thou haughty maid,
+  Whose eye now shining on the dead,
+  With stain of pride and cruel scorn,
+  Falls not on one who feels forlorn.
+  Thou'lt feel the loftiness of pride
+  When raised, unknown, unseen, denied.
+  Thou think'st thyself to be a queen,
+  And com'st to nothing in thy spleen!
+  He comes to raise, and take thee home:
+  Proud maid he comes--the time--'
+
+
+The old man's voice here totally failed him.  A pallid hue was seen
+to spread itself over his countenance, which underwent a complete
+change.  His head fell gently back against the stone pillar, and the
+hermit St. Ivan stood a corpse in the hall of Wykes' Bishop's Palace.
+At the same moment, the glass of those beautiful windows cracked from
+the very top of the arch to the bottom, and fell inwards--a tumbling;
+noise was heard--the outer walls fell down; and bishop, lord, lady,
+priest, burgess, townsman, visitor, monk, traveller, friar, and
+mendicant, together with porter, warder, serving-men, and slaves, all
+fled in terror over the drawbridge, leaving St. Ivan standing against
+the pillar, the only one who was unconscious of fear, inasmuch as he
+was dead.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+THE FALL OF THE PALACE OF WYKES
+
+Terror was depicted in every countenance as the drawbridge, that mass
+of stone, iron, wood, and brick-work was seen to give way, and divide
+with a crash, falling into the waters of the deep moat which
+surrounded the palace.  Every inmate of that place who could move
+escaped before this catastrophe took place; and a motley group of
+terrified faces stood looking upon the troubled waters, the yawning
+land, the falling walls, as one after another of those massive pieces
+of stone fell inwards upon the beautiful tesselated pavements of the
+courts, and refectory, and cells, which had been so kept by the
+Bishop's serving men.
+
+It was as if an earthquake had suddenly shaken the building to its
+foundation; but it was nothing more than a sudden landslip, arising
+from the springs which let in the banks of the moat, so as to lessen
+its once formidable barrier into the appearance of a ditch.  This was
+not apparent at this moment, for the waters were so raised by the
+sudden ingress of the earth, that for a time a flood spread itself
+over both sides of these banks.  It was only when the excess of water
+had escaped down the stream of the Holy Wells, into the Orwell, that
+the barrier became less formidable.
+
+The Bishop and his niece were not long spectators of that terrible
+catastrophe.  He was apparently excited to consternation, and showed
+it by his hasty departure, with Alice De Clinton, for Goldwell Hall.
+
+Philanthropy moved in the heart of De Freston, who, after confiding
+his daughter to the care of Latimer, desired him to go at once to the
+mansion, of his relative and friend, Antony Wingfield, then in treaty
+with De Freston for the sale of those very premises which afterwards
+became his property.  The young Antony had then consigned his mansion
+in Brook Street, and his chapel of St. Mary's, to the Lord De
+Freston.  This chapel was called the Lady Grey's chapel; and was the
+spot in which De Freston requested his daughter, and such as liked to
+accompany her, to go and return thanks for their deliverance.
+Meantime, a messenger was sent to Freston Castle, for horses and men,
+to convey his daughter and her attendants home.
+
+Alice De Clinton did not wait even to invite Ellen to accompany her
+to Goldwell Hall.  She would have died before she would have
+condescended to show any affection towards one whom she considered as
+a favorer of heretics.  Hence her haughty departure with her less
+haughty uncle, and such retainers as at such a time were not too
+terrified to attend upon them.
+
+De Freston, having disposed of his daughter Ellen, turned his
+attention to the state of those unhappy domestics of the palace, who
+were then without house and home; and by his interest with the monks
+of St. Peter's Priory, and other religious houses, together with his
+more private interest with numerous rich householders in the borough,
+he got them all treated in such a way as to suppress their cries of
+lamentation at the fall of Wyke's Bishop's Palace.
+
+Thousands of spectators soon collected round the spot, upon the green
+hills in the vicinity, to look upon the prostrate ruins.  The central
+pillars alone of that proud building stood erect; and every now and
+then an alarm was given that they were seen to totter.  The expanse
+of waters did not subside that night, so that the flood had reached
+to the very foot of the hills, in consequence of the main-buttress of
+the drawbridge having fallen, and choked up the passage of the
+stream, where the waters usually escaped to the Orwell.
+
+Had any one been disposed to go over to the ruins, they could not
+have done so without a boat, and the only one belonging to the
+gardener had been sunk by the pressure of the falling boat-house.
+There was no fear, however, of any such intrusion.  Men who looked
+upon the sacred edifice were too cautious to think of venturing over
+the waters, lest they should be buried under its walls.
+
+Conversation, however, was alive, and superstition not less active
+among the people, for many said they had seen the Hermit St. Ivan
+hastening over the drawbridge into the castle, and many had heard him
+say that when he did so the walls would fall down.  Some had dreamed
+one thing, some another.  Some prognosticated the fall of Bishop
+Goldwell and his proud niece.  Some had seen a strange thing fly up
+the chimney the night before--and one had seen St. Ivan riding upon a
+black cloud over the hills to the river, and was sure some
+catastrophe would befal him.  Innumerable ingenious speculations were
+started, and as is very often the case in calamities of any kind, it
+was attributed to all sorts of causes.
+
+'I will not believe,' said butcher Stannard, 'that St. Ivan is dead,
+until I know his ceil is deserted; so, who will go with me to the
+Holy Wells?  What, none willing to go?  What a set of cowards you all
+are!'
+
+'I saw him go across the drawbridge, and I have heard him say, he
+should never return alive!'
+
+'And so have I,' replied the butcher, 'and I have heard that he is
+now beneath those ruins, and yet I have my doubts, and if no one will
+go to the cave with me, I will go alone.'
+
+The sturdy butcher started off for the deep dell of the Holy Wells,
+followed at a respectable distance by two or three of the townsmen,
+whose curiosity had been excited: but who gave him plenty of space to
+show his bravery by himself, not willing to interrupt him, or
+interfere with his ascent to the hermit's cell.  A party stood at the
+foot of the stone steps by which Stannard ascended to the cave.  He
+had indeed called aloud to the old man before he ventured to
+ascend--but of course received no answer.
+
+He entered the cave--he found a rustic table with a Latin Bible
+thereupon, a lamp suspended from the ceiling, two loaves of brown
+bread in a recess, and a jug of water.
+
+The cave was dry, and strewed with rushes; his bed was formed of the
+same material, placed upon a ledge of sandstone rock; a few boxes of
+salves, and bottles of medicine were ready to be given to the poor:
+but this strange habitation possessed no pretensions to comforts.
+Yet here Ivan had been for many years, the celebrated hermit of the
+Holy Wells.
+
+Butcher Stannard soon returned, convinced, and convincing others that
+the old man was only to be found under the ruins of the Bishop's
+Palace.
+
+Gorgeous tapestry might be seen floating in the wind from the various
+broken down compartments.  The walls had mostly fallen inwards, and
+the waters had rushed into the court, and escaped through the broken
+and other confined masses on the other side.  A more complete
+specimen of ruin could not be seen: valuable pieces of furniture,
+panels, and legs of tables, were floated out of the ruins upon the
+moat, and these were strictly preserved, as relics, and carried to
+the various religious houses, as mementoes of the once flourishing
+palace of the Bishops of Norwich, the first and the last in the
+ancient town of Ipswich.  What a wretched sight did that palace now
+afford: but how much more calamitous might it have been, had the
+festive hour not been so suddenly interrupted by the entrance of St.
+Ivan.  It was better that the palace should fall down than that souls
+should perish therein.
+
+The site of the palace--the spot of the Hermit's cell--the stream of
+the Holy Wells, are still to be seen, though now the square plot of
+ground is an orchard belonging to the owner of Holy Wells, and the
+stream which then flowed in a direct line to the river is now
+diverted, and forms magnificent fish ponds.
+
+Tradition still preserves the name of the Hermit: and the monks of
+St. Peter, after his decease, though they had been jealous of his
+sanctity, raised a cross to his memory, at the Holy Wells, which went
+by the name of St. Ivan's Cross, and became a place of pilgrimage for
+saints and sinners, for two hundred years afterwards.
+
+Throughout the records of that day, nothing is discoverable but the
+jarring complaints of the Prior of St. Peter's and his brethren, at
+the influence of the hermit of the Holy Wells, who would not submit
+to observe any of the rites and ceremonies of the Church of Rome,
+without a restitution of his lands, hereditaments, and rights in
+Wykes Ufford and Whitton, which belonged to his ancestors, and
+descended from them to himself.  It is recorded that he sued the
+Bishops of Norwich in the ecclesiastical court of Canterbury, for
+their usurpation of one moiety of that property which belonged to him
+and his heirs, the whole of which had been seized by the church.  Law
+was the most expensive thing to be had in England in that day, as it
+is in this.  A flaw is to be picked in almost every man's title to
+his estate, through which lawyers gain an entrance to the
+property--and there they fed and fatten.  Formerly Judges were
+elected from ecclesiastical bodies, and their amanuenses, generally
+clergymen, called clerks--they retain the name to this day: but
+better for them and all men, they are not the judges of the land.
+
+No doubt Goldwell knew the claim which had been urged by Ivan De
+Linton's descendants to recover the one moiety of the estates in
+Wykes Ufford and Whitton, as the Bishop of Norwich was left executor,
+after the various gifts to the church, to see the rightful heir
+instituted.  It might be that this Ivan, who was Dr. Ivan, of St.
+Mildred's, A.D. 1425, was not considered the rightful heir.  Be that
+as it may, he considered himself such, and spent a fortune in
+endeavoring to obtain his property.  From that day, the gradual
+decline of the Bishops of Norwich, as far as regarded temporal
+possessions in Ipswich, began, and there is scarcely now a single
+acre of land, or a single house in the neighborhood, which belongs to
+that See.
+
+Every record of that period will produce testimony of their
+possessions in Wykes Ufford.  The Bishop's Hill still forms one of
+the loftiest features over the town.  The deep glens of Holy Wells,
+at the bottom of that hill, with the stream, the moat, the site of
+the palace, nay, within the memory of man, the beams of the cross
+which stood at the head of the stream which gushed from beneath the
+sandstone rocks, were found crossing each other, and were dug out of
+the earth during the life of the late owner of the property.  Many an
+hour has the writer of these pages spent in that glen at that spot,
+and many a book has he perused within the precincts of the Hermit's
+cave, now closely planted with alders, firs, and brush-wood.
+
+Lord De Freston and his daughter Ellen might be found in the Lady
+Grey's Chapel of St. Mary's returning thanks for their deliverance.
+Lord De Freston lived in an age when the support of the Papacy was
+accounted such an undoubted act of piety, that any nobleman
+attempting to dispute its sway was to be looked upon as an enemy to
+his God and his country.  Lord De Freston, though he never exercised
+his authority with the hierarchy, to argue with them upon useless and
+fanciful customs, which they constantly introduced, was highly
+pleased with the manner in which William Latimer had conducted
+himself that day, and fully agreed with him in his animadversion upon
+the fooleries of the monastic establishments, the wisdom of unfolding
+the Scripture, and the necessity of learning in those who were to be
+the public expounders of the truth.
+
+After returning thanks in the chapel, he accompanied Edmund Daundy to
+his mansion, where the conversation was renewed concerning the steps
+to be taken for the inspection of the ruins, and the disposal of the
+body of St. Ivan.
+
+'I do not think the priests of St. Peter's will grant him a place of
+sepulture within the precincts of their monastery,' said Daundy;
+'neither will Bishop Goldwell be disposed to allow that he may be
+buried within the grounds, inside the walls of Ipswich.  For the most
+part, the priests looked upon him as one excluded from the kingdom of
+heaven, frequently crossed themselves whenever his name was
+mentioned, and none of them, I am quite sure, would perform his
+funeral ceremony.'
+
+'Yet the old man had some virtues, which would be no disgrace to any
+one!  He was conversant with the Scriptures, he was kind to the poor,
+meek and peaceable in his demeanor, spent many hours of the day in
+meditation and in the exercise of benevolence, and but for his
+abhorrence of the superstitious deceptions of those customs which the
+worst days of Rome have sanctioned, might have been deemed a good
+Catholic.  Abstemious to the utmost, his fasting was an every day
+temperance.  Devout in the extreme--all his hours were spent in
+devotion; generous to the last farthing, he gave away all that was
+given him, and lived upon the loaves of charity.  I took care that he
+should not want bread whilst he lived, though he always thought it
+came from poor people, whom his medicinal cures had restored to
+health.  I will not ask any of the religious houses in Ipswich to
+give him a place of burial.'
+
+'Where then do you propose to bury him?'
+
+'In the chapel of the Priory of Alneshborne.  I will see this
+fraternity to-morrow morn, and ask their permission that the bones of
+St. Ivan may rest in my own family vault, beneath the altar in their
+chapel: for the Lords of Freston, though not all buried there, have a
+right of sepulture reserved to themselves, beneath the high altar of
+their chapel.  This was one of the conditions upon which the
+extra-parochial lands, belonging to their monastery, were granted to
+them.  I think I shall have no difficulty in this.  The only
+difficulty I expect to meet with will be the finding a place of rest
+for the body in some sacred place, until all the preparations for his
+interment shall be completed.  I will bring my men up to the town on
+the morrow.  In the meantime, do you interest yourself in the good
+graces of the bishop, and the monks of St. Peter's, first that I may
+search the ruins of the palace for his body, then, that it may be
+decently kept within the walls of St. Peter's Priory until such time
+as I am prepared for the burial.  I intend to watch the body myself
+on the night of its burial, as a mark of my respect for the deceased.'
+
+'I will do my best endeavors.  I can go to Goldwell Hall, suggest the
+propriety of searching the ruins, under the authority of the Mayor of
+the town, both to preserve whatever valuables can be thence
+recovered--end then ask, for you, the body of St. Ivan.'
+
+This the good Daundy faithfully performed.  And that very evening
+Ellen De Freston and Latimer, together with Lord De Freston, were
+seated in their favorite room of Freston Tower.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+ST. IVAN'S FUNERAL.
+
+An interesting conversation was held in Freston Tower that evening
+between the three persons who wanted nothing to cement their
+affections, since love reigned in their hearts.  Extraordinary
+circumstances had unexpectedly given birth to the warmest feelings
+for each other.  Interested in the deepest sense had each become.
+Perhaps that of Ellen De Freston was the greatest, because she felt
+so much both for her father and Latimer.  Again they rejoiced in
+being seated in their happy retreat, with their souls full of
+thought, as they surveyed the waves of that river which appeared by
+the setting sun more beautiful than ever.
+
+'I must go with the sound of the matin bell, and ask John of
+Alneshborne to grant me leave to bury the body of Ivan De Linton
+within the precincts of the chapel,' said De Freston.  'I shall have
+a mournful duty, but I hope a satisfactory one, in committing to the
+ground the body of a man, who, with all his eccentricities, was a
+pure philanthropist.  Our priesthood will grant no place of burial to
+an heretic; and from all I hear, St. Ivan was looked upon by them as
+something worse than a heretic, and only worthy of the burial of a
+dog.  I must propitiate the priests of St. Peter on the morrow, and
+get through the preparations as well as I can.  In the meantime,
+Latimer, I request your stay at my castle: at least until this
+funeral be over.'
+
+Latimer had left Oxford with the full intention of being in Padua as
+soon as wind and weather would permit.  Little did he think, when
+asking his friend Wolsey to give him permission to convey some love
+token to Ellen De Freston, on his account, that he should be made to
+feel that he himself had inspired an interest which he could not fail
+to appreciate.  He had no compunctions in regard to Wolsey, for he
+had received no commission to declare his sentiments, and had no idea
+of their engagement to the lovely Ellen, for whom now, he could not
+fail to feel the most animating and grateful interest.  In a few
+days, Latimer found more occasion to concentrate his affections upon
+the fair object that had excited them.
+
+That evening passed away with many reflections of thankfulness, and
+on the morrow Lord De Freston ordered his barge, and visited the
+fraternity at Alneshborne Priory.  All that he requested was
+immediately granted by that truly learned body.  The night was fixed
+upon for the solemn funeral to take place, and De Freston made a vow,
+more in accordance with the superstition of his age than with true
+wisdom, to keep watch in the chapel of the priory, and to speak to no
+one, to answer no one, and to be moved by none, until the priory bell
+should give the sound of morning prayer.
+
+His next care was to visit the monks of St. Peter's, and obtain their
+permission to let the body of St. Ivan lay in state within their
+walls.  He had some difficulty in this, and it was only by promising
+to pay a handsome sum for watching the body, and for prayers against
+sorcerers, that he could prevail upon that bigotted body to grant him
+his request.  The next thing was to look for the hermit.  Bishop
+Goldwell had sanctioned the Mayor's search for various articles of
+value, and had given permission to remove the body of St. Ivan.
+
+Lord De Freston and his men were the first to pass over the moat in
+boats to search the ruins, whilst hundreds collected on the banks to
+see the removal of the body, which was found erect, against the very
+pillar upon which he had leaned when he died.  A cross-beam had
+fallen against the top of the pillar so as to form a shield over him.
+A mass of rubbish, of brick-work, broken tiles, glass, and furniture
+had to be removed before the corpse could be taken out There was a
+placid serenity, even in death, upon the face his form was stiff, and
+the silvery locks fluttered over his features as they moved him
+through the ruins.
+
+His bearers were awe-struck with the downfall of that princely
+palace; and, not quite satisfied in their own minds that some of the
+standing portions of the building might not fall upon their heads,
+they made what haste they could to Lord De Freston's boat.
+
+Curiosity excited some to pass over the broken walls; and a desire to
+possess relics of Wykes' Bishop's Palace instigated others.  The
+occasional slip of some congregated mass terrified the pilferers and
+made them hasten from danger.
+
+When the corpse of St. Ivan was removed to the boat, the Mayor gave
+orders that none but authorised workmen should be permitted to pass
+the bounds of the moat, and that a clerk should give an exact account
+of the articles found for the use of the Town Clerk and the Bishop's
+Secretary.
+
+De Freston's care was now to convey the body to St. Peter's Priory,
+there to have it lay in state until all things should be ordered for
+the funeral.
+
+It was not without great bribes that it was admitted within the
+precincts of the Priory, but the monks were not insensible to the
+costly gifts of De Freston, and of Edmund Daundy; nor insensible to
+the use that might be made among the common people of the fame of St.
+Ivan.  He was, therefore, admitted, embalmed with all due ceremony,
+and candles were dedicated to the altar for St. Ivan.  Priests had to
+pray for his soul's release from purgatory.  A solemn requiem was
+sung in the chapel, and during the six days' rest in the Priory
+costly dedications were made to the shrine of St. Peter, at the
+expense of the nobleman and his friends, who were only anxious that
+decent respect should be paid to his memory.
+
+How different are the customs of different periods relative to the
+burial of the dead; how different, likewise, in different countries!
+That decency should be observed, every Christian will freely
+acknowledge and where society is formed upon true principles of
+piety, all these things will be done with propriety; but it is better
+to have the prayers of the poor destitute than to build the most
+splendid mausoleum in the world.  The heart of one good man is of
+more real value than the whole fabric of St. Peter's at Rome.
+
+Lord De Freston was not ashamed to show to the world that he
+considered the old man worthy of the customary Christian burial
+which, at that time, was bestowed upon the nobles of the land.  Hence
+his preparations were made upon a corresponding scale.
+
+The seventh evening was appointed for the funeral.  It was agreed
+that he should be buried by torchlight at the Priory of Augustine
+Monks, beneath the shrine of St. Peter, at the altar of Alneshborne
+Chapel.  Lord Ivan De Wykes, as the family were originally called
+when the estates were conveyed to the See of Norwich, had great
+possessions in Dorsetshire and Cambridgeshire, as well as in Essex
+and Suffolk; but retaining only certain estates at Linton and
+Ipswich, the name of Wykes was dropped and Ivan De Linton
+substituted.  These things were known to De Freston when the old man
+first spoke to him concerning his titles and family.  It might be on
+this account as well that he chose to pay him every mark of outward
+respect.  He had learnt something of Ivan's private history in
+conversation with him, and found that much of his eccentricity arose
+from a disappointment of the heart in early life.
+
+The long procession of boats with torches was collected at the quay
+of St. Peter's Priory.  There were twelve belonging to the Mayor and
+burgesses; four to the Prior of St. Peter's; Daundy's, Sparrow's, and
+Wolsey's barge, and others among the common people who chose to
+accompany the procession with muffled oars, five miles down the
+river, to the vale of Alneshborne.  At midnight, the procession,
+headed by De Freston's boat, with himself and his friend Latimer,
+started at the sound of the solemn bells, which, from the various
+religious houses, gave forth their mournful note.  They were all
+muffled.  Torches were seen in the towers; and along the river side
+the glare of one hundred and sixty torches upon the waters showed a
+long array of mourning pomp.  The body lay exalted on a large
+flat-bottomed boat, and was towed by the sailors, who were appointed
+to bear the coffin from its deck.  They were seated in another boat,
+belonging to the Priory.  Four portmen, ten burgesses, and a numerous
+company of priests and choristers brought up the procession.  Their
+lengthened notes came swelling over the waters as they chanted the
+requiem of the departed.
+
+It was a dark night, the waters were gloomy, the banks of the river
+seemed in mourning, the clouds looked as if they were gathering to
+weep, and save the wild note of the curlew as the torch-light
+disturbed her upon the ooze, one mile down the river, all was
+profoundly mournful.
+
+De Freston's men were well acquainted with the river, and as the
+lights from the town began to grow dim, and the sound of the tolling
+bells distant, and their oars were muffled, a solemn stillness made a
+feeling of awe creep over their frames, as they thought of the hermit
+whom they were escorting to his last cave.  As they passed the long
+hanging wood which bent to the waters, then termed Long Island, since
+corrupted into Hog Island, the startled cormorants rose in succession
+from their roosting-places, and filled the air with their hoarse
+chaunt.  Darker and darker grew the banks, and still darker spread
+the clouds above, as the train swept slowly along.  The distant
+turrets of Alneshborne Priory became visible, and soon after torches
+were seen to glare upon the waters' edge; and the fraternity of monks
+were visible awaiting the arrival of the funeral.
+
+As the boats approached the sandy strand against the creek of
+Alneshborne, the whole brotherhood assembled to receive the monks of
+St. Peter's and Lord De Freston; and along the shore a solemn chaunt
+arose from the choristers as the men eased down the coffin of St.
+Ivan from the deck of the barge.
+
+
+  Chaunt.
+
+  Holy brethren, we are come
+  Here to bring St. Ivan home;
+  Take him, take him, holy men,
+  As St. Peter's denizen.
+        Alma Mater!
+        Sancte Pater!
+  En et ecce!  Ecce en!
+
+  Holy brethren! now we mourn,
+  Hear us, monks of Alneshborne!
+  Take St. Ivan, take him then,
+  For St. Peter's denizen.
+        Alma Mater!
+        Sancte Pater!
+  En et ecce!  Ecce en!
+
+  Holy brethren! pity take,
+  For the Great St. Peter's sake;
+  Lay St. Ivan in your glen,
+  As St. Peter's denizen.
+        Alma Mater!
+        Sancte Pater!
+  En et ecce!  Ecce en!
+
+
+The venerable brethren received Lord De Freston and the mourners with
+due solemnity, and made the following response to the chaunt of St.
+Peter's priests.
+
+
+  The Response.
+
+  Welcome, welcome, to our shrine,
+  Here St. Ivan may recline;
+  Bring him onward, on his way,
+  Holy friars of orders gray.
+        Ora! ora!
+        Sine Morâ!
+  For St. Ivan, brothers, pray.
+
+  Here the saint shall taste repose,
+  Here the tomb shall o'er him close.
+  Whilst we sing his resting lay,
+  Holy friar of orders gray!
+        Ora! ora!
+        Sine Morâ!
+  For St. Ivan we will pray.
+
+  Welcome he who comes in peace,
+  Here his honours shall not cease;
+  We will chaunt them night and day,
+  Bear him, brothers, on his way.
+        Ora! ora!
+        Sine Morâ!
+  Thus we chaunt St. Ivan's lay.
+
+
+The procession was then formed, headed by the monks of the place, and
+by the whole body of the fraternity of St. Peter's.  Then came the
+bier, on each side of which walked six burgesses, Lord De Freston
+following as chief mourner.  Then Latimer, and the various friends,
+townsmen, and acquaintances, who, as much out of respect for the
+living Lord De Freston as for the dead St. Ivan, attended the costly
+funeral.  There was Robert Wulsey, as it was then written.  He was an
+old man, and certainly would have been much better at rest in his own
+house in St. Nicholas, than braving the midnight air to gratify his
+friend, De Freston.  So grateful did he feel to him for the interest
+he had taken in his son Thomas, that as soon as Daundy mentioned the
+subject to him, and told him that it would be a compliment which De
+Freston would feel, he actually resolved, let the cost be what it
+might, to attend the funeral of St. Ivan.  The cost, as the sequel
+will prove, was as much an any man could pay.
+
+The corpse was borne to the chapel, which then stood beyond the walls
+of the Priory, in a small secluded glen, near the bright stream which
+flowed into the moat, and thence down to the waves of the Orwell.
+The torches illumined the glen, and when they all entered the little
+chapel, a person outside might have supposed that the building was on
+fire, so glaring was the accumulated light of so many torches.  In
+front of the altar was the family vault of De Freston.  Amidst the
+chaunts of the assembled priests, the body was lowered into the
+vault, the ceremony was concluded, and De Freston alone, with only
+the candles burning upon the altar, was left to watch, according to
+his vow, till the morning matin-bell should permit him to open the
+chapel door.
+
+It may seem singular that a person like Lord De Freston should submit
+to such unnecessary devotion, but he had made a vow to do it himself,
+and he was not a man to turn aside from any purpose he had once
+resolved to put in practice.  It was in vain that the elder brother
+of the monastery offered himself to exonerate him from his vow, and
+to supply his place.  He was determined: consequently the whole body
+of attendants had to leave him in the chapel.  He charged Latimer to
+return to the castle, and not to think of coming over the waters
+again until the morning-bell should be heard from the Tower of
+Alneshborne Priory.  The mourners, therefore, retraced their way, the
+burgesses and townsmen up the waves of the Orwell, and the last to
+leave his friend was William Latimer, who promised to return at the
+time appointed.  Taking leave of the friendly Augustines, he ordered
+his rowers to unmuffle their oars and make the best of their way
+across the tide.  A light was to burn all night in the fifth story of
+Freston Tower.  The mourners separated, and their torches were seen
+quickly ascending the waves of the Orwell, and Lord De Freston was
+alone in the chapel of Alneshborne.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+A MEMORABLE NIGHT.
+
+Never, under such circumstances, did a noble undergo a severer trial
+than did Lord De Freston on that memorable night.  The parties had
+separated upon the wave, the monks had returned to their cells, one
+holy brother alone keeping watch in the belfry tower to denote the
+hour of matin worship.  The Lord of Freston Tower knelt by that lone
+altar, beneath which the hermit St. Ivan now rested, and he was
+performing the last form of devotion, which, according to his vow, he
+could then pay to departed worth.  The tomb could not be closed up
+until that vow had been strictly observed.  Superstitious and
+uncalled for, as according to our far wiser notions of acceptable
+duty this would be considered, it was deemed a high mark of personal
+devotion in that day.
+
+He had vowed that nothing on earth should entice him from the chapel.
+The proof of sanctity attending upon this vow was to be the
+strictness with which it should be kept.  He was to answer no voice
+whatever--to admit no one into the chapel when once he had locked
+himself in--to be terrified at nothing internal or external--that
+come whatever might, no word should escape his lips: but in silent
+meditation he should kneel at the altar and watch until the morning.
+In a word, he should remain there and keep his vow in spite of every
+temptation to make him break it.
+
+If men would only keep watch within themselves to guard against the
+entrance of evil thoughts into their souls, and prevent the devil
+from urging them thereby to wicked words and actions, they would not
+want to shut themselves up in gloomy chapels, to appear before men in
+sanctimonious garb.  There would be no need of costly sacrifices to
+the fancied glory of the true God, which alas! do but tend to blow
+out the swollen pride of man because of false notions of doing him
+honor.  Keep the heart sound, encourage there every virtue, and let
+the grace of God cleanse it from apostacy and superstition, for
+otherwise man will soon be unfit to dwell with holiness, and make his
+heart unfit for spiritual consolation or comfort.
+
+De Freston's self-devotion was the theme of praise among the deluded
+though learned monks of Alneshborne Priory, as well as amongst the
+priests of St. Peter, or the mayor and burgesses of the town of
+Ipswich--and perchance the cold-blooded Alice De Clinton, in the
+private chapel of Bishop Goldwell, might have deemed this act worthy
+of her praise.  But she knew it not, or else she would not have
+supposed him to be a heretic.  It is impossible for a good heart to
+be always silent in its devotions.  It will, it must speak to the
+glory of God.  It has so done in every age, and will so do to the
+last day; but its internal struggles to conquer its external and
+internal foes will be observed alone by God, and be known only to him.
+
+Whilst De Freston kept his silent watch, the grumbling clouds gave
+intimation of a coming storm.  It had been a murkey night, and
+sweeping folds of darkness had spread themselves over the sky: but
+now the thunder began to roll, and the lightning to illuminate the
+waters of the Orwell, and for successive moments to darken even the
+torches of the boats.  Ellen De Freston and her maid were in the
+tower, watching for the expected return of Lord De Freston's boat.
+On such a night, though her father had not charged her to remain
+there, but to let a light be burning in her usual lofty apartment,
+she had chosen to keep watch for her friend's return.
+
+The light was seen in the Tower, and the boatmen were guided by it
+and by the light in the belfry of the Monastery as certain beacons
+for their safety.  But every now and then the murky darkness of the
+clouds, and the vivid flashes of the lightning, would alike obscure
+these beacons from their sight.  They could see the windows of the
+little chapel they had left faintly illuminated by the wax tapers
+within.  Latimer felt a degree of sorrow for his lord, that on such a
+night he should be exposing himself to a long and dreary watch,
+instead of being calmly at rest upon his pillow in his own castle.
+It is true, that his anxieties were somewhat roused by the roar of
+the elements, but he had six stout rowers, who knew the channel well,
+and though they declared that their boat had never been so tossed
+about before upon the river, yet they had no doubt of soon reaching
+the landing place beneath the shades of Freston.
+
+The wind was dead ahead against them, and the short successive gusts
+which blew directly down upon them, seemed to chop the waves into
+spray as they dashed along.  The torches of twisted rope and pitch
+held by two men astern required the greatest dexterity in holding
+them lest they should be jerked into the waters.  Nothing but
+complete immersion could extinguish them: for even if the wind blew
+them out, it soon blew them in again, and the first billow found the
+flame again aspiring.  But every now and then the boat struck against
+a piece of timber, either the arm of some tree, or the mast of some
+vessel, or a piece of wreckage, which rather alarmed the most
+experienced boatmen of the party.  One flambeau was sent forward, and
+the man held it as high as he could, to give notice of any coming
+danger.
+
+'If our friends going home have not better luck than we have,' said
+one of the men, 'we shall hear of their being capsized or driven
+ashore.  Thy have, however, wind and tide in their favor and will
+scud homewards pretty quickly.  Pull away, my hearties!'
+
+This was the language of young Harry Benns, whose ancestors had for
+years been servants of the Lord De Freston, and the same youth was
+attached and engaged to the serving maid of Ellen De Freston.
+
+'The light burns brightly in the Tower, Master Latimer, and I fancy
+every now and then I see something flitting past it.  I suspect we
+have friends watching us there.'
+
+'I wish both your lord's watch and theirs were over,' replied
+Latimer.  'I like not this dark, stormy struggle.'
+
+'Oh, never fear, Master!  We have a good pilot to take charge of us!
+Give way, my lads! that's it! a strong arm, and good courage, my
+boys!'
+
+Two very good things in their way, but both may be put to the test
+when other things come in their way.
+
+Just at that moment a flash of lightning opened upon them, and showed
+them such a sight as made the stoutest heart among them tremble.  A
+vessel without light aboard, or sail, or man to steer her, seemed as
+if she had broken from her moorings, and was driving before the wind
+in the very direction of the boat.  She looked like a floating
+mountain as she came along, seen for the instant, and then involved
+in impenetrable darkness.
+
+'There she comes,' exclaimed the man ahead; 'bout ship, my lads, or
+we are all overboard!'
+
+Down she came--the work of an instant--she swept directly over them,
+turning De Freston's boat keel upwards.  Happily she did not strike
+them midships, but caught them astern, twisted them round first--and
+was gone.
+
+The shrieks of those unhappy men were borne upon the wind, and
+plainly heard by the Lord De Freston in the chapel of Alneshborne.
+The neighboring monks were roused from their slumbers by the alarm
+given by the brother in the watch-tower: they listened, and could
+plainly hear the cries of distress.
+
+The boatmen, who had all been capsized, extricated themselves as well
+as they could, and clung to the boat, which, having been so suddenly
+upset, contained a great quantity of air, which added to its buoyancy.
+
+'Are you there, Benns?'
+
+'Is that you, Atkins?  Hold on, my boys!'
+
+'I say, where is my young master?'
+
+Latimer alone was not there.  Having been seated directly in the
+stern of the boat, the violence of the blow had thrown him into the
+eddy of the driving vessel, and in a moment he was drawn, as it were,
+in a vortex far away from his companions.  The vessel, however, drove
+faster than he did upon the waters, and, being an expert swimmer, he
+had struck out boldly against the sweeping and curling waves.  When a
+man has to struggle for life, and knows, too, that it must be a hard
+struggle, he had better not waste his strength in his first efforts.
+Presence of mind is certainly the greatest requisite in sudden
+emergencies; and Latimer's first exclamation was not a shriek of
+terror, but a prayer, short, earnest, and expressive.
+
+'Lord help me!  I am in danger.  Support me through this trial, with
+the help of thy right hand and holy arm.'
+
+He had scarcely uttered the words, and lifted himself up to strike
+out as a brave swimmer, when a huge plank, from the beams of a wreck,
+came floating by him.  He caught hold of it, lifted himself upon it,
+and, in another moment, sat across it, in humble thankfulness to God
+for so much mercy.  He could hear his companions calling aloud for
+help, apparently a long way from him, drifting before the howling
+winds.
+
+It should be understood by the reader, that to reach Lord De
+Freston's stair whilst the tide was flowing, the men had to row at
+least three quarters of a mile out of the direct line, that they
+might the more easily fetch the point at which they were to land.
+They were at the very utmost distance when the accident occurred.
+The boat then was driven back almost to the Downham shore, and
+consequently, as the men mounted the keel, the wind had a greater
+power upon the drifting mass, and took them swiftly onward; but
+Latimer, struggling against the chops of the waves, and at last
+finding a friendly plank to ride upon, was swept more along the
+channel.
+
+The beacon still burnt in Freston Tower, and the anxious watchers
+therein were suddenly alarmed by the extinction of the light upon the
+waves.
+
+'I cannot see the lights of the boat upon the waters,' said Ellen De
+Freston, to her maid.  'I can see a light beaming from the chapel; I
+can still see lights floating towards the town, and dancing
+reflections upon the distant waters; I can even see the Tower light
+from the Priory, but I see not those from my father's boat.'
+
+'O! fear not, my lady--fear not.  I dare say the wind and rain have
+extinguished the torches; but depend upon it they will reach the
+shore in safety.  Do not be afraid.'
+
+'I saw the boats part upon the waters, and my father's boat bending
+its course to come across the river.  They seemed to be coming nearer
+and nearer every minute, and the torches to burn brighter; but all of
+a sudden I miss them.  I see no lights, all is darkness except the
+lightning's flash, and that shows me nothing.'
+
+'O! do not fear, my lady.  They can see our light, though their
+torches are extinguished; and I have heard my Henry say he could
+always find his way across, even if there were no lights burning in
+the Tower.  It is a bad night, but do not let the thunder and
+lightning terrify you; they will soon be ashore.'
+
+'I fear not so soon as you seem to expect.  You appear to be very
+bold, Maria, but I fear Him only who holds the thunder and the
+lightning in his hands.  He is very terrible!'
+
+'It is in His help I trust, my lady.  He is merciful and kind, and my
+Harry is a good man, and I hope God will take care of him.'
+
+'I hope the same for others,' sighed Ellen: and again she looked
+anxiously upon the troubled waters.  She could see nothing but the
+dashing waves, illumined by the sudden flashes of lightning.  She
+could hear nothing but the roar of the artillery of Heaven, which was
+indeed enough to shake the stout nerves even of the brave Lord De
+Freston, but not enough to prevent his or his daughter's watch.
+
+The brethren of Alneshborne, whose monastery lay directly in the
+course of the wind, had heard the mournful cries repeated upon the
+waters, and, with all speed, had quickly followed their watchman to
+the shore.  There, shoving off their own boat, and guided by the
+occasional call of distress, they plied their accustomed oars upon
+the wave.  At times they lifted up their generous voices, and fancied
+they were heard.  The thunders roared above, the pelting rain fell in
+torrents, and they had nothing but hope to guide them.  They could
+hear voices calling for help, but so dark was the night, and so heavy
+the shower, that they could scarcely tell from which point of the
+channel the cries came.
+
+In the midst of a peal of thunder came a flash of lightning so vivid
+and clear that the parties actually saw each other as distinctly as
+if it were day; and such a shout of joy arose, as deliverers and the
+delivered could alone utter.  A few more strokes of the oar from the
+monks, and they are alongside the capsized boat, picking off the men,
+binding the rudder to their own boat's stern, and receiving the
+blessings and embraces of the sailors of De Freston.  Nothing could
+exceed the gratitude of the poor fellows thus mercifully delivered
+from a watery grave.
+
+But Lord De Freston's friend.  He was not there; and the sailors
+looked sad and sorrowful in each others' faces.
+
+'Alas! he is gone to the bottom,' said Benns, 'I saw the great trader
+strike him a heavy blow, and send him along the wave dragging him
+with her.  He is gone! holy men! and we must acquaint our master with
+his loss.'
+
+'Leave that to me,' said the Superior, 'I will go alone to the
+chapel; meanwhile, you must come to the monastery and partake of such
+accommodation as our means can render.'
+
+'We shall be well pleased to land, your reverence, for some of us
+have shipped more water than we can carry, and should be glad to have
+it pumped out of us.'
+
+The monks took the boat in tow, and landed at their own chore, to the
+great satisfaction of the poor sailors.
+
+A fire was soon lighted in that ancient hall; and old cloaks, and
+hoods, and dry garments exchanged for their heavy soaken woollen
+clothes.  Nor were the friendly monks less careful for their internal
+comfort, having placed before them such spirituous liquors, as might
+best qualify or remedy the chill of the salt water in their stomachs.
+
+The Prior himself went to the chancel-door of the little chapel,
+leaving the poor fellows talking about their lord and his lost
+friend, and wondering in their own minds whether the vow would or
+would not be broken.  Old John of Alneshborne went himself to the
+chapel.  The Lord De Freston heard the noise upon the waters.  The
+sounding of the alarm-bell from the monastery, the thunders roaring,
+and saw the lightnings flashing; but he firmly kept his vow, for he
+had resolved that nothing should tempt him to break it.
+
+A gentle but hasty knock was heard at the door, and a voice
+exclaiming:
+
+'I am John of Alneshborne, I come to absolve thee from thy vow.  Thy
+boat is upset, thy friend is lost; oh! leave off thy watch and come
+and help us.'
+
+But no answer from within gave any indications of slackened duty or
+of wavering vow.
+
+'Open the door! watch no longer, thy men are exhausted, They are in
+the Priory! they want thy help!  O, noble lord, let me entreat thee
+to come and advise us what we are to do.  The light still burns in
+Freston Tower; shall we pass over to the castle?  What shall we do?'
+
+Not a single word came in reply, though the noble heard the news with
+a deep pang, only to be imagined by those who felt for him.  Yet he
+put up a silent prayer for support, and even that the morning's light
+might bring him better tidings.  He felt as if he should hear better
+news, if he kept his vow; and, if he did not, that some fresh horror
+would approach with the matin-bell.  Never was father, friend, or
+noble, more deeply tried; yet he kept his watch, and the Prior
+returned from his ineffectual attempt to move him.  That night was,
+indeed, a night of horrors.
+
+Some of the monks attributed all these accidents to the admission of
+the hermit's body into their chapel; and took upon themselves to
+lecture their elders for ready acquiescence in the will of Lord De
+Freston.  Others thought it a judgment upon Latimer, as he was the
+only one lost.  They all made vows to be more strict in the
+performance of their duties, and some of the sailors confessed to
+them their sins.
+
+'It was a bad night when we started,' said Harry Benns.  'I could
+tell by the clouds we should have a storm, and perhaps the judgment
+you speak of may have fallen heavily upon the priests of St. Peter's.
+A storm is but a storm, good monks, and there is a God above to rule
+that, as well as ourselves.  He has delivered us out of peril, and we
+have reason to rejoice and be thankful.'
+
+'Young man,' replied the Superior, 'dost thou know the means by which
+thou wast saved?  St. Peter was our help.'
+
+'I know that you and your brethren of this Priory were the
+instruments in the hands of God to save our lives; and I give God
+thanks first, and thee next; but I do not see how St. Peter helped
+us, any more than the dead St. Ivan.'
+
+The monks looked at each other, as much as to express astonishment at
+the youth's impiety, and one said to the other, 'I wonder this fellow
+was not lost!'
+
+'Let us hope the best,' replied the Superior, 'his ignorance is the
+best excuse which can be made for him.  He will soon know better.  I
+will take care and inform his lord; so that he shall do penance for
+this slur upon St. Peter.'
+
+The conversation then turned upon the lost Latimer; the monks all
+agreeing that he was not an ignorant man; but one who had certainly
+entertained notions contrary to the ordained decrees of the Pope; one
+who had ventured not only to think for himself, but to argue with
+others, and even with the learned fraternity of Alneshborne.  He was,
+doubtless, punished as a heretic, and his fate would be a warning to
+many how they dared to open their lips against St. Peter, They
+thought that good would come of this, even to the Lord De Freston,
+whose pious watch they did not fail to laud; and to praise him highly
+for having kept his vow through such unexampled difficulties.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+THE FATE OF THE SWIMMER.
+
+Latimer was drifting on the tide, his long straight piece of timber,
+very unsteady in its progress, at one time going at an angle as if it
+would drive to the shore of Freston Tower, at another steering with a
+wide course towards the Priory.  Its progress was slow only when it
+came among those long winding weeds, fine as the smallest ribbons,
+and ten or twenty feet long, which would occasionally twist
+themselves over the board.
+
+This he felt to be his worst position, for whenever his plank was
+delayed, he found the greatest difficulty to keep his place upon it.
+The incessant spray, too, was such as to blind him, and scarcely
+permitted him to see the light of the tower on the Freston side, or
+upon that of Downham Reach.  Still Latimer was thankful that he had
+found this friendly help in the hour of need.
+
+He looked at the light glimmering from that happy spot in which he
+had spent the most enlightened moments of his life, he looked and
+longed for that friendly shore: nor did he forget to pray both for
+her whom he loved, and for her father, whose superstition, even at
+that moment, he conceived to be the cause of the catastrophe.  He
+could not help thinking that if that watching had not been, he should
+not then have been a solitary sufferer upon the waves of the Orwell.
+Again, he thought it might have happened, even if De Freston had been
+on board the boat, and a thrill of joy ran through his cold frame at
+the thought that he was safe.
+
+It was evident that his plank neared the Freston shore; for, as the
+lightning flashed, he beheld the castle, and the tower, and the
+trees, and even imagined that he distinguished the very stair in a
+line with the light of the tower.  Just at that time, too, his limbs
+seemed to be released from the clinging sea-weed and his floating
+spar to rush into deep water.  It darted forward as if released from
+confinement; its course seeming to be towards the shore.  It was
+evidently in the deep channel, and Latimer thought it was the very
+channel which he knew swept up to the Freston shore.  The light of
+the tower was now behind him, and again the weeds stopt his plank.
+It was then he thought of making his greatest effort.
+
+'I am leaving the shore,' he said to himself; 'and my plank will soon
+be drawn down by the weight of the weeds, and I shall go with it.  I
+must now try my strength, and with God's help, I may reach the land.'
+
+He cast off his coat, he tore off his shoes, stript himself as much
+as he could, and with prayer heavenward, and his eyes upon the
+beacon, he cast himself upon the waters.  In a moment, he felt those
+long winding weeds twisting themselves around his limbs.  His
+presence of mind did not forsake him.  He had often swam the waters
+of the Severn and had been well tutored against weeds.  To struggle
+against them he knew to be vain.  The old fisherman on his native
+waters, had often told him that the only way to escape them was to
+lay himself out as fleet as he could, and never to strike until they
+untwisted themselves, which they would be sure to do if he would not
+resist them.  He did this directly, and though it delayed him, yet
+delay in this instance was avoiding danger.  He struck out as fleetly
+as he could until he escaped these treacherous weeds, and to his
+great joy he came into deep water.
+
+His eye now rested upon the beacon, his arms expanded, his chest
+breasted the waves, and hope, that sweet companion, hope in the mercy
+of God, did not forsake him.  It was a hard struggle, however, to
+buffet the opposing waves, with both wind and tide against him.  He
+had youth, health, strength, hope, and love in his favor; and all
+that a young man with a good heart could do, he did to reach the
+wished-for shore.
+
+There is, however, a limit to human exertion, beyond which no man's
+strength can avail.  He was ignorant of the distance he had to swim.
+A light looks sometimes nearer than it really is, and the poor
+smuggler's heart was greatly tried, as, with all his efforts, he did
+not seem to near the shore.  Yet the light seemed to burn higher up
+in the sky; and as the lightning illumined the waters, he thought
+that the dark woods were nearer.
+
+Did the classical scholar think of the Hellespont as he breasted the
+waves, or remember the fate of the far-famed Leander?  The night was
+such as to create despondency, without referring to the classical
+allusion.  But the Christian Latimer knew what Leander did not--that
+God was his help.  He had not presumptuously braved the waves for a
+secret amour, and, much as he admired the true love of Leander, he
+felt himself in a very different position, though Freston Tower was
+then his aim, and he hoped that Ellen De Freston might be expecting
+his return.
+
+Great were his repeated exertions, but he felt his strength beginning
+to fail him!  He looked up at the light, and he thought it less
+distinct.  He felt a strange dimness overshadow his brain, a nervous
+prostration of strength, and a weakness, which made him anxious only
+to exert himself the more.
+
+The light from the tower suddenly disappeared.  Oh! how his soul
+seemed to sink; and not only his soul, for a dimness, like a film,
+seemed to spread itself over his eyes, and his hands and his feet to
+sink lower, and to strike feebler beneath the waves.
+
+Strange mists are beginning to fill those longing eyes, and
+sparkling, star-like lights to flit across his vision.  'And is it
+thy will, O Lord!' was the last exclamation from his fainting lips,
+as he lifted his head in the darkness, and his feet sank motionless
+downwards.  That very motion in one moment convinced him of God's
+mercy; that it was His will he should be saved.  He felt the ground;
+his feet touched the shore.  With a bound of joy, such as angels may
+be supposed to feel at the returning steps of the repentant, he
+sprang forward--the tide had previously turned--the wave helped
+him--and the flash of the now friendly lightning showed him the stair
+of De Freston just before him!
+
+One effort more--aloud cry of joy, and for help--he seized the step
+of the stair--vain his effort to ascend; too weak, too feeble, too
+exhausted, he fell, still grasping the lowest step of De Freston's
+landing-place.  All consciousness was gone; instinctively he grasped
+the step, and every wave became less powerful, until it only washed
+against his feet.
+
+Ellen De Freston had cautioned her maid to take the lamp out of the
+way of the window whilst she opened the casement looking down upon
+the waves.  Hers was rather a dangerous position, in a lofty tower
+surrounded by trees, in the very midst of thunder and lightning.
+Many minds would quail before such terrors; but love is very strong,
+and when aided by education, and divested of all superstition, it in
+a power of dependence upon God stronger than a castle.
+
+She felt that her father and her friend were absent; that they were
+returning from sacred duties, difficult to fulfil, and requiring the
+assistance of her loving aid.  Who can watch so well as they who wish
+for our safety?  And who can do this better than an affectionate
+child?
+
+Ellen De Freston opened her casement, anxious to hear some sound of
+the plashing oars, or some voices upon the Orwell.  She thought she
+heard, through the lull of the storm, a faint moan.  She listened
+again--she did hear it.
+
+'Hark, Maria! leave the lamp; come to the window.  Hark! dost thou
+not hear a moan?'
+
+'I do, my lady--I do!  It is some poor wretch upon the shore!'
+
+'Haste thee below, maiden.  Come, let us haste!  But hold!  we must
+not take away the beacon.'
+
+'Shall I run to the castle for help?'
+
+'No, quickly descend, and ascend again with the torch that hangs upon
+the porch door.  Quick! quick!  Maria.  Fly!  I can still hear the
+moan of distress.  We must be above our sex in the moment of danger.'
+
+The torch was soon lit.  Neither felt the coldness of the wind, nor
+the fury of the storm.  Some poor sufferer must be cast upon the
+shore; and when is a woman's heart so deeply alive, and so warmly
+engaged, as when conveying help to the disconsolate.  The man that
+cannot appreciate female philanthropy knows not what true pity is.
+It glows so vividly, it comes so blessedly, it shines so graciously,
+that the most warlike men have, in all ages, been subdued by it.
+
+With rapid steps did Ellen De Freston and her maid hasten, by the
+burning torchlight, to the shore.  Their first care was to hasten to
+the stair, by which they could descend to the level of the waves.
+They reached it.
+
+Holding down the torch, they see a form below--they descend--the
+light shows them at once the features of Latimer, and their tender
+hearts are struck with horror.  A wild shriek reaches the castle of
+De Freston, and arouses the inmates, who were awaiting their lord's
+return.  The ancient dame of the castle, with servants and men, came
+running down the green sward towards the light which they saw burning
+by the stairs.
+
+They soon perceive their young mistress leaning over the apparently
+lifeless body of a young man.  They soon recognized the features, and
+lent their aid to remove him to the castle.
+
+Glad, indeed, was Ellen of their help, and quickly did she follow
+them into that place of hospitality whence a sufferer never was
+excluded, or failed to receive the kindest attention.
+
+But such a sufferer as then entered the walls, and under such
+circumstances, commanded all the interest of affection and pity.
+
+He was quickly conveyed to a warm bed.  Oh! what deep anxiety dwelt
+in the mind of the maiden, as her unconscious friend was placed at
+least out of further danger, and she received the assurance of her
+old nurse that he was alive.  She dropped upon her knees, put up her
+prayers for help, and every returning minute confirmed the report of
+his revival.  Exhaustion was so great that the sufferer had no voice;
+his eye only could speak his thankfulness, and this seemed eloquent
+to heaven.  Yet it beamed too with gratitude upon that dear friend
+who had first relieved him from his cold, dark fate on the shore of
+the Orwell.
+
+It was long indeed--for hours are long to the suspended hopes and
+fears of any--before the faintest whisper could narrate the miseries
+of that dismal light.  In faint, very faint, whispers did the
+sufferer unfold to his kind attendants the catastrophe which had
+occurred.
+
+Ellen knew her father's intention to keep watch in the chapel; but
+she thought of his anxieties, what they must be if any report should
+reach him of the fate of his crew and the loss of Latimer.  Happy,
+very happy, was she in being the blessed instrument of his recovery,
+though even that might be a longer work than she expected.  She was
+thankful that a whisper could be heard, that a consciousness of her
+care had come to the sufferer.
+
+This, indeed, had come long before he could express it.  When he
+could, it was exquisite pleasure so to do.  Oh! how grateful do we
+all feel to the kind hands which minister to our wants in sickness!
+When are we more virtuous?  When are we more thankful?  When is our
+love more lively than when, unable to do anything for ourselves, we
+find a helping hand to lift up our weary head, and to place it upon
+our softened pillow?  Religion comes never sweeter in her influences
+than when she approaches our sick bed, and tells us how grateful we
+ought to be to our God.
+
+How sweet is the first sleep after struggling nature, restored from
+exhaustion, relieved from exertion, is lulled into repose, by the
+rest of tenderness.  'Blessed, indeed, are all they who provide any
+comfort for the sick and needy; they shall find relief when they are
+themselves in need of help.'
+
+In prayer for Ellen, came Latimer's first repose; and the maid of the
+castle then gave orders for a boat to be prepared for the first sound
+of the Priory matin-bell.
+
+De Freston was the first to hear that sound and to rise from his
+watch, to open the chapel-door, and, with a calm composure, to
+receive the congratulations of the brotherhood.  Well did he know
+that he could afford no assistance to Latimer, if he were drowned in
+the Orwell; and well he knew that the monks could best administer to
+the wants of his men.  He walked forth, therefore, from his devotions
+with no surprise; nor was he astonished to find his boat ready, the
+water baled out, all his men equipped in dry clothes, and quite
+anxious to pass over to Freston Tower.
+
+He thanked the learned fraternity for their kindness, paid all the
+customary fees, and promised what he knew he could well perform for
+their attention to his people.  He walked to the shore, thinking of
+his daughter; and before he could embark--though the tempest had
+passed away, yet the waters were greatly troubled--he beheld that
+daughter approaching from her Tower to convey tidings which every
+soul upon that beach was glad to hear.
+
+'Alas! my child,' exclaimed De Freston, as his beauteous Ellen rushed
+to his arms, 'where is Latimer?'
+
+'Safe, my dear father, in your own castle.'
+
+'Then God be praised for his mercies!'
+
+'Amen! amen! amen!' was the response from all; and soon were they
+all, beneath happier auspices, passing over those now less formidable
+waves, to the welcome precincts of Freston Tower.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+WOLSEY.
+
+How fared the friends of De Freston, Daundy, Wolsey, the aged
+Sparrow, Samson, Felawe, Fastolf, Gooding, Cady, and such as were
+connected with the ancient borough of Ipswich, who were anxious to
+show respect more to the living lord than the dead St. Ivan?  That
+night was death to the venerable Wolsey, the father of the scholar.
+The boat he was in got aground on Long Island, and the waters, at
+that period, were so full, as to fill all the flats of the Greenside,
+now called Greenwich Farm; so that the whole of that night was spent
+upon the shore, by this aged man, who was exposed to the rain and
+wind, and he never recovered from the ill effects of it.  Robert
+Wolsey had been in his own boat, manned with his own six men, who
+were accustomed to convey his stores from his wharf and lands at
+Stoke; for Robert Wolsey was a man of some substance in those days--a
+large agriculturist and dealer in ships' stores, and especially in
+the victualling of all his Majesty's ships in the ports of Ipswich
+and Harwich.
+
+The old man returned home the next day, having been taken off Long
+Island by his rich relatives' men, who came in quest of him the
+morning after the storm.  Dame Joan was full of anxiety at the night,
+and at the delay, and dreaded the worst; but the worst was yet to
+come, for Robert Wolsey returned alive, took to his bed, and though,
+nursed with care, and supposed to be almost convalescent soon after
+making his last will and testament in the presence of Mr. Richard
+Farrington, suddenly declined and died, to the great grief of all his
+friends and connexions.
+
+Wolsey was summoned from his college to attend upon the funeral of
+his father, and to administer to his last will and testament.  His
+grief was heavy at the loss of a kind hand; but he started when he
+heard of the interest his friend Latimer had excited in the heart of
+Ellen De Freston.  Never did his hopes receive so severe a blow as
+when he learnt, from his mother's lips, that Lord De Freston had
+consented to acknowledge Latimer as the future guardian of his lovely
+daughter.  His mourning had a double weight--a burthen insurmountable
+to many, and even in his strong mind, not without a degree of
+weakness which changed the current of his years, and made him what
+the never would have been, the highest and most exalted subject in
+the realm, and afterwards the one most prostrate.
+
+Few men were more wise for their years than Thomas Wolsey, when
+Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford: few, if any, ever attained
+greater celebrity for his extraordinary progress in logic and
+philosophy: so that at twenty-four years of age, it might be said of
+him that he was, take him for all things, the wisest man in the
+University.  Melancholy indeed were his reflections when he attended
+the funeral of his father, and heard the news of Ellen De Freston's
+engagement to Latimer.  Up to this period of his existence, the
+secret bad been kept within his own soul, unless a slight breath
+thereof reached his mother's ear.  It never would have been known
+beyond that ear, had not a very old poem, called 'Wolsey's Lament,'
+revealed it; and accounted for very much that was alike strange in
+his early years and upon no other grounds to be accounted for.
+
+Wolsey's grief at the loss of his father was given out as the reason
+why he visited no one, would be seen by no one--excluded himself from
+all his former associates, and even deserted the mansion of his noble
+Lord De Freston.  Ellen sent him an invitation--Latimer, unable to
+move to Ipswich, hoped he would come to him.  He wanted to talk over
+College affairs; but Wolsey's heart sickened at these things.  Dame
+Joan had the task of making excuses for him, which she did, assigning
+his utter inability to enjoy anything.  A certain time he must remain
+at Ipswich to settle his father's affairs, prove his will, and
+administer to his effects.  He felt that the sooner that time was
+over, the better it would be for him.  Vain were all the kind
+letters, messages, and even personal attentions which the Lord of
+Freston Tower and his daughter paid to him.  He could neither receive
+nor answer them: but wandered over the hills of Stoke, where he
+poured out his melancholy spirit.
+
+There was a spot upon his father's estate which commanded from its
+summit an extensive view both of the Orwell and the Gipping.  His
+parents used frequently to visit it on a summer's evening; and the
+old man had built a sort of summer house, and made a plantation round
+it.  It was a lovely place, and rose abruptly, almost like a crag,
+from the green hills sloping around it.  The landscape was at once
+grand, wide, and sweeping, commanding a direct view of the whole town
+beneath it, and the waters circling along the walls of St. Peter, and
+the ancient quay far away to the right of the spectator.  Thence
+might be seen all the churches and religious houses in the vicinity,
+the shipping upon the Orwell, the boats ascending the Gipping, which
+at that time, instead of horses and waggons, conveyed the hay from
+the meadows, or the straw from the lands to the port of Ipswich.  To
+this pleasant spot, did the now melancholy youth repair.  His brow
+was careworn, and his heart ill at ease and sick with disappointment.
+He needed prayer to rouse him from his torpid state, or the cheerful
+voice of some confidential companion to take off the load of his
+distress; but he was too proud a spirit to own what he felt, or to
+open his lips to any one upon the subject.  Yet would he sit hours
+together in that summer-house, away from every human being, and bend
+his glance upon the scene, and think of all that was gone by, not
+only in his own life, but for ages past.
+
+Latimer had occasionally known him in his melancholy hours.  He heard
+of his conduct, and could not conceal from himself, or others, the
+wish he had to go to him; but the weakness, arising from his
+dangerous illness, was of such an extent as to prevent the
+possibility of his seeking him, and ministering to him in friendship.
+Had the attempt been made, it would have been rejected; for Wolsey
+never would have said to him: 'Thou art thyself the cause of my
+distress.'  His lament, however, which was written at that period,
+speaks the tone of the man's mind better than any words which can be
+said for him.
+
+
+  Wolsey's Lament.
+
+  Ye skies above me shining fair,
+  And clouds transparent floating there,
+  How bright ye seem! how swift ye fly!
+  Ye seem to be in extacy,
+  Why do ye shine so purely bright,
+  On soul as gloomy as the night?
+  Ye mock my sorrows as ye lightly roll,
+  And seem to say, 'The scholar has no soul!'
+
+  I have a soul--I see ye shine;
+  Would that my light were such as thine!
+  Ye ride triumphantly along,
+  Delighted as with cheerful song;
+  But, oh! what mockery to see
+  That you can thus be glad and free,
+  Whilst I am chained with heavy loaded grief,
+  Nor sky, nor clouds, nor sun can give relief.
+
+  O, glorious sun! thou shinest there
+  The beacon of this hemisphere,
+  Calling to life the seeds of earth
+  And myriads to happy birth.
+  They dance on silv'ry wing with glee,
+  Made merry through the warmth of thee,
+  Whilst I alone, 'neath thine All-warming ray,
+  Feel not thine influence--so dark my day.
+
+  O, hide thee! hide thee in a storm,
+  Or take the darkest, blackest form;
+  Perchance my glominess were shock'd,
+  And from mine heart, my grief unlocked,
+  Might fly to thee, and happ'ly say,
+  'Sun, I am brighter than thy day;'
+  But shine not now so brightly o'er my woes
+  Thou mock'st the heart that darkness doth compose.
+
+  Ye trees so green, so freshly green!
+  What vigour in your stems is seen;
+  Why, robed in mantles of delight.
+  Do ye thus mock my aching sight?
+  Ye look so lovely in your smile;
+  Have ye no pity in your guile?
+  Why look so rich, enchanting to the eye,
+  Of him who, like a severed leaf, must die?
+
+  Your leaves must wither, fall away;
+  Another spring you'll look as gay;
+  Your roots receive the vernal shower,
+  Your buds put forth their leafy power;
+  And grateful shades to love ye give,
+  And bid the songsters happy live;
+  But, oh! no love for me is found to dwell
+  Within your shade, your love-enchanting spell.
+
+  Ye swallows passing on the wing,
+  Catching at every tiny thing;
+  Gliding so swiftly o'er the plain,
+  And then returning back again;
+  Ye summer friends with happy hearts,
+  What pleasure life to you imparts!
+  Ye know no winter! grief doth bring no care,
+  To such as you, ye children of the air!
+
+  Oh! do not mock me!  I would fly,
+  Ay, lightly too, as happily,
+  Could I but feel I had a wing
+  Of love, could lighten such a thing
+  As I am--heavy-hearted man--
+  In this, my short and dreary span.
+  Go, fly away! depart to distant land;
+  Mock not my spirit with your flirtings bland.
+
+  Ye hills around me, why so gay?
+  Vanish! oh, vanish ye away!
+  Why stand ye there in fertile pride,
+  My heart and senses to deride?
+  Ye looked so lovely; but of late,
+  I could have contemplating sat
+  Where now I sit, and long had wished to stay
+  But flee ye! flee ye from my sight away!
+
+  How oft in shadowy forms ye rose!
+  Not then exulting o'er my woes;
+  But courted as Parnassus height.
+  From wing of love to give me flight.
+  My native hills, I weep, I groan,
+  I feel, ay, wretchedly alone!
+  Will ye be green to mock my broken heart?
+  O! hills of Gypeswich, depart! depart!
+
+  Ye walls monastic, here and there,
+  With turrets rising in the air;
+  Sure not in England can be found
+  Town with more consecrated ground.
+  The streets are lost, they seem so small,
+  Before the space ye claim for wall!
+  Are monks and friars in their cells so free,
+  They do but laugh at such a wretch as me?
+
+  So let them laugh with sidelong glance,
+  I do detest their ignorance!
+  Oh! if my soul could gain its hope,
+  I'd give my native town some scope
+  For learning, far above the trash
+  Of superstitious, tasteless hash!
+  But woe is me! I know not where to go
+  To soothe the torment of this deadly blow.
+
+  Thou stream majestic!  Orwell's tide,
+  Why dost thou here so gently glide?
+  And wash, with waves as soft as down,
+  The borders of my native town?
+  Have I thy bosom breasted well,
+  With gently undulating swell.
+  And shall I never more thy waters press?
+  Oh, Orwell! rob me of this deep distress!
+
+  I'd kiss thy waves!  I'd bow my knee,
+  Could'st thou relieve mine agony;
+  But now thy smile ungracious is,
+  And speaks to me of others' bliss;
+  Whilst I, who loved thy waters green,
+  Am desolate and lonely seen.
+  O! ye loved waters of my youthful day!
+  Robbed of my love, how can ye love display?
+
+  Thou winding Gipping, where I strayed
+  In boyhood on thy slopes I played,
+  And loved to angle from thy banks,
+  And sportive in my childish pranks,
+  To gather wild flowers from thy side,
+  How canst thou now my woes deride?
+  Stream of mine infant steps, my tears would flow
+  Were I beside thy gay banks walking now.
+
+  Yet thou dost move to meet the tide
+  Of Orwell's waters, like a bride
+  In garments white, and pure, and chaste.
+  Oh! why so cheerful in thy haste?
+  Ah! there ye give the mutual kiss,
+  As that of matrimonial bliss,
+  And never parted, never know ye pain,
+  But flow united onward to the main.
+
+  Ye friends within my native town,
+  Me, kindly, ye are proud to own;
+  A father's form was lately there,
+  With placid brow, and hoary hair,
+  He's gone where I shall shortly go,
+  And there but terminate my woe.
+  O, friends of youth!  I cannot now reveal
+  The bitter anguish of my word, farewell!
+
+  Mother, ay, mother! in thine heart
+  I found my own dear counterpart;
+  For thou, in youth, wert all to me,
+  Until this eye had turn'd from thee
+  To give admiring thoughts to one,
+  Who ne'er reflects them on thy son.
+  O! mother, mother, never shall I know
+  The heart's revival from this fatal blow.
+
+  Hills, woods, and valleys, is't a dream?
+  Ye beauties of the Orwell's stream!
+  Castles, and churches, monasteries,
+  And all your rich varieties,
+  Hereafter be ye dull to me,
+  No more your beauties let me see,
+  In aught that can another scholar move,
+  To taste the sweetness of this scene of love.
+
+  Ye smile so sweetly--not for me--
+  I groan within to look on ye;
+  Ye look so lovely, not to shine
+  On anything I welcome mine;
+  Ye breathe so softly on mine ear,
+  Death seems to kill the atmosphere;
+  Why do I not this moment here decay,
+  And, sighing, breathe my very soul away?
+
+  O, agony! I turn mine eye
+  To dwell on distant turret high,
+  Where oft in joy extatic past,
+  I've hoped my happiness would last,
+  Where life with hope and love began.
+  Ambition roused the rising man.
+  O, darkest woe!  O, weary, dismal hour!
+  I loved--and lost--the maid of Freston Tower.
+
+  Weep, eyelids, weep your fountain dry,
+  Ye ne'er can soothe mine agony;
+  Lips, never ope again to speak,
+  Save when the bursting heart will break;
+  Tongue, cleave thou to thy parched roof,
+  And never give one lisping proof
+  That she I loved hath ne'er that love returned;
+  My loss is greater than my love hath earn'd.
+
+  I cannot bear yon sails to see,
+  So smoothly gliding merrily;
+  Time was, they gave me joy to view
+  Their contrast to the water's hue;
+  And I was happy! happy then!
+  To know both boats, and sails, and men.
+  Now know I none! and none can welcome give
+  To him who soon this busy scene must leave.
+
+  Oh! whisper not, ye zephyrs mild,
+  Oh! whisper not to man or child,
+  Nor tell it in my lady's bower--
+  To Ellen of De Freston's Tower!
+  To friend, or father, that I sigh
+  For her with deepest agony;
+  Let not the noble or his daughter know.
+  That Wolsey suffers from a rival's blow.
+
+  I'll far away for ever flee
+  From this unknown catastrophe!
+  I'll seek in science my relief!
+  Science will only swell my grief;
+  I'll court the cloister, try the priest,
+  All will believe I loved it best!
+  That my celibacy, for conscience' sake,
+  Is for the holy orders I would take.
+
+  I'll rule my will, I'll curb my love,
+  I'll bow submissive as the dove;
+  O, Ellen! yes, for thee I bow,
+  And never, never shalt thou know,
+  Till in another world we meet,
+  How sat the heart thou could'st not great!
+  Deep in my soul thy virtues I can feel,
+  But, that I love thee, tongue shall never tell!
+
+  Farewell, my friend! thou shalt not know
+  How thy success has caused me woe;
+  Though, like Prometheus, I am chained,
+  I'll kindle fire which none have gained,
+  For all shall see, and all partake
+  The sacrifice I then shall make;
+  O, Latimer! my friendship thou wilt prove,
+  May'st thou ne'er feel the agony of love!
+
+  My native town, my native wave,
+  My native hills, my parent's grave.
+  My friends of youth, my days of joy,
+  My hopes of fame, my life's alloy,
+  My woes, my cares, my fears, my sighs,
+  My sorrows, and my agonies,
+  Must bend to fate, and future years must tell
+  How my soul loved ye, when I said farewell!
+
+
+This poem is extracted from one many hundred lines long, which when a
+poetical age shall come, may, perhaps, many years hence, be thought a
+great curiosity.  It is in the possession of a gentleman who will
+doubtless preserve it, if he does not publish it.
+
+This portion seems to be written upon Wolsey's property upon Stoke
+Hill, at the very spot where the high windmill, called Savage's Mill,
+afterwards stood--perhaps may now stand; and where the miller, if at
+all like Constable, the miller's son, one of our favorite British
+landscape painters, could not have failed often to have witnessed the
+beauty of the scene as described in 'Wolsey's Lament.'
+
+It was soon after one of his longest reveries in this spot, that he
+received a message from Bishop Goldwell to go to him at Goldwell
+Hall, and Dame Joan informed him, that the Bishop was accompanied in
+his call that day by a very fine young woman, his niece, Alice De
+Clinton.  There is a mood in a man, most strangely wayward, which
+prompts him to take a sudden thing into his head which he had for a
+long while rejected.  The cup of woe, which men are made to drink,
+often for their good, is very bitter; and if the soul seeks not God
+for aid, it will be led only into further misery which it sees not,
+until, like an Alpine avalanche, it becomes overwhelming in its fall.
+In the humor Wolsey was in, he instantly determined to go, and stay
+at Goldwell Hall.
+
+What a sudden change!  The Bishop was a personal stranger to him.
+His vanity was perhaps touched by the attention as a compliment to
+his abilities.  He thought not one moment of his refusal to visit
+Freston Tower: but to the astonishment of Dame Joan he immediately
+consented, and became that very day a guest, and indeed an honored
+guest, at the Bishop's Palace.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+CHANGES.
+
+Bishop Goldwell, who had been Secretary of State, and was as good a
+judge of character as any man, pronounced Wolsey to be a man of a
+thousand: for he said, to his cousin Nicholas Goldwell, whom he made
+his arch-deacon:
+
+'He is a man equal to any emergency.  He has a genius adapted for
+enterprise; a spirit equal to the highest actions--and a perfect
+knowledge of men, and a good address.  Nicholas, thou wilt do well to
+cultivate that man's acquaintance!'
+
+When Wolsey attended at the private mansion of Bishop Goldwell, he
+was received with all courtesy.
+
+Wolsey's character began to show itself powerfully at that period.
+He assumed a courteous manner, which he ever after maintained,
+winning affection from those who became attached to him.  He had
+ease, a commanding voice, and very dexterous address.  He was refined
+in the choice of his words, which he pronounced with the most
+persuasive accent.  His knowledge was vast, and his powers active.
+In a word, he won the Bishop's heart, and he was himself won also.
+
+It was a singular circumstance, that the lofty demeanor he thought
+proper to observe to the pale Alice De Clinton, made that haughty
+lady bow before him.  There was a self-possession about this handsome
+young man, that made Alice think she had never before seen such a
+personification of dignity.  In one moment she was made to perceive
+that she was in the presence of a man whose pride of heart was
+greater than her own.
+
+'Never,' said the Lady Alice to her uncle, 'did I behold such a
+compound of style and majesty in any man!'
+
+'Nor I either, Alice: and I can tell thee, moreover, that this
+outward appearance, doth not, as in sycophants, form a covering for
+ignorance, for Wolsey is internally the man he appears.  He has
+knowledge, intellect, and perception, such as I never met with in all
+my diplomatic acquaintance, and I have seen a little of the world,
+Mistress Alice!'
+
+'Thou hast shown me a little of men and manners, but none that have
+interested me as Wolsey has.'
+
+'Alice, take care!  I have already designed this youth for Rome.  He
+must go thither; he must be seen of learned men!  I find he loves the
+church, and is disposed to be a priest.  I have pointed out to his
+ambitious soul the dignities, honors, and emoluments, which the Pope
+of Rome has to bestow.  His breast seems fired with a holy flame, and
+thou must not interfere with it.'
+
+'Oh, fear not, my Lord Bishop and worthy uncle, fear not my influence
+over such a man.  I have too much regard for our Holy Mother Church,
+ever to think of disqualifying him for taking the vows of service to
+the Pope.  He is far too high to be ever tempted to his fall from
+such a post; and I should be the last to offer him such temptation.'
+
+'Well said, my niece! thou hast a good sound heart!'
+
+'I am astonished, uncle, that Latimer should have ventured to quote
+such a man, as entertaining any heretical opinions concerning church
+views.  It appears to me, that Wolsey would in one moment have
+annihilated the arguments of that clique, who were so bold for
+innovations.'
+
+'I am certainly agreeably surprised to find this youth so firm.  I
+had fears indeed as to his being of that wavering disposition which
+is beginning to be prevalent.  But in all my conversations with him
+upon affairs of state, books, men, and things, I find him a perfectly
+congenial spirit; and nothing in the least heretical in his views.
+He is like Latimer in one respect, in his contempt of the monkish
+follies of the overgrown superstition of the Abbots of Bury.'
+
+'But dost thou not agree with him therein?'
+
+'I do, for the most part; but not in all things.  He is a young man,
+Alice, and will think differently as he grows older.'
+
+'I hope he will be a great man.  I think he will; for I can scarcely
+imagine the Pope to be more dignified.'
+
+'Hush, Alice; hush!  It must be many, many years before Wolsey could
+have any claim to the Popedom; and there may be many changes before
+that time.  Thou mayst live to see it.  I shall not!'
+
+And here the conversation dropped.
+
+Nothing could have hitherto been more disposed to the widest and most
+liberal scope of ecclesiastical polity than Thomas Wolsey.  He had
+repeatedly conversed with Ellen, Latimer, and Lord De Freston upon
+the many impositions of the Popedom: so much so, that all Oxford had
+been alive to the views which Wolsey had so manfully expounded, and
+treated of so truthfully, that reformers began to think the learned
+scholar of Ipswich would be a host in himself.  But then his views
+had Ellen De Freston in the foreground; and he found himself anxious
+to propagate the love of truth above every other consideration.
+Ellen De Freston had vanished; and the Pope had taken her place.
+Certainly, a less pleasant object, but the spiritual ambition
+inspired by his view seemed to soften, or rather harden, the regrets
+which arose from disappointed love.  Wolsey was now a different man.
+His conversations with Bishop Goldwell confirmed him in his altered
+prospects.  The Pope's supremacy became his favorite theme; and a few
+weeks before, the man who had no intention of ever becoming a priest,
+was now ordained by Bishop Goldwell, and soon alter took his
+departure for Oxford, where he became as celebrated in the defence of
+the Pope, as he had been conspicuous for a more enlightened polity.
+
+Men's circumstances do sometimes make them change their opinions; but
+those opinions could never have been based upon the immutable grounds
+of truth, which could be changed with any change of outward
+circumstances, that vary as the wind.  But the mischief was done.
+The change had taken place; and Wolsey had left Ipswich before Lord
+De Freston became acquainted with the fact.  Wolsey, after his return
+to College, pursued his career of tuition with the utmost diligence,
+and became the tutor of the sons of the Marquis of Dorset.  Few who
+came under his care could fail to improve in the elegancies of
+literature, as well as in knowledge of the world.
+
+His sudden departure for the seat of learning was attributed to his
+shock at his father's death by some, yet his total absence from the
+society of his friends at Freston was considered a remarkable thing;
+but when men understood that he had entered the priest's office, they
+concluded that the separation of friendship arose from some
+dissimilarity of views upon matters of religion.  Lord De Freston,
+after the celebrated discussion at the palace of Wykes', had given an
+invitation to those two champions of truth, Bale and Bilney, to
+partake of the hospitality of his mansion.  It was here, during the
+slow progress of Latimer's recovery, that these honest friends took
+it by turns to read and converse with the learned scholar upon the
+sick-bed.
+
+Men whose hearts are thankful to God for his signal preservation of
+them in time of extreme danger, are always ready to exclaim, 'O, what
+shall I say unto thee, thou Preserver of men!'  Latimer's mind and
+soul were full of thankfulness.  He was more learned than his
+visitors, but not more sincere.  Men of strong minds, with a just
+abhorrence of deceit and superstition, and a fervent desire for
+greater grace and knowledge of God, could not but be edified when
+they came to converse of His mercies.  The hearts of these friends
+being given to God, were thankful every hour, for their converse was
+of that holy, pure, and lovely cast, which was sure to derive fresh
+vigor from the expanded view of mercy displayed before them.
+
+It was in one of these afternoon visits, that Latimer heard from
+Daundy of his friend.
+
+'I have observed,' he said, 'ever since his father's death, that
+Thomas has been shy of all his friends; that he has been moody and
+melancholy, and very different towards his mother.  He used to be of
+a free and open disposition; was glad of the society of his
+relatives, and especially of those who dwelt here, to whom he owes so
+much more than he can repay.'
+
+'I have heard,' said Bale, 'that he is ambitious, very ambitious; and
+the Church of Rome, and the Papal Hierarchy, afford a magnificent
+field for the ambition of a man of Wolsey's abilities; but I do not
+envy him.  He must submit to many impositions, must practise many
+deceits, must wink at many fooleries, and with his mind, can hardly
+put up with such unmeaning ceremonies as he must daily behold.'
+
+'You know him not, my friend,' replied Latimer.  'Wolsey is a very
+determined man, firm in his purpose, and if he should rise to power,
+will do much good.  I grieve wo have not seen him.  I should like to
+have held converse with him upon these matters, which we have all so
+pleasantly discussed.  God grant him grace.'
+
+'Amen!' was the response from every heart.
+
+But fears were then entertained, by those who knew nothing personally
+of the young priest, that he would not do much good to the cause of
+Christianity, however devoted he might become to the Papal religion.
+Rome and her errors--her idolatries, her superstitions, her
+infidelities, absurdities, abuses, and anti-Christian practices--were
+now freely discussed; and many a deep sigh escaped the souls of those
+men, when they reflected upon the probability of some dreadful
+persecution arising, to oppose the love of God, and his commandments,
+by the malice and inventions of men.
+
+'I know not,' said Bilney, 'if in this land, we shall ever see the
+Church purified from its corruptions.  I cannot bear to see the grace
+of God changed into unmeaning ceremonies, pompous penances, bead
+counting, prayer-doling, fines, stripes, penalties, punishment
+fastings, feastings, pilgrimages, and such a countless variety of
+ignorant and wicked inventions, as contrary to nature and religion as
+light is to darkness.  I cannot bear to see those priests with their
+heads shorn, their long rows of black beads hanging down to their
+feet, their stuff gowns, cowls and cassocks, passing along the
+streets, and requiring of every man they meet a genuflection, at the
+sign of the cross they carry in their hands.  I saw one yesterday
+seize a poor, ignorant, half-witted fellow who did not make obeisance
+to him, with violent anger, more like a demon!--oh! how abhorrent to
+the idea of a minister of Christ--cast him to the earth, and made him
+kneel in the mud and kiss the cross he held in his hand.  The poor
+fellow trembled exceedingly, and took the cuffs and kicks of the
+priest as if he were a dumb ass.  I felt as a brother towards the
+poor man; I lifted him up; and, despite the furious madness of the
+priest, I told him to his face that he deserved to be punished by the
+civil power for his violence.  He dared not strike me; I believe he
+knew me, for he said:
+
+'"Heretic! thou shall answer for this interference.  The civil power!
+I defy the civil power!  It has no authority over Rome!  Thou shalt
+find that it shall avail thee nothing!"  And he shook his garments in
+his rage.  Oh! what passion lurked under that revengeful soul!  I
+walked away with the poor man, and may expect some visitation for
+this act of common humanity.'
+
+'I have already had the complaint made to the civil authorities, and
+it is said that thou, Bilney, didst violently assail the priest in
+the discharge of what he considered his religious duty.  He
+maintained that the man was confessing to him a crime.'
+
+'It was seen by many.  Some blessed me for this act--surely they will
+come forward and speak the truth!'
+
+'Such is the terror of a man's mind at being denounced as a heretic,
+that I question whether any townsman in the borough dare come forward
+and say that the priest was in the wrong.'
+
+'This, O, worthy magistrate! this is the state of religion in
+Ipswich, that oppression is to be exercised in broad day, and the
+people see the violence, and dare not complain.  Oh, dreadful day!
+when rulers shall no longer be a terror to evil doers, but to the
+innocent; when the weak shall be without the protection of law, and
+priests of fury predominate instead of the gospel and God's grace.  I
+pity thee, Mr. Daundy!  I pity thee, as a magistrate, in such a town!'
+
+'I fear, Bilney, I shall one day have to pity thee if the priests get
+thee into their clutches.  What wilt thou answer to Bishop Goldwell,
+against a host of witnesses which they will take care to bring
+against thee?'
+
+'What? but that I am innocent, and appeal to the laws for protection!'
+
+Daundy shook his head significantly, for he well knew the little
+chance which any individual had, if accused by the priests of Rome,
+of any crime contrary to their canons.  The civil authorities might
+exercise their jurisdiction over the people, but ecclesiastics of
+Rome submitted not to their laws.  Bilney was strongly urged to go
+into Cambridgeshire, to his friend Arthur, lest the cause of the
+Reformation, then beginning to dawn, should lose his services by his
+being cast into prison.
+
+Conscious innocence is very bold.  It may retire until called forth
+to suffer; but when its possessor is wanted, he will be found equal
+to the emergency for which he is required.  By innocence in this
+sense, is not meant entire freedom, from in-dwelling sin; but
+innocence and uprightness of faith, which hates to see another
+suffering wrongfully without secretly desiring to defend him against
+the oppressor.
+
+Bilney and Bale spent many days with Latimer and Lord De Freston, who
+began at this period, in consequence of the mercy and pity he showed
+to these men, to be suspected of heresy.  They escaped this time from
+persecution, much through the respect which all men paid to Edmund
+Daundy, at Ipswich; who, though an enlightened man, was considered to
+be a good churchman.
+
+A good, benevolent, and charitable man he was, as thousands have
+found who lived to be partakers of his bounty long after his death;
+and even at this day, through all the various changes of laws,
+customs, religious persuasions, and alterations of time, Daundy's
+charity is dispensed.
+
+That Lord De Freston and his lovely daughter profited greatly by the
+conversation of those days, their future attentions to these good men
+plainly proved.  They never forgot the days of Latimer's recovery.
+
+They were happy days to Ellen, and not less so to the scholar, who
+daily grew in every grace which could adorn either his private or
+public character.
+
+Life is very sweet to men who can feel they are improving it for
+eternity.  It is sweet, because they walk in the ways of pleasantness
+and peace, notwithstanding the persecutions of those who know not God.
+
+Latimer was a young man, with views then before him of the most
+brilliant kind on earth.  His own father was a man of good property,
+having an hereditary estate of considerable worth in those days, and
+he had the prospect of marrying one in every way gifted with grace
+and qualities of mind, independently of large possessions in the
+county of Suffolk; so that he might be said to have earthly hopes
+beyond the common lot of man.  Yet Latimer argued very justly, when
+he said to Ellen one day, as he sat in Freston Tower, and looked upon
+the waves:
+
+'What would all these things have been to me--nay, dearest Ellen, and
+what wouldst thou have been to me--had God seen fit to let me sink to
+the bottom of the waves, on that memorable night, when I was so
+mercifully preserved?'
+
+'I can only say, Latimer, that we must be ready to part with
+everything, at every moment; for they are none of them our own,' said
+Ellen, 'and learn to give ourselves and all we have into his hands.'
+
+'True wisdom, my dear.  May I never forget the changes which have
+been wrought within these few weeks!  May I ever remember the Lord's
+hand, accept all I have as from Him, do all I do as unto Him, and
+yield all my thoughts, hopes, and wishes to His will!'
+
+'Ah, dear Latimer! in such faith, how delightful it is to wait all
+our appointed time, until our change comes!'
+
+It would be useless to give the account of Latimer's journey to
+Padua, his interview with Erasmus, his giving up his Fellowship at
+All-Souls', Oxford, and his return to Ipswich after these things.
+
+Strange changes quickly followed, which shall be discussed as more in
+accordance with the narrative.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+AFFECTIONS.
+
+Youth has powerful struggles with itself to command its various
+affections in the order of wisdom.  Early education, it is well
+known, not only from the wisest man's declaration, but from the
+world's constant experience, will do much in the tuition of
+self-governance.  Men talk of tempers, passions, and affections, as
+if they were the predominant powers over the soul.  These may be all
+subdued and brought into subjection by the constant exercise of
+prayer for grace.  A man always does well to subdue his natural
+infirmities of temper, and to pray against their power, to control
+his passions, and to calm his affections.  He cannot do these things
+without help.
+
+Wolsey's was a wonderfully strong mind in his youth.  Yet he had very
+violent passions, as men of great talents frequently have.  He fled
+to Oxford for occupation; devoted himself with ardor to his classical
+pursuits, became bursar to his college, built the famous Magdalen
+Tower, and instructed the Marquis of Dorset's children, in his school
+and yet was not the happy man he looked to be.  Though methodical in
+all he did, his spirit was not gifted with humility.
+
+He was very proud of his tower, spared ne expense from the college
+funds, or from his own private purse, and was very angry with the
+president and fellows for accusing him of extravagance, when he knew
+that he was doing all he could for the future honor and ornament of
+his college.  He suffered at this time a very great deal of
+mortification, and, in writing to his mother, confessed that he was
+almost tired of his college career.
+
+Latimer wrote to him repeatedly; but, as may be supposed, this was no
+particular comfort to his proud but disappointed spirit.  To be
+reminded of Freston Tower, and of the days of his youthful ambition,
+when he was in his lonely college-room, or walking in the gloomy
+cloisters, was indeed vexatious to his haughty and unsubdued soul.
+This, however, was nothing compared with the trial he had afterwards
+to endure, the very bitterest which the human heart has to suffer.
+It was occasioned by the following conversation:
+
+'Let us ride to meet our uncle; he is coming to-day, according to his
+promise, to stay with us for two or three days,' said Lord De
+Freston, 'and I have no doubt we shall enjoy his conversation.  He
+has seen the purchase of Sir Antony Wingfield's house completed for
+me, and when the time comes, my dear children, for your marriage, I
+hope you will find that house in Ipswich convenient for your abode.
+I cannot part with you for a greater distance, as your society is
+necessary to my happiness.'
+
+'And why should you, father?  Latimer and I ought to count it our
+peculiar privilege to be able, at any time, to promote the comfort of
+one who has been so kind a protector and parent to us both.  But
+look, dear father!  I can see our uncle riding along the strand,
+beyond the bounds of the park.  There he is, with his faithful
+wolf-dog by his side.'
+
+'You are right, Ellen, there is no mistaking his long gallop.  The
+horse, dog, and master are alike eminent of their kind.  Daundy is a
+fine specimen of an Englishman, in person and in heart.  His horse is
+of Flanders breed, and quite what a horse should be, in bone, figure,
+and action.  And his dog, though of the largest and roughest Irish
+breed, is one of the most sagacious I ever beheld.  I am not
+surprised, remembering the attack of the mastiff, that any of his
+breed should be no favorite with him.  He would never go out without
+him.  There must be a patch of rushes laid for him at his master's
+door.  This shall be my care.  Come, Ellen, you and Latimer must ride
+to meet him.'
+
+It was not long before horse and groom appeared at the castle gate;
+and Ellen and the happy Latimer cantered along that beautiful park,
+their steeds as happy as themselves to enjoy their pleasant freedom.
+As the greensward was open before them, they did not follow the
+stately road from the hall, but bounded along, sometimes passing
+under the shade of the knotted oak, whence darted the old English red
+deer, then the graceful tenant of the borders of the Orwell.
+
+It was a lovely scene; youth, health, and cheerful spirits, together
+with that unison of mind which existed with them, made the sun shine
+pleasanter, the trees look more green, and the very sod over which
+they cantered more soft.  They descended from the last long sweeping
+hill to the park-gates on a level with the shore, which were opened
+by one of the worn-out foresters, whose youthful days had been spent
+in the service of the grandfather of De Freston, and whose hoary head
+now bent in the service of the last of the De Frestons.  As the old
+man doffed his green cap to the young people, they drew in the rein
+to speak to him.
+
+'Allen! how are you to-day?' said Ellen.
+
+'Thank you, kind mistress, all the better for the good things you
+sent me.  My old dame is laid upon her bed, or would be here to make
+her duty and reverence.'
+
+'I am glad she rests.  Do not disturb her.  We shall be back again,
+presently.'
+
+'Blessings on you, I could stand here for your return, could I but
+see you all the way you go.'
+
+'That you will do better, Allen, from your lodge-window, therefore go
+in.'
+
+'A happy old man is that,' said Latimer to Ellen as they rode away
+from the old gothic-carved and massive gates, and turned their
+horses' heads to the shore.  The praises of the poor are not always
+to be had for money.  The master may bestow all his gifts to feed
+them, and yet not be charitable towards them.  To bestow
+injudiciously, or indiscriminately, however bountiful the gift, will
+often create desires, and jealousies, which will not admit of
+thankfulness.'
+
+'I agree with you; on this very ground has my father acted in all his
+distributions of charity.  Long service and fidelity he rewards.
+Industry, honesty, and cleanliness, he upholds.  Laziness he would
+suffer to starve before he would supply food for its discontent; and
+I can tell you, moreover, that not one single donation would he
+bestow upon any of the mendicant order, now travelling the country
+under the garb of holy vows.  No, not though they repeat the "Pater
+Noster," "Ave Maria," or show their bare feet blistered with their
+self-devoted journeying.'
+
+'I sigh to see talents prostrated to beggary and superstition as they
+are in our day.  Religion, Ellen, is become a superstitious torment,
+rather than a holy comfort.  Men seem to me to be under a curse
+rather than a blessing, and to walk trembling from fear of different
+fraternities, more than in the love of God.  Oh! Ellen, when I see,
+as, alas! I too often do, men and women entering the dark cells of
+our monastic institutions, and with bare feet walking along the dark
+aisles and cloisters, and bowing at the tomb of corruption,
+themselves overcome by the sombre shades of the cold, silent,
+superstitious places in which they move, I often think how poor must
+be their conceptions of the God of light, if they can confine their
+notions of Him to the cloister!'
+
+'But God is love, Ellen, and this love is manifested in his Son, whom
+He gave to death for the salvation of our souls.  If men did but love
+one another for this great salvation, O, Ellen, we should see but
+little of those terrors and abuses which now threaten the world.'
+
+Along that strand, and a very few paces from the waves of the Orwell,
+was seen the well-known figure of the venerable but active Edmund
+Daundy, a man whose name will long live in the town of Ipswich, as
+connected with its welfare, with the early education of the learned
+Wolsey, and with every charity in the town.  He had an only son, who
+was then in Holland, perfecting the trade of the port of Ipswich,
+with the rich burghers of Amsterdam, and as he was amassing wealth in
+that country, and had formed a domestic connexion there, the father
+only held him to his promise, that he would not forget the place of
+his nativity, but would, in any case of dispute between the nations,
+return, and dwell at Ipswich.  And he did so in after years; when the
+fine old man, now galloping his black horse along the strand, was
+gathered to his fathers.
+
+Galloping, or rather cantering with long strides, came the long maned
+charger, with the grey and shaggy wolf-dog keeping pace beside him.
+That was a dog but seldom seen in these days, except upon the heights
+of Snowden, or the wild districts of the Highlands of Scotland.  The
+old Irish elk hound is the most like him, though this has become
+almost extinct.  Power, activity, energy, and sagacity, were the
+characteristics of the old English wolf-dog.  Even the mastiff and
+the blood-hound were no match for him.  He was a picture of terrific
+ferocity, when once he stood erect, the color and mane of the hyena
+upon his back, with head and tail, uplift, like the lion.  His bushy
+rudder, however, was more like that of the Newfoundland, his head was
+shaped like the grey-hound, and his limbs calculated for an enduring
+chase.
+
+Cæsar looked up at the comers, and for a moment paused, and stretched
+himself upon the sand, as the friends reined in their steeds for the
+cheerful greeting.
+
+Hands and hearts were united in welcome, and Ellen remarked, 'Even
+Cæsar looks complaisant.'
+
+'He loves a run, my young friends, as well as you or I, the ride.
+Cæsar'--and at the sound of his master's voice Cæsar's shaggy feet
+were on his master's stirrup, and his long head beneath his
+glove--'Cæsar, these are my friends.  Fall back! fall back!' and the
+faithful dog took his place at his master's heels, as with slow paces
+the party proceeded towards Freston Tower.
+
+'I am coming to the castle to-day upon very particular business, in
+which I suspect that you, my young friends, are both concerned.  I
+have completed the purchase of Brook Street House, and have forwarded
+the title deeds by my servant, with my baggage.  I hope you will both
+live long and happily as my neighbours.'
+
+Let those who have ever been in similar situations, and have found a
+friend to take a lively interest in their happiness, suggest the
+reply.  It would not be very studied; but rather the expressions of
+mutual gratitude, than which no man can hear anything more pleasant.
+
+'I am beyond measure distressed, Latimer,' said Daundy, 'at the
+abrupt departure of Thomas Wolsey.  Never found I such a
+transformation of character in any man as in him.  Dame Joan tells
+me, life and animation were completely gone, as far as regarded his
+spirit; that he was more like a being entranced than the lively boy
+of former days.  Was he ever subject to depression?'
+
+'I have known it occasionally so at Oxford: but I attributed it to
+over-anxiety in his studies, and the deep interest he took in
+University proceedings, more than any constitutional affection.  I
+have ever found at such times, that my friendly chat of Ipswich, and
+his friends, had the effect of raising his spirit.'
+
+'These things seem now to have lost their charm, replied Ellen.  'I
+fear we shall have but little influence over him, as he has rejected
+us all for Goldwell, and the cloister.'
+
+'Had I not known that he had taken orders, I might have suspected
+that some other attraction induced him to pay such deference to the
+Bishop's Court.  I hear that Alice De Clinton has been subdued by
+him.'
+
+'Is it possible?  What in Wolsey could have made Alice bend?'
+
+'I know not, Mistress Ellen.  All ladies bend to those they admire;
+and this dignified and cold statue may see a charm in Wolsey of the
+same kind as that you have seen in Latimer.'
+
+'Oh! would it might be so; but how can that be, my dear friend, when
+Wolsey has received at the hands of her uncle that only barrier
+between their affections--ordination--and its consequent celibacy?'
+
+'That is to me the mystery!  I hear that Alice never was so enlivened
+by any man's society as by his.  Her cousin, Archdeacon Goldwell,
+told me that Thomas had most wonderfully improved her disposition,
+and by the simple means of not appearing to know she was ever
+present.  All courtesy he paid to the Bishop.  All attention to his
+visitors.  He shone in conversation, erudition, policy, and Church
+government, and bitterly noticed the innovations of the day.  But he
+took no notice of Alice, and might be said to be as contemptuous
+towards all who approached her.  Wolsey was quite her master, and I
+hear the proud damsel is sick at heart!'
+
+Astonishment seemed the prevailing expression in the face of Ellen;
+who probably marvelled at Wolsey's coldness towards one who was his
+superior in fortune and rank.
+
+De Freston came to meet his aged friend, and then the young people
+were able to converse by themselves.  They came to the conclusion
+that Alice De Clinton had persuaded herself that Wolsey would be a
+bishop, perhaps a Pope: and that she might live to bask in the
+splendor of his greatness.
+
+The Tower rose in grandeur amidst the trees as the party approached
+the park, when Lord De Freston, leaving the side of his friend,
+hinted to Latimer that he wished for a private word with Ellen.
+
+The young man rode forward, and Lord De Freston took his position by
+his daughter's side.
+
+'Ellen, my child, thou alone hast the power to bring this young man
+to his friends.  I find, through the activity of your uncle, that
+Brook Street House is ready for your reception, and I, my child, am
+anxious to see thee happy.  Write thou to Wolsey, tell him how glad
+thou wilt be to see him, and say, that as he is so dear a friend to
+thee and Latimer, it is my prayer to him, that he will unite you at
+St. Lawrence Church in the month following.  I will add my petition,
+and my faithful servant, Arthur, shall convey to Oxford our united
+communication.'
+
+The letter was written, and all parties united in the request that
+Lord De Freston had suggested.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+THE LETTER.
+
+Wolsey is seated in his college-room over the gateway leading into
+the principal quadrangle.  He has been engaged, during the day, in
+superintending the schools attached to the college, and has now
+thrown off his heavy academical dress and broad hat, and in a plain
+wooden chair without cushions, but with back and arms well polished,
+is seated at a table inspecting the plans laid before him for the
+finishing of the celebrated Magdalen Tower.
+
+'Yes,' exclaimed the delighted youth, as he looked upon the plan with
+eager attention, 'Latimer may surpass me in pleasing Ellen; but I
+will be remembered when he shall be forgotten.  His tower may grace
+the banks of the Orwell, and please his fair mistress's eye, but
+this--this!'--again inspecting the plain elevation, and the
+ornamental plans--'shall astonish even the eyes of the University.'
+
+It seemed, however, that painful recollections arose as he viewed
+that work which still stands in its lofty grandeur on the borders of
+the Cherwell, at that day flowing nearer to the tower than it now
+does.
+
+'Certainly,' he resumed, 'the Cherwell is not like the Orwell; but
+Oxford shall surpass Ipswich, and my tower shall put Freston Tower in
+the shade.  I will have a grander room in the fifth story than Ellen
+has in Latimer's tower.  But shall I find greater intelligence than I
+found there?  Ah! who knows but that even Ellen De Freston and
+Latimer may envy me the power I now possess of making the entrance
+over Cherwell Ford, into this renowned seat of learning, more
+beautiful than anything of the kind they have ever seen.'
+
+Long did the bursar dwell upon the thought of his tower, and little
+did any one in that college imagine that Wolsey's taste for building
+received its first impulse from recollections of admiration Ellen De
+Freston had expressed when that comparatively insignificant tower,
+now standing on the banks of the Orwell, was built.  It is the
+remembrances of early praise bestowed by those he loves upon his
+youthful works, that prompts the spirit of a man in after years to
+perform works still more worthy of admiration.
+
+Wolsey's taste for building was first displayed in the erection of
+Magdalen Tower.  He could now dwell upon great and ambitious
+thoughts, but not without connecting them with many pleasant
+reminiscences.  As he had taken holy orders, the future was closed
+against him for every hope of domestic comfort.  He was forbidden, by
+his vows, to think of woman, as the sharer of his cares or the
+promoter of his comforts.  He had once thought of one whose mental
+qualifications bade fair to give a zest to his whole life; but
+William Latimer had supplanted him, and Ellen De Freston was happy.
+Well, was he to be dissatisfied? was he to pine away his existence?
+were there to be no joys unconnected with this fancy of his youth?
+Alas! the very struggle of his proud heart and susceptible nature
+told him how difficult a thing it was to control the early
+impressions of that pure attachment to which the God of nature and of
+grace had made him subject.
+
+At this period of Wolsey's life, there could not have occured a more
+congenial occupation than this project of the tower.  It accorded
+well with the thoughts of his heart, at that time ready for any
+enterprize.  The peculiar pleasure he found in raising the structure
+of Magdalen Tower was known only to himself.  Ostensibly, it was done
+for the honor of his college, but more prominently in his mind
+existed the thought of out-doing the work of his successful rival.
+
+He had various plans presented to him, but the one that pleased him
+best was that which reserved its ornaments for the highest stories.
+'Man,' he used to say, 'is like a building; his life should begin
+upon a firm, plain, solid foundation, and improve as he advances,
+until he reaches maturity; then, if worth anything, he may crown his
+years with the ornaments of existence, and show forth all his beauty
+and strength; but if he begins with ornaments, he will end in
+dulness.'
+
+His tower was an inimitable illustration of this doctrine: plain,
+solid, firm, and unadorned, it ascended from its basement to its
+superstructure.  Its architectural decorations were reserved for the
+fifth and upward story.  Alas! poor Wolsey.  Like his celebrated
+tower, his splendor was reserved for the highest pinnacles which,
+compared with his basement, were sure to provoke envy.  The future
+Cardinal had then before him the vision of fame, as connected only
+with Magdalen Tower.  He scraped together all the funds which could
+be collected, he made half the University subscribe to his project,
+obtained all the fines he could, made the tenants of Magdalen
+endowments pay a certain bonus for the renewal of their tenures, and
+for his pains drew a hornet's nest around his head, even among the
+fellows of his own college, who condemned his extravagance and
+extortion, even whilst they openly admired his project.  Great men
+have always to contend with little difficulties, which plague them
+very often much more than obstacles of greater magnitude.
+
+In the midst of the scheme of the tower a sudden and unexpected
+visitor was announced by the entrance of his long-coated serving-man,
+who said that a man from Suffolk had arrived at the college gates,
+and desired to see him instantly.
+
+'Shall I admit him at once, sir?  He comes upon a superb horse, and
+one which must have a good master, for it is as fat as our Magdalen
+bucks, and sleek as the Vice-Chancellor.'
+
+'What can he want?' said Wolsey to himself, as his old servant,
+having received his directions, descended the stone steps to the
+magnificent portal of the college.
+
+'I say, mister!' said the Suffolk man, who had travelled through many
+a muddy lane, impassable to vehicles, to reach Oxford, 'is this the
+house Master Thomas Wolsey lives in?'
+
+'Yes it is, and if thou likest to remain in it, we shall make thee
+welcome; our bursar never lacks hospitality to the stranger!'
+
+'Is it possible that Master Wolsey can be the owner of this palace?'
+
+'Ay, to be sure, part owner, general purveyor, and I'll warrant as
+good a master as thou hast got.'
+
+'That remaineth to be proved, though.  Do you see, I've as good a
+master as a man wants; and let me tell ye, time was that your master
+owned my master for his lord, and bowed his head to him, just as I'll
+warrant you do to Master Wolsey.  But before I go along with you, you
+must along with me, and show me where the stables are; for I should
+not like to rest on a good bed myself and my poor horse be standing
+out all night.'
+
+'Thou shall find good accommodation for man and beast.  So lead thy
+horse along.  Our stables are as famous as our tables.'
+
+'Ah!' thought Arthur Burch, 'Mistress Ellen should see this house.  I
+did not think Master Thomas lived in such a place.  I don't wonder at
+his liking it.'
+
+The horse was soon stabled, nor would Arthur leave him until he had
+assisted the far-famed grooms of Magdalen stables to give him a rub
+down.
+
+Jokes, even in those precise and formal days, one hostler would have
+with another; and it was no little amusement to the knowing pals of
+the seat of learning to see the country bumpkin mistake a college for
+one man's palace.
+
+'Your master's house,' said Arthur, 'is larger than that of mine.  Do
+all these horses belong to him?'
+
+'Well, that's a good one.  And to whom dost thou suppose they should
+belong?  How many horses has thy master?'
+
+'Four short of thine.'
+
+'Ha! has thy master twelve?'
+
+'He has in all; if I take into the lump old Stumpy, the chesnut
+punch.'
+
+'What does he do with twelve horses?'
+
+'Why, ride them, to be sure.  What does thy master do with his?'
+
+'Keep them for us to ride, to be sure!'
+
+'Well, master does not ride all his horses.  There be three for my
+young mistress, three for journeys, three for work, and three for
+master.  Occasionally, howsome'er, we all mount in procession, and
+then we look as a lord's retinue should look.  Is Master Wolsey's
+stud as well employed?'
+
+'Master is very good.  He lets all gentlemen who visit him in this
+great mansion take a horse whenever they please.  It is for this
+reason thou seest so many saddles and bridles on now.  And, hark!
+John, thou'rt called.  Lead out the brown mare to the block's foot
+and never mind the blockhead.'
+
+This was said with a knowing wink to John Hibbert, the groom's boy,
+afterwards Wolsey's state-groom, and was meant to make a jest of
+Arthur Burch, in whose simplicity, however, there was nothing to be
+ashamed of.
+
+It was the evening hour in which the fellows of Magdalen indulged in
+the recreation of a summer's ride, then so frequent along the banks
+of the Isis, that a man of Magdalen was thought nothing of, except he
+were an equestrian.  Arthur was astounded at the number of friends,
+serving-men, and gentlemen acquaintances, which Master Thomas Wolsey
+must have; and he bethought him then, what a famous thing it must be
+to be a learned man.
+
+Presently, he was soon conducted to the stone staircase leading to
+the bursar's rooms, and was confronted with the man whom he once
+looked upon as my lord's hanger on; and now beheld, as he thought,
+the lord of all that princely building.
+
+Wolsey started, as he recognised Lord De Freston's servant.
+
+'Arthur, what now?' he exclaimed.  'What brings thee out of Suffolk?'
+
+'My master's orders.'
+
+'Dost thou deliver them, verbally?'
+
+'No, sir, by letter.'
+
+Here he delivered one enclosed in a leathern case, which, though
+couched in quaint terms, may not form an unpleasant diversion to the
+reader.  Its matter was of sufficient moment to induce Wolsey to say:
+
+'Arthur, thou mayst retire; my servant's room is at the foot of the
+stairs.  Tell him thy wants, and they shall be supplied.'
+
+'Thank you, sir; but I shall want little else than an answer to my
+lord's message.  I should like to see this fine house, and something
+of the city.  I hear ye be all very learned people here.'
+
+'Peter will show thee something of the University.  Thou mayst
+retire.'
+
+Arthur retired, filled with the most inconceivable admiration of
+Master Thomas's greatness; and soliloquised as ha descended the stone
+steps:
+
+'I always said Master Thomas would be a great man.  He always walked
+like one, spoke like one, and seemed so easy with all great men, and
+so learned too!  No one can be great without learning.  It must be a
+fine thing.'
+
+The letter was written in the following words:
+
+
+'_To Thomas Wulcey, bye th'r hand of Arthur Burch, oure survin-man.
+This comeyth from Lord De Freston and Ellen his well-beloved
+daughter._
+
+
+'We commende ourselves unto thee, Thomas, in pease and love, and are
+well assuride itt is noo lesse joye to thee to heare fro' us than for
+us to hear fro' thee.  In truithe and honeur thou art much extemyde.
+Wold it wor our fortune convenientlie to have seen thee when in our
+nebourhede, when thou didst journeye last from Ox'nforde to
+Ippyswiche.  We heare that thou art a prest, Thomas, devoted to
+hevyn.  We do heare this fro' thy mod'r Johan, and fro' thy friende
+and uncle Edmunde Dayndye; and that Bushop Gouldwelle dyd ordayne
+thee.  We are informyde that thou art so contentyde in this matter
+that the bushop's haundes have ben doublee well bistowide.  If all
+succede with thee wee shall rejoyce.  Wee wish thee prosesperous in
+thy determyning; and hope yt is for the best for the Churche sin thy
+learnin is gret and thy demenor gude; for ther levithe no man more
+hartilye devotede to God.  We wish to tell thee it is in thy pow'r
+and provinc to serve us, by givin us agen thy companie.  And wee
+think thou canst hardley deny'de us as wee send all way to beseeche
+thee come.
+
+'If itt soo had fortunyde that wee had sen thee we wou'd have
+explaynede to thee what wee now do.  We hould thee to thy promyse
+upon the holy ewangelysts to be presente at the ceremonie of marrage
+whensoewer and whhersoewer suche shall take place tween Ellen De
+Freston and whomsoweer it may be.  Now that thou art a prest, Thomas,
+we shall looke for thy help which we hope for at St. Lawrence Churche
+in Ippyswiche the XII day at next moneth.
+
+'Willyam Latymer wrott latelie to thee, as he haythe declayrede,
+telling thee how muche he suffrid not hearinge from thee: and then
+informynge thee of his plesure to have thee his friende present at
+his nuptials.  Not doubtyng of thy mynde to promoat the joye of oders
+wee hope thou wilt come.  Our plesur will be gret in thy companie at
+Frestone Castel; and thy moder Johan will be glad to have thee.  So,
+Thomas, wee shall hope, that on this behalve thou wilt not forsayke
+us, but unyte William Latymer and Ellen De Frestone in the bonds of
+matrymonie.
+
+'Wee hope thy answer by the haunde of the sayed Arthur Burch, and are
+thy loving friends,
+
+  'DE FRESTON
+  'and ELLEN.
+
+  'To Thomas Wulsey,
+    'Magdalyne College,
+      'Oxnforde.
+        'JUNE xviii, A.D.MCCCCXXXXXVIII.'
+
+
+This epistle created a deep impression.  It had been enough for him
+to discover his own blighted hopes, with regard to the first and
+fondest attachment he had formed in life.  But Wolsey then had no
+thought of the ambitious projects which afterwards swayed him.
+
+The pride of the man never was greater than in the tone of argument
+he held with himself at that time when his nature said 'Do not go,'
+and his spirit said 'Go!'
+
+'Yes, I did promise, and I will perform the ceremony, or, at least, I
+will be present at these espousals.  It shall never be said by Alice
+De Clinton, or her uncle, that I shrank from a duty which required
+nothing but exertion to discharge.  Ellen, Latimer, De Freston, nay,
+my mother, and all Ipswich shall see, that I care not for friends or
+relatives, and that the boyish fancies of my former days shall be
+forgotten in the duties of my office.'
+
+Then he sat leaning on his elbow, with hand upon his forehead,
+thinking of what he should write.  Thinking, indeed, he was, all that
+night; and not one word could his proud spirit pen to his friend
+Latimer, or to Ellen, or her father.
+
+His servant came to ask his commands about Lord De Freston's
+messenger.
+
+'Tell him,' replied the priest, 'I will give him his answer at six
+o'clock on the morrow.'
+
+So the restless spirit tossed him to and fro all night, and when the
+dawn arose, Wolsey arose with it, and might be seen walking under the
+magnificent frees of Magdalen Park.  When he returned to his rooms,
+Arthur Burch was in great distress.  His horse had been taken ill in
+the night, and, as the farrier said he would be quite unable to
+proceed on his journey, he came to petition Wolsey for the loan of
+one of his numerous stud.
+
+'I have but one, Arthur, and that I shall want myself.  Mine is but a
+poor substitute for thy noble Flanders black.  Yet I can hire here
+better than thou canst.  So thou mayst have my nag.'
+
+Arthur's eyes were open, and his tongue soon gave utterance to his
+astonishment.
+
+'What, a'nt all those horses yours I saw in the stables? and a'nt all
+this great house yours? and a'nt you master of all these folks?  They
+told me you were a-going to build a great tower, like Master
+Latimer's at Freston; and yet you say you've got but one horse!'
+
+'All this is true, Arthur, and I have but this room, and that I call
+my own, and yet it is not my own, for I cannot sell it, or give it to
+any one.  It belongs to the college.  I am going to build a tower,
+but with the college money.  Yet one day, Arthur, it will as much
+surpass Freston Tower as the King's palace does thy master's house.
+But we will not talk of these things.  Go thou and look to thy horse,
+and if not fit to journey, take thou mine.'
+
+'But the letter, your reverence?'
+
+'Say I wrote none; but that I sent word by thee, that I will be there
+anon, ready to do what duty may be required of me.'
+
+So Wolsey dismissed Lord De Freston's servant, and prepared himself
+to follow him to Ipswich.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+THE JOURNEY.
+
+A journey from Oxford to Ipswich in these days is as the swallow
+skimming along the air, save that his pinions make less noise than
+the gliding railway.
+
+Wolsey resolved to journey to his native town.  Arthur's horse had
+recovered, and Arthur himself, taking advantage of a cavalcade to
+Aylesbury and Bedford, had already started.
+
+In those ages, men travelled in company for security, and a cavalcade
+was made up of people of all grades, from the highest to the lowest,
+each feeling some sort of protection in the presence of the other.
+Now-a-days, men are drawn along by fire and water, feeling no kind of
+security in each other, and yet, though the greater the speed the
+greater the danger, they are devoid of fear.
+
+Wolsey was not long in finding a party going to the metropolis, in
+whose company he could ride with safety, and speak, as every one then
+did, of the dangers of the road, without any fear of robbers.
+Travellers even from Oxford to London had then some trepidations
+about the freebooters of High Wycombe, or of Hampstead Heath; and
+like prudent men, made their wills before starting, and they have
+need, as prudent men, to do the same now.  They made their wills
+then, filled their wallets, belted their purses, mounted their
+steeds, and, well-armed, proceeded on their way, with pistols well
+primed; nor did they journey without swords or cudgels.
+
+The party which Wolsey had joined was mostly composed of
+wool-dealers, who at that time were sheep-dealers as well.  They were
+journeying to London, to meet some Spanish merchants, who had begun
+to purchase the fine flocks of England, to pasture upon the plains of
+Toledo.  This was carried to such an extent just then, that
+Government had to interfere, and did so at the suggestion of Wolsey,
+who had become aware of the extensive exportation of flocks from this
+country.
+
+On his white-faced cob, and not despising his academical or priestly
+appearance, sat Wolsey, making himself as agreeable as possible to
+his company.
+
+'You will sell half the flocks of England, Master Cuthbert, if you go
+on with this species of merchandise much longer.  What will become of
+our own wool-trade, if you thus sell the very sheep's backs upon
+which it grows?'
+
+'As to that, master, we have nothing to do with it.  No matter to us
+so long as we get a profit, and these Dons give us a good price; and
+I say, prosperity to the sheep trade!'
+
+'But do you consider that you injure your country in this traffic?'
+
+'How so?  We do but buy and sell at the best market; and what's a
+country to us, if we cannot make something out of it?'
+
+'Our wool-trade is great; but every flock you sell must diminish our
+means of supplying the demand upon us, and increase it in other
+countries.  Have you no desire to see your country flourish?'
+
+'Yes, and I hope it will, and last our time.  The price of sheep is
+wonderfully got up of late.'
+
+'And not to be wondered at either, when you take off so many.  If I
+were a statesman, I would take care of the trade of my country, and
+not destroy one of the best staple commodities we have.'
+
+'Why, master, you don't think we poor dealers want to ruin others, do
+you?'
+
+'No! you may not care much about that; but the sheep are more
+profitable in our country than they can be out of it, and I have no
+idea of enriching others by our own poverty.'
+
+'Well, master, now I dare say you'd buy books out of foreign
+countries if you could.'
+
+'That I would, to enrich my own, and not to impoverish them.'
+
+'Well, master, then why mayn't others do the same by us?  What's the
+difference betwixt traffic in sheep and traffic in books?'
+
+'A wonderful deal of difference.  We buy books to increase the
+knowledge of the world.'
+
+'And we sell sheep to increase the clothing thereof.  What's the
+difference?'
+
+'If you sell the staple commodity of a community, you create a want
+of general employment, and injure trade for the future, in that
+country.  Our flocks produce the finest wool in the world, and,
+consequently, our wool-combers and their families thrive; but if you
+sell the flocks which produce the wool, you immediately take off
+their families from their accustomed employment, and your own people
+are destitute.  Books are but few now-a-days, and scholars are far
+less.  Printing is but in its infancy, and is a matter of art and
+ingenuity.  If I were a legislator I would protect the flock-growers
+against you wholesale flock-sellers.'
+
+'Well, master, all that's easy said, but not so easy done; but yonder
+troops of gipsies look as if they would have no objection to case us,
+either of our sheep or our money.'
+
+'Ay, and I would control them as well; and see if I could not get rid
+of an idle set of vagabonds, who do nothing but live in the wastes
+upon the plenty of others, which they either pilfer, petition for, or
+purloin, just as they please.'
+
+'You would make a rare statesman, if you could rid the country of
+such folk: but I think, master, you would be too hard upon us poor
+flock-dealers.'
+
+It was well the party advancing on the road towards Hampstead were as
+strong as they were, for there was then at that place a formidable
+encampment of that artful and imposing people, who had gained such a
+footing in the midland counties as to make it dangerous to affront
+them, or to refuse their demands.  Woe to the unfortunate traveller
+who had anything worth losing in his purse, and lost his way in that
+neighborhood.  It was even dangerous for small parties to travel
+unprotected.  The gipsies and the robbers were in league against the
+liege subjects of the realm.  Nothing worthy of being called a
+surprise occurred to any of the party until they had passed through
+the metropolis, and those who were journeying towards the eastern
+counties became less apparently able to defend themselves.
+
+Wolsey changed companies in London, and had now joined a party of
+Flemish manufacturers, who were going down to his native town, to
+teach the weavers there the manufacture which afterwards raised
+Ipswich to such notoriety.  These men were a contrast to those with
+whom he had journeyed to London.  These were consumers, and teachers
+of consumers, of that very article for the preservation of which, to
+this country, he had been so strong an advocate.  He was now more
+convinced than before of the folly of sending the flocks out of the
+country when such good workmen came from foreign countries, to teach
+our men their value.
+
+He found these foreigners intelligent and industrious, acting under
+the guidance of a leader, who undertook to give them wages from the
+time of their starting from their own country.  With them he entered
+freely into conversation, speaking to them in their own language, and
+astonishing their minds with the knowledge he seemed to possess of
+their country and people as well as of the town to which he was bound.
+
+It was upon this journey, too, that Wolsey had an opportunity of
+discovering that he had made friends with a worthy, honest class of
+men, as stout-hearted as they were strong-armed; and that they were
+ready to look upon him with respect as their superior, though by no
+means better mounted or provided with cash.
+
+Not far from Ingatstone they were met by a very formidable body of
+the idlers who infested that neighborhood, half gipsies, half
+robbers--men and women, travelling in company, tinkers,
+shoeing-smiths, and braziers, yet of such a wild character, that they
+never failed to tax all they met who happened to be too weak to
+resist.
+
+They were headed by a tall, swarthy man, commonly called the
+Ingatstone Bear, or Wild Man of Brentwood.  He was known as King of
+the Gipsies far and near.
+
+He had come over from Spain, having escaped the violent persecution
+at Toulon, which those unfortunate people had aroused, in consequence
+of their having had a deadly encounter with some Turkish traders,
+whom they had murdered to a man.
+
+Stanton, as he was called among his own people, was a sinewy and bony
+man, who never did any work, but led his people about the country,
+occasionally haranguing them in a circle, and appointing the
+different men their specific duties.  The King of the Gipsies
+understood the handicraft of all his people.  He also had a very
+quick apprehension of character, such as he found among the gentry
+and commonalty of England, though he pretended to understand nothing
+of their language.
+
+The party of Flemings then journeying to Ipswich in company had hired
+a guide who undertook to see them safe through the country.  Whether
+this man was in league with the gipsies or not, it was never strictly
+ascertained, though this was much suspected.
+
+About eight o'clock in the evening, three miles of the Chelmsford
+side of Ingatstone, near Hide Green, a large party of these idle
+fellows, headed by the Wild Man of Brentwood, chose to stop them, and
+to demand, in terms not to be misunderstood, whatever they could
+spare.  Wolsey, desirous of peace, undertook to state the nature of
+the journey the Flemings were pursuing, and the consequent poverty
+they were all in at present.  As to himself, he told them he was a
+scholar, and that what little money he had was at their service: but
+he stipulated that the poor Flemings should be permitted to proceed
+on their journey without molestation, on his surrendering his own
+purse.
+
+The Flemings were ignorant of Wolsey's generosity until they saw him
+give up his money.  They then saw that he had purchased their
+liberation.  They were not the men, however, tamely to submit to
+imposition, or to suffer an other to be imposed upon in their
+company.  One fine young fellow, who seemed to be well backed by the
+rest, came forward to the King of the Gipsies, and demanded the purse
+back again.  To his own surprise, the gipsy gave it him; and he
+immediately delivered it to Wolsey, who with a quick eye, and as
+quick a command, told them at once to be prepared for an attack: for
+once having made a compromise with the King of the Gipsies, the
+demanding again the surety given was a certain declaration of war,
+and they must expect it.
+
+The warning of Wolsey was taken in earnest.  The Flemings had been
+hitherto in their loose jackets, seeming to have nothing but their
+working tools.  In one moment each man had a formidable weapon,
+scarcely known in England, but used with great dexterity by the
+Flemish, and which gave them, as will be seen, a perfect ascendancy
+over their antagonists.  This weapon was a ball and thong.  A ball of
+lead or iron, which they could cast out of their hands, End draw back
+again with well-trained facility, called a 'Battledoer.'
+
+They had scarcely collected themselves in a band round Wolsey and
+three others, before a shrill whistle from the King of the Gipsies
+announced the commencement of hostilities.  The women and children
+ran screaming up the green to their encampment, whence several men
+might be seen hastening to the scene of dispute.  The heavy Flemings,
+on their long-tailed shaggy horses, were not accustomed to move very
+quickly along the road; but were as little accustomed to be stayed in
+their steady progress.
+
+The King of the Gipsies presented a bold front; for, coming forward
+from his numerous subjects, ha insisted upon the whole party going
+back the way they came, or paying the toll which they had once paid
+and taken away.
+
+The Flemings were not disposed to turn their backs; their tactics
+were of a very simple kind.  If the attack was made in front, four
+from each side drew up in a moment, to support their leaders.  If in
+the rear, three on each side drew up for the defence; and if on
+either side, there were seven on each side perfectly prepared.  This
+little oblong square was formed with dexterity and resolution, and
+evidently discomposed the gipsies at the very first step; for when
+the leaders moved on, the King of the Gipsies receded instinctively.
+In another moment, however, his word of command was given, and his
+men came on, with bludgeons, stones, and iron hooks, to the attack.
+One or two gipsies only appeared to have fire-arms, and of these they
+made so much parade that it was strongly suspected that they were
+unloaded, or that they dare not fire them off.  A volley or stones,
+however, soon came rattling among the Flemings, who from that moment
+moved on with a front rank of ten horsemen and a flank of eight,
+undismayed by the numbers of their antagonists.
+
+The very first volley of their leaden missiles had all the effect of
+a discharge of musketry.  The balls were thrown with such precision
+that men fell as if they were shot; and the immediate recoiling of
+them, so as to send another shower, as quickly as a man could pick up
+a stone, was what these fellows did not wait for.  They fled
+immediately, the King of Brentwood Forest among them, whilst the
+brave Flemings, passing over the bodies of their stunned foes, moved
+on without further molestation to Chelmsford.
+
+The only man injured in their party was their guide, who, being
+knocked from his horse by a blow on the forehead from a stone thrown
+by the gipsies, was carried into the town of Chelmsford, and there
+left with the Abbot of the monastery.
+
+Wolsey now became the conductor of the party, and, greatly pleased
+with their conduct, he felt a pride and pleasure in introducing such
+men into his native town.  Messrs. Hall and Baldry were the parties
+to whom they were engaged, and our young scholar did not fail to
+speak of them by letter to his uncle, Edmund Daundy, in terms of such
+commendation as they deserved.
+
+They arrived without any other molestation, and Dame Joan received
+her son, for the last time, into her house, and found him grown a
+greater man than she had ever known him, but at that time far from
+happy or cheerful.  She never knew him to smile upon her after that
+day.
+
+'Mother,' said Wolsey on his arrival, 'I am come to perform a promise
+extracted from me, in your own presence, on the memorable evening of
+my gallantry, when the ox shin-bone did execution upon the head of
+the mastiff.'
+
+'What was that, my son?'
+
+'To be present at the marriage of Ellen De Freston--ay, and more, not
+only to see her given in marriage, but to unite her with my friend
+Latimer.'
+
+'Oh, why, my son, why perform the ceremony?  I know you have loved
+Ellen, but--'
+
+'But, hush, mother! hush! breathe not a word of this.  Let it die.  I
+am a priest, mother.  I must not marry--I cannot.  I must deny,
+denounce, and destroy any such idea in my soul!  Your prayers,
+mother, in silence; but tell it not to De Freston--tell it not to my
+uncle--breathe it not to the world--that thy son, Thomas Wolsey, ever
+had such a weakness.'
+
+'How, my dear son, wilt thou ever sustain the shock?  I cannot bear
+to think of it.'
+
+'Thou must assist me, mother, with all thy courage and thy kindness
+to smile upon the bride and the bridegroom.  Doubt not my strength.
+I can do what I will with myself, but do not thou betray me or my
+weakness.  I would retire to prepare for the morrow's interview at
+Freston Hall.  Once more I will see the Tower, the Orwell--the scenes
+of my youth and of my early love--and then, farewell for ever.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+THE INTERVIEW.
+
+The morning sun rose as clear and lovely on the day that Wolsey left
+Ipswich for his last visit to Freston Tower as it did upon the day of
+his first visit.  But how different were the sensations of the man in
+the few short years which had intervened between the hour of buoyant
+love, and that of painful compliance with a request which any other
+man would have studiously avoided!
+
+It was quite true that he felt himself independent; but was he really
+so?  It is true that he was not dependent upon the smile of De
+Freston, or the generosity of his relative, Edmund Daundy, or upon
+any friend in Ipswich.
+
+He rode out of his native town, along that beautiful strand, in the
+morning sun, with a gloomy heart--a heart which nature, or rather the
+God of nature, had gifted with a sensitiveness and grace which now
+the spirit within him had resisted, but had not quite banished.
+Whoever sins against philanthropy cannot be happy in spirit, let his
+knowledge embrace an insight into every book that ever was written or
+printed in the world.  Nothing but the love of our fellow-creatures
+can make any work of any mind pleasant to the soul of the Christian.
+Men may be selfish in gaining knowledge, but what is the use of
+finding a treasure, if it is only to be selfishly enjoyed? for
+intelligence, except it can be used to enlighten others, would make
+its possessor only the more miserable.
+
+Wolsey used to journey in the days of his poverty with pure love in
+his heart--love for De Freston and his daughter--love for his father,
+his mother, his uncle, hu friends.  He loved none of these now, and
+this made the Orwell so dull and gloomy in his sight.
+
+He was on his way to that hospitable hall, where all was mirth and
+harmony within at the prospect of the marriage which was to take
+place on the morrow.  The banks of the river were as green as in
+former days, the swallows were as lively, boys were bathing, ships
+were sailing, boats were moving, birds were singing, nature smiling;
+the difference was in Wolsey, and not in the things around him.  The
+monastery of St. Peter's frowned upon him as he crossed the ford of
+Stoke, monks were chanting matins, country folk bringing in their
+produce from the farm-yard, and smiling health animating some lively
+lass who was paying her first visit to the great provincial town of
+Suffolk.
+
+Stern were Wolsey's features, as deep thought sat upon his brow.  He
+saw not the bows which foot passengers gave him.  His eye seemed
+fixed upon some mental object.  He was absorbed in his own
+reflections, thinking of those who were his friends, and of the
+manner in which he should receive their welcome.
+
+De Freston had been his patron in days past; but De Freston could be
+of no service to him now.  He was now a priest, and a priest must not
+feel as other men do.  He must be more dignified, more reserved, more
+distant, more exalted.  He was a priest of Rome; he must forget that
+he was ever a poor scholar at Ipswich, fostered and cherished by many
+friends, and sent to Oxford by their kindness and patronage.  He was
+a priest of Rome!  Rome must be now his patron; Rome must claim every
+secret impulse of his heart, and all his kindred must be forgotten.
+Something of offence arose out of De Freston's preference in
+bestowing the hand of his daughter upon Latimer.  Something of
+offence suggested itself in Ellen's preference of his friend, and
+towards Latimer a sort of aversion sprang up on account of his
+successful rivalry.  But human nature must be subdued.  The decree of
+Rome forbade any such ideas to be entertained; not on account of any
+exigency of the times, but because the priests could not, without
+this decided law of privation, be trained in the way of implicit
+obedience.  If Wolsey really loved Ellen, he would have been glad to
+hear of her happiness, even though she had preferred his friend
+Latimer.
+
+In self-sacrifices for the promotion of another's happiness, there is
+ever a noble and graceful love, which carries with it unspeakable
+admiration.  But this passion of Wolsey's had given way to a
+misanthropic philosophy, which ever after induced him to look with
+disregard upon the ties of mutual affection.
+
+At the time he was moving along the strand, he was as sharp an
+ascetic as any monk whose monastery he afterwards caused to be
+destroyed.  At last, Freston Tower broke upon his view, glittering as
+it did in the morning sun of a lovely June day, without any
+exclamation of pleasure.  No longer did his heart bound at the sight,
+as if he was about to see those who loved him, and those whom he had
+loved.  Time was that he would have wished for a horse to have borne
+him to that lovely Tower, and few would have gone fast enough to have
+answered the quick and lively energy of the young aspirant for
+everything laudable, honorable, and good.  Now he was moving in
+solemn state, without any apparent emotion of joy or sorrow.
+
+By Bishop Goldwell he was much admired, and had received wonderful
+encouragement from him to devote himself to the good of the Church.
+Alice, too, the proud Alice, had promised to work him a piece of
+altar tapestry whenever he should be presented with preferment.  Did
+he then contrast this unfeeling woman, superstitious and cold as she
+was, with the mild, amiable, and lovely Ellen?
+
+He was espied from the Tower by the fair one, who waved her hand from
+the sunny chamber, where they had so often met.
+
+'Here he comes, Latimer.  Here he comes! but how slowly he moves.
+Perhaps he is thinking of the days of his youth, and weighing in his
+learned mind the thought whether he is happier now than he was then;
+for he takes no notice of our salutation, though his face seems
+lifted to the Tower.'
+
+'He is perhaps conning over some passage of the poets, or thinking of
+some deep logical question of the schools.  He is very often lost in
+thought.'
+
+'But this is not a time, William, for Thomas Wolsey to forget us.  He
+must surely be thinking of us.  He cannot fail to discern us.  Or
+does he think it beneath the dignity of his office to come on merrily
+to the marriage feast?'
+
+'I know not, Ellen, but that you may find Wolsey a little changed in
+this respect.  At no time of my acquaintance with him did he fail in
+self-esteem or self-deportment: and we have not often seen him on
+horseback.  Had we not better receive him in the hall?'
+
+'Is it so, indeed, William? and are we to forget that in this very
+room we have spent so many joyful hours of literary pleasure?  I
+shall be almost sorry that I wrote to him to come, if thus it should
+seem by his progress that he was performing a penance rather than
+promoting love!  Let us, however, receive him with respect in the
+hall, as he has become so great a man as not to recognise us in the
+Tower.'
+
+Wolsey had recognised his former friends; he even saw their hands
+waving from the fifth story; but the man had no answering delight to
+say, 'My heart is glad,' or, 'God be praised that you are well!'  All
+feeling was dormant, even the salutation of the poor old lodge
+gate-keeper elicited no recognition.
+
+'Dame, I say,' said the old man, as he addressed his aged partner,
+'pride is come home from a distance, and I have opened the park gates
+to the visitor.'
+
+'What art thou talking of? what dost thou mean?' she replied.
+
+'I mean to say, that I have opened the gate to Master Wolsey, and he
+is gone up the park; and if he meets my lord and lady as he has done
+me, he'll turn all our merrymaking into misery.'
+
+'What, the lively Master Thomas grown proud!  Well a'day, well a'day!
+Men's fortunes will sometimes change their faces, and Arthur Burch
+told me Master Thomas was grown a great man!'
+
+De Freston was made aware of Wolsey's coming; he waited not for his
+formal announcement; but came from the hall across the drawbridge in
+company with Ellen and Latimer to welcome their friend.
+
+Oh, that word _friend_!  How dreadfully is it abused!  How often made
+a mere conventional term, and used in the world just as interest may
+prompt, or anything be got by it.  One true one is better than a host
+of pretenders, and a man without that one is miserable.  To look for
+many, is not to know the world; to value one when you have found him
+is to possess wisdom.  Ice, in summer; hail, in harvest time; and a
+swallow in winter, are as congenial, as a cold and heartless friend
+meeting you in the day of your rejoicing.  Fond hearts met Wolsey at
+the entrance to Freston Hall.  Fond hearts beaming with love,
+rejoicing in his arrival, and bounding to make him welcome.  But they
+could not fail to remark how stately he had grown! how very
+dignified! how distant, grand, and great.
+
+'Ha! Thomas, my friend!  Welcome to De Freston's Hall!'
+
+'I thank thee, thy daughter, and her friend!' with a most courteous
+bow of seemingly profound respect, which at once killed all the
+natural joy of the interview, and told the nobleman that an
+ambassador from Rome had arrived, in the place of that cheerful
+friend who was once the delight of his hall.
+
+Wolsey was stately, not uncourteous.  He had schooled himself most
+admirably, and acted his part with all the precision of an
+accomplished performer.
+
+So gentlemanly in his external deportment, but resolved to show no
+intimacy; so very easy in his manner, that no one could be affronted;
+and yet so little heart, that Ellen could have burst into tears at
+the strange alteration of the man who once was her liveliest
+companion.
+
+The very domestics, anticipating from Arthur's account the arrival of
+a great man, and who had so associated Thomas Wolsey with all that
+was cheerful and gay, becoming, and pleasant, were petrified at the
+stately gaze with which he seemed to contemplate the architecture of
+the hall, and the little notice he took of any one in it.
+
+'We have friends to meet thee, Master Wolsey,' said De Freston,
+evidently convinced that some more distant form was now necessary.
+'Some of thy oldest friends will be with us at the hour of noon.
+They will be delighted to greet thee, after so long an absence.'
+
+Wolsey's reply shot like a shaft--ay, and a well-aimed one it was--to
+the hearts of Latimer and Ellen.
+
+'I suppose thy friend, Bishop Goldwell, and Alice, his niece, have
+consented to be here.'
+
+'Indeed they have not; nor have we invited them, for, since the day
+of Ivan's death, we have never exchanged a word.'
+
+'I can only regret it,' replied Wolsey.  'He is a man whose
+acquaintance I should have courted, and his niece a fit companion for
+thy daughter.  I thought they had been intimate.'
+
+'Their characters are very dissimilar.'
+
+'That should be no bar to friendship.'
+
+'But I know that Bishop Goldwell does not admire thy friend Latimer,
+and that he is the aversion of Alice.'
+
+'On such an occasion as this, distances should be abridged, and
+differences of opinion softened, wounds healed, and friends united.'
+
+'I agree with thee, Wolsey; thy doctrine is herein sound, but
+somewhat opposed to thy practice.'
+
+'Ah! how so?'
+
+'Thou thyself art not thyself as formerly.  Thy bearing is widely
+different; thy manner, speech, and conduct, have undergone a great
+change.'
+
+'I am a priest; yet I am here to-day by thine invitation.  Why not
+Bishop Goldwell and his niece?'
+
+'They are not our kin.'
+
+'And I now have no kin, no connexions, no property, no friends, but
+the church, to which I am henceforth devoted.'
+
+'Does that destroy thy former friendships?'
+
+'It cancels every one: I have given them up!--forsaken them all!--and
+I shall follow the Church of Rome, of which I am her devoted servant.'
+
+'And so,' said Ellen, 'I may address thee no longer as my learned and
+dear friend--my choice companion--my tutor--my relative and
+associate, but simply as "Your Reverence?"'
+
+'I am come to perform a duty, Mistress Ellen, and if thou wouldst
+have me discharge it gracefully, I pray thee mar not the dignity of
+mine office by any allusions to the past.'
+
+'I cannot forget what thou wast, Thomas Wolsey, both to me and to thy
+friend Latimer, once our loving companion.'
+
+'And now,' said Wolsey, with a bow of studied courtesy, 'the humble
+servant of both!'
+
+'No, Thomas Wolsey,' replied the maiden, 'thou art not humble at all!
+Thy priesthood, Thomas, sits mournfully on thy years; and the wisdom
+which used to ornament thy brow seems lost in outward stateliness.  I
+like thee not in thy change.'
+
+'May be, Mistress Ellen, thou may'st one day think differently, and
+then praise that reserve which now thou dost misinterpret.'
+
+'It may be so, Thomas Wolsey! but my heart must be contracted instead
+of being enlarged; my soul must bend to form and ceremony, and not to
+love; and I must admire Alice De Clinton, and imitate her bearing,
+and forget the friends who taught me truth, that I may be admitted to
+the favor of a priest!'
+
+Even the self-possessed Wolsey was abashed at this charge.  His
+well-schooled reserve was about to give way to generous impulses, and
+thoughts of joy and thankfulness to God for such kind friends and
+benefactors were beginning to rise in the heart; but over them all,
+rose his vow of devotion to the church; and, denying himself where
+self-denial was uncalled for, he rejected the spirit of love, and
+feigned a momentary sickness.
+
+He retired to his room to get the command of himself, leaving the
+friends of his youth to talk over his estrangement.  He nevertheless
+attended the banquet, sat on the right hand of the betrothed, was
+attentive and most punctilious in his devotions, spoke when
+addressed, and yet offered no opinion of his own, nor put himself
+forward to lead the converse; heard all, and reflected upon all,
+surprised all, and pleased none; yet did he conduct himself with such
+dignified exterior, that no man could say he transgressed the
+strictest rules of decorum, or thought not of others as much as of
+himself.  It was difficult to decide upon such a point.
+
+To his uncle, to his friends, to the assembled company at that
+festive meeting, to De Freston and his daughter, to Latimer and his
+father, who had through his son received such a favorable account of
+him, he was the same dignified unaccountable being.  Sir William
+Latimer was never more astonished at seeing such a character as
+Wolsey then appeared.  His son had assured him that he had been the
+means of his introduction to the University, and that he was his
+bosom friend: nevertheless, nothing could be more distant than
+Wolsey's manner and conversation with him.
+
+He retired early to his room, to prepare himself for the last
+ceremony he ever performed in his native town, and the last time he
+saw his friends at Ipswich, though he never forgot the early steps of
+education which he had there received.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+THE MARRIAGE PROCESSION.
+
+A marriage in the year 1498, and in a nobleman's family, was almost
+like an affair of state.  In the metropolis, such an event might not
+have been uncommon; but, in the country, it was in that day so joyous
+an event, that he was considered but a niggard nobleman who had not
+the whole country to participate in his festivity.
+
+Such a maid as Ellen, too--so universally beloved in her own
+neighborhood, and so celebrated for every female virtue of her
+time--was sure to command the generous and gentle affections of all
+who had any regard for their betters.  There might be some morose
+dispositions, who staid at home, brooding over melancholy
+forebodings, and caring nothing for a marriage, for bride,
+bridegroom, bridal attire, bridal friends, men, maids, banquets, or
+any kind of festivity; but there was then no lack of well-wishers,
+who really loved Ellen De Freston, and wished her happy.
+
+Alice De Clinton, had she been at all of Ellen's disposition, would
+have been her companion upon this occasion, but she lacked not
+friends of the noblest class to fill her place.  The fair daughters
+of Fastolf, and De Broke, from the Haugh, were at Freston Castle,
+together with four other maidens of quality, to accompany her to the
+wedding.
+
+The morning broke most lovely!  The merry bells could be heard from
+the town of Ipswich, ringing cheerily; for Lord De Freston and Edmund
+Daundy were as universally loved for their amiable qualities, as they
+were known to be rich and generous.  Everything indicated a happy
+morning: birds were singing blithely, and men and women's voices
+mingled therewith.  The hills around Ipswich echoed the joyful notes,
+whilst people looked upon that day as one of the brightest festival
+in which love reigned omnipotent.  In short, every face exhibited
+something of the anticipated pleasure of the bridal.
+
+Maidens might be seen tripping along the meadows of the meandering
+Gipping, with little baskets of flowers, on purpose to strew the
+bridal path from St. Peter's Gate to the porch of St. Lawrence.  It
+was no loss of time to them to be seen to participate in the
+happiness of a lady whom some one or other of them had known, for her
+kindness to some poor relative, or for her gentleness and amiable
+bearing.
+
+Fame, when not courted but deserved, will come with a reward which is
+as pleasant as it is unexpected.  Actions done upon the Christian
+principle of brotherly love are sure to be successful in the end;
+they carry with them their own reward, being done from faith, and a
+sense of duty.
+
+Such were those of the whole life of Lord De Freston and his
+daughter.  Such were the motives which influenced him in his
+patronage of Wolsey; such were his daughter's motives in the interest
+she felt in his rising fame.  But whilst hundreds around them were
+grateful, and rejoiced to show the interest they felt in Ellen's
+happiness, that one, the scholar and the friend, felt nothing of
+gratitude, little of affection: he felt only the deepest, the most
+heartfelt mortification.
+
+Early on the morning of the 8th of July, 1498, did Thomas Wolsey,
+Priest of Magdalen College, rise.  Whether he slept or not, those who
+saw him could only give a surmise, and from the swollen appearance of
+his eyes, and the excessive pallor of his countenance, it was thought
+that his reverence had passed a very restless night.
+
+He was not stirring earlier than William Latimer, who, when Wolsey
+descended from the internal balcony of the hall, was, with Edmund
+Daundy, preparing to depart for Ipswich, that both might be in
+readiness to receive the _cortège_ of the bride at the house of the
+latter in St. Lawrence.  As they stood in the hall, Thomas Wolsey
+descended.  He bowed haughtily in return to the generous salute of
+his uncle and his young friend.
+
+'I am ready to depart for Ipswich, gentlemen, and to solicit of the
+officiating priest of St. Lawrence permission to perform the
+_marriage ceremony_.'
+
+These last words created a kind of adhesive firmness of his tongue to
+the roof of his mouth; for, when his uncle replied that he had
+already secured that permission, there was but a bow of acquiescence,
+and a dignified move towards the massive hall-door.  The party went
+forward.  Three of Lord De Freston's horses stood caparisoned for
+them at the porch; but a delay was created by the proud priest saying
+to the groom in waiting--
+
+'My own horse!'
+
+'My lord thought your own would be fatigued, and requests that you
+will use his,' said the man.
+
+'My own horse, sirrah!' was the uncourteous reply.  The gentlemen
+were equally as astonished as the groom; but seeing that Wolsey
+quietly retreated into the hall, they could but desire the groom to
+be as expeditious as possible in bringing the said nag round to the
+door.
+
+It was evident that Wolsey would have his own way, and not put a foot
+into the stirrup until he had.
+
+The horse was brought round.  The bridegroom, bridesman, and priest,
+departed with a retinue of horsemen for the town.  It was a stately
+ride.  Nothing seemed to please Wolsey.  He received all that was
+said to him with silent indications of assent, as if they were only
+such commonplace sayings as he might expect to receive from the
+attendants upon his greatness.  So passed they to his native town,
+where, at this day, nothing remains in any way connected with him but
+a postern gate of brick, leading to the school-master's lodge within
+the area of the schools, and not, as some have called it, the
+principal entrance to the President's Court.
+
+They arrived at the mansion of Edmund Daundy at seven o'clock on the
+morning of the eighth of July.
+
+Dame Joan, Wolsey's mother, was there before them, with many of the
+friends, wives, and daughters of the best families of the town and
+neighborhood, who came to participate in the joyous doings.
+
+'I give thee this, young man,' said Wolsey to the groom on taking his
+horse, 'that thou mayest learn that a reward is worth having when it
+is deserved.  At ten o'clock do thou be at the portal leading to the
+chancel door of St. Lawrence Church.  Thou knowest the priest's
+entrance, his private entrance, from the lane.  There be thou with
+this horse, caparisoned exactly as he now is--his trappings on,
+exactly as thou seest them now.  Let nothing be taken out of thy
+possession.  There is an angel for thee.  Another angel doth await
+thee.'
+
+Wolsey gave the man a golden angel, of the value of six and
+eightpence, a gift which commanded much more attention than many such
+pieces would do now-a-days.
+
+He not only promised obedience, but kept it punctually.
+
+'Thou wilt accept once more, Thomas Wolsey, thine aged uncle's
+hospitality.  Come in.'
+
+'I have a vow at the altar of St. Lawrence, which I must pay this
+morning.  I can enter no house until that is paid.'
+
+'How long wilt thou be?'
+
+'Until this marriage is over.'
+
+'We shall hope to see thee then?'
+
+'Thou mayest then hope.'  And Wolsey departed for the church.
+
+Whilst he bent at the altar of St. Lawrence Church, glad to escape
+from anything like cheerfulness, he was steeling his heart for a
+trial to which the pages of romance could scarcely afford a parallel.
+Never once did he reproach himself for the cruelty of his behaviour
+towards those who really loved him, and had given him the greatest
+possible proofs of attachment.  Never once did he reflect that his
+then state of deportment towards Ellen was barbarous or unjust; his
+whole soul was enveloped in the cloak of his own selfishness.  His
+heart was full of gall and bitterness, grief and agony.  And as he
+knelt before that altar to which he had devoted himself soul and
+body, did he pray for that high, that holy, inward peace, which the
+man who sacrifices every selfish feeling for the good of another
+would so earnestly desire?  His heart could have burst at the very
+position he had then placed himself in, but for that indomitable
+pride which prayed for future aggrandizement, that the poor scholar
+of Ipswich might rival, or rather out-rival, the Lord De Freston and
+his friends.
+
+His vow was but an excuse for the feeding of his own solitary
+disappointment, but for the opportunity of brooding over the
+melancholy superstition to which his nature and his enlightened mind
+were adverse, but to which his seemingly injured affections had fled
+for solace.
+
+Whilst Wolsey was thus mournfully fasting and praying, and the gay
+world was shut out from the gloom of his devotion, parties of maidens
+formed in rank, a long and pleasing file, went with their baskets of
+flowers from Daundy's mansion gate towards St. Peter's Ford, by which
+the bride was expected to enter the town, and as they went, their
+leaders lifted up their voices and sung one stanza, at the conclusion
+of the last two lines of which the whole company joined:
+
+  Come all ye merry lasses!
+    Come bring your flowers gay;
+  Come all in smiling masses,
+    And strew the bridal way.
+
+  Leave sorrow far behind you,
+    And be not you forlorn,
+  For Love alone should bind you
+    To greet the bridal morn.
+
+  CHORUS.
+
+  Then haste! oh, haste, this happy hour!
+  To meet the Maid of Freston Tower.
+
+
+It was a lovely morning, indeed; and Ellen, the Maid of Freston
+Tower, with her dear and anxious father, and her whole train of fair
+damsels and rustic maidens, and tenants' daughters and servants, were
+seen descending Freston Hill, from the park side to the strand.  It
+was a long and sweeping _cortége_; the bridesmaids and the bride
+attired in travelling costume, attended by noble gentlemen, the
+friends of the various parties, swept along that happy strand amidst
+the blessings and praises of those poor people, who left their
+morning toil by permission of their masters.
+
+It was a sight in those feudal days worthy of being recorded in a
+better ballad than the old one extant in the archives of the borough
+of Ipswich, written by old Dan Lydgate, monk of the Benedictine Abbey
+of St. Edmund's Bury; though he was a genuine poet of his day, and
+few could vie with him in allegory, or in narrative, or in words; and
+yet old Dan wanted that sense of feeling that meditates in love upon
+things passing around him.  He described them with flowery colours,
+and now and then with a daring liberty almost approaching to
+licentiousness.  He was seldom pathetic or reflective--yet he is a
+good old poet, and describes his times quite as well as Byron does
+his, with far less morbid selfishness.
+
+From far and near, Ipswich was like a vast fair; but there was no
+gambling, hooting, hallooing, cheating, drinking, bargaining, and
+brawling.  Instead of these, there was a cheerful wedding, upon which
+every face smiled with delight.
+
+Beautiful indeed was the attachment between two such souls as those
+of the son of Sir William Latimer and the daughter of Lord De
+Freston, enhanced by similarity of taste, a love of truth,
+literature, and talent, and by every virtue which adorns or ennobles
+human nature.  An abhorrence of anything unjust and oppressive
+pervaded De Freston and Sir William Latimer, and was instilled into
+their children.
+
+The country was alive with joyful faces, and not only the hamlets of
+Ipswich, but from every village down the Orwell, as far as Felixtow
+Beach on the one side, and Shotley Point on the other, boats ascended
+the tide to the gaily festive scene.  Songs were got up by the
+village singers.  One ballad, or song, or chaunt, or whatever else it
+may be called, is preserved, which affords not only a lively
+description of the feeling then felt towards the daughter of Lord De
+Freston, but it is not devoid of elegance or metrical beauty, though
+it may not be exactly accurate in rhyme:--
+
+
+  The Boatmen's Bridal Song.
+
+  Come, row the boat, row! from Levington Creek;
+  The boat full of roses as e'er it can stick.
+        Row the boat, row!
+        Yoho! yoho!
+  For the pride of the castle, fair Ellen, we go!
+
+  Come, row the boat, row! 'tis the bridal day;
+  And woe to the maiden who stays away.
+        Row the boat, row!
+        Yoho! yoho!
+  For the pride of the castle, fair Ellen, we go.
+
+  Come, row the boat, row! o'er the Orwell's wave,
+  If the youth or the maiden would happiness have.
+        Row the boat, row!
+        Yoho! yoho!
+  For the pride of the castle, fair Ellen, we go.
+
+  Come, row the boat, row! from the Haugh's green side,
+  'Neath the Wolferstone shade let our oars quick glide.
+        Row the boat, row!
+        Yoho! yoho!
+  For the pride of the castle, fair Ellen, we go.
+
+  Come, row the boat, row! with all your power.
+  For the maiden is gone from De Freston's Tower.
+        Row the boat, row!
+        Yoho! yoho!
+  For the pride of the castle, fair Ellen, we go.
+
+  Come, row the boat, row! for the fairest maid.
+  The roses we'll strew ere the dew-drop fade.
+        Come, row the boat, row!
+        Yoho! yoho!
+  For the pride of the castle, fair Ellen, we go.
+
+  Then row the boat, row! ye Levington boys.
+  For who would not welcome the true lovers' joys?
+        Row the boat, row!
+        Yoho! yoho!
+  To the bridal of Ellen, fair Ellen, we go!
+
+
+The very metre of the old song gives an idea of the boat pulled by
+stout rowers in the vigor of youth, bent upon a scene of festive
+rejoicing.
+
+Levington was the first village on the Orwell, celebrated for the
+cultivation of the rose, which the Lord of the Manor of Levington
+Hall, Hugh de Fastolf, encouraged, and gave permission on the day of
+the celebration of Ellen's marriage for the villagers to gather from
+the hall garden as many as they could place in their boat for the
+occasion; so that the village maidens who went up the Orwell in the
+Levington boat, were literally in the midst of roses.
+
+They arrived at St. Peter's Ford, to the no small delight of hundreds
+who sought for a bunch of flowers to scatter on the maiden's path.
+
+  And ill the luck that maiden's lot,
+  Who had her flowrets then forgot,
+  Lest sorrow should her marriage mar,
+  Or fill the bridal day with care.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+THE MARRIAGE CEREMONY.
+
+Children clad in white for the occasion--children, whose parents, as
+well as themselves, had been partakers of the bounty of Edmund
+Daundy--were, with their cheerful happy faces formed into two long
+rows from the mansion as far almost as Wolsey's house.  Each had a
+significant flower in her hand, that she might join her partner, who
+held a corresponding flower on the opposite side of the street when
+the signal was given that the bride was coming.
+
+In this manner, the two nearest of the coming procession moved
+immediately forward, exclaiming, or chanting the short couplet--
+
+  'Tis the bridal day,
+  Prepare the way,
+      Lead on! lead on! lead on!
+  Come join our throng,
+  Come sing our song,
+      Be merry every one.
+
+
+None began to sing until they joined flowers, and each couple,
+following the leader, added their voices to those which went before,
+until the whole street burst forth into singing.
+
+The graceful Ellen, amidst her honorable maidens, walked through the
+respectful throng, and was met by a party of matrons, friends, and
+relations, who conducted her to the house of Daundy, where Latimer
+and a great company of friends were ready to proceed to the church of
+St. Lawrence.
+
+All was done that could add to the gaiety and joyful publicity of the
+marriage, and according to the custom of the times, the poor were not
+forgotten, but were allowed to participate in the scene.  The noble
+parents, arm-in-arm, followed the bride, whilst Latimer and his young
+men, invited by Edmund Daundy, were in readiness to receive them at
+the steps of his house.  It took but a few minutes to exchange the
+riding costume for the flowing veils and simple white vestments of
+the beautiful bride and her maids, and then the happy pair, with
+their attendants, proceeded to the church, whither Wolsey had gone
+before.  The organ Daundy had presented to St. Lawrence had been
+purchased in France, and was for its day a wonderful instrument.
+Plaintive notes had been for some time issuing from its tubes,
+adapted to the stillness of the solitary occupant then kneeling at
+the altar, as if he were performing the most abstracted and spiritual
+devotion.
+
+The heart of that man was not to be envied.  It had tormented itself
+with such determined endurance, that nature was completely quelled.
+But it was not in him to let even Ellen know that he was suffering
+from the sting of disappointment.  Nothing would have been easier
+than for Wolsey to have found an excuse for not performing the
+ceremony.  There was decided cruelty in the thing, knowing, as he
+certainly did, the state of his own heart and sentiments towards
+Ellen; but the pride of the man was predominant; and in a church and
+age when to mortify the body with rigorous privation was a sign of
+the highest faith, it was not remarkable that an ambitious man like
+Wolsey should act as he did.
+
+That Wolsey was a man who could command himself, by a resolute
+effort, was manifested in this early indication of control; but that
+he did it with a bad grace, these pages will prove.
+
+Self-denial is a great virtue; but morose and conceited
+self-immolation is no part of pure religion.  It is of the same
+nature as the delusion that influences the devotees of the East, who,
+with hooks in their flesh, swing themselves in a circle till they
+lose strength, reason, and life.  The Suttee might be as great as the
+learned Wolsey, and perform even a greater act of devotion than he
+did, for she willingly and cheerfully gives up her body to be burnt;
+but this proud man, against his reason, against his judgment, and in
+spite of himself, married the woman that he loved to another man, and
+neither wished nor prayed for her happiness.  Had his act been one of
+faith instead of superstition, it would have been attended with
+consequences far more productive of comfort and happiness to himself
+and others than it was.  Faith can surmount difficulties, and glory
+in so doing: but faith never places stumbling blocks of iniquity in
+the way of the soul, that it may leap over them and appear glorious
+in the sight of men.  Learning in that day was then confined in a
+great measure to ecclesiastical establishments, and though ignorance
+greatly prevailed among the monks and monasteries, yet men of letters
+were occasionally found among them, who were bright stars of their
+day.  If a noble was a man of letters, he was indeed accounted a
+wonder.  It was something then to write, but to write with any degree
+of purity was a singular accomplishment.
+
+On this account Lord De Freston and his daughter were highly
+esteemed.  Wolsey had been alive indeed to the interest and influence
+she had exercised in his favour: but she had not been the least aware
+of having caused him any deeper feeling than that of gratitude for
+her exertions.  His conduct had become changed--very different from
+that of former days, and certainly in her eyes it was not improved;
+but she attributed this to the position to which he had even then
+been elevated.  So altered were his words and manners, that although
+he had come so far to marry her, and to comply with her request, she
+almost regretted that she had disturbed his learned pursuits at
+Magdalene.  There he was, however, to perform the ceremony; and as
+the organ gradually increased its swelling tones, as the bride and
+bridegroom walked along the nave of the church, the murmur of the
+multitude and the steps of approaching feet, warned Wolsey that he
+must prepare himself for the duty he had undertaken.
+
+He rose from his knees with the studied gesture of a man about to
+confer a great obligation, and summoning all the energy of his robust
+frame, and the pride of his whole heart--he appeared as immoveable
+and as firm as a commander of Roman cohorts going into battle.  Every
+person in that church, saving the bride, looked upon him with wonder;
+but she with downcast eyes had not ventured to look up, even to
+behold the countenance of the man who had been so much her friend and
+companion from her infancy.
+
+Lord De Freston thought him ill, and was upon the point of asking the
+curate of St. Lawrence to take the duty, when the firm, strong,
+clear, and singularly sweet voice of Wolsey, gave evidence that he
+was not so ill as to require any assistance, though his face was
+white as marble, and his lips livid as death.
+
+Just as the parent delivered up his child for ever into the hands of
+her future husband, and Wolsey received that fair hand to unite it
+with that of his friend, he was observed to shed a tear, which fell
+upon the hand he was then holding.  The maiden lifted her eye to meet
+that of the priest's.  There was agony depicted in it--intense agony,
+that struck deeply into the tender heart of Ellen, and so completely
+overpowered her, as to make her lean upon the arm of Lord De Freston
+for support.  She looked not again at Wolsey--she heard his voice,
+now softer and more subdued; and whilst she was united to Latimer in
+the bonds of matrimony, she became for the first moment of her life
+conscious that Thomas Wolsey might have loved her.  She felt a pang,
+not for herself, but in the thought that Wolsey might be suffering
+from disappointment.
+
+He did not give way: he performed the ceremony, pronounced the
+blessing, ended the service, and returned to the altar, and simply
+told the verger he had a vow to complete, so that the whole party
+returned without him to the festive scene at the house of the opulent
+merchant of Ipswich.
+
+It was observed by Latimer, De Freston, and Daundy, that Ellen's
+usual flow of spirit, and happy expression of countenance were
+disturbed, and when the anxious bridegroom sought by a plain question
+the cause of depression, all she could say was--
+
+'I will tell you another time, only be assured that no friends here
+have in anything made me sorrowful, and that it will only be a short
+temporary depression, and even now I feel revived.'
+
+How truly good and tender are the feelings of a Christian heart.
+This wise, virtuous, and affectionate daughter felt at the moment,
+that she, her father, and friends might have been too pointedly
+interested in young Wolsey's career; and have unintentionally
+suffered him to hope for an alliance which had never till that
+morning had a thought in her brain.  Her quick and sensitive spirit
+soon saw through the change of conduct which Wolsey had assumed, and
+she shuddered to think of the possibility of the sacred office of
+holy orders being taken up in the moment of disappointment.
+
+She was relieved in some measure by the announcement which arrived,
+that Thomas Wolsey had left town; for with her perceptions at such a
+moment, it would have been a source of suffering to her to have seen
+him at the grand feast which was then given in honor of her nuptials.
+
+Wolsey had cast off his vestments, and repaired to the priest's gate,
+at the entrance from the back lane adjoining the churchyard.  There
+stood his own steed, with his travelling cloak and rough skinned
+trappings in which he carried his change of linen.  He was soon in
+his saddle--gave the promised angel, and taking the circuit of the
+town walls, proceeded immediately on his way to London.  He turned
+his back upon his native town, on the very day of its most worthy
+rejoicing; for, celebrated as Ipswich always has been for political
+animosities, its people in that day, as well as in this, were glad of
+any common event in which all parties might unite without contention.
+And such was the moment of their universally respected
+fellow-townsman's popularity, when Lord De Freston, his daughter, and
+the bridegroom partook of the good man's hospitality.
+
+Wolsey, however, had left the town, and at that time felt himself cut
+off from it for ever.  He had not so much as taken leave of his
+mother, nor acquainted any one with his intention.  He wore a face of
+lamentation as if he were going into exile, or to perform penance for
+his sins.  So severe had been this blow, and the effort he had made
+to bear it, that he would willingly have forgotten every event of his
+childhood--his mother, his kindred, and his connexions.
+
+He pursued his way, a lonely and disconsolate man, leaving cheerful
+faces behind him, a sight he could ill have borne to see, whilst the
+merry bells sent out their liveliest tones, as if to mock the heart
+of a man who could not enjoy the happiness of another.  Merry days do
+not last for ever, and marriage days are not, among the wealthy, of
+long enjoyment.
+
+As Wolsey traversed the long narrow lane, with his pack-horse slowly
+pacing up the hill, the last peal of the Ipswich bells fell on his
+proud heart, and he wept.  Man could no longer see him.  He had no
+longer to act a part before those who knew him.  He was overcome by
+the associations of his youth.
+
+  'No flowers for him were strewn that day;
+  No maidens graced his bridal day;
+  He trode the roses in the street.
+  And crushed them with indignant feet.
+  Another's bliss to him was woe,
+  And he sustained the deepest blow.'
+
+But merrily, merrily still rang the Ipswich bells, and the proud
+priest's heart was touched.
+
+Never was friendship more pure than that shown by Lord De Freston and
+his friends to Wolsey; but never was there less response to those
+kindly affections in the heart of man than in Wolsey at that moment.
+All he felt, he felt for himself; all he had done, had been done to
+gratify himself; all he looked forward to was for himself.  His
+mother was nothing to him; his friends and townsmen nothing; Lord De
+Freston nothing; Latimer nothing; and if for Ellen he once felt
+_everything_, she now was nothing.
+
+The great man sighed--he groaned; but in another moment he said,
+'Wolsey, be a man!  Spurn the past.  Fulfil thy destiny, and forget
+that ever thou didst love.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+THE REVELATION.
+
+The marriage day had passed away as the fleeting hours of mortal life
+do, quickly, and never to return; and so it should be, for if the
+past be but a prelude to future improvement, few would wish it to
+return.
+
+Latimer and the Lady Ellen were seated in the large room of the
+mansion purchased by Lord De Freston, situated in the centre of the
+town of Ipswich.  The present theatre now occupies part of the site
+of the mansion, which, with its grounds opposite and behind it, took
+up a large space, now densely populated.  One old room in the Tankard
+public house still retains a portion of its pristine beauty, and was
+then the handsomest room in that ancient hall.  It was here that the
+bride and bridegroom received their friends, who from all parts of
+the neighborhood came to pay them respect.
+
+Their extensive garden then occupied the area from the corner of
+Brook Street down to the great foundation school, in which Wolsey had
+received the rudiments of his education; and the convent grounds
+contained the school which was under the superintendence of the Prior
+of St. Peter, who had the power of fixing the salary of the master.
+
+It was a garden containing walks for the public, and in it was the
+celebrated chapel of the Virgin, to which Ellen repaired after the
+fall of Wykes Bishop's Palace.  The ancient mansion overlooked that
+garden, and Ellen and De Freston were seated in the beautifully
+oak-pannelled room, conversing upon the past.  They spoke of Alice De
+Clinton, of the old palace, of the hermit of Holy Wells: and the
+reader may be sure they did not forget the memorable night when
+Latimer reached the stair of Lord De Freston's grounds, close under
+Freston Tower.
+
+Love likes to reflect on the mercies of God, and souls truly happy do
+ever remember the past with such spirit of thankfulness, and makes
+even imminent dangers the subject of congratulation.
+
+'Do you remember, Ellen, that you promised to tell me why you were
+momentarily cast down on the day of our wedding festivity?'
+
+'I do, William, and I can now freely converse with you upon the
+subject.  You must have observed the young priest's agony when the
+tear fell upon my hand, which he joined with your own.  I then looked
+up at his face--and can I ever forget the expression?  Never!  It
+told me, William, of a truth, which seems to account to me now for
+the strange alteration of his behaviour to me, my father, his own
+relatives, and yourself.'
+
+'What was that, Ellen?'
+
+'Simply this, William: that Wolsey had a hope, to which he then bade
+farewell for ever, that he might have possessed this hand to which
+you were then entitled.'
+
+'It may be so, Ellen.  But why then place a barrier for ever against
+all hopes of matrimonial alliance by entering into the church?  He
+always appeared to me to be destined for the office he holds; and yet
+I do remember his occasional depressions at Oxford were only to be
+alleviated by a reference to Freston Tower.'
+
+'Was it so, Latimer?  Then I fear the poor youth had imbibed a
+preference for my society, which is indeed flattering to me, though
+so fatal to himself.  We were very partial to him.  He was always
+pleasant, though at times impetuous, and dictatorial in his
+arguments.  Can you not now pity him, William, if he did imagine, in
+the ardor of his literary pursuits, that I should one day be his
+companion?  All things considered, he must have endured what scarcely
+any other man could have borne.  I do now see through the whole of
+his conduct.  I fear he has done violence to his better nature in the
+steps he has taken to prove to us all the sublimity of his faith.'
+
+'I can now account for all his strange behaviour--yet, if he had
+succeeded--'
+
+'What, William?'
+
+'I might have been as wretched as himself.'
+
+'May my whole life prove that I estimate the sacrifice you would have
+made of self upon the altar of friendship, but how will Thomas Wolsey
+take this blow?'
+
+'That remains to be seen.  He is not a man to sink under misfortune.
+He will devote himself to great objects.  His learning will be a
+passport to greatness, and Oxford will afford him a fine field for
+the display of his talents.  He will be a great man in the church.'
+
+'I wish he may be a good one!  His views are seemingly very much
+exalted by his priesthood, and personal pride has not permitted him
+to display either that amiability or generosity of opinion, in
+letters or in religion, which formerly he seemed to possess.  It
+would be strange if his great mind should be narrowed by his
+assumption of the priesthood.'
+
+'It would indeed be a great misfortune; for a nobler nature than
+Wolsey's, and a more generous, frank, and liberal disposition
+scarcely ever inhabited the breast of man when I first introduced him
+at Oxford.  His manners, his knowledge of letters, his talents, were
+all open, clear, candid, and at the free gift and service of others.
+He is now a priest of Rome.  He cannot forget his learning, but it is
+doubtful whether he will use it for the good of his countrymen or for
+his own ambition.  Rome, I fear, will scarcely let him think and act
+for himself, and certainly not for the great objects which now seem
+to be attracting the eyes of the learned in the spirit of the
+Reformation.  Wolsey might do great things; but will he?  Had he but
+the heart of Wickliffe, what might not England see him produce.'
+
+'We shall see, Latimer.  He cannot be ignorant; he may be bigoted and
+worldly-minded, but he cannot be ignorant of the truth.  We are to
+visit our dear father at Freston hall to-day.  How I love to see him
+enjoying his books and our company!  What a pleasure is it, William,
+to a daughter to promote the happiness of her father!'
+
+'And what a pleasure to a son-in-law to know that parent loves him as
+if he were his own child.  Oh, Ellen! if there be a joy on this
+earth, it is when we please our parents and honor their grey hairs,
+and bless them for those providential comforts which, beneath the
+mercy of God, they are enabled to bestow upon us.  We shall visit our
+old haunt in the tower, ever fresh to me, Ellen; never out of my
+eyes.  I often dream of it, and sometimes see the lamp burning in
+your favorite room; and then I am riding on the broken timber in the
+midst of the waves, or struggling against the tide to gain the
+shore--I awake, and think, and am thankful!'
+
+Noon was the dinner-hour in that day, and the bride and bridegroom,
+respected as they were, could not pass through that busy town of
+Ipswich without many a blessing; for, great as they were, and
+connected with the noblest and wealthiest, they forgot not the poor,
+and were not themselves forgotten.
+
+With joy did they revisit the scenes of their early attachment, and
+awaken the spirit of love among a people always ready to acknowledge
+that which was honest and lovely.
+
+De Freston had made good use of that time, which was now more
+solitary in one sense, but more engaging in another.  He had been
+reading with more profound attention the records of the olden
+time--the history of the Fathers, and the progress of that revelation
+through the instrumentality of the inspired Apostles, and those who
+lived nearest to them.  The more he read, the more he became
+convinced of the sublime doctrine of the Great Atonement, and the
+purity and holiness of that religion which the ancient Fathers
+professed.  He was forcibly struck by the simplicity of their canons,
+and the manner of spirit in which they sought to conduct the affairs
+of the church.  He made himself master of their doctrine, arguments,
+and lives, and observed how strictly they sought to establish the
+essentials of vital piety, founded upon the Scriptures, rather than
+the introduction of novelties and the development of fancies.  The
+more he read, the more earnestly did he pray that his reading might
+become beneficial to his own soul, and to that of others.  His was a
+great mind, a pious mind, with a solid, rational, and lively faith,
+which was indeed a rare thing in that day among the nobles of
+England.  There was, indeed, a spirit abroad, as has already been
+seen, inducing inquiry, questioning the right of the Pope to be above
+all Scripture and Revelation; and some few were even then beginning
+to search the Scriptures for themselves, that they might be enabled
+to give an answer to the important question: What is truth?
+
+Among them stood Lord De Freston, foremost in the neighborhood of
+Ipswich, one of the first to institute that inquiry among the learned
+monks of Alneshborne, which led to the conversion of Prior John, and
+to the enlightenment of his fraternity.  It has been stated that he
+was very intimate with the learned John.  That intimacy had increased
+since the marriage of his daughter, and had been productive of much
+intercourse between the domains of the priory and those of De Freston.
+
+It was no surprise to Latimer or his wife, when they arrived at the
+castle, to find John of Alneshborne a guest at the table of their
+father.  It was a surprise to them, indeed, to find this learned monk
+a convert to the already greatly advanced wisdom of De Freston.  For
+a monk to entertain opinions having the least approximation to the
+universal spread of Divine truth, was a wonder in that day; but to
+find one, the head of a learned fraternity, remarkable for
+retirement, penance, and bodily infliction, become an advocate for
+the dissemination of the whole Word of God and the Truth, was indeed
+a marvel.
+
+John of Alneshborne was a rare instance of humility, and though he
+was respected by all the religious houses with which he was
+connected, both in England and on the Continent, his views gained him
+many enemies, much persecution, his final ejection from his priory;
+but a happy rest in the mansion of his friend and patron, Lord De
+Freston, who had been instrumental in leading this learned man to a
+far more liberal view of divinity than the life of solitary
+nothingness which he spent within the cloistered walls of his
+establishment.
+
+As he had been conducive to his study of the Scriptures, and of the
+early usages of the Christian church, contrasted with the presumption
+of the Popes and their universal subjugation of men's consciences to
+dogmas, instead of doctrine, and all their outward prostrations,
+impositions, fooleries, idolatries, and indulgences, in the place of
+inward purification and love of God and man, so when he was degraded
+and deprived of his power, this noble lord was the first to open his
+doors, and say, 'My house is your home.'
+
+These events transpired after the period of which this narrative is
+now treating.  But the way was then preparing even when Ellen and her
+husband paid their first visit of any length to the hall of their
+youth.
+
+'Ha!  Prior John here!' exclaimed Latimer.  'It gives me great joy to
+see thee on this side of the water.  I thought I should one day see
+thee here and shake thee by the hand in our father's mansion; and
+here thou art.  Ellen, here is an old friend with a new face.'
+
+The monk started, for even then he felt it strange that his
+countenance should in the least betray the alteration of his heart
+and mind.
+
+'How dost thou call my face new, my son?  Am I grown more grey; or
+are the lines of my features become more sharp?'
+
+'No, father, no! but yet there is an alteration in thy very
+appearance--in the smile with which thou greetest us, and in the
+expression of thy countenance, which, though the prevailing feature
+be anxiety, is yet something new for thee to wear.'
+
+'Upon my word, young man, thy perceptions are wonderfully sharpened
+by matrimony.  Thou mayst perceive in me what I cannot discover in
+myself.  Perhaps thou wilt be disposed to attribute this alteration
+of my features to the kind and hospitable reception of the lord of
+this mansion.'
+
+'I may do this sincerely, father, and it is always a good sign when
+the nobles of a land call forth the lively learning and cheerful
+spirits of those who spend too many of their days in retirement.  I
+rejoice to see thee here.'
+
+'And I to be here, my son; and to see thee and the fair prize thou
+hast borne away from the banks of the Orwell.'
+
+'Nay, father, I have not yet left the lovely banks of this noble
+river, though I have become a resident in the town of Ipswich; and I
+shall be happy to exercise the duties of hospitality towards thee, as
+well there as in this present place; and I tell thee again, that I
+believe thine ascetic face will assume even there a more generous
+character than it does here.'
+
+'Alas! my son, I have spent years of solitude in my priory, and am
+little accustomed to the intercourse of any but our own fraternity.
+If long habits of privation, and a complete exclusion from that world
+in which I was once too great a participator in my youth; if, indeed,
+the heavy burthen of my sins, and of one great crime can be atoned
+for by years of penitential devotion to solitude, and prayer, and
+study, such as I have pursued, I may hope that I have some merit in
+depriving myself of the society of my fellow creatures, that I may
+commune with my God.'
+
+'Ha! my father!  And dost thou think thou hast atoned by these
+privations for thine early indulgences in sin?  Thou and I see things
+in a wonderfully different light.  To my mind, thou art seeking thine
+own righteousness and not submitting thyself to the righteousness of
+God.  If thou couldst flagellate thy flesh until thy skin was
+excoriated from the crown of thine head to the sole of thy foot; if
+thou couldst count thy beads from sunrise to sunset, and from night
+until morning every year of thy life; if thou couldst walk barefoot
+from Rome to Jerusalem, or from one end of the world to the other;
+shave thy head, wear sack-cloth all thy days, and never smile upon
+youth or life; thou couldst make no atonement for the very least of
+thy sins; much less for any crime which weighs heavy on thy
+conscience?'
+
+'Ha! my son, wouldst thou have had me go on in my career unto
+perdition?'
+
+'No, father! assuredly not; but I would not have thee go to perdition
+in another way, by renouncing one sin for a greater.'
+
+'How so, my son?'
+
+'Thou hast renounced society, of which thou might'st have been an
+ornament, and the opportunity of doing good to thy fellow-creatures,
+by leading them to see their errors, and helping them to correct
+their lives, by thine example; and hast taken upon thyself to work
+out thy salvation by thine own righteousness; or, at least, by
+calling that a life of faith which is, indeed, a life of presumption.
+Pardon my boldness, father, but we will converse of these things
+another time, and let me tell thee it is the consciousness of this
+truth which makes thee wear a different face.'
+
+'My son, thou art right, but I owe not this conviction to thine
+argument, but to his whose guest I am.'
+
+'And I am his debtor for kindness which my life cannot repay.'
+
+'I have listened,' said the Lord De Freston, 'to your conversation;
+but let us not make hospitality to consist of words.  Come, my
+dearest friends, I am a debtor to you all, and the only way I can
+repay you is to place my house at your service.'
+
+'And so make us greater debtors still.'
+
+'As long as we owe each other nothing but love, we can give, take,
+borrow, lend, exchange, and demand compound interest for our loan,
+and yet be none of us usurers, but friends; so let us to the banquet
+hall.'
+
+It was in such spirit that these friends met, and, as may be
+supposed, the interchange of affection was of that kind which, free
+from bigotry and superstition, promoted good-will and charity, and
+was honorable in the sight of God and man.
+
+Still this very intimacy between such enlightened beings became a
+tool for working mischief, in the hands of those whose ignorance was
+only excelled by their cruelties, and, as we shall see, led to the
+sorrow of some, but to the joy of a great many.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+THE PUNISHMENT.
+
+Wolsey returned to Oxford resolved to think no more of Ipswich, the
+Orwell, Freston Tower, Ellen, or the scenes of his youth.  There was
+a singular reaction of life in him about this time, for which some of
+his warmest friends could not account.  The learned, laborious,
+enterprising scholar, became the indefatigable architect, devoting
+the energies of his great mind to the ornamenting the loftiest
+stories of his magnificent tower.
+
+The funds of his college, assisted by contributions from noblemen and
+gentlemen connected with Oxford, and from all whom he could inspire
+with something of his own spirit were devoted to that building.  Both
+Wolsey's and Latimer's Tower are still standing; one still preserved
+in all its grandeur as a noble feature of Oxford; the other, lonely
+and deserted, still looks over the lovely river Orwell, and is the
+wonder of all who sail down to Harwich.
+
+Wolsey's Tower, splendid as it was, was not without deep
+mortification to the great man.  Men who understood not his design
+abused it, and reports of his extravagance were set afloat.  When
+mentioned to the bursar, they only excited his contempt; for Wolsey
+well knew that he honored his college by not robbing her of funds
+left for the encouragement of learned men, and whilst he expended so
+much in raising a monument to his own magnificence, he did not
+misapply one single angel to that work which was legally and justly
+devoted to other purposes.  The fact was, that as the Tower was near
+its completion, and was seen to be so fair an ornament to the
+University, he received from other colleges pecuniary assistance, and
+never burthened his own with the expense.
+
+His mind was greatly diverted by the interest he took in the
+accomplishment of this undertaking; and if any one was impoverished
+by it, it was Wolsey himself, who expended his utmost farthing in its
+completion.
+
+Yet, however diverted, he was not insensible to the carpings of some,
+and the inadequacy of his private finances.  So that when the work
+was done, the scaffolding taken down, and it stood exposed in all its
+elegance, like every other great performance of man's hand and mind,
+it gave not its author the satisfaction he anticipated, but
+occasioned him much annoyance.
+
+Few men live to see their own works admired, and it is well perhaps
+they do not, for if their only pleasure in them is the thought of
+man's admiration, and not the employment of their time and talents
+from a high sense of duty, which alone gives pleasure, they would be
+elevated and depressed by critical declamations to an unreasonable
+extent.
+
+Soon after Wolsey had built his Tower, he left the University to go
+and reside upon the living of Lymington, which the Marquis of Dorset
+had bestowed upon him for the care and attention he had paid to the
+education of his sons.  His fame had been by this time pretty well
+disseminated among all the nobility and gentry who valued literature.
+The Boy Bachelor had become the great Oxford man; and Magdalen Tower
+had given him a name for taste and elegance which, in those days of
+internal disruption between the Houses of York and Lancaster, had
+been almost forgotten.
+
+When Wolsey left Oxford he seemed to break off from the accustomed
+restraint of scholastic discipline, which he had acquired during his
+situation as tutor and schoolmaster.  Men were surprised to find the
+staid and learned priest the free and joyous companion in the
+country, the life and soul of the great houses throughout the
+counties of Somerset, Dorset, and Hants.
+
+The Marquis of Dorset had introduced him to the resident gentry
+around him, and he met at his hospital board Sir John Nafant, who
+became particularly attached to him.  He delighted to hear him
+discourse, and encouraged him in all his sallies of wit.  From Sir
+John he received repeated invitations to partake of hospitality; and,
+though their years were dissimilar, their tastes for literature and
+knowledge were alike.
+
+Wolsey made a great impression upon this worthy knight, who not only
+conversed with him upon affairs of state, as then existing in
+England, but corresponded with him on foreign affairs, and was
+equally astonished at his comprehensive estimate of the resources of
+the kingdoms of Europe.
+
+Sir John did not forget to make a very handsome tribute offering to
+Wolsey, in acknowledgment of those talents which he displayed.
+
+To none had Wolsey revealed the early disappointment he had met with,
+which he neither then nor afterward--though fields of ambition and
+vain-glory lay in his way--could totally forget.
+
+Neither cloistered walls nor lofty battlements, neither profound
+learning, nor great estates, can change a man who has once imbibed
+licentiousness of spirit, and suffered it to usurp the place of love
+in the human heart.  A man who does wrong, and persists in it without
+shame, let the wrong be the transgression of any moral commandment of
+God, will find a very poor excuse for his conduct, however much he
+may be devoted to learning, and to art or science.
+
+No robes, however white, which a man can put on, will cover the
+licentiousness of a corrupt heart.  No crown--not even the triple one
+which adorns the head of the Pope--can free a man from the troubles
+of conscience.  Better for him to cease to do evil, and learn to do
+well, than to bestow all his estates upon the priesthood, who may
+mutter masses for his soul, which can never be released from sin but
+by the obedience of faith.
+
+Sir Amias Pawlet, a knight whom Wolsey met one day at the table of
+the Marquis of Dorset, was a man of very different character to Sir
+John Nafant.  He saw with a jealous eye the ambition of this young
+priest, who seemed to delight in holding him up to the company as an
+ignorant county magistrate.  Wolsey was certainly not gifted just at
+this time with that amiability of mind and temper which could brook
+the overbearing arrogance of a man who seemed to think himself
+superior to all others in the country.
+
+At the table of his patron, Wolsey scarcely refrained from exposing
+his ignorance.  He narrated a very simple and pithy story about a
+pullet who assumed all the dignity of the dunghill, and looked down
+with contempt on all other fowls.  He exposed the want of judgment
+and flippant manner of the pullet with such force and pointed wit,
+that Sir Amias, who perceived it to be levelled at him, was greatly
+disconcerted, and threatened Wolsey, for being a public slanderer,
+with the penalty of the law.
+
+It is certain that Wolsey's proud spirit was not humbled, but that
+he, with a little more pretension to learning, was not less
+tyrannical.  Sir Amias Pawlet cared nothing for him.  He was a man of
+principle--a plain, straightforward man--grave, austere, and proud.
+He was not deficient in spirit, and a love of truth and propriety,
+though he was neither equal to Wolsey, Sir John Nafant, or the
+Marquis of Dorset, in letters or knowledge of the world.  He was one
+of those strong-minded men, attached to the good laws of the land he
+lived in, and jealous too for the dignity of the church to which he
+belonged.  He was not, at the time treated of, a convert to the then
+growing liberation of the souls of men from the corruptions of that
+superstition which encompassed all Christendom, but he was sensibly
+alive to the necessity of propriety in the character of the
+priesthood, and a man who was too earnest and sincere in his
+profession of religion to admit of any licentiousness.
+
+It was not likely that such a man, coming in contact with the learned
+and expansive genius of the young Wolsey, should shine before him.
+He did not, for he bent not to the idol of popular greatness, when he
+saw in him a regard only for things expedient, and a certain freedom
+of speech and behaviour, even in the company of the gentry of those
+counties, which ill became the Oxford divine, the tutor of the
+Marquis of Dorset's sons, and the great scholar of Magdalen.
+
+'I like not your country squire, most noble peer,' said Wolsey to the
+Marquis: 'he is ignorant and positive, sturdy and absolute, and would
+do better for a jailer than for a magistrate of this county.'
+
+'I like not your visitor, my lord,' said Sir Amias to the Marquis.
+'He is much too clever and intriguing for my liking.  He, no doubt,
+would be a very convenient father confessor; but I should as soon
+think of looking for absolution to your lordship's bloodhound as to
+him.'
+
+Now the Marquis was fully convinced that the priest of Lymington and
+the knight of the shire were distasteful to each other; but as he
+respected both, he kept his own counsel, and did not interfere with
+their respective animosities.
+
+It was no small sin in those days to speak anything disrespectful of
+the priesthood.  Rome had such authority over the nobility, had
+invented so many intrigues of priest-craft, and had obtained such an
+ascendancy over the families of the great, that she employed
+qualified spies in every house to subject the inmates to penances,
+and works of her own imposition, even for the slightest offences,
+with which she could have nothing to do, and which could never take
+away one single fault.
+
+Sir Amias, however, was not to be imposed upon by any requirements on
+the part of the priesthood to which they did not themselves submit:
+and in his own family he was strict and conscientious, and expected
+his priest to be the same.
+
+It was about this time that one of his own servants returned from the
+neighboring fair in a state of intoxication.  The man was brought
+before his master, who at that very time was conversing with the
+confessor of his own family.
+
+'How now, knave? this is not the first time thou hast been in bad
+company; thou didst promise to avoid such men if I forgave thee.
+Thou shall be put into the stocks, that all the country may know thee
+for a drunkard as thou art.'
+
+The half-witted man, who was sufficiently sober to comprehend what
+was said to him, and was sufficiently filled with sack not to be
+afraid of his master, looked very knowingly at him and the confessor.
+
+'I's been in good company, master, very good; and if the stocks are
+lifted up for my legs, I hope you'll give me some o' the good company
+I ha' been in, to keep me in countenance there.  There's many more
+like me, master; and there's one there as good as yoursel--or your
+reverence,' bowing to the priest.  'You're very even-handed, master,
+and my good company I've been in might qualify even a better man than
+me to be a little merry.  I's only like my betters.'
+
+The knight looked at the priest; and the priest looked at the man,
+and both were puzzled at his words--but they did not speak at the
+moment.
+
+'Why you looks doubtful, both on you.  Go and see; I's not so drunk
+as not to know an owl when I sees one, though it might be the dusk of
+the evening when he flies.  Go you with master: you'll see!'
+
+'Where are we to go, and what are we to see?'
+
+'Go to the Masque and Mummers--and if you don't see one you dare not
+put in the stocks, then don't put your own servant in; but if you
+dare to see him, and dare to take him, and dare to trap him too--why
+then trap me with him, and we'll be very good company for each other.
+So, master, I'm your man; and when you find a poor fellow imitating
+his betters, let his betters find the same law is made for him as for
+one o' the worst like me.'
+
+Sir Amias rose.  He was not a man to flinch in the execution of the
+law intrusted to him as a magistrate; and to his honor be it
+recorded, he was not an unjust man, who would screen the rich at the
+expense of the poor.  Had it been the Marquis of Dorset himself, he
+would have treated him exactly as he would a drunken vagabond, who
+had not a shilling to help himself.
+
+'There is too much truth in this fellow's audacity,' he replied, 'to
+let this matter pass away unnoticed.  It will be thrown in my teeth
+by every servant I have, after this, if I dismiss this villain and
+see not the company he has been in.  Come, I will claim your
+companionship.  Let us go undisguised and openly, that he, and all
+men may see what we do in the face of the law and our country.'
+
+Sir Amias desired his servants to take the knave to the village
+stocks.  'There wait,' said he, 'my company; and if I find a
+companion in the state of intoxication he is in, let him be the
+King's son, my loyalty to his father shall make the law take its
+course, even with this fool.'
+
+So spoke Sir Amias, and his resolution was equal to his words.  The
+knight and the priest set forth, and went as directed to the Masque
+and Mummers.  He had no definite idea as to the issue of his
+proceeding; but like a brave soldier, strong in the fulfilment of his
+duty, he marched up to the scene of riot, taking with him such
+constables as he thought fit for the occasion.
+
+A man of less determination might have been deterred from going to
+the scene.  A man with less sense of honor would not have done as he
+did; and a man, who feared God and honored the King less, would have
+been afraid to put the law in execution upon a man who presumed to be
+of an order above all law, and yet chose to transgress.
+
+Amidst a set of mummers, masks, and profligates, smugglers, and
+debauchees, who should be holding forth, with spirits inflated with
+sack, but Wolsey, the priest of Lymington.  Sir Amias did not parley
+with him in the least; though, in a moment, the fiery priest turned
+upon him all the gibes of the company, and in his drunken revel, held
+him up to ridicule before them.
+
+It has been said, the knight was uncourteous; but though he knew that
+man would accuse him of spite, he cared not for any one in the
+discharge of his duty.  The law is never stronger than when it deals
+equal justice to all.  Sir Amias felt that he could not punish his
+own servant for a fault which the leader of the parish was himself
+guilty of, without making him an example of the same punishment.
+
+He at once put the law into execution, and with such determined
+resolution, that the very company who, the moment before, were
+disposed to laugh at the knight, were the first to join in roars of
+ridicule at the priest of Lymington in the village stocks.  He was,
+indeed, laid by the heels by the gallant Sir Amias, a spectacle of
+justice such as did no injury even to the man who endured it, but
+served him right, not only because he ought to have known better, but
+because he did know better, and was the worst of the two.
+
+The two drunkards were a contrast, even in their cups.  The servant
+boasted of his company; and the priest railed against the law, the
+knight, the stocks, and the people, and threatened them all with the
+anathemas of Rome.  Neither he nor his companion were released till
+they were sober.  One lost his situation as the servant of Sir Amias,
+and the other found himself so uncomfortable in the company either of
+nobles or commoners, after this affront to his dignity, that he
+resigned his living into the hands of his patron; and accepted the
+office of secretary to Sir John Nafant, who was then governor of
+Calais.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+THE MONASTERIES.
+
+The space alloted to this work will not be wide enough to embrace the
+gradual progress of Wolsey to that greatness which he attained.  The
+object in view was to show that he was anything but a mean man in his
+birth, though had that been to, it would have been no disgrace, and
+that he was brought up in his youth with an early love of everything
+that was generous and praiseworthy.  It was not until his youthful
+disappointment had left him nothing but the pursuit of his own
+gratification in the fields of ambition and vain-glory, that Wolsey's
+character changed from a lover of truth, virtue, and humility, to
+become an aspiring, time-serving politician.
+
+It is strange that a man who had assumed the priesthood, at that time
+the vehicle of letters in some few, but of enormous bigotry and
+superstition in the mass, should bury his love of truth in the vast
+vortex of worldly ambition.  He left truth to shine in his native
+place, whilst he pursued the phantom of idolatry through all the
+labyrinths of expedient invention.  His love of literature he could
+not abandon.  It was part and parcel of his life, which remained with
+him through all his progress, and has served to extend his fame
+through ages of darkness, even to the present time.  His erudition
+was, beyond all doubt, genuine and powerful.
+
+He took no particular delight in encouraging individual instances of
+mental superiority, though the learned Erasmus speaks so flatteringly
+of his sumptuous entertainments to the stars of genius, as to make a
+seat at his table one of the things most desired in England.  From
+the great men of letters in his day, he never called forth a
+sentiment of gratitude for any encouragement he had given them.  With
+the exception of Sir Thomas More, scarcely any literary character
+received any support from him; and in him he supported a successor.
+
+His views comprehended the revival of the whole people from ignorance
+by the means of scholastic discipline; and his ideas of the diffusion
+of learning were connected with schools, seminaries, and colleges,
+the very architecture of which should speak the taste of their
+projector.
+
+Wolsey had, in early life, imbibed a species of contempt for the
+monastic impositions, which retained the people in ignorance, but he
+could not become indifferent to the lustre of the Papacy, to which
+his soul aspired; no, not even for the sake of truth.  It was hence
+that the patronage of the literature he so much admired as the
+production of the universities and schools became confined to men who
+upheld the Papal dominion.
+
+He obtained power as legate to subdue the monasteries, only because
+he conceived that their wealth would be converted into a channel more
+conducive to the dignity and grandeur of Rome; and as the popedom
+was, in his ambitious eye, the very kingdom of all kingdoms of the
+earth, and he was the man to sit upon that throne, he thought that by
+entitling himself to the respect of England for his encouragement of
+learning, he should one day receive the distinction he coveted.
+
+He was made to do much for letters, but little for the truth.  His
+persecution of the reformers will sufficiently prove this.  But
+whilst Wolsey journeyed to power, the friends of his youth journeyed
+to heaven through a straight and narrow path which was not suited to
+his ambition.
+
+Lord De Freston, Latimer, and Ellen, and a few more independent and
+eminent spirits in the neighborhood of Ipswich, became candidates for
+the crown of glory through the medium of persecution.
+
+Love, truth, fidelity, wisdom, knowledge, peace, and joy, together
+with some warm friendship from kindred spirits of intelligence, made
+the years roll on, not without a glowing interest, hope, and
+persuasion, that ultimately the doctrines of the dawning reformation
+would prevail.
+
+As Wolsey's power increased, there was a certain increase of learning
+which added much to the desired improvement of morals among the
+Romish clergy, who, at that time, were notorious for licentiousness,
+because of the ease with which they could both obtain and grant
+pardons.  The monasteries, though the seats of hospitality, were also
+the seats of imposition and secret vice, which became at last so
+glaring as to awaken strong minds to a sense of their shameless
+prostitution.
+
+Wolsey, who had risen to the dignity of Cardinal, took advantage of
+the cry then rising, to sweep off the lesser houses, and to impose
+certain fines upon others for the benefit of his foundations of
+learning.  He occasioned, as would naturally be expected, great grief
+in some districts, where the monks were far less vicious than in
+others; but it was a strange infatuation in him, that whist he was
+pulling down with one hand the monasteries and monks, he should be
+with the other encouraging the nunneries, which were then attaining
+such wealth as to make them desired by the great.
+
+News reached Ipswich, that the great man himself, though so austere
+and severe towards the inferior clergy, was anything but a pattern of
+virtue.
+
+'I have here,' said Latimer to the Lord De Freston, 'a singular
+production of Dan Lydgate's, and if our friend in power should catch
+sight of it, it might so happen that even Lydgate would lose his
+priesthood:
+
+  Alice De Clinton,
+  Prioress of Winton,
+    Summer's for thee no more;
+  The Cardinal's favor
+  Has in it such savor,
+    Thou shalt not long deplore.
+
+  Winter were summer known,
+  Melting for such a crown,
+    Alice De Clinton's call:
+  The proud one can change
+  From her haughtiest range,
+    O'er the turrets of Goldwell Hall.
+
+  The Abbess De Winter,
+  No matter the splinter,
+    Is fit for the priory found;
+  And the Winter nuns,
+  Whom nobody shuns,
+    Shall in Winter fires abound.
+
+  O, who would not bend,
+  To the Cardinal's friend,
+    Be she what she may chance to be;
+  For 'tis better for her
+  Such a place to prefer,
+    So becoming her dignity.'
+
+
+'Singular, indeed, it is.  I hear that Warham has complained to the
+King of his favorite's proceedings, and that Wolsey is likely to be
+in disgrace.'
+
+'I heard as much through Wentworth, only yesterday, who was telling
+me, also, that the Cardinal had made his peace with the King, by
+protesting that the appointment of the Abbess of Winton was only
+under the hope, or at least, with the proviso, that the King approved
+it.'
+
+'Did you hear the King's commands to the Cardinal?  "See to it,
+Wolsey, this appointment displeases us.  We are not used to exalt
+proud ladies, who can be humble only as it may suit my Lord Cardinal.
+Thou mayst protect thine own favorites, but not at the cost of the
+church, my lord.  Therefore, for shame's sake, let us not have this
+monstrous fair one made the Abbess of Winton."'
+
+'Ah, my Lord De Freston, this is no news then unto thee; but I can
+perchance tell thee something which, as yet, thou knowest not; for
+only as I left Ipswich did the messenger arrive.  The imperious Allen
+and his executioners have arrived to suppress the monasteries of
+Suffolk, and confiscate all the revenues to the crown.  A court will
+be held to-morrow at the priory of St. Peter's; and Alneshborne, as
+being one of the smaller fraternities, will be one of the first to
+suffer.  Our friend John must be apprised of his coming.'
+
+'He will not be surprised.  Already has he received tidings of the
+suppression of the religious houses in Essex and Cambridgeshire, and
+though a vague thought had dwelt with him that from Wolsey's
+knowledge of the regularity and piety of his order he might be
+spared, more especially as the great man, when a little man, was a
+welcome student within the walls of his priory, yet we shall find him
+prepared to obey the Pope's legate in temporalities, and that is all
+he supposes that will be required of him.  We will visit him
+ourselves, my son.'
+
+It did not take long for De Freston's boatmen to speed over the waves
+of the Orwell to Alneshborne Priory.  Short, however, as was the
+time, they found the whole fraternity assembled in the hall to hear
+the summons already issued by authority of the legate.  So quickly
+did the Cardinal's emissaries proceed to the work appointed them.
+
+They arrived in time to hear the Pope's Bull read, authorizing the
+dissolution of the monasteries of Romboro, Felixtow, Bromehil,
+Bliborow, and Montjoye, and upon the site of the ancient foundation
+of St. Peter's, at Ipswich, the building a new seat of learning.  And
+for the better effecting of which great and godly purpose, all the
+revenues belonging to the said monasteries were to be forthwith
+entirely at the disposal of the Cardinal, and to be used by him in
+furtherance of his proposed object, to the glory of God and the honor
+of the church of Rome, etc.
+
+  Signed,
+    CLEMENS, PAPA SEPTIMUS.
+
+
+The most singular extension of authority was that which ran thus:
+
+
+'In pursuance of the powers vested in us, we the Cardinal, as the
+Pope's legate, do hereby grant unto the united brethren of
+Alneshborne, full powers of absolution from their monastic vows; and
+to be exempt from all suit or service to the Priories of Woodbridge,
+or St. Peter's, Ipswich.  That from the date hereof, and the delivery
+of a schedule of all the property belonging unto the said community,
+that society is henceforth dissolved, and the members are at liberty
+to seek their livelihood in whatever manner they may be able, and
+wheresoever they may be pleased to go, either within or beyond the
+Pope's dominions.'
+
+
+How kind and considerate it was of the Pope to take away all their
+property, and give it to one man, and that man one whom the
+dispossessed remembered as a boy, frequently indulging in friendly
+conversation with them!  How very kind it was of him, when he had
+deprived them of everything, to permit them to go about their
+business!  John of Alneshborne, a fine old man, stood with his placid
+face beaming kindness upon his brethren, as Allen--Wolsey's
+commissioner--read, line by line, in a language they understood too
+well, the orders of his master.
+
+The orbs of the fine old patriarch were dim with tears, which, before
+the last concluding 'Vale et Vade,' literally ran down his venerable
+cheeks.
+
+However small had been the real utility of their order, there was a
+quiet, inobtrusive seclusion in their position on the banks of the
+Orwell, which every member of that community had for years enjoyed
+undisturbed.  The venerable fraternity had spoken together upon the
+probability of their dissolution; yet they evidently did not expect
+the day to be so near.  When it came, it found them very unwilling to
+part, and gave them great surprise and sorrow.
+
+Lord De Freston and William Latimer looked with compassion.  Each
+resolved to offer them present help, until they could find some
+locality or employment suited to their habits.  Men long accustomed
+to the solitude of monastic life, where everything is conducted in
+regular order of time and occupation, do not find themselves about to
+be separated without emotion.  They could see each other depart this
+life in their cells, with less tenderness and more resignation, than
+in the midst of life, or rather in its decline, to see each other
+take leave of home, for poverty, wretchedness, and uncertainty.  The
+aged Prior was the first to break the silence, and did so with words
+which proved him to be possessed of those fraternal qualities of
+heart, which had felt the command, 'Love as brethren, be pitiful, be
+courteous.'
+
+'Brethren,' he said, 'our Society is this day dissolved, for I have
+no power to resist the Papal Bull; neither can I think of retaining
+the keys of the monastery a day longer than the time allotted us,
+forty-eight hours.  Yet I cannot give up the society of those whom I
+have now, for forty-four years, presided over, without one single
+word of discord amongst us, without deep sorrow.  I came myself from
+Britany, and, as you all know, whatever property I possessed was
+given to this monastery.  We have lived here together in harmony, and
+I had hoped we should here have ended our years.  I mourn to think
+how soon we must be scattered, and have our interest in each other
+dissolved; but ye have all heard the mandate.  Farewell, ye happy
+hours of solitude and devotion! farewell, sharers of our common
+fortune, we must be parted! but whither shall we go?  You, Robert
+Wolfren, where will you journey?  You, Francis Wealey, where will you
+find abode?  You, Thomas Wegg, might have found an asylum in Essex,
+but the Monastery of Walton is dissolved.  Alan Aleto, farewell!
+Michael Milner, it will avail you nothing to go to Dodnesh; Lionel
+Foster, we were brothers before we came here, would we could so live
+together until we die!  But where shall we all go?  The world is wide
+enough, but it is, to our long habits of confinement, a desolation.
+If we must part, let us at least spend our last two days in devotion,
+that we may know how to commit ourselves to the waves of the world.
+Come, brethren, let us all to the chapel.'
+
+It was then that Lord De Freston spoke:
+
+'I have known you all long years gone by.  I forget not your kindness
+to the outcast hermit of Holy Wells, nor to your reception of his
+bones among you.  Ye showed charity to me, also, on that pitiless
+night of my superstitious vow and vigil; but, though I see my errors
+in those things, the kindness of your fraternity shall not pass
+unacknowledged.  It is but a short journey over the water to my
+walls.  In them I have room for you all: and neither shall any want,
+though he may be deprived of everything, as long as the Manor of
+Freston can support you.  Grieve not then, my aged friends, at the
+present diversion of your property.  Ye shall enjoy the privilege of
+each other's society, even though I am not an advocate for monastic
+seclusion.  Every man should learn to live alone, that he may know
+how best to enjoy the society of his fellow-creatures.  I will go
+with you to your chapel, and consult further with you upon your
+future plans.'
+
+The fraternity were as much overcome by this generosity as they had
+been by the cruelties of their sudden ejection.
+
+They repaired to their chapel, spent an hour in devotion, and
+returned to talk over their miseries, and what they should do.
+
+Allen became as punctual in taking possession as he had been precise
+in his declaration of the law, and two days afterwards the monks of
+Alneshborne were located in the mansion of Lord De Freston.  Theirs
+was, however, a merciful lot compared with the fate of hundreds who,
+at this time, became deprived of house, home, property, and comforts,
+which some had certainly greatly abused in every way, but which
+others had conscientiously preserved.
+
+No men were more sensitively alive to the beauties of scenery than
+these retired Augustines.  It was curious to see them assembled in
+the fifth story of Freston Tower, watching the progress of vessels
+bringing Caen stone purchased with the property of their own
+monastery, to build the College of St. Peters'.
+
+One thing, and a good one, attended the change.  The charity of Lord
+De Freston did not stop with receiving them into his hall, but he
+endeavored, and with some success, to cultivate their minds, and to
+bring them to the indulgence of some higher privileges than their
+cloistered seclusion had allowed.
+
+He acted the part of a good Samaritan, by pouring into their wounded
+minds an oil of such efficacy, that it led to the conversion of more
+than the Prior; and their banishment, as they first called it, became
+their freedom.
+
+They remained there until, by degrees, they found employment.  One
+became a teacher in Wolsey's new school; another found a situation
+with the Abbots of Bury; a third went to Marseilles, another to
+Spain, another to Rome, until they gradually separated.  But one,
+Prior John, died at Freston.  He perfectly recovered from the
+infatuation of his early superstition, and for some time became the
+enlightened companion of the truly noble lord, who was his friend in
+the hour of need.
+
+So perfectly cured was he of his monastic seclusion, that he entirely
+dispensed with the external trumpery of his order, and appeared in
+Ipswich and its vicinity, under the title of the Reformed Monk.  He
+was a frequent visitor to Latimer and his wife, in their mansion in
+Brook Street: and here he was staying when Bilney preached at St.
+George's Chapel.  Such an impression did that Reformer make upon this
+monk's mind, that Lord Wentworth, who had authority to quell the
+growing love of spiritual liberty then conspicuous in Suffolk, had
+marked John of Alneshborne, late of the fraternity of Augustines, as
+a seditious heretic.
+
+It is probable that, had he lived but a few years longer, he would
+have been a sharer in the martyr's trials.  He was already a sharer
+with his friends, Latimer and De Freston, in the onus then attached
+to those who professed to abhor the corruptions of Rome, and desired
+to see the Christian people of England emancipated from the slavery
+of ignorance.  He was often heard to say, that he rejoiced even in
+the dissolution of his priory, since it had been instrumental in his
+own conversion.
+
+He died one day, as he sat reading the prophet Isaiah, in Freston
+Tower.  The old man had not complained, though the lord of the castle
+had said to him:
+
+'John, you do not look well.'
+
+His reply was singular: 'My soul is too big for my body.'
+
+'How so?' inquired De Freston.
+
+'It is grown so large since I left Alneshborne; and as I sit reading
+in this lofty turret, I seem to myself to grow out of myself, and to
+expand in love to _all_ men.'
+
+The old man had scarcely said the words before his head fell gently
+on the side of his high wooden chair, and thus the Monk of
+Alneshborne sighed away his spirit.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+THE REFORMERS.
+
+They who do not study deeply the spirit of those days, can form no
+idea of the nature of the Papal superstition, which could subjugate
+kings, princes, rulers, men of letters, men of judgment, men of
+talent, men of thought, and men of such comprehensive minds as those
+of the great Cardinal Wolsey.
+
+People should read his letters concerning the views that he
+entertained of the Popedom.  In spite of an accusation of prolixity,
+and of being a little too learned for the general reader, it will be
+as well to insert here the Cardinal's own letter to Gardiner
+concerning the Popedom, because it will show, even to the cursory
+reader, the nature of that supreme temporal, instead of spiritual
+authority, which such a man aimed at.
+
+It shows that he viewed the Popedom as the father of princes, instead
+of kings and queens being the nursing fathers and mothers of the
+church; but let this letter speak for itself.
+
+
+THE CARDINAL'S LETTER TO GARDINER ABOUT THE POPEDOM,
+
+  'Coll. No. 99, b. B. III. c. II.
+      'C. C. C. Camb.
+
+'MR. STEVINS,
+
+'Albeit ye shall be sufficiently with your Collegys, by such
+instructions as be given to Monk Vincent, informed of the King's
+minde and mine, concerning my advancement unto the dignity papelle,
+
+'Not dowtting but that for the singular devotion which ye bere
+towards the Kinge and his affaires, both generall and particular, and
+perfyte love which ye have towards me, ye will omitt nothing that may
+be _excogitat_ to serve and to conduce to that purpose,
+
+'Yet I thought convenient, for the more fervent expression of mine in
+that behalf, to wryte to you, as to the person whom I most entirely
+do trust.  And by whome this thing shall be most Rightly set forth
+these few wordys followyng of mine own hande.
+
+'I dowt not but ye do profoundely consider as well the state wherein
+the Church and all _C'tendome_ doth stand now presently, as also the
+state of the Realme, and of the King's secret Matter, which if it
+shoulde be brought to passe, by any other Meanyes than by the
+Authority of the Church, I accounte this Prince and realme utterly
+undone.
+
+'Wherefor that is expedient to have such one to be _Pope and Commyn
+Father to all Princes_, as may, can, and wold geve remedy to the
+premises.
+
+'And albeit I accompt myself much ounabill, and that shall be now
+incommodious in mine old age to be the said Commyn Father yet when
+all things be well ponderyd, and the qualitys of all the Cardinalls
+well considered, _absit verbum jactantiœ_, ther shall be none
+found that can and will sett remedy in the forsaid things, but only
+the Cardinall Ebor; whos good will and holi ys not to you of all men
+unknowne.
+
+'And were it not for the re-integration of the state of the Churche
+and See Apostolique, to the prestine dygnite, and for the conducinge
+of peace amongst C'tian princes, and especially to relieve this
+prince and realme from the calamities that the same be now in, all
+the riches or honor of the world should not cause me--_nedum aspirare
+sed ne consentire_--to accept the seid dignite, and altho' the same
+with all Commodytes were offeryed unto me.
+
+'Neverthelesse, conforming myself to the necessity of the time and
+the will and pleasure of these two princes, I am content to appone
+all my witt and study, and to set forth all meanys and ways, _et bene
+faciam rebus C'tianitatis_, for the atteyning of the said dignite.
+
+'For the atcheving and atteyning whereof for as muche as thereupon
+dependeth the health and wealth, not only of these two princes and
+their realms, _but all C'tendome_, nothing is to be omitted that may
+conduce to the said end and purpose.
+
+'Wherfore, Mr. Stevins, since now ye be so plainly advertised of my
+mind and intent, I shall pray you to extend, Omnes nervos ingenij
+tui, ut ista res, ad effectum perduci possit, nullis parcendo
+sumptibus, pollicitationibus sive laboribus, ita ut horum viris in
+genia, et affectiones sive ad privata sive ad publica ita accomodes
+actiones tuas.
+
+'Non deest tibi, et Collegis tuis amplissima potestas nullis terminis
+aut conditionibus limitata sive restricta, et quicquid feceris, scito
+omuia apud hunc Regem et me esse grata et rata.  Nam omnia, ut paucis
+absolvam, in tuo ingenio, et fide reposuimus.
+
+'Nihil superest aliud scribendum, nisi quod supplex orem ut ones
+actiones tuas secundet Deus optimus Maximusq; et ex corde vale.
+
+'Ex œdibus meis West Monast. vij., Februarij.
+
+'Tuæ salutis et amplitudinis cupidissimus.
+
+'T. Car, lis Ebor, propria Manu.'*
+
+
+* _Stevin_ (_i.e._) Stephen Gardiner, then at Rome, called Dr.
+Stevens.
+
+
+This letter will sufficiently show that confidence which the Cardinal
+had then in himself, when he said, that upon his being made Pope
+depended not only the health and wealth of princes and their realms,
+but all Christendom.  The man who could have such conceit of himself,
+might well be unable to endure the growing boldness of the
+Reformation.
+
+Though his learning was so vast, and his influence at home and abroad
+so great, never did a subject rise to higher splendor, and never did
+a great man fall more suddenly.
+
+How ephemeral is the favor of princes!  Few historical records give
+any but mortifying pictures of the misfortunes and discomfitures of
+great men.  Few, either warriors or statesmen, but well know the
+reverses of public favor, and few poets, authors, artists, and
+skilful men in science, or in law, physic, or divinity, but have to
+contend with poverty and persecution, even in their eminence.
+
+What a happy man is he who trusts in God, and takes all things as he
+has them, coming from Him who '_lifteth up and putteth down_.'
+
+In the very year of the Cardinal's utmost ambition and presumption,
+when he sought to raise himself above all princes--in the very year
+of his greatest splendor and wealth, the same man is made to exclaim,
+according to his faithful historian and apologist, Cavendish:
+
+'Now it is come to pass that it hath pleased the King to take all
+that I have into his hands, so that I have now nothing to give you,
+for I have nothing left me but the bare clothes on my
+back.'--(Fiddes, p. 47, 5 fol. ed.)
+
+One instance, however, of the softening of the heart of this great
+man remains to be told, which does him honor; but, to be rightly
+understood, the reader must be referred to those stirring times when
+the Papal power, having reached the summit of its presumption, began
+to be looked at with the eyes of truth, and the unnatural and impious
+monstrosity of its proceedings began to be questioned openly by the
+Reformers.
+
+Poor Bilney was at this time preaching at Ipswich.  He, though
+conscious that he should meet with as little pity as his former
+friends, Thomas Ayers, who was burnt at Eccles, in Norfolk, and
+Thomas Bingay, who was four score and six years of age when he was
+burnt at Norwich, yet boldly attacked the blasphemous doctrines of
+the Church of Rome.
+
+He exposed the folly of pilgrimages, the absurdity of miracles said
+to be done at Walsingham, Canterbury, and even in Ipswich, and
+hesitated not to call them the inventions of the devil to delude the
+souls of men.
+
+The lights set up before images, he designated as meteors of
+deception, which would lead men into darkness.  He had been well
+acquainted with De Freston and Latimer, Notcote and Bailee, and many
+more in the town previous to his appearing among them as an advocate
+for their religious liberties.
+
+He was grown a bold man, strong in confidence of the rectitude of the
+cause he was advocating.
+
+Intimate as he was with Hugh Latimer, the after celebrated martyr,
+cousin to William Latimer, of Ipswich, it was at the house of the
+latter, which Daundy and De Freston had obtained from Antony
+Wingfield, that Bilney, Arthur, John of Alneshborne, and John Bale,
+so often held learned, sound, and judicious disquisitions concerning
+the errors then so prevalent in matters of faith and duty.
+
+Of far too high a character for anything that was seditious,
+inflammatory, or even despiteful of dignities, these truly gifted men
+looked only at the truth, as laid down in the Revelation of God, and
+applying their hearts to God in prayer, that their understandings
+might be opened, they beheld, with light as clear as the sun in broad
+day, all the fooleries then practised to deceive; the pomposities of
+the processions to the shrines of saints, and all the tinsel flummery
+of an external parade of devotion which imposed upon the senses, and
+filled the minds of the people with fancies.
+
+Thomas, Arthur, and Bilney were cited to appear before the Cardinal,
+at the Chapter House in Westminster.
+
+Nothing could equal the rage of the friars at Ipswich against Bilney.
+He had assembled before him a multitude of hearers to whom he exposed
+in clear and concise language the distinction between the duties of
+obedience to God and obedience to man.
+
+He cut them to the heart when he told them that in the various
+protestations they made to the images, and the offerings they made to
+them, they were serving senseless devils and not God: that though in
+all legal matters submission even unto death was a duty, yet nothing
+ought to hinder them from protesting against idolatry, in matters of
+faith and good works; and that obedience to man, when in direct
+opposition to God's commands was, however urgent that command, not to
+be complied with.
+
+He instanced Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, over all of
+whom God had power, so that they suffered no injury.
+
+But if they had, if they had as the sufferers for Christianity been
+burnt to death, or been devoured by lions, their duty was to adhere
+to the truth, and yet not rebel against the lawfully constituted
+authorities of the realm.
+
+He proved that the sins of idolatry in the palmy days of Babylon,
+were as nothing compared with those existing in his day.  A
+Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon could exclaim: 'I thought it good to show
+the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me.  How
+great are his signs! how mighty are his wonders, his kingdom is an
+everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to
+generation.'
+
+But in his day, people were to confess that the Pope hath the supreme
+authority, and that his mandates are above the commands of God; and
+that the Virgin Mary is an object of worship even in heaven; and,
+therefore, must be so upon earth.
+
+Men marvelled, indeed, at the plain, strong, and conclusive arguments
+which this enlightened man brought forward to prove the wickedness of
+that spiritual Babylon in which he who called himself the father of
+princes sat enthroned.
+
+He told them that they would even in that chapel see the rage of the
+Popish priests presently displayed: and had enough to do to restrain
+the people from rebellion, when the Bailiff, Prior Brown, and the
+Dominican Friars, entered the congregation, seized him, and conveyed
+him to prison.
+
+His affectionate appeal to them to possess their souls in patience,
+and to submit even as he did, was more touching than even his strong
+and forcible doctrine against the superstitions of his country.
+
+He was taken to London, and there, like Peter, he showed at first the
+weakness of his flesh, and, as is well known, through many terrors,
+was induced to recant; but his after sufferings were infinitely
+greater; his conscientious soul was troubled to the very depths of
+chaotic darkness, until, as the heavenly-minded Cranmer afterwards
+did, he again stepped forth from his hades of death, to shine
+conspicuous in faith and martyrdom.
+
+It is not the object of these pages to show the sufferings of
+martyrs, though here and there to introduce a word of admiration of
+their constancy will not be found irrelevant to the subject of
+Freston Tower.
+
+It is said by some, that the great Cardinal was not so severe a bigot
+as Sir Thomas More, Cuthbert Tonstall, Nix, Bishop of Norwich,
+Gardiner, and others.  Severity, however, he did use, and issued his
+mandates to his inquisitors to search out all suspected Lutherans and
+summon them to London.
+
+His early disciplinarian was by his order confined, though not for
+the faith, by the space of four years.  Sir Amias Pawlet felt the
+weight of his revenge, but by bending to the great man's vanity, he
+obtained his release.  The Cardinal, however, was much more severe
+than Sir Amias was to him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+THE ARREST.
+
+Amongst those who were considered disaffected to the church,
+complaints were made to Nix, Bishop of Norwich, that Lord De Freston
+of Freston was a notorious heretic; that he fostered Bilney, Arthur,
+Bale, Latimer, and half the seditiously disposed, and spoke
+disrespectfully of the Cardinal as Legate, and accused him of
+depravity.
+
+It is one thing to be accused of a crime, and another to be guilty of
+it.  Fear under an accusation lest the world should think there might
+be some truth or foundation for the report, has made many an innocent
+person shrink from defending himself.
+
+But De Freston, conscious of his loyalty, integrity, faith, and good
+intentions, received the news of his impeachment without any fear of
+consequences.
+
+Wentworth's orders were taken by the bailiffs and constables to seize
+the body of De Freston of Freston, and convey him without any further
+let or hindrance into my lord's court at Westminster.
+
+All Ipswich was in a commotion at the intelligence.  The reformers
+rose and formed a formidable body to go to Freston.
+
+Some talked of pulling down Bourne Bridge, by which the officers of
+attachment were to proceed, and a riot would have taken place but for
+the interference of the junior Mr. Daundy, who was then as
+influential as his father had previously been, and who, in this
+instance, displayed the courage and wisdom of a good man.  As it was,
+he could scarcely prevent the mob from impeding the progress of
+Wentworth to Freston Tower.
+
+Bourne Bridge, which until the year previous, had been but a narrow
+horse-bridge, had been enlarged for heavy carriages, and was then a
+stout brick and stone structure.  The beginning of riot was only
+required to have it soon levelled with the Orwell.
+
+Good sense, however, prevailed, and the multitude, though
+accompanying the Bailiff and messengers to arrest De Freston, were
+overruled and persuaded to keep order and submit.
+
+It was not until they were told that any rioting on their parts would
+probably prove fatal to the cause of De Freston, that they subsided
+into a settled determination to show their respect to that good man,
+by not giving way to the vengeance of popular excitement.
+
+De Freston and his friends were seated in the tower, conversing about
+the early days of the Cardinal, and calling to mind his youthful
+vivacity, his liberality of opinion, his love, his philanthropy, his
+erudition, his distinguished talents, and his wonderful advance to
+power, when Ellen espied the people coming in a mass along the shore,
+and with astonishment exclaimed:
+
+'All Ipswich is coming to the tower!'
+
+The friends looked out of the bay window, and a sudden paleness
+spread over the face of the father, as he said to his daughter:
+
+'Depend upon it, Ellen, they are coming for me.'
+
+'For what, father?'
+
+'To take me to prison.  I can see the scarlet robe of authority which
+the Lord Wentworth wears, and I have known too well his marked
+displeasure against me, not to perceive that such a multitude would
+not be at his heels, if he did not come upon some obnoxious matter
+concerning the reformers.
+
+'He is active and generous by nature; but of such an absolute and
+fiery disposition, that whereinsoever he conceives an offence, he is
+sure to put the law in execution without mercy.  Hark!  I can hear
+their murmurs! open the window!'
+
+It was done, and distinctly the sound of voices, raised is short and
+gibing tones could be distinguished, and as they drew near,
+
+'Shame! shame to the Cardinal!'
+
+'Long live his noble patron!'
+
+'Success to the Reformers!  Hail to the truth!'
+
+And 'Down with persecutors!' came sweeping upon the wind to the ears
+of the terrified Ellen.
+
+'Oh, my dear father! will you not fly whilst there is time?  Cross
+the waters to Fastolf's Halls.  Take ship, and avoid a
+dungeon--perhaps the stake, oh! my father!'
+
+'Hush! my child, calm thyself.  Fear not, put thy trust in God.  Have
+faith in Him.  It is too late to flee, and too late in life for me to
+be afraid of death.  Hush! hush!'
+
+'But a dungeon! a dungeon! four years' imprisonment like that of Sir
+Amias Pawlet!  Oh! my father, I cannot bear the thought of it.'
+
+'I suffer, my child, nothing for myself, but only for the thought of
+thee.  But let us not judge too prematurely.  Come, let us descend to
+the castle, and if they do take me, let them take me prepared.  Come,
+child, your arm.  William, is it not best to be resigned?'
+
+Latimer's spirit was too full of agitation to reply as he could wish.
+He felt a sudden fearfulness which made him think it was no easy
+thing to be a martyr.  He suppressed the bitterness of his feelings,
+and followed his dear friends to the castle.
+
+It was not long before acclamations reached their ears, and coming
+from the very vicinity of the walls; and the commissioner, with his
+authority, soon entered the court.
+
+De Freston received them courteously; he looked at their credentials.
+The seal of authority was upon them and he submitted.
+
+'As thou art thyself obedient to our authority, canst thou not warn
+thy people of disobedience?' said Wentworth.
+
+'I will do what I can,' and what he said and did, proved sufficient;
+for the multitude became as patient as a child, and submitted to the
+guidance of him whom they respected.
+
+Lord De Freston had a severe struggle with his daughter in which she
+proved successful.  She determined to accompany her father, together
+with her husband, to London.
+
+She did so, of which the next chapter will give more ample detail.
+
+  'She was a daughter and a wife,
+  Loving her father, and beloved through life.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+THE LETTER.
+
+Nothing but the calm wisdom of De Freston could prevent an outbreak.
+The people of Ipswich and its vicinity were so attached to him, that,
+had not Daundy been there to exercise his influence and control over
+his fellow-townsmen, the Cardinal's mandate would not have been
+carried into execution without violence.
+
+But De Freston had discreet friends who offered to be bound with and
+for him, but he would hear of none so committing themselves.  He was
+content when Wentworth consented that his son-in-law and his lovely
+daughter should accompany him.
+
+She also accounted it an honor to be able to share her father's
+afflictions.  Her principles were of that pure and holy kind, they
+would not shrink in the hour of trial from filial affection.  She
+regarded the fifth commandment of God, by the grace which she
+received so to do, and was fully determined to suffer with her
+father, let the penalty be what it might.
+
+Father and daughter were indeed Christians.  They knew how to suffer
+for the truth's sake, as will appear by their conversation on the
+evening of their arrival and detention at Westminster, by order of
+Tonstal, Bishop of London.
+
+Lodged in a mean apartment, ill-becoming their respectability in the
+eyes of men, it was for that daughter, by the power of that quiet,
+commanding interest which her virtuous carriage and external
+appearance claimed, to secure for her father better treatment than he
+would otherwise have received.
+
+For herself, she would have written nothing to the great man: but
+when did a daughter's piety fail in behalf of a father, when
+innocence and a righteous cause demanded her exertion?
+
+Where a son might have failed she succeeded, as the sequel will show,
+to Wolsey's honor and the development of the best feelings of his
+heart.
+
+She insisted upon writing a letter to the Cardinal.
+
+'Tell the keeper of this prison,' she said, 'that I insist upon
+seeing him.'
+
+One of the creatures of Tonstal made his appearance.
+
+'Is your master, the Bishop, to be seen?'
+
+'My lord may be seen at proper hours, but not at this time.'
+
+'Can you convey a letter to the Cardinal?'
+
+'From whom?'
+
+'From me, sir.'
+
+'I cannot have any communication conveyed to the Cardinal from you
+father without the Bishop's previous knowledge.  But for you, lady,
+as you are not in custody, I can send a messenger.'
+
+'Can you furnish me with pen and paper?'
+
+'They shall be at your command; but will you retire into my private
+apartments for such a purpose?'
+
+'I thank you for the offer; but I will write here.'
+
+'I fear, if you do, I shall have to send it first to the Bishop of
+London for his inspection, as it will be issued direct from the
+prisoner's presence.'
+
+'Then will I accompany you for such a period as may be sufficient for
+my purpose.  I will be soon with you again, dearest father.'
+
+'For what purpose, my daughter,' added De Freston, upon whom years
+had begun to make their accustomed ravages, 'will you write to the
+great man?  Let me be content without your making any humiliating
+concessions for me.  I am old, and in a common course of nature must
+soon depart this life.  Degrade me not, my daughter, by any
+compromise of your own dignity, for the ephemeral phantom of this
+man's dominion.  We have had proof enough that he thinks nothing
+about us, or he would not have forgotten, for so many years, his old
+friends and companions in Freston Tower.  Write to him not, but let
+all things proceed as if we were strangers to him.'
+
+'You may safely trust your honor, my dear father, to my keeping.
+Fear not, for one moment, that I should write anything derogatory to
+the nicest sense of Christian delicacy, nor that I should court even
+the Cardinal's smiles at the expense of integrity.  I will not
+compromise faith, truth, or righteousness.  But human greatness,
+dearest father, is sometimes misrepresented, and we may have wronged
+him--even the friend we knew when he was young--and may have
+attributed false motives to those actions which regard ourselves.
+Wolsey may not really be insensible to the truth as we ourselves
+profess it, and may be ignorant of our being brought to London.  I
+cannot think the Cardinal can so far forget us as to neglect us in
+our necessity.'
+
+'Ah, my daughter, power and greatness are dangerous possessions,
+where the heart is hardened beyond the calls of nature, grace, or
+gratitude.  He who could revenge an insult, after years of daily
+prayer himself to be forgiven, is not a likely man to liberate even
+an old friend if he finds him an opponent.  Wolsey knows our
+sentiments.  Did he spare Sir Amias Pawlet?  No.  How then can we
+hope for anything but justice, one-sided justice, from the Cardinal?
+Severity and injustice will be shown to us as heretics, and we shall
+be rejected, and--'
+
+'Hold, hold, dear father; I am ready to suffer with you, upon any
+matter of faith and duty; but let us not condemn his greatness merely
+because we may appear to have been neglected by him.  He must have
+had his great mind so fully occupied even with the King's business,
+that we may have been overlooked.  I have still some returning regard
+for the friend of my youth; and, though Latimer may not forgive him,
+I am sure he will forgive me for saying I forgive him.  Trust me,
+dear father, trust me!  Farewell for an hour.  Latimer is gone to
+seek a lodging, as he is not permitted to remain here.  I may,
+however, by the indulgence of the gaoler, on account of the
+increasing infirmities of your years, wait upon you.  I will write to
+the Cardinal.  There can be no hurt in it.'
+
+'Go, my child, thou art confident of the innocence of thine
+intentions, and of the perfect justice of thy cause.  I will add no
+more.  Go!'
+
+She retired into the gaoler's private apartments, and wrote her
+letter in simple dignity of style, according to the method of the day.
+
+
+'MY LORD CARDINAL,
+
+'This comeyth unto thee by suffrance of the gaoler in Cannon Street
+prison, unto which place, committed by thine order through Lord
+Wentworth, the commissioner for the suppression of heresies and
+heretics, my venerable father, thy former patron, is now thy prisoner.
+
+'I say thy prisoner, but presume it to be but nominally thine, and
+really the prisoner of the Bishop of London.  I cannot think that
+thou wouldst permit an old man, and a steadfast friend of thy youth,
+to sleep in a dungeon, whilst thou dost occupy a palace.
+
+'Thou knowest well the free mynde of my father, and canst best judge
+of his state who did ever open unto thee the store-house of his
+intellect, and did keep nothing from thee, which his readyne and his
+studye could attain.
+
+'I pray thee, my Lord Cardinal, remember that thy greatness can never
+better become thee than when thou dost shield from disdain and
+dyscomfort those who can no longer defend themselves.  The aged man,
+now growing infirm, but only in bodye, doth well remember thy younger
+days; and I, his daughter, whom thou dydst once call thy friend, am
+unwilling to thynke thou canst forget us.
+
+'Tears do alter moste men, but Christian men never lose the goodness
+of their hearts, but the rather, as their years do increase, they
+themselves do grow better-hearted.
+
+'The Lord De Freston, though grey and thyn, ys not thyn within, for
+he ys stout-hearted and as warm in spirit as he ever was.
+
+'He would cheerfullie endure even the cold of a prison, not would
+have me wryte to thee now in any tone of complaynte; but nathlesse I
+do, for I do see an aged parent suffrynge for the want of better fare
+and lodgment; and I do not think so bad of thee as to beleeve that
+thou art so steeled against all righteousnesse, as to permit an ould
+friend to be so discomfytted.
+
+'By thy authority, we myght procure better lodgment, if thou wouldst
+gyve an orderre for our permission to seek them; gyving, as we would
+cheerfully do, our honourable word to appear at any hour before thee,
+my Lord Cardinal, or thy high Commissioner touching any inquiries as
+to our accusation.
+
+'My Lord will readily forgive a daughter's anxiety for one who has
+ever been all in all to her from her infancy, and attribute thys
+appeel to filial affection, as well as to a certayne sense she has of
+Cardinal Wolsey's greatness, that he will not deny her thys very
+symple requeste, to be permyttede to convey her father to some better
+lodgment.
+
+'This favour granted, will give comfort to your humble servant,
+
+  'ELLEN DE FRESTON, now
+  'ELLEN LATYMER.'
+
+
+This letter was handed to the Cardinal the last day he ever presided
+in Westminster Hall as Lord Chancellor.
+
+It was the first day of Michaelmas Term, 1529, when he had put forth
+all his accustomed pomp to go from York Place to Westminster.  It was
+on that very day Ellen De Freston's letter was handed to him in Court.
+
+The Cardinal was observed to turn deadly pale, and some thought he
+had received a letter from Mistress Anne, conveying some more direct
+intimation of his downfall.
+
+What were the depths of his real thoughts no one could tell.  He
+wrote on a scrap of paper--'Summon Cavendish.'
+
+To him he gave commission to go and bring to his house forthwith Lord
+De Freston and all his retinue; and 'let one and all,' said he, 'be
+well entreated.'
+
+It was observed that Wolsey gave that day such evidences of
+abstraction of mind as bordered upon aberration.  Men prognosticated
+his speedy decline, and plenty there were among the nobles who were
+glad to give him a kick, to let him see how truly they despised the
+man whom they once had feared.
+
+When Ellen returned to her parent's prison she narrated, as nearly as
+she could, the words she had made use of; but the old man, Lord De
+Freston, shook his head, and said--
+
+'Men forget their benefactors when ambition has brought them to the
+pinnacle of fame.  Pride likes not to remember it had a patron.  Good
+men only take pleasure in looking upon the past, and calling to mind
+the ministering kindnesses of any, rich or poor, whoever they might
+be, that gave them even a cup of cold water in the day of their
+necessity.  The Cardinal has too much pride.'
+
+'Wait, dear father, the return of the messenger.  We can but then
+moralize upon the hardness of the human heart.  Let us pray that God
+will not desert him, though he be so great a man.  Something whispers
+to my heart that we have wronged him.'
+
+O! when did female pity fail to hope the best of one for whom it has
+felt even the slightest regard?
+
+Ellen had a wise heart, a kind spirit--the very soul of purity and
+love--which would not think evil until proof should be given of a
+hardened heart; and she was not deceived.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+THE SUMMONS.
+
+Whilst they were yet talking of the impenetrable nature of pride, and
+of all they had heard of Wolsey's magnificence, Cavendish arrived to
+conduct them all to the Cardinal's palace of York Place.
+
+Ellen did but look one moment's triumph before she checked herself
+for the impiety.  She said to herself, 'My father knows not what I
+do; and it is impious to triumph over a parent's weakness.'
+
+The thought of speech, which might injudiciously have come forth as
+it might have done from thousands--'There, father, who is right?' was
+but a momentary impression on her soul.  Christian delicacy rose
+superior to all feelings of triumphant boasting, and she suppressed
+the proud words which died away in her, even with the thought, before
+the pure spirit of charity.
+
+Oh, that all daughters were like her!  Where trained in holiest love
+they will ever be so.
+
+De Freston felt the delicacy of his dear child, who spake not one
+word of reproach to him, but looked all readiness to accompany him,
+either to the dungeons of an inquisition, or to the palace of a
+cardinal.
+
+Circumstances reprove sometimes the best of men, or rather make them
+reprove themselves for things which they had too hastily decided
+upon.  So was it with Lord De Freston.  He felt he might be wrong,
+though he was most marvellously astonished at the change which he
+considered must have come over the Cardinal.
+
+He received those gentle and generous attentions from Cavendish which
+none but he could so feelingly exercise.  He knew how to behave
+wisely in prosperous or adverse circumstances, and how to qualify the
+duties of an exalted position with all the devotion of a servant.
+
+There was such sincerity in Cavendish and his proceedings, both for
+and with his master, as laid the foundation of his family greatness
+for ages.  In nothing was he greater than in speaking his master
+fair, when his fortunes had deserted him.  The servant who does his
+duty faithfully, is quite free from the sins of his master.
+
+'My lord desired me expressly,' said Cavendish, 'to inquire in what
+way he could serve you.  He insists upon your being his guest, and
+will hear of no denial.  I am a stranger to you, and you equally the
+same to me, as I have never chanced to hear my master mention you.'
+
+De Freston smiled as he replied--
+
+'In that last sentence we are not surprised.  Your master has been
+known to us from his youth; and when he was small in reputation, he
+esteemed me for my support.  I only marvel that, now he is a great
+man, he should remember us at all.'
+
+'My master and greatness have been long familiar.  He is a prince in
+all things but a crown; yet his Cardinal's hat is more exalted than
+the King's crown, and goes before him to his duties.  I am quite sure
+he remembers you pleasantly, or I should not have received such
+special orders to conduct your lordship, with all ceremony, to his
+palace.  You, and all your retainers, and whomsoever you may choose
+to accompany you, are to be received at York Place.  Will you order
+all your retinue to be in readiness?'
+
+'Alas, young man, you know not how few they be.  This, my daughter,
+is my only mistress, the wife of William Latimer.  Her husband is
+with her.  He was an old college companion of thy master's.  Dost
+thou think he will receive him?'
+
+'Even as a king would!  You will yourselves be the witness, for my
+master is, of all men, the most courteous.  Towards every one he is
+gentle and dignified, and has the singular gift of forgetting manners
+to no one.  I will answer for Master Latimer's most grateful
+reception.'
+
+'He comes, my son, to speak for himself.'
+
+Latimer bowed to the stranger, and proceeded to explain to his wife
+that he had obtained lodgings close at hand, and should be able to be
+in constant attendance; when she explained that they were all to go
+to York Place; that the gentleman then before him was Wolsey's
+secretary, and sent on purpose to conduct them.
+
+He looked inexpressible things at Ellen, who assured him it was the
+fact, and that she had made up her mind to go, and should be glad of
+his company.
+
+'"Will wonders ever cease?" my dear, has been the exclamation from
+the foundation of Babylon, and will be an exclamation when old
+England shall cease to have a Cardinal, and Rome a Pope; but that
+Thomas Wolsey should at length condescend to notice us after so many
+years!--surely he and his fortunes must be about to change together.'
+
+'And if they are, Master Latimer, let me advertise thee that they may
+change for the better, even in the opinion of you all.'
+
+It was then that surprise overcame them all, and the question arose:
+'Will Wolsey become a Reformer?'
+
+'He is a reformer of many things; and if the King's favor and the
+King's disfavor be both silent, my master will be a greater man than
+ever.'
+
+'Thou art a wise young man, Mr. Cavendish, and canst see the ticklish
+nature of these times; but those two "ifs" are like the base pillars,
+I fear, upon which the Colossus of Rhodes stood, which the earthquake
+precipitated into the sea.  They cannot bear the weight of Wolsey.
+Favor falling, disfavor will remain, but the Cardinal cannot stand on
+one leg, and that a bad one.  A subject's head in these days, once in
+disrepute, will soon roll off his shoulders.  But come, my child, let
+us away.  Time flies, and our new acquaintance must be glad to
+dispose of us according to his instructions.  I rejoice always.'
+
+'We are at your command, sir.'
+
+  'So then again strange trials will increase.
+  And wonders, ever new, will never cease.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII
+
+THE ARRIVAL.
+
+It was in the evening of that memorable day when Wolsey had sat long
+in state at Westminster, and had been detained by causes which he was
+anxious, whilst he had the seals, to see concluded, that Cavendish
+conducted the prisoner, as De Freston really was, to York Place.
+
+He had sent one of his master's servants to apprise Wolsey's
+chamberlain, and master of ceremonies, and household servants, of the
+expected arrival of guests of distinction; but who they were to be,
+and how many, he had not revealed.  He was ignorant himself; but,
+from his taking twelve of his master's men, with mules and sumpter
+mules, it, was evident he expected rather a cavalcade and procession,
+than merely to have to conduct an old man, his daughter, and her
+husband.
+
+All Wolsey's household had been upon the '_qui vive_,' and were, no
+doubt, as great men's servants frequently are, disappointed at no
+great state arrivals, when they saw so small a party approaching.
+
+They were ushered, with quiet gentleness, into the great
+reception-hall, where one of the strangest adventures--as unexpected
+as unwished-for--presented itself to view.  There stood, full in her
+sight, as Ellen entered the Alice De Clinton, together with two
+female attendants near her.
+
+What a picture did these females then present to view.  Had not the
+description been given from ocular demonstration, imagination could
+not have depicted the surprise.
+
+Neither Alice nor Ellen had seen each other, and heard but little of
+one another, for years.  They had been friends in their early days.
+One, at least, had been a warm-hearted one.  Both had been intimate;
+but there stood Alice to receive Ellen in the Cardinal's house at
+York Place; and there entered Ellen, Lord De Freston, and Latimer
+into the presence of one who had left upon their memories a chilling
+impression of hauteur, which formerly disgusted them, and did not, at
+that moment, allow of any softening sensation for better impression.
+
+Of all conjunctions, of all positions in which persons are
+unexpectedly placed, the memory of rivalship, in which personal
+dislike more than any honest contention or provocation had been the
+cause of disunion, is the most difficult feeling to disperse.
+
+Surprise was for the moment the expression of every face.  Even
+Ellen's confessed it, and there was nothing pleasurable in the
+meeting.  As to Alice, if an apparition had risen out of the earth,
+she could not have been more petrified with astonishment.  Her cold,
+dark eye, wide open, and fixed upon Ellen, told, by its intensely
+rivetted stare, that it saw too much--more than it could bear; and
+yet it dwelt with hard, cruel, inquisitive firmness on the party
+before it.
+
+Is it possible to meet a person who hates you--literally hates you
+even unto death, and makes you know it by the very contempt of the
+eye--and not to feel a shudder at the enormity of hatred?
+
+Here stood, confronted in the forms of female self-possession, the
+dignity of the highest worldly pride, and the dignity of true
+humility.  The one conscious of being introduced to the other by the
+very power to which alone that other had been known to bend.
+
+Here was Alice De Clinton, the proudest spirit that ever daughter of
+Eve possessed, and Ellen Latimer, at once the meekest and humblest,
+but, at the same time, the most faithful spirit, conscious of duty
+and love, met to confront each other by the order of the Cardinal,
+who, at the time he gave the invitation, was so engrossed with the
+affairs of his declining grandeur, that he forgot the opposing powers
+meeting in his mansion.
+
+'Coming events cast their shadows before them.'  The downfall of the
+favorite was precipitate enough; but the downfall of a portion of his
+domestic arrangements preceded it.  The Cardinal had no motive in his
+heart but that which softened pride is apt to feel when it sees
+greatness fallen before it.  Wolsey saw only Lord De Freston in
+distress, and his lovely daughter, the early companion of his
+youthful day, appealing to him for help.
+
+Through the vista of years gone by, he had never forgotten, though
+ambition had diverted his mind, the learned Ellen and Freston Tower;
+and though those years had, as an early dream, visited him with
+pleasure and with pain, yet they recurred to him now, in his decline,
+with a degree of softness and tenderness which positively subdued the
+grand and lofty-minded man from ambition to affection.
+
+That can scarcely be called a subduing.  It ought to be named an
+exaltation; but the world, which judged then, as now, that human
+weakness displayed in a great man is worthy of condemnation, did not
+spare the declaration that the mighty Cardinal had lost his mind.
+
+He was, indeed, greatly affected by the arrival of these early
+friends at such a time, and the abstruse decisions of the law were
+then most irksome.  He determined, however, to see all cases somehow
+or other decided which could be brought before him, and he remained a
+longer time than usual upon his judgment seat.
+
+Time enough, indeed, to let the ladies see each other, and become
+acquainted before he should return.
+
+The haughty Alice De Clinton had grown more proud, more portly, more
+stately, since she had consented to abide with the Cardinal, than she
+was while under the roof of the Bishop of Norwich.  Report had stated
+that the Cardinal, in seeking to get her made Abbess of Winton
+Priory, had private motives of self-gratification therein, and the
+ear of royalty had been so whispered into, as well as advertised
+thereof loudly, that Henry's letter to the Cardinal upon that subject
+still exists, and certainly was the occasion of her not being
+appointed to that situation which no one was better fitted to fill
+than such a cold, heartless, stern, unnatural, and superstitious
+woman as Alice De Clinton.
+
+De Freston and his daughter had been infected with the report before
+they stood confronted with the lady herself; so that it did not add
+to their comfort when they saw her in the position of domestic
+hostess in York Place.
+
+They were relieved, however, from her presence by one of those
+haughty departures, which, in her early years, she had shown to the
+guests of Goldwell.  She could not fail to recognise De Freston,
+Latimer, and Ellen; but her mind was made up in a moment, namely,
+that York Place should not hold her and her rival at the same time.
+
+Turning to Cavendish, she promptly asked--
+
+'Did your master know who they were he had ordered you to conduct
+hither?'
+
+'He did, lady, but I did not.'
+
+'How long will it be before the Cardinal returns?'
+
+'I cannot tell, my lady.'
+
+'Then be pleased, sir, to tell me when he does return.  Dames, show
+that lady to the apartments prepared for her, and then wait upon me.
+Cavendish, remember your duty.'
+
+The haughty lady glided from the hall without one word of charity, or
+look of kindness, or even an intimation of respect for any one of the
+party.
+
+Her pride, however, could injure no one but herself.  She retired, a
+specimen of fallen Lucifer's dignity, whilst Ellen retired humbled to
+the dust by the exhibition of such an unwarrantable indignity.
+
+A few minutes' prayer restored the disturbed mind of the latter, and
+as she was fatigued and overcome by the circumstances which then
+crowded upon her, she requested the femme-de-chambre to let the
+Cardinal know that she was not equal to the ceremony of introduction
+to him till the morrow.  She wished to be conducted to her father's
+apartment before she retired.
+
+It need not be stated what a sweet hour of communion those dear souls
+had, even in that place.  Oh! how calm is true piety: and what a
+disturbed, restless being is man without it.  The dear friends who
+talked of their then singular position, spake but little of the
+haughty Alice.  The little they did speak was spoken in charity, and
+without any bitterness, saving only of regret for her sake.  They
+parted, praying for blessings upon each other.
+
+What a position was it for all parties!  It was the very climax of
+circumstances, and of what it was to be productive none could divine.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+THE DEPARTURE.
+
+Cavendish attended upon his master as the long retinue of state
+arrived on the very last day they ever formed a cavalcade for him as
+the Chancellor.
+
+'Have all things been attended to, my faithful servant?' said Wolsey,
+as, dismissing his retainers, Cavendish alone conducted his master to
+his private room.  There was a more than common suavity in the
+Cardinal's manner, a greater unbending than he had before witnessed
+in him; a more than usual sweetness, even approaching to tenderness.
+
+'All is done as my lord desired; but Mistress Alice requested me to
+acquaint her with my lord's return.'
+
+'Ha! ha!  I forgot; yes, Cavendish, I forgot.  Well, it is well.  How
+could I forget?  Go! yes, go! the sooner the better.  I am as anxious
+to see Mistress Alice, as she can be to see me.  I am at leisure.
+Quick, Cavendish.  I am in my own house.  Perhaps so! may be not--or
+may be so.  Go, good Cavendish! summon the Lady Alice.'
+
+It was evident that Wolsey had, in his own remembrance of his
+friends, forgotten that Alice was their enemy.  Had he thought of
+their early feud he would probably have devised some other plan of
+accommodation for his friend.  It is a painful one to any man to
+entertain guests when the mistress of his house is set against them.
+
+These things came as things unwelcome to a great man's mind; but the
+greatest minds are frequently found to have to bend before female
+caprice.  A good man is as jealous of hospitality being shown to his
+friends, as he is fond of domestic happiness; and she is a poor
+partner who receives not her lord's friends with complacency.
+
+A truly wise wife never compromises her husband's dignity or her own,
+by behaving with incivility towards her husband's visitors.  But when
+a servant assumes the position of a wife, and treats her master's
+visitors with contempt, it is time for her to be discharged.
+
+Alice De Clinton occupied a superior station in the Cardinal's
+family, and did the honors of his house, where female interference
+was required, with the nicest propriety.  She was, however, accounted
+a very cold, unbending person, though to the Cardinal himself all
+obsequiousness.
+
+Her very manner to others gave occasion to the invention of evil
+reports concerning her; and when a female is haughty, and knows not
+how to conduct herself with gentleness, the world is glad to hear
+unfavorable reports of her, and as readily believes them.  Even
+frailties are pitied where humility is not lost.
+
+Alice entered the room where the Cardinal was reposing after the
+fatigues and anxieties of business, relaxed both in mind and body.
+He could not fail, however, to be struck with the singular appearance
+of the lady.
+
+She came in her riding costume.  The Cardinal marvelled, and well he
+might; but he was soon enlightened.
+
+'You look astonished, my lord, to see me prepared for travel; but I
+am come to speak my mind, and to bid you farewell for ever.  I little
+thought that I should ever be called upon to receive pestilent
+heretics in the house of Cardinal Wolsey; heretics, too, at this very
+moment under the ban of Tonstall, Bishop of London, summoned to
+appear before my Lord Cardinal; and to be treated forthwith as if
+they were the very best Catholics in the land.  And who are these, my
+lord's guests?  Have not I often told my lord that they were the
+greatest enemies he had?  Have I not, years gone by, proclaimed them
+to be what they are now brought under my lord's hands for; and are
+they to come here and to expect favor from him who is appointed by
+the head of the church to suppress and punish them?
+
+'I ever thought that my lord made advances to my friendship through
+the desire to refute and put down the enemies of the church.  I ever
+thought that the wisdom, talents, learning, and power with which the
+favored of the Pope was gifted, were to be exercised for the honor of
+the chief Pontiff, and for the welfare of all good Catholics in this
+land.
+
+'How is it, then, that one who has been bound by ties of friendship,
+based upon such principle, should now be called upon to act upon the
+contrary side?  Is the memory of private regard to be weighed in the
+balance with the public good?  And am I, who was expecting to be an
+Abbess of my lord's appointment, to be his panderer to a taste for
+heresy?
+
+'Forbid it!  O, shade of Goldwell!  O, deceased Bishop! thou didst
+confide me to the guardianship of one whom thou didst deem a friend
+to the church, and lo! that one turns upon his charge, and commands
+her to receive, as her friends, these heretics against Rome.
+
+'But my lord must be obtuse--my lord must be changed--my lord must be
+about to lose all his dignity, and to become a driveller, a poor,
+weak, mean-spirited man, and no longer the great Cardinal; the Lord
+Chancellor--the most learned Bishop, the future candidate for the
+Popedom, the great friend of Christendom.
+
+'At all events, my lord cannot expect me to remain in his house under
+existing circumstances.  No, my lord, no; perish York House, before I
+sleep in it whilst heretics lie under the same roof.  Heretics, too,
+who once dared to insult my guardian, and now affront me in this
+house.
+
+'Oh, my Lord Cardinal, this is a blow I did not expect from you.
+Farewell, my lord's greatness; farewell, my hopes of preferment in
+your grace's mansion.  When the days of heresy come, it will be
+remembered that the Cardinal of York fostered them in his own palace;
+but let it be remembered, also, that she who dwelt with him as his
+friend for twenty years, on that day took her departure.
+
+'I shall return to Goldwell Hall, near the seat of my lord's birth,
+and in that very house where I first knew him, shall I learn to
+forget him, My Lord Cardinal--Farewell!'
+
+'Alice De Clinton, hear me.  One word.  Nay--I insist upon giving you
+an explanation.  Care and I have of late been close companions.
+Greatness and sorrow have been closeted in my soul for these many
+days.  Dignity and distress have been accompanying my lot wheresoever
+I have gone; and now, Mistress Alice, that I return home, I find that
+hospitality and heresy are to be the cause of separating Cardinal
+Wolsey and Alice De Clinton for ever.
+
+'This is what I call a domestic consummation of my calamitous career.
+I did not think of heresy.  I did not think of animosity.  I forgot
+your distaste, and I thought only of my former acquaintance with
+these friends when I was poor and they were rich; and should I desert
+them in distress, when the only opportunity I have, or ever may have,
+in life, to repay them for their early kindness to me, is to befriend
+them in the day of adversity.
+
+'Shall I forget, Alice, that I am a man, because I am a Cardinal?  Is
+every feeling of gratitude to be totally extinct towards those who
+have watched over my early years, and helped me in my studies, and
+befriended me?
+
+'Oh!  Alice, if we forget those who have been kind to us in our
+youth, God will forget us when we grow old.  Read that letter from
+Ellen, and let your heart feel its simplicity and truth, and then say
+whether I ought or ought not to have exercised the duties of
+hospitality.'
+
+Alice read it.  Yes, she read it.  The tears started in her eyes, but
+they were tears of bitterness, not of love; for love had no share in
+her proud heart.  It was ready to burst with vexation; but without
+pity.  She read it--she returned it; and she looked as if she felt a
+sovereign contempt for the Cardinal's weakness; but she replied--
+
+'My lord, it is not usual for a judge to entertain his prisoner
+before he is honorably acquitted; and very seldom then.  Judges
+seldom have innocent persons tried before them.  They know well that
+they are set on high for the punishment of evil men, and not for the
+encouragement of them.
+
+'My Lord Cardinal is now the judge of this heretic De Freston.  Can
+there be any doubt of his acquittal when he can receive him before
+trial, and treat him as his most intimate friend?
+
+'My lord has grown wonderfully tender all at once; and merely from
+this letter.  I see nothing in it but the language of a beggar and an
+impostor--who is now, through my lord's weakness, enjoying the
+beggar's joy, the glorious reward of imposition; lodging, food, and
+comfort.
+
+'They smile at your humility, they laugh at your divinity, and they
+applaud with vociferous exclamations your charity.  But how will my
+lord acquit himself before the Propaganda?  All the house of
+Cardinals will cry out "Wolsey is a heretic."  You will acquit De
+Freston; you must do it for Ellen's sake.  Sweet letter, that can
+make even a Cardinal merciful.
+
+'I leave, my lord.  I have a friend's house to go to.  I shall at
+once to Tonstall, and when he hears that his prisoners are your
+guests, he will at least rejoice that one of your Grace's free
+servants has sought his protection.  Farewell, my Lord Cardinal.'
+
+There are moments in a man's life, even when he is beaten down by his
+enemies, when his bold spirit is prompt to speak righteousness;
+witness Wolsey's speech to Suffolk, in reply to his reproach about
+Cardinals in England.  'If I poor Cardinal had not been, you would
+not at this present have had a head on your shoulders;' so witness
+the Cardinal's cool but gentle reply to Mistress Alice De Clinton.
+
+I would rather exercise hospitality to the distressed than punish
+heretics.  The former has pleasure here, and the promise of reward
+hereafter; the latter was nothing but pain, and great doubt of any
+satisfaction hereafter.  If, therefore, Mistress Alice, the price of
+thy remaining be the forfeit of the duties of hospitality, I would
+rather thy departure than thy residence.  Farewell.'
+
+A haughty woman cut to the quick by calm wisdom is such a mortified
+spectacle of discomfort, that it is well she should be hidden in
+darkness as soon as possible.  Her retirement, the more solitary the
+more congenial.  She may brood over her possessions, her hardships,
+her mortifications, her injuries, her disappointments; but she can
+never attain any happiness without a change of heart.  If that should
+come, she will be a joyful wonder to herself; if not, she will be a
+miserable wretch, and live and die unhappy.
+
+Alice De Clinton departed, leaving York Place and its inmates to a
+day of rest.
+
+The Cardinal summoned Cavendish after the lady's departure; and to
+him he most graciously unburdened his mind.
+
+'I shall not go out at all to-morrow, but remain entirely within my
+own walls; but summon the Bishop of London by authority of mine hand,
+to wait upon me at ten o'clock to-morrow.  Remember, Cavendish, that
+I do not wish it to be known, the cause why I remain at home
+to-morrow.  I have old friends, dear friends, whom I have deserted
+for many years now sleeping beneath my roof.  Let the utmost respect
+be paid them; for if it were the last day of my grandeur, I could not
+devote it to a better purpose than the revival of friendship.
+
+'Alas, Master Cavendish, I fear my fortunes will not long stand.  How
+happy I ought to feel that they have stood thus long, so as to permit
+me to gratify the friends of my youth.  Mistress Alice is gone; and I
+know not how it is, I feel as if a load of care was gone along with
+her.
+
+'Thou shall sup with me this night.  My aged friend did well to
+retire.  I shall have much to talk to thee about; meantime prepare.'
+
+The Cardinal never was so happy, or so truly great, as he was that
+evening in speaking of all the days of his youth, and relating
+anecdotes which came, as they always do come, with great grace from
+great men.
+
+  'When great men speak, the falling pin is heard,
+  But when the poor--his case must be deferred.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+THE CHANGE.
+
+What a wonderful softening thing is adversity.  It may come in the
+shape of poverty; it may come in the severity of calamity; it may
+come in the loss of a friend; or it may come suddenly by seeming
+accident.  But when it does really come, when the poor mortal, great
+and powerful, is made to feel it--oh! how heartily does he desire the
+return of his mother's tenderness, or his father's generosity.
+
+A great man like Wolsey, a companion to one of England's proudest,
+though not her best nor her worst monarch, one of superior ability,
+as well as most absolute authority, was likely to feel the neglect of
+such a prince; and, falling from the favor of ambition, his great
+mind was softened to think of the friends of his youth.
+
+Ambition is a bold horse; he mounts his fences well; he leaps over
+walls, gates, ditches, and hedges, and goes at a slashing pace over
+the country.  He requires to be well kept in hand, and not to be
+pushed too hard at first.  He must be well trained, well directed,
+and curbed in at first.
+
+He is apt to be like Grey Hermit, the royal huntsman's old favorite,
+so well depicted in Grant's picture of the 'Queen's Stag Hounds.'
+Davis had enough to do to keep him in order for the first burst of
+the hunt; for he was '_wild as the wild deer_' and threw himself over
+his fences like a mad horse; but by dint of a master manager, he
+would sober down into a steady pace, and 'shine at the last when all
+others were in shade.'
+
+So, affliction coming upon the ambitious man, sobers him down to the
+steady realities of his work.
+
+The Cardinal had one day's respite from the cares of pomp and state.
+He had been expecting to be called upon to give up the great seal,
+and well knew that when his enemies once got the advantage of him,
+they would not long rest without injuring him.
+
+He had lost his master's favor; he had loved that master.  Yes, with
+all his pomp and greatness, Wolsey never was otherwise, or felt
+otherwise, than a servant.  Had he obtained the summit of his
+ambition, and been made Pope, he might have then assumed a very
+different tone with Henry.  He would have been removed from outward
+subjection; and his was master-mind enough to rule princes absolutely
+under the tiara of the papal glory.
+
+It was not to be.  The subject whom the King had exalted as his
+favorite was to be an example to all England, as Napoleon was to all
+the world, that power, when too much self-exalted, is to be humbled
+very low before it departs, or before a man departs from it.
+
+Wolsey perhaps never was greater than in his humiliation, when he
+lost the favor of the King; and Napoleon never was greater than when
+on the Rock of St. Helena.  Ambition was destroyed in them both.
+Happy they whose only ambition in this life is to subdue themselves.
+
+Experience will soon teach the proudest they are unhappy, though they
+subdue kingdoms; and experience will soon prove that the humbler a
+man is, so much the more he makes others happy, and promotes his own
+comfort.
+
+The Cardinal rose at his usual hour, read his despatches, answered
+the messengers from various quarters, and inquired after his guests.
+He sent to say that he would be happy to receive them in his own room
+at nine o'clock.  In the meantime they had been supplied with all the
+bountiful care of hospitality, and were themselves softened, all of
+them, towards the Cardinal.
+
+At nine o'clock the interview was to take place between him and those
+early friends, whom he had been instrumental in uniting by a bond
+which he would have been glad to have called his own.
+
+There is a strange sensation in hearts long estranged coming together
+again.  Even in the common intercourse of life, when accident causes
+two friends to meet, between whom, in early years, the pure
+friendship of social good-will had existed, how does the heart expand
+with the remembrance of incidents, events, accidents, or words
+wherein was no guile, but the simple fervor of youthful respect!
+
+That heart which cannot so feel in love, will know no pleasure in the
+prospect of meeting its generation when it rises from the dust.  Oh!
+that ever a word or a deed should make the human heart unkind!  Men
+ought to learn to love one another here, that they may be happy
+hereafter.
+
+When years have parted friends between whom love was as a precious
+pearl, the very bond of the soul's peace, and a day brings them
+together, it is indeed a foretaste of joy which immortal spirits only
+can fully appreciate.  It is something like to a glorious,
+everlasting sunshine, when clouds, and tempests, and dangers, and
+deaths, and darkness, and night have passed away, and one eternal day
+smiles upon the soul in bliss.
+
+Wolsey's heart was softened by his coming fall.  It had commenced; it
+was about to be severed from greatness; and no wonder that its early
+impressions of love, the desire of shining in the eyes of one whom it
+then accounted a marvel of acquirement to be admired by an
+enlightened mind, should return with vivacity into the soul divested
+of the glitter of the world.
+
+Cardinal Wolsey had transferred his first love for Ellen to ambition.
+He had now had twenty years' experience of the tortuous paths of
+human greatness, and had found that the smiles of men could never
+rest long upon one object; that to serve even a king, a man must
+never be exalted by him, but be always ready to give up all into the
+hands of the Giver.  What such a man, with such a partner for life as
+Ellen, might have been, is another question--it can but be a surmise.
+
+Ellen, however, was in his house, she whom he once had loved with a
+devotion even beyond the wisdom of Solomon to comprehend; and though
+another had loved her with an ardor perhaps more truly
+humble--certainly not more noble--yet even at that moment Wolsey felt
+that between them, though years had passed away, there was, there
+must be, an honorable estimation.  He had not felt this in the day of
+his pride; it was only when he was humbled that this returned to him.
+
+It returned to him too in the sweetest way it could possibly
+come--that of being a benefactor to his former benefactors.  His
+hospitality, the last opportunity he ever had of showing it at York
+Place, was the most gratifying to his spirit; and that day of
+calmness intervening between his last presiding as Chancellor, and
+his resigning the office, was spent in the happiest society he had
+ever enjoyed.
+
+The hour came for the interview.  Ellen felt it--Ellen knew the
+secret of Wolsey's heart--Latimer, his friend, knew it also, though
+Wolsey had believed them ignorant of what he schooled himself to
+think was his weakness.  De Freston never did suppose Wolsey to have
+been attached to his daughter.
+
+It was well they had all rested a night under the same roof
+previously to their interview.  It was well, also, that proud Alice
+De Clinton had departed; it was well, likewise, that the Cardinal's
+state affairs permitted him a day's calm, that he might be
+disencumbered of his consequence.  All things favored the interview,
+and the parties met with mutual respect, the sure forerunner to a
+happy conversation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL.
+
+THE INTERVIEW.
+
+De Freston entered first, and was most graciously welcomed; Ellen
+entered next, and the Cardinal's heart beat with a pulsation which
+would require quicker counting than any physician could enumerate.
+
+Yet the very man who had denied himself the slightest natural
+movement of affection, so many years before, when he gave her hand to
+his rival, could now seize both, and unite them with cordiality, in
+which his own soul liberally rejoiced.
+
+His first words gave indication of a good heart.
+
+'I rejoice to see you both.  I am glad that years have not separated
+you, and that I have greater felicity, as a Cardinal, in joining your
+hands with my own, after the long lapse of years, than I had as a
+priest, when standing at the altar of St. Lawrence.  Come, my dear
+friends, be seated, and, if ye can imagine yourselves in Freston
+Tower, do so.'
+
+This was the honest, simple, undisguised language of a great heart,
+and could not be heard without emotion.  Ellen and Latimer felt it,
+and each thought, though they did not say it, 'Wolsey is a great man.'
+
+De Freston thanked Wolsey for his kindness, and for the reception he
+had given them.
+
+'I have done you no kindness, but I have pleased myself; and now, to
+be very candid with you, I must tell you at once that I must inquire
+into the cause of your being a prisoner in London.'
+
+'That is soon told.  You know well, Wolsey, my sentiments upon
+religious matters.  I need hardly tell you that I am a Reformer--a
+friend to the true church--hating, abjuring, and detesting those
+dreadful doctrines of the Papacy, against which I conceive every
+lover of truth should struggle with uncompromising and unconquerable
+determination.
+
+'You cannot be a stranger to my love of truth.  You know me well, and
+that I have entertained Bilney, Bale, and others, whom I account
+worthy of honor; men of learned and enlightened minds, instruments of
+spreading the truth.
+
+'For these things I became distasteful to some nobles, and was
+accounted a disaffected member of the church, and even accused of
+being a heretic.  Lord Wentworth, acting under the orders of the
+Bishops of London and Norwich, and by your mandate, has seized my
+person and brought me hither; but I have not offended my conscience,
+and, therefore, hope to be acquitted.'
+
+I have seen and known many abuses in the church,' replied Wolsey,
+'from very early days; and had I been elected Pope of Rome, I should
+have endeavored to restore the Church of Rome to her ancient purity,
+and have raised her to what she truly is--the successor of St. Peter;
+but that cannot be.  I have now no hopes thereof, but I am still
+desirous of reforming many corruptions prevalent in that portion of
+the Romish Church which abides in England.  I have punished many
+priests, I have issued my mandates against all irregularities, and
+will yet hope to see a great improvement in the church.
+
+'But, at the same time, I shall not conceal from thee that I do not
+approve of those heretical tenets which upstart preachers are now
+everywhere disseminating.  I love the truth, and am glad to find that
+yesterday thy friend Bilney recanted his bold heresies, and has
+returned to the body of the church a penitent.'
+
+'_Bilney recanted!_' was the involuntary exclamation of all.  'Bilney
+recanted!
+
+'Yes, I am informed he did penance, and stood at Paul's Cross
+weeping.'
+
+'Weep he will do,' replied De Freston, 'weep he will do, bitterly.
+That man has an honest heart.  He loves truth purely for truth's
+sake, and in a moment's fear he has forsaken the truth.  I am sure he
+will repent of this step more than of any he ever took in his whole
+life.'
+
+Ellen wept.  She wept to see her father's earnest emotion, and she
+felt as if something of life and happiness had left her.
+
+'Let not the Lady Ellen weep,' said the Cardinal.  'I shall not
+condemn thy father because he speaks boldly.  Thou needest not be
+afraid; I am thy friend and his.  I pray thee, weep not.'
+
+Tender words from great men are apt to make tears flow the faster.
+Ellen's mortification was extreme; for she had hoped the firmness of
+faith in this good man would not have been shaken by any terrors.
+She sighed, but spake not.
+
+It was not in Wolsey to triumph over the sufferings of any one, and
+much less over those of a woman, and that woman one whom he loved in
+his youth, and for whom he then felt such a sincere respect that he
+would rather spare it a pang than create it one.
+
+He was sincere in his hope that, as Bilney had been so intimate with
+Lord De Freston, and had been so much admired by him, that, in
+mentioning his recantation, he should prevail upon him likewise to
+recant privately before Tonstall, without any further exposure.
+
+He had not succeeded, but had rather created in that venerable
+nobleman's mind an additional argument for his own firmness.
+
+De Freston sighed and said--
+
+'Great minds are overcome by terrors, where little minds are often
+supported.  Bilney has been a leader, a master-spirit, one to whom
+men have looked for example as well as precept.  I do, therefore,
+grieve the more at his defalcation, and take it as a warning to
+myself, lest, in the hour of adversity, I should fall away.
+
+'O, my Lord Cardinal!  I loved that man as I used to do thyself.  I
+had great hopes of him.  I had formed the highest expectations of
+him, and even now I will not despair of him.'
+
+'Nor I either; I think he will become an ornament to the church.'
+
+'And so do I; but not to the Church of Rome.'
+
+'To what church then?'
+
+'To the church of Christ.'
+
+'Is not the Church of Rome the church of Christ?'
+
+'Not whilst she holds the doctrines of presumption instead of those
+of faith; not whilst she propagates falsehood for truth; not "whilst
+she loveth and maketh a lie;" not whilst she debases her communicants
+by giving them half a sacrament for the whole, and even makes that
+half idolatrous by her false persuasions.'
+
+'She is one of those evils under the sun which King Solomon
+saw--viz., "_a servant when he reigneth_," for she ought to be the
+servant of God; but she pretends to reign with a king's dominion, and
+cannot therefore be a true servant.  Thou hast sought this at my
+tongue, Cardinal, and I am not ashamed thereof, neither do I ask
+pardon for giving thee a plain answer.'
+
+'I can pardon thee without thine asking; but here comes Tonstall, and
+if thou wouldst return in peace to thine own dear Freston Tower, let
+me advise thee to speak more cautiously before him than before one
+who feels some gratitude for the past.'
+
+'I can but speak to thee, my lord, as I would before my judge.  I
+will not compromise the truth for any Bishop of London.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI.
+
+THE ARGUMENT.
+
+Cuthbert Tonstall was ushered into the presence of the Cardinal, and
+it was curious to see how soon the dignitary of Rome assumed that
+position of manner and behaviour which even then, though declined in
+royal favor, Wolsey could not forget.
+
+They bowed reverentially to each other.  Both were eminently learned
+men, and each had a great respect for letters.
+
+'Has Bilney submitted to the orders of the church, good father?'
+
+'He has, my lord, and is committed unto safe custody in prison to
+wait thy fiat of detention or release.  He has conformed, and I have
+here his written recantation, delivered by the heretic himself into
+our hands.'
+
+It was agony indeed to De Freston to recognise the handwriting of his
+friend, and the tears rolled down his face as he read, line by line,
+that document which told so sad a tale.  But the old man's prayer
+ascended even then for such a friend.  Tonstall exchanged looks of
+curiosity with the Cardinal, as to what this strong feeling could
+mean.  He said--
+
+'Thou oughtest rather to rejoice than weep at a heretic's arising
+from the depths of the deluge to the safe footing of the ark of the
+church.'
+
+'I weep to think,' replied De Freston, 'that he has fallen away from
+grace.
+
+It would have been a marvel to Tonstall to find such a man in such
+company--a heretic in the Cardinal's palace!  But he had been
+forewarned thereof by Alice De Clinton, and yet could he scarcely
+believe his ears and eyes.
+
+'These are friends of Bilney,' replied the Cardinal, 'and they are my
+friends too, to whom I am indebted for many things.  I would
+therefore intercede with thee, father, for thy mercy.  Spare my aged
+friend for his grey hairs; and this, his daughter, for the love I
+bear her; and this, her husband, for the friendship's sake of early
+college days.'
+
+'But will they promise to abjure the tenets of Bilney, and be
+obedient to the discipline of the church?'
+
+'I will promise for them.'
+
+'What?' asked De Freston.
+
+'That they shall do nothing contrary to the authority of the church.'
+
+'If the church command me to worship the Virgin Mary, the angels, and
+the host of heaven, I will not do it.  If she says I ought to pay
+respect to pictures at altars, candles and candlesticks, saints and
+their statues, I will call her idolatrous.  If she tells me that the
+blood of any of her martyrs, male or female, will wash away my sins,
+I will tell her she lies.
+
+'In a word, my Lord Cardinal, and my Lord Bishop, if you think I
+would recant the doctrines which Bilney has preached at Ipswich, or
+elsewhere, you are mistaken.  I desire to be tried even by the
+learned Tonstall, and before thyself; I will answer any question thou
+dost put.'
+
+It is not the intention of these pages to record that long but
+interesting discussion, which then took place between four as learned
+men as could be well found in the realm at that day.  Pain and grief
+did it give all parties to see that no mutual bond of union could
+settle the dispute between them.
+
+Tonstall was convinced of the very superior antagonist he had met
+with in De Freston; and he was made to feel his lash when they talked
+of the destruction of those who professed to believe in Christ, and
+strove not to act up to that belief.
+
+'How can the Pope make laws,' said De Freston, 'to burn, or put to
+the rack, or torture, or destroy any soul professing Christ's
+religion?
+
+'Come, I will dispute the authority of the Church of Rome in this
+respect.  I will maintain her to be an engine of Satan if she dares
+to shed any blood whatsoever, especially the blood of believers.
+
+'Show me any authority for her putting any one to death.  Did even
+the Apostles put Ananias and Sapphira to death?  They saw that God
+would visit the wicked, and they told the wicked that it would be so;
+but they left the visitation for the Almighty's hand, in whose power
+alone is the life of every living thing.'
+
+'Wouldst thou, then,' replied Tonstall, 'have the murderer live?'
+
+'No: an apostle says, "If I have done anything worthy of death, I
+refuse not to die."  The sword of justice is borne by the civil, not
+the ecclesiastical power; and if an offender against human and divine
+laws will not hear the voice of the preacher calling him to
+repentance, if neither private nor public rebuke will convince him of
+his danger, all the authority of the church cannot go beyond his
+rejection from their companionship or fellowship.
+
+'They must then leave him to the mercies of the civil law, or
+criminal jurisprudence of the country he lives in, and God will do
+with him as he sees best.  I deny the power of Rome justly to punish
+any man whatsoever with death, where his life is one of faith, though
+that faith may be exercised to overthrow all the superstitions of
+Rome.'
+
+'Then the church errs in punishing heretics?'
+
+'With persecution unto death she does; and she will have to answer
+for all the murders she has thus unrighteously, violently,
+passionately, and horribly committed.  If she were to condemn me, I
+would protest against her power to the last, and though I might
+rejoice in suffering, I should sorrow for thee, Bishop Tonstall, to
+be my executioner.'
+
+It was in this strain, with the purest Protestant feeling, and yet
+with such pious consideration for those bigoted followers of the
+Pope, that De Freston combatted the arguments of Tonstall, and made
+him shudder at his own position.  Whether it was that the Cardinal
+interceded, countermanded, over-ruled, or prevailed with the Bishop,
+perhaps all these things, or whether Cuthbert Tonstall was himself
+confounded at the boldness and soundness of the head and heart of De
+Freston, it is certain that he proceeded no further with the
+prosecution of De Freston, as a heretic, but left York Place with a
+heart stricken at the very thought of the cruelties which he had in
+some measure been accessory to, in the supposed defence of his church.
+
+'We will leave off our polemical divinity,' said Wolsey, 'and if you
+will spend one day of quiet hospitality with me, we will talk over
+Ipswich and early associations, and leave these heart-burnings for
+other thoughts.'
+
+Well said was this by the Cardinal.  It was like a spark of glory
+striking light into his soul.  Oh, would that every member of his
+high and mighty, pompous church could have seen the joy which then
+diffused itself over the Cardinal's features.
+
+  ''Twas for a day, a day of such pure bliss
+  As friendship nurtures in a world like this:
+  Few such are found midst sorrows to prevail;
+  If one such visit thee, O! give it hail.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII.
+
+ENJOYMENT.
+
+Unalloyed enjoyment is a thing unknown in this world; even for one
+whole day.  Perhaps the sorrows which all experience for half, if not
+the whole, of that period, may make the few minutes of happiness the
+sweeter.
+
+Happiness is not, it cannot be, found in any sensual pleasure, in any
+one pursuit in which the laws of humanity, nature, and of God are
+violated.
+
+Perfect enjoyment must be divested of all fear; there must be no pang
+before or after it--that is, the pang, if any, must have passed away,
+and that which the heart is about to participate in, must not be
+productive of one single regret.
+
+Wolsey, De Freston, Ellen, and Latimer, had all endured the severity
+of sorrow in finding themselves placed in that species of opposition
+upon vital questions, upon dangerous topics, upon then growing
+dissensions which were stirring in the land.
+
+Wolsey was lord of the house in which his guests were, not trembling,
+but bold before him.  They also, on the other hand, were conscious
+that he was to be the judge of De Freston; and in the judgment of him
+was involved the happiness of the others.
+
+These parties had suffered much pain.  Honest they all might be; but
+the man of power and authority had at least this superiority, that he
+was at once the arbiter and the host.  He was in the position of
+friendship, cordiality, hospitality, generosity, and of judgment; and
+they, though his guests, were at the same time his prisoners.  But
+who were they, and at what time were they there?
+
+Wolsey was about to be shorn of his fancied nobility, and to lose the
+eye of favor.  He was too much of a politician not to know what he
+had to expect; and he was really and truly a man of too great a mind
+to murmur at the fickleness of the King's favor.
+
+Lift up a beggar from the dunghill, set him among princes, and if he
+is not gifted with that wisdom which knows who exalts and who puts
+down, he will neither know how to bear elevation or degradation.  He
+is like an actor, who, having enjoyed years of successful flattery,
+is astonished at his own decline, and knows not how to bear the
+coolness of disappointment.
+
+Happy the man whom nothing but the world to come can exalt; who
+preserves humility under all circumstances, and doing his duty nobly,
+retires into nothingness, conscious that he is nobody.
+
+A great man this, indeed.  He is like that great philosopher, who,
+after a life of calculations, such as laid bare to the world the
+right movements of the heavenly bodies, declared that to himself he
+appeared no more than a child playing with a cup and ball, or blowing
+soap-bubbles with a tobacco pipe.
+
+This is a species of intellectual innocency which very few men
+attain.  Half the world, knowing little, are apt to grow proud of the
+knowledge of that little, and have such conceit thereof as to imagine
+the world must think them wonders; but the really wise man is
+wonderful only to himself in his knowledge of his own marvellous
+ignorance.
+
+Wolsey was a great man, as all the world proclaimed; but very few who
+saw him knew anything of the real greatness of his private character.
+Men in after-ages made him the theme of fallen pride, and descanted
+upon his origin as if he rose from the butcher's shambles by
+impudence.
+
+There are some impudent men who do succeed in thrusting themselves
+into places for which they have no pretensions in the shape of mental
+qualification whatsoever; and these men are generally the greatest
+boasters and vaunters of their own selves; but they usually die
+unnoticed, or are looked upon with contempt by men of their own
+calibre.  What must men of superior intellect think of them?
+
+Wolsey was no such mortal.  He gave that day convincing proof of his
+being not only bred a gentleman, but of his having preserved the
+spirit of one through all the plenitude of his power, even to the
+moment of its decay.
+
+Wolsey was the first to propose such terms of peace to his visitors,
+as nothing but a heartless bigot could refuse.  It was no compromise
+of principle, it was no admission of infidelity, it was no sop, to
+induce a departure from that which De Freston held dear as his life,
+neither was it any Jesuitical casuistry or show of lenity to discover
+the weakness of an adversary that he might attack him when he was
+asleep.
+
+No.  It was Wolsey's greatness, certainly induced by his
+circumstances, which made him cast down the glove of philanthropy, or
+the olive branch of peace, instead of that of defiance.
+
+It is said that the honesty of love must conquer even the proudest
+heart.  It will conquer everything but the heart devoured by the love
+of money; and that heart death alone, and then only by violent
+constraint, can subdue.
+
+'Let us have one day's friendship,' said Wolsey.  'I give up all
+points of dispute.  Let us have no divisions; let us be friends.
+To-morrow, ye shall go free; free to return whence ye came, to the
+banks of the Orwell, to my native place; and if I could but step back
+thirty years, and forget all the interval, I would kiss again the
+waters of my childhood, and dive into the waves.
+
+'But come, my dear companions of my youth.  Pomp and I must, for a
+few hours, part company.  Forget me as a Cardinal; look not on me as
+a judge.  See me as I am, plain Thomas Wolsey, son of your old
+friend, nephew to your relative, and cousin to yourselves; but more
+than all this, your truly humble servant, Archbishop of York.
+
+'If you will not receive me in this light, tell me, only tell me, how
+you will accept me, and I am yours.'
+
+Had it been bigotry, prejudice, or fanaticism that dwelt in De
+Freston's soul, he would have looked upon this language as merely a
+temptation to allure him into a snare, and have at once set his face
+as a flint, against the offer of hospitality.  He would have looked
+upon it as a contamination.  He would have felt all the prejudices of
+pride against it, and have steeled his soul with rudeness to cut
+short the proposition of love.
+
+De Freston was no bigot, but a true Christian.  He acknowledged the
+claim which Wolsey had upon his friendship, and at once graciously
+accepted his offer.
+
+'I came here to be judged, expecting to be condemned by the very man
+whom I once knew as my friend.  But I am neither judged nor
+condemned.  I am neither put upon my trial nor acquitted, but am as
+though I had come into the house of an acquaintance; and why should I
+be so inhuman as to think of an enemy?
+
+'I accept your proffered hospitality for us all; and as far as in me
+lies, I will endeavor to enjoy it with that thankfulness which I am
+persuaded I ought to feel.  Ellen, my daughter, what say you to this
+turn of the wind in our favor?'
+
+'Say, my dear father! say?--that I am proud of my early friend!'
+
+Never in life, before or after, did Wolsey feel his soul expand as it
+did at that moment.
+
+It was a moment of love in the soul of a man whose whole career had
+been devoted to ambition.  The big tear started in his full eye, and
+actually rolled down his cheek and fell upon his scarlet vest.
+
+Oh! that the tear of love could fall upon the scarlet vests of all
+Cardinals, and that they could see themselves as they are, but men of
+the same flesh, the same blood, the same bone, the same dust as the
+poorest Protestant in these realms!  Till then, the lust of the eye,
+the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life will prevail in the
+dominion of the Papacy.
+
+'Latimer, give me your hand,' said Wolsey.  'I have not behaved to
+you as I ought, and years of neglect cannot be atoned for in a
+moment.  Your hand, William, reminds me of my youth.  I cannot forget
+my university.  Proud days we enjoyed together.  Days of anticipated
+triumph.  Ah!  Latimer, yours was an unexpected triumph; mine a
+long-anticipated hope, extinguished by yourself, but now blessed in
+seeing you happy.'
+
+Great man!  Greater infinitely than the world knew!  Could Cavendish
+have revealed this, the world would truly have sympathised with a man
+who, though raised to an eminence higher than that which any subject
+ever yet stood upon, was hurled down therefrom at the moment when his
+whole soul was full of pity and philanthropy.
+
+Ellen could not see the emotion of her early friend at such a time
+without a look of compassion, in which the generous and honest
+Latimer most fully shared.
+
+'It is best for us all to retire awhile,' she said, 'that we may be
+each composed for the harmony of a happy hour.'
+
+'It is well said, my friends: after our unusual excitement, it will
+do us all good.  My chamberlain will conduct you.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII.
+
+HOSPITALITY.
+
+The Cardinal alone--left alone to himself--bethought him of his
+coming fall.  He sent for Cavendish, and ordered every preparation
+for quiet hospitality.
+
+'I want no state to-day.  Let all my serving-men take holiday, let as
+many as please visit their friends in the city; and hark ye,
+Cavendish! let my state-visitors, who come to pry into my decline,
+and to partake of what good fare a Cardinal's table may afford them,
+be told that I am indisposed to-day.
+
+'I am indisposed, indeed, to receive any strangers, or any ministers
+of state this day.  My few early friends it is worth your while, my
+good secretary, to cultivate, for they have hearts of hospitality;
+and when greatness and I are separated, you may find them no mean
+substitute for your master.  I would have you, therefore, at my
+table, none other; and as this is a day with which the world, the
+political or public world in which I am concerned, can have nothing
+to do, so let it be unrecorded among the transactions of my career,
+which you have undertaken to set down.'
+
+Cavendish himself started at this; for, though his master knew that
+he kept account of all the events of his life, and employed himself
+in making memoranda of what happened in the course of his
+secretaryship, he rather desired to record that day, above all
+others, as one in which his master shone with the most conspicuous
+splendor.
+
+'What would my lord have me say of this day?'
+
+'Simply that I kept at home all the day.  I have little stomach for
+the company of princes, Cavendish, but I shall be glad of thine.
+
+'Ah!  Mr. Secretary, the King has taken what he gave me, and he is
+welcome to it, for it is his own; and in my hands it has suffered no
+injury.  My gold and silver is kept clean, and is fit for a king's
+table.  But I have many things for thee to do, my worthy secretary,
+before we meet at our mid-day meal.  You have made out a true
+inventory of all in my house?'
+
+'Of everything, my master.'
+
+'Good, then, make a true copy thereof.  I give thee the things thou
+didst ask for, the handsome gold box in which the seals of my office
+are preserved; enter it not into the inventory.
+
+'I give thee, also, Henry the Seventh's purse, which he gave to his
+poor almoner; and if all he gave with it had not long been handed
+over to his son, thou, Cavendish, shouldst have had it with its
+store.  Note it not, but let it be a bauble preserved for the Royal
+Giver's sake.  Henry VIII. will not leave me any memorial of himself
+but the remembrance of my long service.
+
+'But tell me, Cavendish, didst thou ever see easier, gentler, or more
+graceful dignity in woman, than in the person of that lady now a
+guest in our house?'
+
+'I never did, my lord: I thought so when I saw her, long before your
+arrival, nay, when she supported her father in Canon Street Prison.
+She is a gem of inestimable value.  A princess in right of herself,
+at the same time that she is a servant to her husband.'
+
+'On my word, Mr. Secretary, if the ladies knew what a discerner thou
+wert of true feminine dignity, they would perhaps strive to comport
+themselves with great carefulness before so nice a critic.'
+
+'They would, therefore, assuredly fail, my lord; for when females try
+so much, or make so great an effort to appear what they ought to be
+in our eyes, it is a sign that they attempt to be what they really
+are not.  The Lady Latimer has no such finesse about her.  She is all
+she seems to be, and tries not for a moment to assume to be thought
+anything of.  Her carriage is simplicity, the bearing of innocency;
+and in my eye she is handsomer, far handsomer, than Anne Boleyn.'
+
+'Hush! this is treason as well as flattery in my house, and if
+reported, might disgrace thee.  Thou art not yet sufficiently noble
+game for royal arrows to be shot at.  Time, however, may come, when
+aim may be taken at thyself.  A nobler quarry is at present in view.
+
+'But I am glad, still, that this dear lady has attractions even for
+thy younger eye.  Thou shall hear her converse, Cavendish; I heard it
+when I was your age, when it resembled the notes of a golden-strung
+lyre, and my young heart could respond to its song.  Alas! alas!  I
+am now like a broken harp, without one chord of love and harmony!'
+
+'Say not so, my lord; I have ever found you sweetness and gentleness
+personified.'
+
+'Go, Cavendish, prepare thyself.  We meet at noon.'
+
+At noon they all met.
+
+The banquet-hall was spread with taste.  No lords, no squires, no
+gentlemen-ushers, no display of courtly greatness.
+
+Wolsey received his friends without any attempt to overwhelm them
+with magnificence.  His condescension alone was overwhelming, for
+even De Freston could not be insensible to the delicacy shown upon
+this occasion, when the man at whose table nobles were accustomed to
+learn politeness, was himself so polite as to dispense with all
+display of nobility, that De Freston might be duly honored.
+
+Cavendish alone participated in the unaffected pleasure of these
+friends.  It was a banquet of love, a revival of days gone by.  The
+Cardinal, his master, shone in a new light as the conqueror of
+himself.
+
+The subject of conversation turned upon chivalry, the deeds and
+exploits of the tournament, the banners of the nobility, the arms,
+quarters, crests of the distinguished of the past and the existing
+day; and Wolsey said--
+
+'I was once a gallant knight, Ellen De Freston was my mistress, and a
+savage mastiff my opponent; I had an ox shin-bone for my weapon, and
+a good courage, steady hand, and a righteous cause of action.  Did I,
+or did I not, acquit myself valiantly?'
+
+'No knight could ever do better execution.  Did not the lady bestow
+her guerdon?'
+
+'He was too proud to claim it, father,' replied Ellen.
+
+'Then he will claim it now, fair lady; and in the presence of thy
+husband, too; and he himself shall not deny thee the honor of the
+grant.'
+
+All looked astonishment; Ellen alone smiled, for she knew the
+courteous propriety of that delicate hospitality which could not ask
+a thing it would be unbecoming a lady's love to grant.
+
+'I grant it thee, Wolsey, and with gratitude, for I can never forget
+the gallantry of that day, nor do I fail to acknowledge the
+compliment in this.  Name it, and I will assuredly grant it.'
+
+'Thou seest my coat-of-arms: my crest is now a Cardinal's hat; but,
+with thy permission, a naked arm, (for I was never a mail-clad
+warrior) a naked arm, bearing a shin-bone, shall surmount that hat in
+commemoration of our mention of the event in thy presence in York
+Place.'
+
+'I cannot fail to grant it; but promise me this, that over the portal
+of my favorite tower, I may place thine arms so surmounted, in the
+hope that thou wilt honor yet again our Freston Tower.'
+
+The Cardinal sighed.  His nature could not but be grateful, nor his
+spirit otherwise than courteous.  He felt the compliment and replied--
+
+'I fear the latter cannot be; I must go where the King orders me, for
+I am his servant; but believe me, Lady, once to see the Tower again,
+and to feel as I now do, would be a happiness, I fear, too great for
+Cardinal Wolsey.
+
+'Ipswich is in my heart: I received the rudiments of education there,
+and its refinements in the company of thee and of thy father.
+
+'My friend Latimer knows well that the strong shin-bone was in my
+view all the days of his residence at Oxford, and only when I
+returned from the ceremony of thy marriage, did I drop it into the
+river from Magdalen Bridge.
+
+'The memory, however, of thy kindness shall not be lost; I will send
+thee a nobly-sculptured coat-of-arms to be placed over the gateway of
+Freston Castle.  Nay, lady, I have one nearly completed for my
+college at St. Peter's.  It shall even precede thee on thy way
+homeward, and I will soon forward the additional appendage to
+surmount the Cardinal's hat.'
+
+These things led to all the local points of memory--in which the
+Cardinal showed a gratitude of heart to which, for years, he had been
+thought to be a stranger--his inquiries after friends, his naming
+many who had been kind to him, the very boys whom he remembered at
+school.
+
+This led to a long discussion about his college, the suppression of
+the monasteries, the death of John of Alneshborne, and last, not
+least, his hours at Freston Tower.
+
+Upon this theme he seemed to dwell with all the fervor of imagination
+which he possessed in his youth; and, would time have permitted, he
+would have talked of Latimer's Tower and Magdalen until morning.
+
+But his old friend, Latimer, observed that the spirit of sorrow
+seemed to steal over his brow; and, from excessive vivacity, a sober
+but delicate mournfulness came upon him.  His voice, though always
+soft, became gradually painful, and one of those early visitations,
+to which his great mind was subject, oppressed him.
+
+Nothing can be more infectious than melancholy, especially when
+exhibited in a great man; and though Wolsey endeavored to shake it
+off, it so completely subdued him, that he became silent, thoughtful,
+and abstracted.
+
+Latimer and Cavendish knew his mood; but De Freston and Ellen, whose
+hearts were touched to pity, felt the change.
+
+'My dear friends,' said the Cardinal,' I have enjoyed your society,
+but I must say farewell.  I feel an oppression--a swimming of the
+brain--a dizziness to which I am subject, and I must retire.'
+
+'O, Wolsey!' said De Freston, 'let me thank you for this hospitality.
+I am not insensible to your kindness.  Proud should I be to see you
+again in Suffolk.  Let me hope you will visit your college and me.'
+
+I thank you, good nobleman.  My college there, unless the royal Henry
+shall regard it, will, I fear, be neglected.  Your proffered
+hospitality I do not think I shall tax; but my friend Cavendish, if
+ever you should have the opportunity of paying him any attention, I
+shall greet it as in memory of myself.
+
+'I will forward you on your way to-morrow; and when, a few months
+hence, you hear of the Cardinal and his altered fortunes, bespeak him
+kindly for old friendship's sake.
+
+'I can see a host of enemies arising, backed by the King, like his
+huntsman and hounds in pursuit of a poor stricken hart.  Cavendish,
+do the duties of hospitality for me.
+
+'Dear friends, farewell!'
+
+With dignity and gentleness combined, the great Wolsey pressed
+respectfully the hand of Ellen, and cordially those of De Freston and
+Latimer, and left them to think of him, and to mourn over his fate.
+
+  'Twas the last day of meeting, and they part--
+  Reader, thou hast some gentleness of heart--
+  Forgive poor Ellen if she wept alone,
+  To see his altered mien, his altered tone,
+  We love our early days, our friends of youth,
+  When all seems loveliness and joy of truth.
+  So let us love, in sorrow and in shade,
+  For love is lasting and will never fade.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+THE FALL
+
+When great men fall, the world is sure to talk of it for a long time.
+Ages after ages remember the prostrate and over-grown tree, whilst
+hundreds and thousands of minor bulk may lie upon the earth, and no
+one think anything more about them.  The sapling may be snapt in the
+gale, but the oak--the majestic oak--is not thrown down without a
+tempest.
+
+Nor was the great Cardinal overthrown without a revolution in the
+conduct and affairs of that prince and kingdom which he had so
+faithfully served.  Even the clergy of the realm felt their portion
+of degradation in the loss of that representative, who,
+notwithstanding his extravagance, had certainly their temporal
+interest at heart.
+
+Could Wolsey have returned with De Freston, an independent man, or
+dependent upon that early friendship which had no political or
+selfish interest in his career, he might have enjoyed the spirit of
+his youth upon the banks of the Orwell; and, had the enlightened
+Ellen been as she was in his early ambitious days of distinction, the
+incentive would have outweighed all the terrors of a king's frown,
+and he would have become a great man in his retirement.
+
+But he went to York.  There he shone as the friend of his clergy in a
+more subdued, but far more pleasant light.  He was treated everywhere
+with courtesy, and had not jealously, animosity, and inveterate
+hatred been exercised to turn the King's mind against him, he would
+have become a far greater man than he had ever before been; for he
+might have learnt contentment.
+
+But Ellen returns to her mansion in Brook Street; and De Freston is
+restored to his ancient castle.  Friends from far came to meet them,
+as they returned, and to congratulate them upon the successful issue
+of that fiery trial.
+
+Few escaped the inquisitorial court, which then sat upon heretics, as
+the reformers were called; and if they escaped without any falling
+away, or retraction of the position of truth which they held, their
+escape was attended with a triumph among the people, almost as great
+as if they had suffered martyrdom.
+
+Bilney was never happy when he escaped from the first trial of his
+faith, until the spirit, the conscientious spirit of truth returned
+to him again, and told him it was better to suffer for the truth's
+sake, than to live in the favor and indulgences of sinful Rome.
+
+Lord De Freston was happy, because he had compromised nothing,
+consented to no abjuration of his vows, and came home as he went up,
+a faithful Protestant.
+
+There was great rejoicing at Ipswich, where, at that time, his trial
+was looked upon as a persecution; and every one who had imbibed
+anything of the growing love for truth, felt that his return was a
+species of victory obtained in righteousness.  It had the desired
+effect of strengthening De Freston in his views of the truth, and
+afforded a forcible lesson to some then wavering in their minds,
+concerning the fearful consequences of embracing the truth.
+
+The very return of De Freston caused Bilney's sorrow to be the
+greater, and this noble friend was one who deeply lamented with him
+his departure from the convictions of his soul for the mere sorrows
+of the world.
+
+Better, far better, is it to stand firm, or die in a righteous cause,
+boldly confronting the king of terrors, with faith, than to deny, for
+the fancied sake of peace, the real convictions of truth.
+
+De Freston had the strength and privilege to condole with Bilney upon
+his lapse, and grace to fortify his mind with the love of that Word,
+in which he afterwards sealed his triumph by martyrdom.
+
+It was not to be expected that the return of De Freston, and his now
+public profession of the doctrines of the reformers, should be the
+entrance upon a life of worldly tranquillity.  He was a marked man, a
+man against whom bigoted tongues wagged loud and long; and, as he was
+a learned man, and a fearless one as well, as far as regarded any
+temporal punishment for his faith, he hesitated not to set all the
+priests of Rome at defiance, and to dispute with any one of them
+concerning the doctrines of the reformation.  His son-in-law,
+Latimer, was equally zealous in the defence of the truth, and exposed
+himself to all the fury of the times in which he lived.
+
+'We must not shrink, Ellen,' he exclaimed, 'in our high position; we
+must still do our endeavors to shelter those poor clergymen in this
+town who stand up for the truth, and as long as my house can be the
+shelter for the persecuted, I feel happy, and I trust my dear Ellen
+does the same.'
+
+'That she does, William, notwithstanding all the accusations she
+receives of deserting the Romish Church in which she was first
+brought up.  You need not be afraid, my husband, after such an
+example as our dear father afforded us, when summoned to the
+conference in London, that I should shrink.
+
+'I saw then, and loved his dignified and truthful demeanor, in the
+presence of those whom weaker minds would have feared.  But I like
+not his living alone at Freston Castle.  He grows old, and though his
+dear grey locks are a crown of glory to him, and his eye is not yet
+dim, nor his intellect abated in its wonted energies, bodily
+infirmities bend his gentle head, and he requires, I think, our
+constant residence with him.
+
+'I cannot bear the idea of such a father being without our company.
+We may be useful here in promoting every good cause, but nature in
+the aged requires attention, and to whom can he look for love, piety,
+and respect, if not to his children?  I propose, Latimer, that we
+leave our present residence, and if our father is willing, that we go
+to Freston.'
+
+It was so agreed, and the faithful couple returned to dwell with Lord
+De Freston, who, though he had never asked it, was delighted at the
+mutual proposition of his children, to make abode with him in his old
+days.  For a short time did the joys of their former years dwell with
+them, and a peaceful state marked the latter life of this excellent
+man, Lord De Freston.
+
+Again the dear tower, the haunt of their youth, and Latimer's own
+project, became the place of their reading and converse; and hence
+issued many of those awakening epistles of the times which led to the
+enlightenment of not a few of the strenuous reformers of Ipswich and
+Bury.
+
+The press of Master Antony Skolloker, and that of Master John Owen,
+showed up the monks of Bury, all the fooleries of the priests of
+Rome, and all the mal-practices and arbitrary doings of the diocese
+of Norwich.  John Bale, the friend of Latimer, here wrote his
+'Catalogus, Scriptorum Illustrium Britaniæ,' which he afterwards
+published at Ipswich.
+
+It was in the month of December, 1530, when the log was burning on
+the old hall-fire, and the venerable De Freston was seated between
+his lovely daughter and Latimer, that a conversation arose concerning
+their friend the Cardinal.  They were speaking of his greatness; of
+his altered condition, his residence and usefulness at York; when the
+warder's bell rang, and a young man was announced as desirous to see
+Lord De Freston.
+
+He was welcomed into the hall, accoutred according to the times, in
+immense riding boots, long spurs, and stout leathern jerkin.  The
+stranger bowed respectfully to the party, and looked up, as if he
+thought they would have recognised his features and guessed his
+communication; for he was, in the fashion of that day, dressed with a
+mourning scarf; and if these did not speak for him, the sober, grave,
+and mournful manner of his speech awoke in Ellen the first suspicion
+of his message, and then a recognition of his face, for she
+exclaimed--
+
+'Thou art the bearer of ill-tidings of thy master.'
+
+'Alas, lady!  I am, indeed--my master is no more.'
+
+'Is Wolsey dead, good Master Cavendish?
+
+'He is dead, good Lord De Freston, and he often said to me, that I
+should find in thee a good man and true; a friend with whom I might
+awhile assuage that grief which now afflicts me.'
+
+'And so thou shall; but take thy jerkin off.  Good Latimer, attend
+for me on Master Cavendish, and bring him presently unto us again.'
+
+Cavendish and Latimer retired, and when Lord De Freston looked at
+Ellen, she was weeping.  The old man was touched, and spake most
+gently of him.
+
+'We must not weep, my daughter, for the dead.  Let us rather rejoice
+that all the agonies of his life are over.'
+
+'In that I may, perhaps I do, rejoice, but we must heal more of his
+latter days to make me feel as hopeful for his future happiness as I
+could wish.  He was a youth of promise, father; a wise, a discerning
+youth.  I cannot forget the early devotion of his life to our
+society, when he appeared to possess a freedom which was then bidding
+fair to be untrammelled by superstition.  I think of him then, dear
+father, and I wonder if this spirit of his youth revived in him
+during his last days.'
+
+'We shall hear more of this anon.  I loved his youth; I loved his
+learning too, my child.  I admire many of his arts; but I fear he was
+unmerciful towards those who differed with him.  But let us hear what
+Master Cavendish says.  We must all depart.  You must lose your
+father, too.'
+
+This changed the current of Ellen's thoughts, and she wept no more,
+but spoke cheerfully to her parent--making a generous effort to
+divert any gloominess from his mind.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV.
+
+THE COURTIER.
+
+'But here comes the faithful Cavendish; he will tell us more of the
+real state of our dear friend's mind, and how he took the king's
+displeasure.'
+
+That faithful servant, who admired and loved his master and attended
+him diligently, and did his business as his secretary so faithfully
+that Wolsey would gladly have preferred him before a better master,
+entered the hall with Latimer.
+
+He had changed his riding costume for one adapted to the age when the
+luxurious warmth of sofas, cushions, and couches was unknown, and, in
+general, a high-backed, elaborately-carved chair, with good, firm,
+oaken seat, was the ornamental place of the guest before the cheerful
+blaze of the English fire.
+
+One of Daundy's bloodhounds lay at De Freston's feet, smooth with
+velvet ears, long and shining, not so pendent as those of the old
+slot hound; but equally tinged with that black rim so indicative of
+the true breed.
+
+He was a dog of most grave countenance, and except when put upon the
+scent, or at play with Ellen's young staghound, exhibited about as
+much animation as Van Amburg's lions when their master was not near
+them.
+
+He opened his huge eyes as Cavendish seated himself and looked at him
+as if a courtier was a strange animal in De Freston's hall.
+
+'Be seated, my young friend; a cup of posset after your ride will do
+you good.'
+
+It was brought, and as exercise in that day in the shape of a journey
+was a much more difficult and stirring thing than it is now, when a
+man can breakfast in London from Ipswich and dine again at the same
+place he started from without using his legs or his horse's legs for
+a hundred yards, it was so much the more relished, and gave the
+generous Cavendish comfort.
+
+'I have been five days journeying from the court.  I have been many,
+many more journeying from the North, and glad am I, after some weeks
+of anxiety, to find myself a tenant of this hospitable hall.  My
+gracious master used frequently to tell me I should enjoy the
+beauties of your pleasant scenery.'
+
+'Not exactly at this time of the year, Master Cavendish, unless you
+are particularly partial to wild fowl shooting; but you shall want
+for nothing which we can give you to make you welcome.  How fared
+your master in his latter end?'
+
+'Alas! not so well as I could have wished.  His latter hours were
+greatly disturbed by the king's suspicions of his fraudulent dealing
+with regard to fifteen hundred pounds! which sum my master had
+borrowed of divers persons to pay us, his poor servants.
+
+'How did that disturb him?'
+
+'He took it deeply to heart, that, having given up all he possessed,
+whatsoever had come to him from his position in the realm, that the
+King should show so little favor to him as to demand of him that
+which he had borrowed from private individuals.'
+
+'Alas, poor Wolsey!' exclaimed De Freston, 'what is the favor of a
+prince worth?  He gives thee honors and wealth, and takes them from
+thee, and robs thee in thy poverty.'
+
+'Hush! my Lord De Freston.  I am now the King's servant!'
+
+'I am no traitor to the king, nor do I wish to speak treasonable, but
+truthful words to thee, Master Cavendish.  Thy royal master seems to
+have been much too hard upon thy spiritual master.  Deny it if thou
+canst.'
+
+'I deny it not; for I heard that honest man say to Sir William
+Kingston: "Oh, good Lord! how much doth it grieve me, that the king
+should think in me any such deceit wherein I should deceive him of
+any one penny that I have.  Rather than I would, Master Kingston,
+embezzle, or deceive him of one penny, I would it were moulten and
+put in my mouth.  This money that you demand of me, I assure you that
+it is none of mine, for I borrowed it of divers of my friends to bury
+me, and to bestow among my servants, who have taken great pains about
+me like true and faithful servants."'
+
+'I cannot help thinking that thy royal master showed more avarice
+than love in this matter.'
+
+'Alas!  I think so too, in honest truth, my lord; for though, when I
+told the king how earnestly my master blessed him, yet did he seem
+more anxious about his money than his blessing.  But kings must not
+be judged like other men.'
+
+'Not in their generation, Master Cavendish; but posterity will not
+spare a bad man, though he be a king.  Your poor master found but
+little reward for his services to his Majesty, or to his country.  He
+had better not have been ambitious of vain glory.'
+
+'Alas!  my master's memorable words will sound on many ears as
+proverbial of every minister of temporal power, who thinks he may
+exalt himself by infidelity to God, if he be but eminent for his
+loyalty.  I am sure my master was a most loyal subject--a most
+obedient subject.  He hated rebellion in any shape.'
+
+'But hold!' said Latimer, 'his ambition destroyed his principles, and
+he became a mere time-serving minister of the State, when he ought to
+have been, with his holy vows, the free servant of the living God.'
+
+'It is true, Master Latimer, it is too true, and hence his dying
+conviction--common to all ambitious servants who seek to reign by
+their master's favor--for my master exclaimed to Sir William
+Kingston: "If I had served God as diligently as I have done the King,
+he would not have given me over in my grey hairs.  But this is the
+just reward that I must receive for my diligent pains and study that
+I have had to do him service, not regarding my service to God, but
+only to satisfy his pleasure."'
+
+'It is a lesson to us all,' said Ellen, 'and thou, Master Cavendish,
+wilt remember it, and I trust wilt save thy conscience in this
+respect, not putting too high a value on thy new station.'
+
+'I thank thee, lady.  It is good for me to come into this country
+that I may be admonished by such a kind lecturer against the
+precipice down which my master fell so rapidly.  I thank thee, lady,
+honestly.'
+
+'Nay, thou art welcome, Mr. Courtier, and I trust we shall see thee
+better rooted in thy faith than courtiers generally are, who
+accommodate their opinions so nicely to their master's will, that
+they have no conscience but for their master's pleasures.'
+
+'Good again! indeed thou art good in thy advice; but thou must not
+expect to make me an heretic!'
+
+This was tender ground to touch upon, at such a moment, and in a
+first visit too.  Ellen had lain too long under the ban of being
+called and cursed as a heretic, to mind what kings or courtiers might
+say or do.
+
+Her faith was fixed, pure, simple-minded, solid, and steady, and no
+man could make her waver any more in her faith than they could in her
+principles of life.
+
+They conversed long on their favorite topic--the Cardinal and his
+fortunes, his boyhood and his youth--and Cavendish was then
+enlightened upon many points which he might most fairly have
+revealed, and would have done, but for fear of his royal master.
+
+  'Tempora mutanta, et nos mutamur in illis.'
+
+
+We are not, in the nineteenth century, afraid to speak truth upon any
+subject, and equally scorn the imputation of rebellion in so doing,
+as we do the idea of vapid popularity, merely for the sake of bread.
+We do not now-a-days worship great men for the sake of what we can
+get out of them; for there is little to be had, even by the humblest,
+since patronage, and learning, and talent, and literature, are all
+brought now to Mammon's hammer.
+
+He is a bold man who speaks the truth, and he is but a coward, be he
+whom he will, who is afraid to do so.  The man who loves another, is
+afraid of no man, for he can do injury to no one, and is ready to lay
+down his life for his brother.
+
+Such was Lord De Freston, such was William Latimer, and such was
+Ellen, as the sequel will show, in the end of this tale of Freston
+Tower.
+
+
+'Alice De Clinton,' said Cavendish, 'lives somewhere in this part of
+Suffolk.  Have you seen her?'
+
+'Is it likely, Master Cavendish, after our interview at York Place?
+She does live at her ancestral residence, Goldwell Hall; but she
+looks down with utter contempt upon us heretics, and I verily believe
+would burn us all, house, home, and Bible, provided only she could
+immortalise her pride.'
+
+'Oh, Mistress Latimer! surely thou art uncharitable in thy judgment.'
+
+'If thou art not perverted in thine own, thou wilt thyself soon
+perceive it.  We will direct thee to her dwelling, and leave thee to
+the candor of thine own mind.  If thou dost pronounce her more
+humbled in her present dwelling than when she abode in thy master's
+palace, then say that we are bigots, and Alice De Clinton is liberal.'
+
+The visit was projected for the morrow.  Meanwhile, with hearts of
+pity, Latimer and Ellen sincerely mourned over the death of Cardinal
+Wolsey.
+
+  They mourn'd to think a man should die
+  In sorrow for his loyalty;
+  But more they mourned the fall of friend,
+  Deserted in his latter end;
+  They felt correction 'neath the rod,
+  And thus were true to man and God.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVI.
+
+GOLDWELL HALL.
+
+Goldwell Hall, Caldwell Hall, or, as it was afterwards designated on
+account of the frigidity of its stern and haughty bigot, Mistress
+Alice De Clinton, Cold Hall, was a spacious building, and stood upon
+an imposing eminence at the eastern boundary of Ipswich, being held
+by the Bishop of Norwich, as guardian of his niece, and afterwards
+appropriated to religious purposes by its proud possessor.
+
+It was there that, in the times of the persecution of the Protestants
+in Suffolk, many of those furious zealots who sat in conclave upon
+the Reformers used to meet and deliberate upon the best method of
+putting an end to the growing errors of enlightenment.
+
+Alice De Clinton had, like many haughty favorites, learned to hate
+the unfortunate Wolsey, when she found herself no longer supported in
+the dignity of her imperial influence in his house.
+
+Alice retired from the splendor of Wolsey's court, carried with her
+the keenest hatred of the Reformers, on the very account of Ellen's
+reception at York Place; but when she came to Goldwell Hall--when she
+found that Latimer, Ellen, and Lord De Freston, were the most popular
+friends of the heretics, and lived in Ipswich, beloved by
+thousands--it was said that even her cold, stern, and immoveable
+nature was roused to rage, and she exclaimed--
+
+'The fire shall burn them or me!'
+
+Strange language for a high-born dame; but in those days, as in
+these, unsubdued tempers, fed by superstition, will be guilty of any
+cruelties, and yet call them virtues.
+
+Alice was a compound of hatred, such a character as can scarcely be
+seen now-a-days; she would have pricked the dead tongue of Ellen with
+a savage joy, could she have had it plucked out and laid before her
+whilst she had a bodkin in her hand.
+
+She fed hatred in her own bosom very willingly, and the insidious
+priests of Rome found her hall so cold to anything like love, that
+they could induce her to believe and almost to do anything they bade
+her.
+
+Rome was an idol in her heart, because it suited the pride of her
+nature.  The religion of Rome, which was corrupted so as to exalt the
+Virgin Mary into being styled the Queen of Heaven, was easily adapted
+to make a proud woman believe she was a sort of queen upon earth.
+
+The elevation it gave to female influence in the affairs of the
+church--the pretended excellence which it attributed to female
+devotion, when carried to external self-denials, instead of inward
+humility--all tended to puff up the owner of Goldwell Hall, and make
+her conceive that she had more influence in the church than the
+bishop, and much more dignity than if she had gone to Winton.
+
+She was closeted with Father Mortimer Duncan and Thomas Pountenay,
+priests of St. John the Baptist, in which chapelry stood the domain
+of Goldwell, and talking to them about the then unsettled state of
+affairs in the church; and something may be gathered very instructive
+from their conversation, as showing the kind of intrigue then going
+on under the garb of devotion.
+
+'Can nothing be done, father, against these pestilent heretics?  Has
+the church lost all her power, because these infatuated people have
+returned from their impeachment without conviction, through the
+leniency of your proud townsman, Wolsey?
+
+'Why, though belonging to Ipswich, and associated with his youth,
+should he have been so weak as to spare the strong arm of Rome, when
+he could have crushed this monster in the person of De Freston?  He
+has verily done more to root disaffection in his native town, by this
+poor weakness of his heart, than if he had boldly delivered that
+heretic to the flames.  But can nothing be done?'
+
+'We have been praying in our chapel, lady, beside those ever-burning
+candles, which thou hast so graciously presented to our Lady, and, as
+we looked upon the seven flames, we saw them divide; yes, lady, the
+burning flames of thy candles all appeared to be divided; and all on
+a sudden one half was, by an unseen hand, extinguished.  We communed
+deeply upon this subject; we wondered what it could import, the more
+especially as we both perceived in the seven flames two illuminated
+letters, A. and E., just as brother Pountenay has here depicted them;
+what can it import?'
+
+'Which was extinguished--which half--which letter, father?' exclaimed
+the proud lady, with a degree of agitation which rendered her whole
+frame tremulous.
+
+'It was the letter E.'
+
+'Now our lady be praised for that!' exclaimed the marble Alice.  'I
+can perceive its importance!  It is sufficient confirmation for me!
+It will do, good father--it will do!  It is a sign--yes it is a sign
+to me from heaven!  It shall come to pass!  I have long thought upon
+it.  It has been upon my mind; and this wonder, which you both have
+witnessed in my candles, shall assuredly be before long revealed.
+Was it in both the candles?'
+
+'It was.'
+
+'Were both halves extinguished at each side of the altar at the same
+time?'
+
+'At the same moment, lady.'
+
+'Good! it is as I conjectured!  O, Father Duncan, how wonderful are
+the manifestations given to the faithful!  I can see its import.  I
+know it well!  It is a good omen for the Church of Rome, and it is
+well I understand it.'
+
+'Thou art a wonderful prophetess, lady, we are but instruments; but
+if thou art enlightened from the burning of thine own sacred candles,
+we hope it imports only good to thee.'
+
+'Good to me! yes, yes! good to me!  It is always good to me to be
+employed in the service of Rome.  Hark! the warder's bell announces a
+stranger.  Go! fathers and friends Duncan and Pountenay; go! ye must
+require refreshment after your long matin devotion.  Go into the
+refectory and partake of what thou wilt.  My stranger's bell has
+answered to the porter's, so that I expect not a known
+friend--therefore retire.'
+
+
+'It will answer, brother Duncan, it will answer!  She will do it!
+The end justifies the means, and if it be but for the good of our
+fraternity, no matter though a foolish woman doth it.'
+
+'But had we not better prompt her somehow, to let it be on a stormy
+night?'
+
+'Leave that to me.  I can introduce it.  True, a night of thunder and
+lightning would be a very plausible suggestion; and it would be a
+good subject for us to descant upon the vengeance of Heaven against
+the heretics--leave it to me!'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVII.
+
+PRIDE.
+
+Alice, full of A. and E., received the humble Master Cavendish in
+even a more cold and distant manner than he had ever seen her put on
+before.
+
+'Thy master is dead?  I know it!  Dost thou come to claim ought of
+me?'
+
+'No, lady, I want nothing; I did but think, knowing thy former
+interest in my poor lord, and my close attachment to his person, that
+some little information of his latter end might be acceptable to the
+Lady Alice, from her humble servant.'
+
+'Another time it might have been.  I have only one question to ask of
+thee: was he shriven by a priest before he died?'
+
+'He was, by Doctor Palmes.'
+
+'Then I ask no more.  He died a Catholic.'
+
+'He did, lady; and recommended his royal master to look well after
+these heretics and heresies so prevalent.'
+
+'Then why did he not order Lord De Freston to be burnt!'
+
+Even Cavendish, with all his knowledge of her character, little
+expected this; but when he afterwards heard her speak of those
+hospitable friends, and all connected with them, as if she would joy
+to see them tortured upon the rack, flayed alive, or burnt at the
+stake, his blood chilled within him, and he truly thought within
+himself: 'This is Cold Hall indeed!'
+
+'I ask no questions,' she added, 'of thy master's fortunes.  The
+great Cardinal died before he departed for York.  He died as soon as
+I left him.  His was but a pitiful struggle afterwards.  Had he been
+as firm to Rome as I would have had him, he might now have been his
+master's lord.  But vengeance yet awaits the enemies of Rome, and
+weak instruments may be used for their overthrow.  Are you a staunch
+friend to the Pope?'
+
+This was a leading question to Cavendish, who, at that time, neither
+wished to be thought a heretic by denying the Supremacy of the Pope,
+nor to be disloyal to his new master by denying his supremacy in the
+visible church in matters purely temporal.  But he knew well that the
+Papacy must have the jurisdiction of temporalities as well as
+spiritualities in the church, and that Alice held the foreign pontiff
+to be her supreme idol.
+
+He had a difficult question to answer, but one which his tact alone
+could elude, so as not to create bitter animadversion against him.
+He therefore replied--
+
+'The Pope, lady, has so many staunch advocates like thyself, that the
+friendship of such insignificant beings as I am could redound but
+little to his greatness.  Thou, lady, art, I am sure, his warm
+friend, and thine influence in this neighborhood must be paramount.
+Has the Pope lost any power hereabouts?'
+
+'If he has it shall be restored to him.  The great patron of the
+divine arts, the illustrious advocate of public singers, the glorious
+supporter of divine architecture, the magnificent exhibitor of all
+that is great, noble, praiseworthy, and splendid in the worship of
+the Virgin, the angels, and the saints, shall not want a friend in
+me, though hereabouts there may want an example of fire and faggot to
+exterminate his enemies.  Where is thine abode in these parts, Master
+Cavendish?'
+
+'I am but a traveller, a visitor, a mere bearer of a message to my
+lord's friend.'
+
+'And what was it, Master Secretary, what was it?  Ha! did the little
+man want anything from Alice De Clinton?'
+
+Cavendish marvelled indeed at the hauteur of this quondam subservient
+mistress of the Cardinal, his master; and within his soul, faithful
+as it was to a kind-hearted individual who was ever gracious to him,
+it revolted at the contumacy with which she, the exalted lady of
+Wolsey's notice, now dared to treat his memory.  His memory of his
+master rose triumphant, and his remembrance, too, of the estimation
+in which Ellen was held by him came with lively impression to his
+mind, and he could not help punishing the haughty Alice with a
+declaration which he little expected she would so quickly resent.
+
+With gratitude in his heart, a far more active agent at that moment
+than political prudence or cautious wisdom, he replied--
+
+'I am upon a visit to Lord De Freston, the Lady Ellen, and Latimer.'
+
+The haughty lady looked as if she would annihilate him with one
+fierce glance of her serpent eye.  She rose without forgetting for a
+moment that she was treating a stranger, or a former friend, in her
+own house.  She rose stately, coolly, slowly, erected her head just
+as a serpent of the most stupendous kind might do previous to her all
+determined rush upon her victim, and something more than a hiss from
+her forked tongue issued from her throat:
+
+'Then how darest thou to tread the threshold of Goldwell Hall?
+Knowest thou not that between the daughters of Rome and those of the
+Devil there can be no alliance? and darest thou to contaminate with
+thy polluted feet the hall of the faithful, after having been an
+inmate of the tomb of an heretic?
+
+'Perish, traitor, perish!--back, go back to Freston Tower!  Look
+thence upon the birth-place of thy master; but know thou that ere
+another year shall sweep over the heads of those whom now thou dost
+call thine host, hostess, and friend, their power shall perish if
+they be not themselves departed.'
+
+The very words, gesture, and cold-blooded determination of the
+impenetrable marble then before him, had an effect of creating a
+chill upon his whole frame; and he felt how truly his friends on the
+opposite bank of the Orwell had described the being who then stood
+before him.
+
+He was so astonished at her whole bearing, that he made no attempt to
+retire; and had not Alice, with inconceivable scorn, pointed to the
+door, and without any kind of respect bade a servant show him the way
+out, he would have remained even longer spell-bound by the very
+extravagant and extraordinary manner of the speech of Alice De
+Clinton.  He departed, however, with much less pleasant sensations
+than those with which he had entered; and as he looked back upon that
+solitary mansion, he exclaimed in a distich, which afterwards, years
+afterwards, changed the name of the place,
+
+  'Goldwell is cold, and colder far than all
+  This living corpse, a tenant of Cold Hall.'
+
+
+He returned to his cheerful friends at Freston, to narrate the
+adventure of his reception.  They were not surprised at his
+declaration,
+
+'That never in the face of woman did he see so cold-blooded a feature
+as that of Alice De Clinton.'
+
+Little did any of them at that time suspect the plot hatching against
+their peace.
+
+It was determined that the usual festivities of Christmas should be
+observed by De Freston as his ancestors had done before him; and
+Cavendish was invited to see the tenantry of the hospitable lord do
+justice to the long beloved and venerated old man.
+
+Latimer had declined living in the mansion of Humphrey Wingfield in
+Brook Street, Ipswich; and was looked upon as the future owner of
+Freston Castle and all its wide spread domain.  He richly merited
+respect, and was as happy in the acknowledgment of every friend of De
+Freston and his daughter, as Albert, Prince of Great Britain, is at
+this moment in the hearts of Victoria's loyal subjects.  But none are
+without enemies.
+
+Alice had managed to hire Wingfield House as her town residence, and
+strange did people think the difference between the lively possessor
+who left it, and the stern occupier who occasionally, with rigid cold
+pomp, occupied the state apartments.
+
+It was said, however, that she intended to move into the town at
+Christmas, and to leave _Cold Hall_ (as it is called to this day);
+and consequently she had wood conveyed from her own groves to the
+yards of the mansion, and made every preparation to have at least the
+rooms well warmed.
+
+But Alice had a burning within which few knew anything of, except her
+father confessor, Duncan, and those priests of Rome who worked upon
+her fanatic disposition.  This was inflamed against all heretics,
+even to detest their abodes, and she had secretly resolved that the
+flame of Ellen--the E. of her consecrated candles--should be put out.
+
+How this was done may be better narrated in another chapter.  This is
+sufficient to show how weak minds may be acted upon to do deeds,
+under the imagination of devotion, which are abhorrent to all truth,
+and such as pure religion would revolt at.
+
+  'Oh who can tell what prejudice may call
+  Devotion, when the devil doth enthral?'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVIII.
+
+THE PLOT.
+
+Father Duncan sat in the eastern window of Goldwell Hall, on the eve
+of Christmas, in earnest conversation with the Lady Alice.
+
+'It would be a pious offering to the shrine of the Virgin, if, lady,
+these heretics could but receive a shock on the day of the nativity.
+It would carry along with it such a conviction of vengeance from on
+high, that all the pious in Ipswich would be moved to prayer, and all
+the heretics affrighted might see and know that the Papal hierarchy
+are supported by miraculous interference.
+
+'What thou dost imagine, relative to that extinction of the flame of
+E. in thy votive candles, must be given thee; for the application is
+so apposite, that nothing but supernatural suggestion could possibly
+have presented it to thy mind.
+
+'Thy devotions, Lady Alice are so intense, thy supplications to the
+Virgin Mary so earnest, that she compels the powers of the heavens to
+listen to her voice, and to grant thee thy request.  The enemies of
+Rome must be extinguished.  It is impossible that two flames should
+shine together with such opposite lights as heresy and faith; and
+that which we saw extinguished is, as thou dost premise, a sure
+presage of the establishment and extinction of those very powers
+which, in the persons of Alice and Ellen, represent the A. and E. in
+the flames, or Apostolic and Erroneous, a sure presage I say, most
+noble lady, of the extinction of Error, and establishment of the
+Apostolic See.
+
+'Ellen Latimer, the daughter of Lord De Freston, is the most subtle
+enemy of the Church of Rome.  Her power must be extinguished in
+Ipswich; and what so effectual as the destruction of her mansion, and
+that of her ignoble and heretical father on the same night?'
+
+'It is well conceived, Lady Alice, and thou hast been quick, indeed,
+in the application of thy means.  Those means are put into thine
+hand, thou needest not to be afraid, they will assuredly succeed; and
+we shall see a blaze both far and near which cannot fail to be
+convincing.'
+
+'Oh, may they convince the impious enemies of Rome that they cannot
+prosper!  I have well assured Abdil Foley of his reward.  He has
+engaged to fire the wainscot in those unfrequented apartments of the
+castle of De Freston, which, ever since the death of Lady De Freston,
+have been closed, and are only occasionally visited by the lord
+himself.'
+
+'Abdil gains access thereto from the servant's apartments, and as he
+has been engaged in some repairs in that part of the building, he has
+conveyed thereto a quantity of shavings, and inserted them behind the
+panels, so that the slightest influence of fire will spread beyond
+the possibility of its being extinguished.'
+
+'Abdil will be among the merry-makers at the hall, and will seize his
+opportunity, just as he is about to leave for his own house, to go up
+into his son's room for his cloak.  It will be at twelve o'clock.  He
+will escape, and we must provide for him should he be suspected.
+None have any suspicions at the present time.'
+
+'Abdil is now in my hall, and only awaits thy promised absolution to
+convince you that he is a good Catholic, ready to do the bidding of
+any of the priests of Rome.  Shall I send him unto thee, Father
+Duncan?'
+
+'Do, my daughter.'
+
+Abdil Foley was one of those weak men, but strong, resolute devotees,
+who pinned his faith entirely to the word of the priest, so as to
+take everything he told him to do as a message from heaven.  He had
+been taught to think Lord De Freston and his daughter had changed
+their profession of true religion for the false one.
+
+He had been one among others who, though a tenant of the lord of
+Freston, had not been disturbed from his occupation, although the
+minds of many around him had changed through the very wise and able
+exposition of the learned noble who often instructed his tenantry.
+He had not been dispossessed because he retained his attachment to
+Rome.
+
+Having occasion frequently to visit Ipswich as a carpenter of
+considerable skill, he had been noticed by the priesthood for his
+bending his will to their suggestions, and the infatuated man had, as
+many before and after have done, allowed himself to be made the tool
+of the hierarchy to do things diametrically opposed to the Word of
+God.
+
+He had found himself completely under the hand of the lady of Cold
+Hall, and had been so piously inspired with her spirit, that he had
+promised, as a religious act of faith, to set fire to his master's
+premises.
+
+Father Duncan understood the character of the man the moment he saw
+him, and adapted his mode of address accordingly, as the profound
+fool entered the apartment, bowing to the very earth, as if he was
+entering into the presence of the Pope himself.
+
+'Abdil, my son, thou art welcome to our presence.  Come hither, that
+I may lay my hands upon thee, and give thee absolution.  Thy
+resolution to serve the church of thy fathers is nobly taken, and the
+destruction of heretics is a duty which every true son of Rome must
+feel to be a privilege, as he is therein made an instrument of
+vengeance upon the ungodly.
+
+'The pious lady of this mansion has informed me, that thou dost
+desire to have absolution from all sin in the act thou art about to
+perform against that pestilent heretic, Lord De Freston.  We give it
+thee freely and absolutely, and do not only assure thee of perfect
+pardon for all thy past sins, but for this act thou shall have free
+grace and exculpation for all sins thou mayest commit for twelve
+months to come.
+
+'Therefore, my son, kneel down, that we may bless thee and strengthen
+thy hands by the taking of them between our own, as an assurance of
+their being clean from all iniquity.'
+
+Abdil Foley knelt with the most profound submission, closed the palms
+of his hands as if they were two boards glued together, and inserted
+them with reverence between the opening palms of Father Duncan.
+
+No wonder that he should be elevated by the imposition.  The terms
+were such as the greatest villain who had any faith in Rome might
+conscientiously accept, and proceed, as Abdil did, to put in practice
+the most diabolical act under the pretence of doing God's service.
+
+He returned to Freston seven times more infatuated and diabolical
+than he had ever before been.  The poor fellow was of a naturally
+kind-hearted, easy temper, but was weak, ignorant, and easily imposed
+upon; just such as the priests of that day sought for to do the work
+they dared not themselves perform.
+
+Everything was arranged, but too successfully, for the destruction of
+Lord De Freston's castle, and the late residence of Ellen, his
+daughter, in the centre of Ipswich, so long belonging to the
+Wingfields.  Abdil had been made instrumental in the latter as well
+as the former, under the pretence of being employed about some
+repairs; so that he was in the plot, and sworn to secrecy.
+
+We shall see, however, that if vengeance inflicted by man is suffered
+to prevail for a moment, it recoils upon the head of the perpetrator,
+even when he is seeking the ruin of the innocent.  How awful were the
+intrigues of those days!  Truth requires no intrigue, certainly no
+violence, to defend it.  It is so calm and exalted above passion,
+that it scorns alike to put in force absolute cruelty, as it does
+absolute condemnation or acquittal.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIX.
+
+THE FOOL.
+
+Christmas Day of that memorable year in which Cardinal Wolsey died,
+came with its usual festivities; which in every house were exercised
+in a greater or less degree, according to their means.
+
+In De Freston's domain, it had ever been a day of the gathering of
+his tenantry into the great hall, when the bringing in the great log,
+the boar's head, and the largest buck which could be shot, as
+hereditary customs, were observed.
+
+Upon the present occasion, it was, if possible, a more than common
+festivity, particularly on account of the great age of the
+proprietor, whose birthday was on Christmas Day, and he had now
+attained the great age of eighty-eight years.
+
+The old Baron was as fine a specimen of an Englishman as ever walked
+into his hall.  He retained the fire of his eye on that very day with
+the vigor of a man whose intellect was less impaired than his body.
+
+It was a memorable Christmas Day for every one connected with the
+house of Freston--memorable, as will be seen, for its festive
+character; memorable for its local events, and for the destruction of
+the two most stately mansions which at that period graced the banks
+of the Orwell.  But though it was a day of rejoicing to many, it was,
+as it ever will be, a day of woe to some.
+
+All were happy in and around the hospitable mansion.  Cavendish saw
+such a body of happy Suffolk yeomen meeting at the foot of Freston
+Tower, that he declared, if ever his fortunes enabled him to do so,
+he would become a Suffolk man.
+
+From far and near all were assembled, and Ellen, more than usually
+happy and active, was here, there, and everywhere among her parent's
+tenants, interchanging, exchanging, and changing hands, words, and
+deeds, as became a lady of her distinction and qualities of head and
+heart.
+
+What a pity that ever a cloud should have arisen to change the sunny
+smiles and cheerful welcomes of that happy Christmas Day.
+
+It often happens in terrestrial things that at the very moment of our
+utmost felicity, when the cup of social enjoyment is at its highest
+point, touching the very lips of him who is ready to taste the
+draught, then an unforeseen blow prostrates, in a moment, all the
+excitement, pleasure, and enjoyment of that mortal delight in which
+we had been engaged.
+
+This may be very beneficial to us all; but it is at the time
+confessedly severe, and it is only calm reflection, gradual wisdom,
+and gently sustained grace that lifts the broken-hearted to the
+calmer wisdom of acquiescence in the wisdom of the wise Disposer of
+all things.
+
+Stoicism may harden a man's heart to such a degree, that his
+philosophical mind may become indifferent to almost everything; and a
+species of fatalism may usurp all tenderness, nature, affection, and
+every quality of enjoyment with which God has gifted our souls and
+bodies.
+
+But stoicism, thank God, is not the Christian's creed, who looks to
+the law and the testimony, and the love of God for all his creatures,
+but most of all for man, for whom God has himself made a sacrifice,
+such as angels who are not partakers thereof can scarcely describe;
+such as souls, lost and found, can, indeed, only appreciate.
+
+Oh, let me be the poorest fly of the sunbeam, thankful for the warmth
+of heavenly rays which expand my wings, rather than the chilly tenant
+of the gloomy, tomb-like monastery, which can only be made warm by
+artificial means, and then gives neither confidence nor comfort to
+the heart.  One ray of love is worth twenty thousand torches, though
+they might cast a glare of light upon a murky night.  One ray of
+love, of the daylight from on high, shall put into darkness all the
+candles of the altars of superstition, though they may burn with
+national devotion through the largest empires of the world.
+
+So the heaviness of a sudden blow coming unexpectedly upon a
+Christian may cast him down for a night, but not for ever.  God feels
+for him who can feel for others, and will lift him up from his fall,
+and restore him to the light.
+
+These may be comforting words to some and foreboding ones to others,
+and they who read this narrative may be trembling on the breath of
+suspense, knowing what is coming in the course of the description,
+and may imagine this work is to end in the dismal sorrow of some
+dreadful catastrophe.
+
+An unhappy, a designedly mischievous, and wicked act did transpire;
+but he whom it was meant to injure never knew the enemy that caused
+it; and, as we shall presently see, she whom it was hoped might be
+consumed, or overwhelmed with the terror of the conflagration, was so
+engrossed with a nobler, deeper, and more heartfelt grief, that even
+the destruction of all her houses would have been a cypher compared
+with it.  The blow which divine wisdom gives carries along with it
+its own cure, it is to be healed by the word of wisdom; but the blow
+which enemies give us, wound only themselves.
+
+The Christmas festivities of the park of De Freston were observed out
+of doors and in with all the usual demonstrations of temporal
+rejoicing.  The landlord's presents were made on this day to his
+tenants.
+
+New stuff gowns to good wives, new suits of liveries to all
+retainers, new swords to the defenders of the castle, new books to
+the learned, new hats, shoes, coats, jerkins, stockings, caps,
+woollens, and all the variety of household comforts, to the cottagers
+and peasantry of the domain.
+
+All were invited to the baronial mansion, where the yule log burnt
+upon the open hearth, and such a blaze ascended, as lighted up every
+portion of the great hall without the aid of lamps.
+
+Lord De Freston, with his faithful bloodhounds at his heels, and his
+loving daughter by his side, stood again, though for the last time,
+in the hall of his ancestors, a cheerful spectator of his tenantry
+and people.
+
+The old man most devoutly blessed the fare which a bountiful
+Providence had supplied, and heartily wished all he saw to be good
+and happy.
+
+It was not the fashion in that day to have riotous cheering in the
+company of the ladies, but vivid respect was not the less visible on
+every countenance as the party walked around the well-spread board,
+attentive to the wants of individuals as if they felt they were their
+own children.
+
+'Abdil Foley,' said the Lady Ellen, as she happened to look him in
+the face, 'you do not seem happy to-day; has any misfortune come upon
+you or your family?  I have observed you eating nothing, and you wear
+dejection in your countenance.  Come Abdil, if you have any grief at
+heart, let your mistress share it with you.'
+
+Abdil could give no answer; he was not a man of strong mind, or
+insensible to natural kindness, nor was he able to conceal the
+uncomfortable state of his heart, in the midst of the enjoyment, the
+festive mirth, he saw around him.  He was a weak man, and a wicked
+one as well, as far as perpetrating a deed in prospective intention
+could make him wicked.
+
+His position, at that moment, was by no means an enviable one.
+Conscious of the action he was fully determined to perform, and sworn
+to the most inviolate secrecy upon the occasion, nothing but the
+terrors of imposition could keep him silent, or resolute in his
+undertaking.
+
+He had hoped to have managed to conceal, in the bustle of the
+festivities, his wicked designs, even from the torment of his own
+heart; but the excited spirit could not do otherwise than think of
+his absorbing action, which he was to perpetrate; and, until he had
+done it, the very hours, the very faces, the very dishes, the very
+exercises, all appeared to him insipid.
+
+He could not rest; others laughed at the various oddities of the
+accomplished Reuben Styles, the buffoon of the day: but he, if he
+smiled, was so insensible to anything like merriment, that he looked
+as if he condemned whilst he permitted the frolic of the jester.
+
+He answered not the Lady Ellen, but hung down his head in dogged
+silence, until she called Reuben Styles to her, and, with an air of
+pleasantry, said--
+
+'Reuben, look at Abdil Foley, and tell me what is the matter with
+him.'
+
+With vast pomposity and affected knowledge, Reuben sprang forward,
+seized the hand and beard of the patient, and at once exclaimed:
+'Verily, lady, he hath a devil to contend with.  He is a black one
+too--a fiery one also--and I would not be in the same house with him
+to-night for all the world!'
+
+In another moment the fool fell prostrate on the floor, and struck
+his head, in falling, so forcibly against the column of the balcony
+which surrounded the hall, that he was stunned to stupefaction and
+sick, and was forced to be carried out of the merry company into the
+air.
+
+Lord De Freston was angry, and justly accused Abdil of great cruelty
+to the tolerated and flattered buffoon, whose lot it was seldom to
+meet with such treatment, as all men took what he said with
+good-nature.
+
+'Thou hast been severe, Abdil: my daughter will not readily forgive
+thee for this!'
+
+'I don't care if she don't,' was the uncourteous reply.
+
+'Why didst thou do it?'
+
+'Because the fellow took me by the beard, and told me I had a devil.'
+
+'Of which thou hast given abundant proof in thy devilish deed, in
+nearly knocking out his brains.'
+
+'Then his brains should be in their proper place.'
+
+There was a general dissatisfaction at the conduct of Abdil Foley,
+both towards the courteous Lady Ellen and her father, and many were
+the rebuffs which this unhappy man received upon that merry Christmas
+Day.
+
+He took all these things as many infatuated people do--as sufferings
+for conscience' sake--a strange species of self-deception which a
+deluded creature, in every age, has called a conscientious suffering.
+
+Nothing else, however, than the impious persuasion, and the false
+oath he had taken to destroy De Freston's mansion, could have worked
+upon his temper and disposition, so as literally to make him an
+object of disaffection in the hall of his master.
+
+That good man, though he did not approve the behaviour of the
+mechanic, had he been indeed of a despotic disposition, would have
+banished him from his associates on that festive occasion, and not
+have borne with his surliness, and certainly not have begged of
+others to do the same.
+
+He and his daughter left the hall to see after their poor man of wit,
+who was carried into the air, and was reviving from the blow he had
+received.  There was a wonderful elasticity of character about Reuben
+Styles.  He was not a privileged mischief-maker, and, though full of
+fun, he very seldom said anything to wound the feelings of any one.
+
+Yet he was attached to Lord De Freston and Ellen, and he felt that
+Abdil's surliness, sullenness, and downcast manner at such a time,
+must result from ill-humor of mind or body.  He looked at him
+therefore earnestly, to see if some bodily ailment might not afflict
+him; but, discovering no symptom for the skill of the leech, he
+easily concluded the man must have some ill-will rancoring in his
+heart, which prevented his enjoying the Christmas Day as others did.
+
+When Lord De Freston inquired good-humoredly after him, saying:
+'Reuben, Reuben! you have had a hard hit to-day.'
+
+The man replied, 'And so will you, good lord, before night.'
+
+'How so, Reuben?'
+
+'Because when a man strikes master's fool, I'm sure it is not
+anything but hatred of his master which makes him hit so hard.'
+
+'He can have no cause to hate me, Reuben; I never injured him.'
+
+'So much the worse fellow he.  He did not hate me.  A few days ago I
+could say anything to him; but I suspect I spoke truth to him, good
+master, and the devil hates truth; he hath therefore a devil within
+him which knocked me down, and I wish that may be the worst mischief
+in him to-day.  I feel better, good master, ready to return.  I must
+join the sports within the hall.'
+
+So the poor fellow came in again; but was observed to be very much
+shaken, and not so lively as he had been.
+
+  'Yet there rejoiced he many eyes,--
+  To see the fool still looking wise;
+  And well it was that he could see
+  With such a stunn'd capacity;
+  And yet he saw, with open eyes,--
+  Enough to give them all surprise.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER L.
+
+CHRISTMAS DAY.
+
+In the midst of the festivities of Christmas, when the various
+out-door rustic frolics, such as breaking the stoutest stick, sliding
+the farthest on a piece of ice, snowballing, tracking the hider, and
+building up the snow man to be shot at, had passed away, and the song
+and the dance within the mansion were beginning to soften all hearts,
+a beggar was announced by the porter, as desirous of partaking of the
+crumbs of the lord's table.
+
+'Make way for the traveller!' was the immediate order of De Freston;
+'let the weary-footed man walk in.  Go, several of you, and assist
+him hither.  We shall enjoy ourselves the more, the more free the
+hospitality we offer.'
+
+An old man, with grey, straight, silken locks, came in, supported by
+others, almost perished from cold; and with shivering limbs and
+weeping eyes, he was placed near the crackling fire.  He sat down, or
+was rather assisted to be seated, when, opening his eyes, the first
+thing he fixed them upon was the now animated face of De Freston's
+bloodhound.
+
+That animal had become on a sudden wide awake, and his full,
+piercing, lion-like eye, was no longer dull, heavy, and torpid.  The
+dog's whole frame became animated, and he growled with a most
+discontented grumble at the attention shown to the beggar.
+
+The man was, as most well-initiated beggars are, well versed in
+words, both of complaint, entreaty, thankfulness, and murmuring, and
+knew how to adapt his speech to the company he was in.  The very
+instant, however, that he spoke in such a plaintive interceding way,
+Saracen, the bloodhound, gave such a deep-toned, dissatisfied bark,
+that, had a lion roared in the hall, the people could not have been
+more effectually startled.
+
+It had the effect of turning all eyes upon the beggar, who assuredly
+was more disturbed at the confronting stare of the bloodhound, than
+at the scrutiny of any of the company before him.  His was no
+dissembled terror at the dog, for he evidently betrayed such a fear
+of him, both in word and deed, that the Lord De Freston was compelled
+either to remove the beggar from the dog, or the dog from the beggar.
+
+The latter appeared the most hospitable step, and the one most
+satisfactory to the beggar, who smiled when he saw his dreaded enemy
+led off to his kennel.  That enemy, however, could not be taken away
+without giving such an indication of his displeasure as, but for the
+interference of De Freston, would probably have been of the most
+serious consequence; for, as the two keepers came to lead him away,
+before they had fairly secured them, he flew at the beggar, and
+rolled him off his seat in a moment, and then looked at his master as
+if for instructions to destroy him.
+
+De Freston struck the dog, who gave such a piteous howl, as pierced
+the very extreme recesses of the castle, and so touched the heart of
+Ellen that she flew to soothe her favorite, and succeeded.  She, in
+fact, led him away from the victim of his rage.
+
+There were many in that hall who looked upon the circumstance as
+ominous of calamity, though the Lord De Freston, despising all such
+old wives' fables, was above any superstitions of the kind.
+
+The fool, however, though not superstitious, saw something abhorrent
+in the beggar, and resolved to keep his eye upon him; for he said to
+himself: 'There are many strangers here to-night; why did not the
+bloodhound tackle them?'
+
+But the festivities went on; the drum, and flute, and bagpipe did
+their parts, and groups of merry dancers whirled their partners
+through the strange hop of the age, much resembling the dance of
+sailors on board a man-of-war.  The more stately set dance of the
+nobility was not imitated by the people, and in these Christmas
+frolics no mask was allowed.
+
+As the dance went on, the old beggar revived from his warmth, and
+fixed his eyes upon Abdil Foley, and somehow contrived to let him see
+that he claimed his attention.  He thought he was unobserved, but the
+watchful fool had kept him in his eye, and now felt convinced that
+there was more than one demon in the room.  Abdil contrived gradually
+to draw up to the fire-place, and the beggar dropped his staff.
+
+'Pick it up, young man,' said he; and as he gave it him he said--
+
+'Father Duncan is here.'
+
+The guilty Abdil looked at the beggar narrowly, and saw in a moment,
+beneath the disguise, the ever watchful priest of St. John the
+Baptist, Father Confessor to Alice De Clinton, and the craftiest
+Jesuit who ever set foot into the diocese of Norwich.
+
+'Go and join in the dance, Abdil; shake off thy melancholy; I will
+set thee free.'
+
+Abdil went; he suddenly shook off his melancholy--for he was bid to
+do so, and by a priest--so that he became, if not in reality, yet
+apparently, an altered man.
+
+The fool observed it, and kept his watch the more closely upon him,
+as his altered behaviour seemed to him entirely owing to the beggar's
+speech.
+
+Lord De Freston, in his attentions to his people, had for a time
+forgotten the attack upon the beggar by his bloodhound, and now,
+seeing the old man interested in the dance, he walked towards his
+seat, and entered into conversation with him.
+
+'I hope thou hast recovered from the terror which my savage hound
+occasioned.'
+
+'Thanks to thee, I feel myself better.  He is a faithful dog.'
+
+'He is, indeed; and singular in him, he never attempts to attack any
+one who is not a stranger--quite a stranger to this country.  He has
+never smelt thy foot before.'
+
+'I am a stranger from Lancashire, and poor enough; but I have a vow
+upon me to visit Latimer's Tower on the Christmas Day after Cardinal
+Wolsey's death.'
+
+'Ha! how knewest thou that the Tower was ever Latimer's Tower.'
+
+'That is easily explained.  Though I am a beggar, a pilgrim, a
+wanderer from a far country, yet I was a monk at York, who had to do
+penance for my sin, and the penance laid upon me was that, from the
+moment that the death of Cardinal Wolsey, Archbishop of York, should
+take place, be it whensoever it might, or I be wheresoever I might
+be, I should start barefoot for the birth-place of Wolsey, and there
+remain until Christmas Day next succeeding, and that upon that day I
+should visit a certain tower, designated, by the Cardinal himself,
+Latimer's Tower, and affix in the window of the fifth story this
+illuminated cross.
+
+'That I was to ask permission of thyself so to do the one hour before
+midnight.  I have scarcely had time to walk the distance, as you see
+me, noble lord; but humbly crave it, as the completion of my vow, to
+perform the task.'
+
+'Folly though I think all such vows to be, both in those who exact
+and those who perform them, I cannot forget that the time was when I
+myself, like thee, thought it part of a good Catholic's devotion to
+impose such vain works of penance upon myself.
+
+'I pity thee sincerely, stranger, but will aid thee effectually in
+thy task, though I wish most heartily that thou mayest be enlightened
+to see thine error.'  The pilgrim crossed himself devoutly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LI.
+
+THE INCENDIARY.
+
+The dance continued merrily and cheerily, and every one enjoyed the
+Christmas cheer; till at last the castle horn blew, and friends who
+lived near parted with good humor from those who were to remain the
+night.
+
+'Friends,' said De Freston, 'farewell!  Our love go with you.'
+
+Little did any who departed think they were the last words they
+should ever hear from the lips of that generous nobleman.  The bustle
+of departure had scarcely been over before Ellen and Latimer,
+Cavendish and other friends, were surprised to hear Lord De Freston
+give an order such as they never had heard upon such an occasion
+before:
+
+'Torches for the Tower!'
+
+'Torches for the Tower, father!' exclaimed Ellen; 'what! on this
+night?'
+
+'Yes, my daughter, it is but fitting that we should have due regard
+to the prejudices of strangers:
+
+'Torches for the Tower!
+
+'And, Ellen, wrap thyself well up in thy wintry woollen mantle, and
+accompany me thereto.  This stranger has a vow upon him which we must
+see performed.  It is one enjoined by thine early friend, Thomas
+Wolsey.'
+
+This was sufficient for Ellen, but Cavendish, his gentleman usher,
+house secretary, and most humble servant, said--
+
+'Who is the stranger? what is the vow?'
+
+'You may inquire of him anything you will.'
+
+'Old man,' said Cavendish, 'what is thy name?'
+
+'My name is Duncan.'
+
+'Monk of York, who, on a celebrated Palm Sunday, on which we all went
+in procession to our Lady's Chapel, didst conduct thyself disorderly,
+licentiously, and insultingly to my Lord Cardinal, and wast ordered
+to be confined for the lifetime of my master?'
+
+'I am he--the same--and was then to perform the vow which thy master
+named, and which, now he is dead, I am come to fulfil.'
+
+'I do not remember that part of thy sentence.'
+
+'This was imposed upon me at the suggestion of our Superior, the
+venerable D'Annerat.'
+
+'It is well--it is well--my poor master is dead, and the Superior
+might have obtained this penance from my master without my knowledge,
+and it is not unlike him.  Hast thou no proof thereof?'
+
+'This,' said the cunning Duncan, 'this,' and he showed him a glass
+cross, with the arms of the Cardinal in the centre, and the whole
+capable of illumination by a phosphoric matter, with which it had
+been washed inside.
+
+Cavendish asked him so many questions of York, of its monastery,
+cathedral, neighborhood, palace, castle, and people, that he became
+convinced he was at York during the time of his master's presence
+therein.  He gave, therefore, implicit credence to the man's words,
+and intimated to Lord De Freston that he could vouch for the truth of
+the man's statement.
+
+Torches were brought, two men appointed to attend the aged devotee,
+and to assist his steps, whilst Lord De Freston, Ellen, and Latimer,
+with Cavendish, prepared to walk through the snow, which had then
+fallen deep, to the porch of Freston Tower.
+
+Old Saracen howled most piteously as the torches passed over the
+drawbridge, and neither the orders for silence, nor the cheerful call
+of De Freston, could make him cease his piteous moan, as if he were
+baying the torches which were accompanying his master to his tomb,
+instead of the light, airy, lofty, cheerful abode of his hours of
+meditation, recreation, and study.
+
+It was a very unusual thing for his master to proceed by torchlight
+without his favorite bloodhound, and it might be the being left
+chained at the castle door at such a time that created Saracen's
+discomfiture.  But his anger at the beggar was sufficient cause for
+De Freston to decline his services that night.
+
+The attendants were ordered to accompany their lord, but the fool
+would not go.  He had other game in view, for, having seen
+significant but secret glances pass between Abdil Foley and the
+beggar, he resolved to watch the former, whom he heard say--
+
+'I must hasten to my son's room for my cloak.'
+
+His young son was one of the undergrooms, who slept in the furthest
+attic, adjoining the unfrequented apartments of the castle.  Reuben
+Styles was suspicious.  The moment he heard his speech he bolted off,
+and took the nearest passage to the back staircase, leaving Abdil to
+pursue his way through the crowd; one detaining him to congratulate
+him upon his recovery; another joking him about the fool; another
+about his possession of a demon, until Reuben had fairly secreted
+himself beneath one of the groom's beds, before the wretched Abdil
+came with his lantern into the room.
+
+He came, and alone; but breathing hard, and yet listening.  His cloak
+lay upon the bed, and its folds were hanging down even before the
+face of Reuben Styles; so that he was in some trepidation lest his
+old foe should catch him alone, and give him an additional punishment
+for his curiosity.  He was surprised the cloak did not move,
+especially as he knew that Abdil would not like to go across the park
+alone at night, and friends were fast departing from the hospitable
+roof.
+
+At last he heard him sigh, and speak--
+
+'Come, I must be quick!  Away, ye fiends of darkness; torment me not!
+Now, then, for the Faith.  I am glad, however, my lord and lady are
+not in the house.  No matter, if I am revenged upon the fool.  I
+should like to see him burning upon one of the turrets.  Now, Father
+Duncan, thou wilt say I did it well.  I must not forget my cloak upon
+my return.  Ha! ha! ye heretics! ye will soon see a blaze!'
+
+Those were fearful words for the fool to hear, who began to think
+that he was found out, and that he was to be taken wrapped up in the
+woollen covering of the bed, and to be burnt on the top of the
+turret, which was only a few winding steps from the place where he
+then lay.
+
+He was relieved, however, by hearing the bolts of the door leading to
+the unfrequented apartments undone, and then the lock turn from its
+hold, and its old rusty hinges grate upon the pivots, and Abdil Foley
+depart, closing the door again.
+
+'Whatever is the villain at!' thought Reuben.  'Whatever it is, he
+shall have it all to himself, for I will take good care he shall keep
+in those apartments all night.  He crept from his hiding-place,
+bolted the door, and finding that the great key was in the lock, he
+turned that also, and fled down stairs again to the hall, determined
+to give an alarm to all the house, by saying there was a ghost in the
+unfrequented part of the house.
+
+He did so, for he went into the very midst of the domestics, and told
+them all to go and listen, what a strange noise there was.
+
+And, indeed, there was soon heard a strange noise: such a thundering
+row at the doors, and such a crackling of wood, that the poor
+creatures shivered with terror, and the fool himself became horrified.
+
+  'There is a demon in the house,
+    There is a ghost I'm sure;
+  What strange, unearthly, hideous rows!
+    Who can these woes endure?'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LII.
+
+THE CONFLAGRATION.
+
+Poor old Saracen continued his lamentable howl, nor could the warder
+silence him.  De Freston himself, as he entered the porch of the
+Tower, said to his daughter--
+
+'I lament leaving Saracen behind us, but we must guard this stranger.'
+
+'Dear father, why do you brave the chill air to-night?  I do not like
+your coming.  We could surely have shown the stranger to the spot,
+and have seen him perform his devotions without your running the risk
+of cold.  Pray, dear father, keep your cloak close around you.  The
+chill air blows keenly across the Orwell, and this is a night only
+for the young, whose blood can be kept in circulation by exercise.'
+
+'Thanks, my dearest child.  I shall take no hurt.  I have a twofold
+duty in this visit to the Tower.  I shall see the arms of Wolsey in
+your favorite window, and that will be a pleasing memento of a
+once-learned but too ambitious man.
+
+'The poor disguised monk, old and infirm, will also see that we have
+a very scientific room, and I intend to speak a few words of truth to
+him appropriate to this occasion.  Moreover, after all our
+festivities to-night, I cannot tell you why, but I have feeling, a
+desire, a sort of indescribable wish, to look upon the tranquil seat
+of my fathers, from the turret, though it be only by our torches and
+the stars.  There is tranquillity in the thought after the agitations
+of the hall.'
+
+'I will say no more, dear father, but I am sorry that the night is so
+cold.'
+
+'Your heart is warm, dear child; proceed with the torches.'
+
+They entered the Tower.  The deceitful monk knelt down upon the stone
+floor, crossed himself devoutly, and followed the torch-bearers
+through the various rooms to the fifth story.  He came to the window.
+Again he knelt down, took from his bosom the cross, which in another
+moment, after kissing repeatedly, he affixed to the centre of the
+window.
+
+Then taking his flask, which hung from his side, he pretended to take
+the first draught of wine which he had been allowed to touch since
+the moment of his making the vow until its completion.  He laid the
+carved horn upon the table, and again seemed lost in prayer.
+
+Deceitful villain, at that moment he was making a double signal for
+the destruction of two of the most magnificent houses in town and
+country which the banks of the river Orwell owned.  But they were the
+seats of heretics, men adverse to the malignities, views,
+corruptions, lies, and impositions of the Papal power, and though
+very learned, very charitable, very wise, opulent, and humble, yet
+hostile to the hierarchy of Rome, and therefore to be tormented,
+persecuted, and driven from the land.  The illuminated cross shone
+conspicuous enough to lighten the room.
+
+'Let us leave the pious pilgrim to his own meditations and ascend to
+the turret, my child, for a few minutes.'
+
+They ascended; they leaned upon the summit; but in a moment De
+Freston felt a chill come over him, and he said--
+
+'Ellen, I feel dizzy, my child; support me, Latimer.'----
+
+He fell into the arms of his son-in-law and Cavendish, who placed him
+upon the stone steps of the turret.
+
+'Ellen, fetch the monk's flask of wine!'
+
+She descended.  There knelt the dissembling devotee.
+
+'Father, I must take thy flask.  My parent is suddenly taken ill.'
+
+She waited not for his reply, nor did she see his smile.  But ran
+hastily up again with the flask, concluding that the man would follow.
+
+He had done his work.  He descended slowly, passed through the yet
+ignorant torch-bearers, made his genuflections and crosses, and gave
+his blessing solemnly to the men, and desired them to kneel and pray
+in silence until he walked three times round the outside of the Tower.
+
+The villain was soon gone, soon struck into the shades of Freston,
+sought the shore, and, with sturdy steps, bade defiance to pursuit.
+A cry, a lamentable cry, was soon heard, and all rushed from the
+lowest room into the air.  The whole castle was on fire.
+
+Shrieks issued from the distance, and above their heads the
+lamentations of one voice was heard from the lofty tower.  The men
+were in agony, between the hastening to the castle and the call from
+above.  Six ran toward the mansion; two, with fearful agony, ascended
+the Tower.
+
+Ellen was so completely engrossed with her parent's state, that she
+cast not her glance over the battlements, but upon the leads, where
+her father's serene face was looking up as if his eyes would pierce
+the skies.  She put the flask to his lips; she poured the wine into
+his mouth--he drank.  For a moment he seemed to revive; he felt for
+his daughter's hands, he placed them in Latimer's, he kissed them; he
+was speechless; he looked up, and with a gentle smile upon his lips,
+he breathed his last.
+
+It was at that moment the cry from the castle reached their ears; but
+had it been a volcanic eruption it would not have attracted the
+rivetted, deep rivetted devotion of the affectionate beings who then
+knelt at the dead De Freston's feet.
+
+Cavendish alone, in an agony of horror, exclaimed--
+
+'The castle is on fire!'
+
+Nor had these words, nor the sudden spectacle, power to turn the
+souls of the true mourners from a greater object of their sorrow.
+The castle was on fire, and more, Cavendish beheld over the waters in
+the far distance, a blaze of light illumining the sky, and heard the
+distant bells of the town of Ipswich sounding their alarm to arouse
+the country.
+
+It was a spectacle so appalling, that what with the woe around and
+near him, even he, who had seen more sorrows than his years could
+have been supposed to have known, was completely unnerved.
+
+Latimer, recovering, bore his Ellen into the room beneath, where
+servants came screaming in wild dismay to her increased but solemn
+sorrowing.  Latimer ordered De Freston's servants to remove their
+master's body into the astronomical room, and torches to be there
+lighted immediately.
+
+There was no occasion for ordering furniture, for the assembling
+people had been some time bringing across to the Tower whatever goods
+and chattels could be saved from the conflagration.
+
+Reuben Styles alone seemed to retain wisdom for ordering anything.
+He knew Abdil was the perpetrator, and he kept his eye upon that wing
+of the house, and soon saw the desperate fellow in wild and mad
+despair climbing over the roof, and descending by the spouts from one
+parapet to another.  He had cut his leg severely with some broken
+glass, and even in the fire, the villain might be seen with bloody
+clothes trying to escape, and he did descend.  So much broken up with
+the woe were the people, that those who saw him pitied him, and
+called to him to show him how to escape, none knowing, save the poor
+fool, that he was the cause of the catastrophe.
+
+Hundreds were employed in breaking the ice and throwing water.
+Numbers kept arriving, but all--all in vain.  Reuben Styles seemed to
+assume a sudden command--men obeyed him.  It was he who let the
+bloodhound loose.  It was he who, when the ruin was complete, which
+it was by two o'clock that dreadful night--it was he who exclaimed,
+when he heard that his master was dead, and the rest of his family
+safe--it was he who exclaimed to the people--
+
+'Let us pursue the incendiary.  I know who he is.  Dead or alive let
+us bring him to Freston Tower.  Follow me the stoutest of you all.
+Follow me as many as dare.  Bring Saracen along with you!'
+
+The blood-hound was not long before he was on the scent for the blood
+of Abdil Foley had dropped upon the snow across the moat, and when
+Reuben took up a portion with the snow, and rubbed it on the nose of
+Saracen, and tracked him on the slot, the brave dog, with one lift of
+his head, and a solemn, deep-toned note of recognition, pursued the
+villain, who, conscience-smitten, fled from the terror of his deeds.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIII.
+
+THE PURSUIT.
+
+But when did the wicked escape?  So will a man's sins follow him, and
+find him out at last, be they what they may.  And whoever has sinned
+against love, whoever has injured a neighbor, whoever has been
+vindictive, cruel, unfeeling, or revengeful, the bloodhound of his
+own conscience will pursue him, and superstition, under the garb of
+religion, can never more shield him beneath her altars.
+
+Abdil fled to his home.  His wife, his sons, his neighbors were all
+gone to lend a hand, if possible, to quench his fiery work.  He had
+been seen.  He must be known.  He must be taken.  He could not stay
+there.  What must he do?  The very solitude of his cottage, and the
+distant noise of the people, all conspired against him, and the
+wretched man exclaimed--
+
+'O Father Duncan!  O Lady Alice! now--now--now give me absolution.  I
+must fly to you.  You must hide me in the sanctuary of your church.
+You must console me, or my fiery brain will burn more furiously than
+De Freston's Hall.'
+
+The wretched man rested not a moment, save to drink one bitter
+draught of liquor which he had in his house, and then fled for
+Goldwell, or Cold Hall.
+
+He had a long start--an hour's start and more of his pursuers.  Ten
+young men, with undaunted courage, firm hands and feet, led on by
+Reuben Styles, and the noble bloodhound of De Freston, followed on
+the track.  So still was the night, that Saracen's deep note could be
+heard for a long while by the mournful listeners at the castle.
+
+The brave dog arrived at the door of the infatuated carpenter.
+
+'He is right,' exclaimed Reuben, 'he is right, my bold companions,
+Abdil Foley is the man.  He is the wretch.  Find him, good Saracen,
+find him, boy!'
+
+In vain they searched the house.  They had well nigh been left in the
+lurch, for Saracen had again tracked that now well-known foot from
+the house, and was making his way towards the lodge.
+
+Thither they followed with fresh excitement, as the bold dog gave but
+little further tongue, but seemed to settle down into a certain
+steady pace of pursuit.  It was a longer and a stronger chase than
+they expected, but the spirit of Reuben was above fatigue, and he
+exclaimed at the lodge:
+
+'Now, boys, go no further, you who cannot endure a long run; for my
+belief is, the town' (then four miles off) 'is our destination.'
+
+Never huntsman had a braver field to follow him.  Never hound less
+came to check.  As they entered upon the strand they found the snow
+was less, and the scent more new and powerful, and consequently the
+fierce delight of Saracen was more lively.  His head was higher up,
+as if he expected to see his victim, or else the scent of the man
+more recently impregnated the very air with his demoniacal stench.
+
+A bloodhound is not swift, but he is very sure, very untired, always
+persevering; and though his gallop is slow, comparatively speaking,
+it is inexpressibly grand.  So is vengeance in following the guilty.
+
+On! on! on!  Forward! forward! forward! and forward went the party,
+and at every step they took they could see the heavens brighter and
+brighter, until the light from behind, where De Freston's castle was
+blazing, and the lights before them illumining the whole town, might
+fairly be said to act almost like sunshine.
+
+They approached the town, but Saracen halted not.  Though foot-marks
+crossed, commingled, and became a regular path; on, on, on he kept,
+nor paused, nor spake, but every now and then dashed his rudder-like
+tail from side to side to steer him safely to the wind.  But now came
+the proof of his sagacity.
+
+Abdil had been ferried over the ford.  In dashed the dog, and, as
+soon as could be, followed the hunt.  Up St. Peter's Street, past the
+Cardinal's College, through Silence Street, Wolsey's house in St.
+Nicholas, past Wolsey's Shambles in the market.
+
+On, over the Butcher's Hill, through St. Lawrence, past the Magdalene
+Hospital, the Pest House, St. Margaret's, St. Helen's: and now the
+bloodhound opes his mouth; and keeps his jaws working as if he was
+actually eating the scent.  Hundreds joined the cry.  'Pursue the
+incendiary!  Pursue the incendiary!' were the exclamations: and half
+the town appeared on fire, from the mighty glare of the noble house
+in Brook Street.
+
+At the gates of Goldwell Hall, Saracen came to a check.  He actually
+seized the handle of the porter's bell, and bit it as if it were the
+hand of the incendiary.  That hand had been but a few minutes on and
+off the handle; and the rage of the bloodhound might now be seen in
+contrast with his previous steadiness.  He gnawed at the threshold.
+His deep-toned voice must have echoed in the hearts of the guilty
+souls within; but no one answered the multitude.
+
+That multitude, in pursuit of a then exciting and righteous cause,
+tried all they could to obtain a peaceable entry.  They were sternly
+denied, though they heard voices in the Lodge.
+
+Force was resorted to, and at last an entrance gained; but here all
+track was lost, for the fugitives had been drawn up into a lofty
+room, and thence conveyed into a secret cavern which led to the
+little chapel of St. John the Baptist; but the Lady Alice, with an
+hauteur and cold dignity, confronted and confounded the pursuers, by
+her calm denial, coolness, and composure.
+
+They could search no further; for that day Abdil and Father Duncan
+had both escaped, and Saracen returned with his brave huntsmen and
+field to Freston Tower.
+
+The castle was gone--it was a ruin.  The Tower alone remained, and
+its sorrowful inmates were, for a season, inconsolable.
+
+Friends came from Ipswich, the lodges and cottages were full of the
+Hall dependants, and the death of De Freston on Christmas Day, on the
+summit of Freston Tower, was the conversation of thousands until the
+very name became extinct.
+
+William Latimer and the Lady Ellen lived two years in Ipswich, in the
+house of Edmund Daundy; Freston Tower became a noted place; Alice de
+Clinton, soon forgotten.  The united couple, who loved each other
+through all their trials, retired into Worcestershire.  William
+Latimer became a firm Protestant, the estates of De Freston were
+disposed of and the faithful Saracen went with his mistress to their
+Midland Counties home.
+
+Cold Hall is now but a farm-house, as many of the old baronial
+mansions of past ages have become.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIV.
+
+THE LAST VISIT TO THE TOWER.
+
+Latimer and Ellen visited the scene of their early attachment but
+once after their long and happy sojourn in Gloucestershire; and,
+singular enough, that once was to convey to a distant relative, of
+the name of Goodynge, the estate of Freston, for which he had, with
+earnest solicitation and very liberal offers, made repeated
+application.
+
+Ralphe Goodynge, or Gooding, one of the oldest inhabitants of
+Ipswich, distantly connected with the family of De Freston on the
+female side, soon after the purchase of Freston, represented the
+borough of Ipswich, in conjunction with John Sparrowe.  It was owing
+to his liberality that the Tower itself remained one of the
+pleasantest features of the Orwell, and the place of happy resort for
+many a wedding party.
+
+In his day it became a sort of privilege for the townsmen of Ipswich
+to take a marriage trip to Freston Tower.  Its pleasant distance from
+the town, the lovely park in which it then stood, and the still
+memorable record of the Lady Ellen, and her faithful Latimer, made
+'Latimer's Tower,' a bye-word for conjugal felicity.  The wonder is,
+that it should ever have lost this celebrity.
+
+Whether it was that, in the lapse of years, the park became arable
+land, and lost the traces of hereditary grandeur, or that other
+possessors succeeded, who did not encourage this right of the free
+burgesses, and their espousals, the old distich was forgotten which
+said:
+
+  'No burgess on his wedding-day,
+  Which falls in whitethorn merry May,
+  Shall happy be in house or bower,
+  Who does not visit Freston Tower.'
+
+
+For many years, a venerable old couple of the name of Sage, who had
+been attached to the family of the Latimers, resided in the lower
+compartment of the Tower, and with the assistance of their two
+daughters kept the rooms in such order, that it was said:
+
+  'The Sages differ in their ages,
+    But all our hearts with love engage;
+  We pay the Sages marriage wages,
+    That we in age may be like Sage.
+
+
+It was to the house of this old couple, that Latimer and Ellen went
+after they had conveyed the estate to Mr. Ralphe Goodynge, and paid
+their last visit to the tower of love.  Memory, fresh, clear, and
+hallowed, can never forget the spot where the enjoyment of that sweet
+thought, the making another happy, was first imbibed.  Whatever cares
+may arise, whatever troubles may have come upon us, and however much
+the realities of this dull world, and its daily ploddings, may have
+made us creatures of circumstances, we still remember, with a
+holiness never to be effaced, the spot of our first love.
+
+Let stoics say what they will, or mortals without natural affection
+break every trace of love, every honest man, who had a heart of
+natural affection in his youth, cannot fail to recal, with
+satisfaction, the remembrance of that spot where he first became
+betrothed.
+
+The soldier may have to visit foreign countries; the ambassador,
+foreign courts; the lawyer, courts of law; the trader, foreign ports;
+even the Missionary, foreign stations; the Bishop, distant sees; no
+man, let him be called to whatever employment he may, and be
+compelled therein to forsake the scenes of his early youth, can fail
+sometimes to remember the associations of that day, when he first
+ventured even to think of that partner, with whom he may have
+afterwards passed the meridian of life.
+
+Everything tends to sanctify the spot.  The very duties of life, in
+which his daily occupations may have engrossed his time, are often
+broken in upon by the remembrance thereof.  The more mental those
+duties may have been, either in law, physic, or divinity, the keener
+or clearer will be the reflection or vision of the past.  None but
+those whose hearts are completely given up to the idolatry of money,
+can forget the place of friendship,
+
+  'Where bold and brave, and modest, pure, and bland,
+  He sought love's friendship both with heart and hand.'
+
+
+Let his calling be ever so high and sacred, there is no sin in
+looking back upon that spot and those thoughts of days gone by,
+though he may well know that he can never enjoy them again.  He may
+even feel thankful that he never can.  He may never even desire so to
+do, and yet never undervalue the heavenly permission which then
+sanctioned his betrothment, and witnessed his espousals.
+
+If the dear place be gone from him; if others possess it; if fathers,
+mothers, brothers, and friends, who smiled upon our days of love, and
+shared their freedom with us, be all departed--can we forget them?
+No! memory is vivid in love.  But are there no sorrows commingled
+therewith? no remembrances of mortal heart-burnings, affronts,
+failings, differences, wants of temper, accusations, or disputations?
+Smooth must have flowed the channel of life, if nothing of this kind
+can be remembered.  But if they can, and the God of mercy has
+softened the heart with tears of repentance for those past, unruly,
+or discordant intruders, let not the honest lover repine or despair,
+that he cannot alter the past.  His love is true, though the very
+earth may banish him from the spot.
+
+But what sensations crept over Latimer and the Lady Ellen as they
+stood at the foot of the Tower, for the last time!
+
+'Philosophers maintain, dearest husband, that we ought not to
+encourage any of those sensations which touch upon the melancholy
+moments of the past.  They would have us shake off the memory of
+anything in which we have once delighted; but they appear to me to
+think there is no pleasure at all in reflection.  Now, though sorrow
+may sadden the present moment, there is a species of unalloyed
+pleasure in the remembrance of those days, and in revisiting those
+scenes where we once imbibed the happiness of conversation with those
+we loved.  What say you, dearest husband?'
+
+'Say, my love, that no hours can be sweeter than those so employed,
+saving, shall I say, those of which we speak; but would not that be
+ungrateful?  We cannot go back again except in thought; we cannot
+retread the steps we have trodden years ago with the same objects we
+then had in view; but that is no reason why we should encourage
+bitterness in our souls, unless we have some bitter accusations of
+conscience to afflict us.  I do not remember even the building of
+this Tower with any regret.  Here it stands; the object of its
+erection was one of regard, dearest Ellen, for thyself; but if thou
+art not more esteemed by me than the Tower, or the domain around it,
+then should I deeply regret, perhaps, the surrender of our right and
+title to the estate.'
+
+'I thank thee, dearest--I thank thee; and yet thou canst not quite
+feel as I may do the vivid recollections of a father's love.  I think
+of him who loved me with a tenderness which seemed to be the deeper
+because of my mother's early loss.  Ah!  Latimer, he was as a father
+and a mother unto me!'
+
+'But he can be no longer such, dearest Ellen, and neither art thou so
+situated as to require it.  The wind was tempered to the shorn lamb.'
+
+'And so is it now; and I do not complain.  I do but think; and, as we
+learn to part with childish trifles without regret as we grow in
+years, so, dearest husband, must we learn to part with things to
+which our affections become more attached, inasmuch as they are more
+powerful objects of attraction.'
+
+'Yes, Ellen, and the more submissively to the Divine will we school
+our hearts in the course of our journey, the less those pangs of
+parting afflict us, and the sweeter are our hopes of rest.  The
+mansion itself, which held its lord, is gone; the Tower alone
+remains.  It has lasted until thy father's generation and name are
+gone, and, in the lapse of a few years more, even the memory of
+ourselves, and of all we have seen and known here, must pass away.'
+
+'But thou hast not forgotten the stipulation that, as long as the
+Tower can stand, it shall be preserved.'
+
+'No, our friend Ralphe Goodynge has guaranteed that thou shalt have
+full right and title, as long as he holds the estate, to a resident,
+rent-free therein, whomsoever thou mayst appoint, and that he will
+pay a certain monthly dole unto any person or persons inhabiting the
+spot, to keep the rooms and furniture in cleanly order for thyself or
+for thy friends, during the term of thy natural life.
+
+'He binds himself, moreover, to keep the said Tower an repair during
+his possession of the estate, and that as long as the name of Latimer
+can be remembered in Ipswich, it shall be designated "_Latimer's
+Tower_."  So you see, dearest, we shall still have a name and a
+possession on the banks of the Orwell.'
+
+'Why this should be such a pleasure to me, thou msyest easily guess.
+Not that we shall often revisit this spot, yet when we speak thereof,
+the thought of having friends to whom our early days were known, and
+the father and mother of our faithful servant still resident herein,
+will be pleasant to us, though we may be away from them.  Does Ralphe
+Goodynge bind his successors?'
+
+'No, not beyond the possession of his right and title to the estate;
+and this I think but fair.  He has no objection, as a relative, to
+make this spot a pleasant place of remembrance both for friendship
+and affection's sake; but he will not undertake to bind upon others
+that which he conceives only to concern himself.  I do not think this
+unreasonable.  It is not, Ellen, as if it were a place of public
+resort, or a place dedicated to any special purpose, either to
+religion or to the administration of justice, or even to public
+entertainment.  It was built for thee, and unless in future
+generations it could be devoted to similar purposes, and that is not
+likely, for it is not his intention to rebuild the mansion, I see no
+reason why he should be expected to preserve it.  There will not be
+another Ellen De Freston to inhabit it.'
+
+Whether this was gratifying or not to Ellen, she did not reply, but,
+with a sigh, she leaned upon her husband's arm, as they entered the
+Tower.  There are feelings, sensations, ideas, thoughts, and
+reflections, which cannot be spoken, and perhaps are never less able
+to be uttered than when we feel perfectly conscious that we have,
+even near to us as life, a being who can fully appreciate all we
+might express.  A sigh, if it could be defined, would speak perhaps
+an eloquence as yet unknown.
+
+  There is a spirit speaking in a sigh
+  Which words convey not unto human ears.
+  That which it is not, mortal tongues may speak:
+  That which it is, no words were ever found
+  To give its meaning to the list'ning world.
+  The world!--oh no! the world would never hear
+  The sigh of pure affection in the soul,
+  Contrition's sigh, or aspiration's sound,
+  The wish for things unseen, though not unfelt
+  The thought of being perfect, or of hope
+  Of gaining that perfection which delights
+  In joyful innocence, of bliss untold--
+  I speak not of the sigh of deep regret
+  For sins innumerable--groans, indeed!
+  Unutterable groans those sighs become.
+  And well become the guilty hearts of men;
+  And if sincere, the Comforter will come
+  With holy calmness to the troubled soul,
+  And give it peace.  There is a sigh for bliss--
+  Yes, seraph's blissfulness--to speak with those
+  With whom we held communion on earth,
+  On things of Heaven--can that sigh be told?
+  No, 'tis the thought of immaterial light,
+  Brighter than sun's most fervid-glowing ray,
+  In clearest atmosphere of brilliant day.
+
+
+We may suppose such a sigh to have escaped the heart at Ellen, as she
+entered the Tower, where she had spent so many happy hours with her
+affectionate father.  It was Latimer's care to improve even those
+moments of meditation with the language of truth, and his masculine
+mind then showed itself well worthy of the admiration Ellen had given
+it.  Never perhaps did she feel or own him to be her lord and master
+so powerfully as during the short converse they had in the favorite
+room of their favorite Tower.
+
+To strengthen the human mind with words of pious resignation; to
+point to the wisdom displayed for human reformation and human
+happiness, was then the duty, and the pleasure, and the comfort of a
+humble, honest-hearted husband.  Perhaps some would sigh to hear that
+conversation; perhaps it might instruct and improve many a human
+heart.  Let only the effects be told.
+
+Latimer and Ellen descended the steps of the Tower even happier than
+they ascended; for whilst, like many a faithful couple in this world,
+descending into the vale of years, conscious of ten thousand
+blessings which they received, for which they can only be thankful,
+even whilst they own themselves unworthy thereof, so their calm
+spirits ascend higher as their years descend.  So did Latimer and
+Ellen proceed on their way to the cottage.  At that cottage they
+learnt a lesson such as they never forgot, which made even this visit
+to the Tower memorable to their last days.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LV.
+
+THE LAST EVENT.
+
+The last event generally finishes a long series of virtues,
+blessings, providences, crosses, afflictions, or crimes; and if the
+last event which can happen to poor mortality be the best, the life
+must have been one of such tribulation that the event which is to
+terminate it can only be a submissive and a happy one.
+
+The last chapter of many a hook may afford us pleasure or pain
+according to the spirit of the foregone narrative.  Some think an
+entertaining book terminates well with a marriage; and most novels,
+which feed the passions or entertain the fancy, do so terminate.  In
+such case, they begin with the anticipation of the event, and the
+only novelty is, the varied way in which the thing is wrought up, so
+as to bring about the sure termination.
+
+There is a taste for style of composition--for variety of
+incidents--for the parts of speech, and for the sentimentality of a
+work, which may be very gratifying, but the impressions upon the
+whole are evanescent.  The acme of writing is to improve the heart
+with such solid good sense as shall make the things written of not
+easily forgotten.  Hence, things true to nature are awakening and
+striking: whilst things, however marvellous, which are unnatural,
+being worked up too highly, clog the appetite, and vitiate, if they
+do not totally destroy, the palate.
+
+Plain matter-of-fact things are, therefore, more startling a great
+deal than the representations of the most vivid fancy or imagination.
+
+There stand the venerable old Tower by the Orwell's side in the midst
+of the trees, grown old, and grey, and useless.  There it stands as
+it stood centuries ago; but it may not stand many more.  It may stand
+a long time after the hand which writes the record of these events
+may be unable to pen a line--but it will not stand a hundred
+thousandth nor a million of a million parts of the time, compared
+with the endurance of the spirit which dictates these pages, be they
+for good or for evil.
+
+When the old Tower shall have fallen, these pages will serve to show
+that it once existed: but it does exist at this time, and any man may
+see it who will, and trace its aptitude to the scenes, and the events
+herein described.
+
+The happy couple who had left their horses in the care of one of the
+old tenants of the Hall farm, now walked towards the village church,
+which at that time stood on the verge of the western side of the park
+palings.  Indeed, the knoll upon which the building had been raised,
+was given by the Lord De Freston, as his offering to the memory of
+St. Peter, and was subject to the Priory of that name in Ipswich,
+which had to furnish a priest to discharge the duties thereof.
+
+Their faithful domestic, who lived with them at the time they
+married, and who was with Ellen in the Tower on the memorable night
+of St. Ivan's funeral, had married and settled with her sailor
+husband at the Bourne Ford, at that time the Pilot's Home, close by
+Bourne Bridge.  She had lost her husband in the second year of her
+marriage, and through the kindness of the Lady Latimer, had been
+received into her house in Gloucestershire.  She had also journeyed
+with them into Suffolk, and was upon a visit to her parents, Joseph
+and Ann Sage, who had at that time a cottage near the church.
+
+It was Joseph's occupation to fell timber for repairs, and to see
+that the boundaries of the estate were well fenced in, and,
+especially the park and church palings, in good repair.  The old man
+was full of grief at the news brought him by his daughter, that the
+Lady Ellen was about to convey the estates of her father into the
+hands of the Goodynge family, not from any distaste to the
+purchasers, but because the names of De Freston and Latimer were so
+pleasant to the daily associations of the good old man, that he had
+flattered himself he should live to serve one of their name and
+descent.
+
+He was agreeably surprised when informed, by Ellen, of the
+reservation of the Tower for his residence, and of the monthly sum to
+be paid, whensoever he should choose to give up the labors of his
+life to his son, and retire with his two daughters to the Tower.
+
+It was whilst Latimer and Ellen were seated in the old man's neat
+kitchen, parlor, hall, or keeping-room, and had just made his heart
+beat for joy at these tidings, that a miserable object of human
+beggary tapped at the door, and asked if old Joseph Sage lived there.
+
+Joseph himself went out to see him, and not wishing his noble
+visitors to be disturbed by such a person, he closed the door after
+him, and stood erect before the beggar.
+
+A pale, thin, haggard, miserable-looking creature, without shoes, or
+woollen hose, with tattered rags, and torn skin, with a countenance,
+the lines of agony, more than of age, seemed to have shrivelled into
+deformity, stood before him.
+
+'What want you with me?' asked the old woodman.
+
+'Pity!' replied the beggar.
+
+'In what shape: in money, food, or raiment?'
+
+'In neither.'
+
+'In what, then?'
+
+'In a coffin.'
+
+Old Sage started, for in verity there appeared more truth in the
+man's application for this thing, than in the hundreds of petitions
+which beggars usually made.  It made the old man feel conscious,
+likewise, that there was something more earnest in this beggar's
+petition, than if he had sought alms at his hand.
+
+It is not often that a man asks for his own coffin, even if he be too
+poor to purchase one.  The very novelty of the thing made the hearer
+say, and that without any unfeeling intention, 'You must come into
+the shop, to my son,' and he walked with him.
+
+Scarcely could the beggar totter to the little out-house where the
+son, who was soon to be the successor of Joseph Sage, was at work.
+
+'I have a singular customer here, my son; a beggar applying to me for
+his coffin.'
+
+'Send him away, father, he is only an impostor,' replied the son.
+
+'I am no impostor, young man,' replied the beggar.  'Only just let me
+rest on your bench, and I will soon convince you thereof.'
+
+The beggar entered, but, unable to lift himself to sit upon the
+bench, he staggered, and fell upon a heap of shavings and chips which
+lay under the casement of the shop.
+
+It seemed, indeed, that he would want a coffin, for exhausted nature
+had well nigh extinguished the lamp of life, as the wretched man
+uttered a groan of distress which no impostor could have imitated.
+
+It was not a loud one; it was not a plaintive, whining, acquired,
+dissembling one.  It was a real faint utterance of the spirit of the
+wretched actually in the distress of death.
+
+'Run, my son, and ask thy mother for a little of her help; and bring
+hither my cloak and a good woollen blanket; then to thy neighbor
+Benns, whose skill as a leech may be of service.  The man shakes with
+cold; but hush, my son, disturb not the Lady Latimer.  Be quick.'
+
+His son was off in an instant, and the good old mother, with her
+bottle of cordial and blanket, soon obeyed the dictates of charity.
+
+The beggar was grateful.  He revived.  He looked at old Sage, and
+said--
+
+'Do you not know me?'
+
+'No!'
+
+'I know you both.  Ah! father!--ah! mother!--ah! my friends!--ah! my
+village!  'Tis here! here--here--I was born, and here I die.'
+
+'And who are you?'
+
+'Who?  Do you not really know me?  I am glad you do not.  I am glad
+you do not.  If you did, you would set these shavings on fire, and
+burn me to death; but I should not be dead.  No, I should not be
+dead; but burn, burn, burn, for ever!'
+
+'Poor man, he is mad.'
+
+'No, mother, I am not mad--I wish I was mad!  I wish I could be mad!
+I wish that my madness could quench my grief, mother.  If I were mad,
+I should not have come here.  No, I am not mad!'
+
+'Who art thou, my son?  And what is the matter with thee?'
+
+'Hush! mother.  I will tell thee who I am, but do not whisper it in
+the village.  Let me die first.  Oh! when shall I die? when? when?
+when?'
+
+'But who are you?  Shall I send for our priest to shrive you?'
+
+'Mother, I have been shriven many times.  I have been absolved over
+and over--over and over--for my sins.  I have had hours of penance,
+fasting, and prayer, from morning to night.  I have been shut up in
+the shrine of St. Peter for a month.  Priests have prayed with me,
+talked to me, even extolled me, mother, and told me all my sins were
+pardoned but if they were, they would not surely burn me as they now
+do.  Oh! how they scorch--how they glare upon me now, more fiercely
+than ever!  Oh! mother, give me a little water.  Throw some on my
+face, my hands, my feet.'
+
+'There, there, my poor soul! do not despair! do not despair!  Come,
+come, be pacified.  But who art thou?'
+
+The poor man looked wildly round, and, just at that; moment, Latimer
+and Ellen, who had heard something of the event, came to see if they
+could not, like ministering angels, give comfort to the sick.
+
+The instant the beggar saw them, he rose half up from his bed of
+shavings, lifted up his hands, and gave such a wild, piercing,
+agonising shriek, as made every heart quail before him.  After the
+shriek succeeded a long stare--a wild, yet fixed eye was rivetted
+upon the face of Ellen, and then, as they all stood motionless with
+astonishment, then succeeded that which never, till that very moment,
+gave the wretched soul of the man relief.  It was a tear.  It was
+soon followed by another, another, and another; a stream succeeded,
+and, as it flowed on, the head fell back, and the dying man was
+exhausted.
+
+The scene did not destroy the courage or disturb the spirit of
+Latimer.  He knelt down; he beckoned them all to do the same.  His
+Ellen knelt with him, and his quiet prayer was uttered with such
+truly humble, placid, and composed voice, that the pacified spirit of
+the dying man seemed lightened up with comfort.
+
+He turned his eyes up toward them, and, with an imploring look, such
+as showed the depth of the earnestness of his repentance, he said--
+
+'Forgive poor Abdil Foley!'
+
+In one moment all the mystery was solved.  Here lay the wretched,
+dying man, who, worked upon by superstition, bigotry, and
+malevolence, had destroyed the noble mansion of De Freston, fled to
+the remorseless Alice De Clinton, and her dark and treacherous
+flatterers, who had sent him from monastery to monastery throughout
+the kingdom, with every species of invention and applause, bribe and
+threat, intimidation and imposition; but who could never obliterate
+the memory of his guilt, nor satisfy his soul for the injury he had
+done to his best friends and supporters.
+
+How true is it, that no severities of outward discipline can wash out
+the stains of guilt within.  He who wickedly designs the injury of
+his benefactor, be he prompted by whom he will, or under whatever
+promises, or workings of flattery, or delusion, he may either imagine
+to be lawful, or be taught that it is so, will find that his wicked
+spirit can have no rest.  Repentance must bring him to the confession
+which no sophistry whatsoever can lull.
+
+It was Latimer's and Ellen's duty now to teach him that forgiveness
+belonged not to them; though they, as far as they could, forgave him
+freely for the cruelty he had shown towards them.  Nor did they lose
+the opportunity of pointing out to him the depth of that sin of which
+he had been guilty, nor the folly of seeking to make his own
+atonement.  They acted the part of the good Samaritan towards him,
+and though the time of his existence was short, they had the
+satisfaction of finding that the miserable man received consolation.
+
+He died shortly after their interview, and was buried in Freston
+churchyard, where the record of the incendiary, his flight, remorse,
+repentance, and death, formed the subject of many a conversation with
+old Joseph Sage and his friends in Freston Tower.
+
+Latimer and Ellen returned into Gloucestershire, where they lived
+beloved, courted, and caressed by many friends, who valued their
+literary attainments.  With the modesty of true greatness, they
+sought retirement, and were happy in the even tenor of their latter
+days.
+
+They had endured afflictions, they had seen greatness, and
+popularity, and ambition, and vain-glory, brought down to sorrow and
+death.  They lived to see pride overthrown in high places, and many
+in the midst of the fatness of plenty rendered unhappy.  They had
+suffered their portion of persecution, and had borne themselves with
+uncommon wisdom through the trial.  They were not called upon to
+suffer more.
+
+Freston Tower passed from the hands of the Goodynges to the Wrights,
+then to the Thurstons, Tarvers, Formereaws, and others.  It is now in
+the possession of Archdeacon Berners, of Wolverstone Park, on the
+banks of the Orwell.
+
+
+[Illustration: Chapter LV tailpiece]
+
+
+BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76999 ***
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+<link rel="icon" href="images/img-cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover">
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+<title>
+The Project Gutenberg eBook of Freston Tower, by R. Cobbold
+</title>
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+<body>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76999 ***</div>
+
+<p><br><br></p>
+
+<p class="transnote">
+[Transcriber's note: Odd, inconsistent, and sometimes
+incorrect, spellings have been retained as printed.
+A Contents has been added for reader convenience.]
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br></p>
+
+<p class="capcenter">
+<a id="img-cover"></a>
+<br>
+<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-cover.jpg" alt="Cover art">
+</p>
+
+<h1>
+<br><br>
+  FRESTON TOWER:<br>
+</h1>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  A TALE OF THE<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="t2 gothic">
+  Times of Cardinal Wolsey.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  BY THE<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="t2">
+  REV. R. COBBOLD, A.M., R.D.,<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  Rector of Wortham,<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  AUTHOR OF "MARGARET CATCHPOLE," "MARY ANNE WELLINGTON,"<br>
+  "ZENON THE MARTYR," ETC.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  WARD, LOCK AND CO.<br>
+  LONDON: WARWICK HOUSE, SALISBURY SQUARE, E.C.<br>
+  NEW YORK: BOND STREET.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  TO<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  THE REVEREND JOHN CONNOP,<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  IN ACKNOWLEDGMENT<br>
+  OF HIS UNSOUGHT AND UNMERITED KINDNESS<br>
+  TO<br>
+  THE AUTHOR AND HIS FAMILY,<br>
+  THIS HISTORICAL<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="t3 gothic">
+  Record of Piety connected with the County of Suffolk,<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  IS WITH UNFEIGNED PLEASURE,<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="t3 gothic">
+  Dedicated<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  AS A MEMORIAL OF FRIENDSHIP,<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  BY<br>
+  THE AUTHOR.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+  Contents<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent" style="line-height: 1.5">
+  <a href="#preface">Preface</a><br>
+  I. <a href="#chap01">Genius</a><br>
+  II. <a href="#chap02">Rivalship</a><br>
+  III. <a href="#chap03">The Greeting</a><br>
+  IV. <a href="#chap04">The Conversation</a><br>
+  V. <a href="#chap05">The Castle and Company</a><br>
+  VI. <a href="#chap06">The Excursion</a><br>
+  VII. <a href="#chap07">The Visit</a><br>
+  VIII. <a href="#chap08">The Event</a><br>
+  IX. <a href="#chap09">College Career</a><br>
+  X. <a href="#chap10">Ellen and Her Suitors</a><br>
+  XI. <a href="#chap11">The Conversation</a><br>
+  XII. <a href="#chap12">The Palace</a><br>
+  XIII. <a href="#chap13">The Reception</a><br>
+  XIV. <a href="#chap14">The Recluse</a><br>
+  XV. <a href="#chap15">The Judgment</a><br>
+  XVI. <a href="#chap16">Judgment Continued</a><br>
+  XVII. <a href="#chap17">St. Ivan's Warning</a><br>
+  XVIII. <a href="#chap18">The Fall of the Palace of Wykes</a><br>
+  XIX. <a href="#chap19">St. Ivan's Funeral</a><br>
+  XX. <a href="#chap20">A Memorable Night</a><br>
+  XXI. <a href="#chap21">The Pain of the Swimmer</a><br>
+  XXII. <a href="#chap22">Wolsey</a><br>
+  XXIII. <a href="#chap23">Changes</a><br>
+  XXIV. <a href="#chap24">Affections</a><br>
+  XXV. <a href="#chap25">The Letter</a><br>
+  XXVI. <a href="#chap26">The Journey</a><br>
+  XXVII. <a href="#chap27">The Interview</a><br>
+  XXVIII. <a href="#chap28">The Marriage Procession</a><br>
+  XXIX. <a href="#chap29">The Marriage Ceremony</a><br>
+  XXX. <a href="#chap30">The Revelation</a><br>
+  XXXI. <a href="#chap31">The Punishment</a><br>
+  XXXII. <a href="#chap32">The Monasteries</a><br>
+  XXXIII. <a href="#chap33">The Reformers</a><br>
+  XXXIV. <a href="#chap34">The Arrest</a><br>
+  XXXV. <a href="#chap35">The Letter</a><br>
+  XXXVI. <a href="#chap36">The Summons</a><br>
+  XXXVII. <a href="#chap37">The Arrival</a><br>
+  XXXVIII. <a href="#chap38">The Departure</a><br>
+  XXXIX. <a href="#chap39">The Change</a><br>
+  XL. <a href="#chap40">The Interview</a><br>
+  XLI. <a href="#chap41">The Argument</a><br>
+  XLII. <a href="#chap42">Enjoyment</a><br>
+  XLIII. <a href="#chap43">Hospitality</a><br>
+  XLIV. <a href="#chap44">The Fall</a><br>
+  XLV. <a href="#chap45">The Courtier</a><br>
+  XLVI. <a href="#chap46">Goldwell Hall</a><br>
+  XLVII. <a href="#chap47">Pride</a><br>
+  XLVIII. <a href="#chap48">The Plot</a><br>
+  XLIX. <a href="#chap49">The Fool</a><br>
+  L. <a href="#chap50">Christmas Day</a><br>
+  LI. <a href="#chap51">The Incendiary</a><br>
+  LII. <a href="#chap52">The Conflagration</a><br>
+  LIII. <a href="#chap53">The Pursuit</a><br>
+  LIV. <a href="#chap54">The Last Visit to the Tower</a><br>
+  LV. <a href="#chap55">The Last Event</a><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br>
+<a id="preface"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="capcenter">
+<a id="img-005"></a>
+<br>
+<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-005.jpg" alt="Preface headpiece">
+</p>
+
+<h3>
+PREFACE.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Upon the banks of the beautiful river Orwell has
+stood for centuries, and still stands, Freston Tower.
+Every sailor belonging to the port of Ipswich knows
+it well; every traveller in the county of Suffolk,
+who has any love for the tranquil in nature, must
+have noticed, if he has sailed from Ipswich to
+Harwich, this picturesque object towering above the
+trees, and looking upon the widest expanse of water
+which the river scene affords.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thousands of conjectures have been formed as to
+its origin and use.  After many years of promised
+hope to unravel the mystery, the present work will
+afford an entertaining and instructive record of its
+origin.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It will be found connected with the history of
+one of the most learned youths of his age, even
+with that of the Boy-Bachelor of Oxford; with the
+stirring events of the Reformation; with the pride
+and downfall of the proudest Chancellor England
+ever knew, and will afford a lesson to readers of
+both sexes of the punishment of haughtiness, and
+the reward of true nobility and patience, even in
+their present existence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In sending forth the present edition, the Author
+is gratified by the thought that some benefit may
+arise therefrom to the Hospital in his native town.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+RECTORY, WORTHAM.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br></p>
+
+<p class="capcenter">
+<a id="img-006"></a>
+<br>
+<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-006.jpg" alt="Preface tailpiece">
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap01"></a></p>
+
+<p class="capcenter">
+<a id="img-007"></a>
+<br>
+<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-007.jpg" alt="Chapter I headpiece">
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br></p>
+
+<p class="t2">
+FRESTON TOWER.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER I.
+<br><br>
+GENIUS.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Who is that youth walking upon the soft sands of
+Frestonstrand, intently meditating upon the contents of an old
+parchment-covered book, with silver clasps, which, from
+their length, proclaim that the work is one of some
+considerable size and depth?  He seems to devour that work;
+and, if a stranger might judge from his countenance, to be
+enjoying, with great relish, the sentiments it contains&mdash;for,
+every now and then, he soliloquizes in a foreign tongue,
+as if repeating with admiration the lines he has been
+studying.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That book he holds in his hand is the first edition of
+the greatest Grecian poet ever printed.  It is the Iliad,
+printed by Aldus, who first cast the Greek alphabet in the
+year 1476.  The book has been lent him by Lord De
+Freston, his distant kinsman, and he is on his way from
+the ancient town of Gypesswick (now called Ipswich) to
+return it to its rightful owner.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Like a true valuer of his treasure, he seems to store up
+in his mind the most beautiful passages it contains.  Every
+now and then he pauses, and, with his dark eye averted
+from the book, he scans the beauty of the scene around
+him.  He is walking beside one of the loveliest rivers in
+England, and at a spot where hill, dale, wood, and water,
+under the influence of the bright beams of the rising sun,
+exhibit nature in those splendid colors which an early
+riser only can appreciate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That eye, even in its glance across the waves of the river
+Orwell, is a most thoughtful one; for it can view all the
+tracery of nature, and find a corresponding beauty in the
+poetical ideas which crowd in upon his mind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He has been reading high-sounding words, heroic actions,
+and exalted feelings; and his breast is as naturally inspired
+with the thoughts of what he has read as his eye is with
+the view before him.  But nature is not able to chain down
+his soul to any terrestrial object, nor can the charms of
+scenery engross his attention; for his spirit seems on fire
+with enthusiasm, and his eye swells with a conscious
+hopefulness in himself, arising out of the question&mdash;For what
+purpose am I born?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The cap he wears proclaims him but a youth, and the
+curling locks, hanging from its sides and sweeping over his
+face, bespeak a native gracefulness, which well accords with
+his intellectual features.  There is a golden tinge upon his
+brow, and a ruddy, healthy glow upon his cheek, which says
+that his occupation as a student has not been confined to an
+unhealthy cloister.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He is but a boy, yet there were many men in his day,
+who, after years of application, could not retain the memory
+of what they read with half the ease of that extraordinary
+youth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The fact was, as was afterwards proved, his genius was as
+comprehensive as his energies were active, and a spirit was
+then stirring in him, a mind in embryo, which, though not
+confined to the drudgery of the scholastic routine of study,
+comprehended at a glance the value of education, and made
+him the greatest schoolmaster of his age.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As the beautiful stream then flowing before him in a sort
+of endless wave upon wave, that youth seemed desirous to
+command as endless a reputation; for his immortal mind
+possessed an unslaked thirst to discern every species of
+wisdom which either letters, nature, observation, or reflection
+could unfold.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such was the genius of him who then stood upon the
+banks of the Orwell, imbibing wisdom with an ambitious
+desire of distinction which no future eminence could satisfy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was the youthful Wolsey, who, then unknown to fame,
+was noted by many of the best spirits of that age and
+country, as a boy of most acute intellect, and of an
+understanding beyond his years.  He had left his native town
+early in a beautiful spring morning, to go by invitation to
+the castle of Lord De Freston&mdash;a nobleman celebrated for
+his great learning as well as his benevolent disposition.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The youth had left many friends in the town of Ipswich,
+who had encouraged his love of study, by lending him
+manuscripts and books, which he could not otherwise have
+obtained.  Richard Peyvale, one of the most learned of the
+portmen of the town, and the compiler of the 'Ipswich
+Doomsday Book,' had been the first to discover the latent
+superiority of his mind; for, in an examination of boys in
+the Free Grammar School, the son of Robert Wooly or
+Wuly so acquitted himself in classical knowledge as to
+carry off the great prize given by Sir Humphrey Wyngfylde,
+to be presented by the town-clerk, which was done by
+Robert Bray, before the bailiffs, governors, and portmen
+of that ancient borough.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was probably one of the spurs to genius.  But
+Wolsey&mdash;the boy Wolsey&mdash;soon discovered so much dross
+amidst the confined system of school studies, that he told
+his father it was no use his sending him to school, for old
+Mr. Capon could teach him nothing more.  Hence, after
+his twelfth year, he was under no tutors, but formed his
+own reading; and was frequently applied to, by many
+learned men, to solve difficulties of construction, which to
+him were very easily accounted for.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Every classical work then known to the world, and
+within the reach of the wealthy, whether from private
+families or from public libraries, was obtained for him upon
+loan; and at one time he had in his own garret, in the
+gable-end of his father's house, then dividing the two great
+streets in St. Nicholas, leading from Peter's Priory to the
+centre of the town, such a catalogue of eminent books, that
+had they been his own, he would have thought himself the
+wealthiest man in the land.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The names of Homer, Sophocles, Thucydides, Euripides,
+Xenophon, Plato, Horace, Cicero, Plautus, Pliny, Tibullus,
+together with the Scriptures, were familiar to him; and he
+was so great a man in his boyhood, as far as classical
+comprehension went, that he scarcely at any after-period of
+his life had to study these writings again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was not to be wondered at, then, that a boy with such
+precocity of intellect&mdash;such a handsome youth too as he
+really was&mdash;should be noticed by the richer and more
+independent portion of the community.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lord De Freston had married a niece of the elder
+Daundy, one of the wealthiest and most enlightened of the
+inhabitants of Ipswich, and had, therefore, become connected
+with the female branch of Wolsey's family, for Joan, his
+mother, was sister to Edmund Daundy.  He was a very
+early patron of the young student; and took such interest
+in his cousin, as he called him, as laid the foundation of his
+greatness in after life, though the youth's pride had well
+nigh lost him his friendship.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But there he stood upon the Freston shore, and caught
+the sound of the early matin bell, which came pealing from
+the opposite bank of the river, from the Priory of
+Alneshborne.  The sound of the bell, and the mood in which the
+youth then stood, accorded well with each other.  The
+former called the monks to prayer, and in some measure
+roused Wolsey from the reverie, and made him think of
+time.  He looked intently along the bright gleaming waves
+of the Orwell to see if he could not discover some object
+which ought to interest his attention.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+De Freston's lofty turrets were in view, peering over the
+spring foliage, just breaking forth in yellow tints from the
+oaks of the park.  The castle shone conspicuously white,
+as the rays of the gloriously rising sun struck upon its
+walls.  All nature seemed alive.  The rooks were taking
+their flights for the distant marshes; the cuckoo's note
+saluted the early morn; and so bright and clear was the sky,
+that even the lark rose joyfully, carolling with his lively
+note, as if going to seek a purer clime than could be found
+on this earth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Had not ambition inflated his breast, Wolsey would have
+enjoyed to the full the exquisite scene of that April morn.
+But ambition had so fired his genius that even the lovely
+river then flowing before him, the light of the heavens, the
+birds of the air chaunting their praises, and the monks at
+their matin prayers, had no charms for him.  Not even the
+consciousness of classical knowledge could just then satisfy
+his mind; for he had received an indirect promise from
+Lord De Freston that he should go to Oxford, and such a
+vision of future glory had opened before him, that even his
+native town, with all the cordial friends it contained, were
+completely thrown into the back-ground.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ambition is a syren who deprives of rest those who are
+once charmed by her voice; and when she prompts to
+grandeur, and all the imaginative self-consequences of a
+great name, fame, and power, there are no cruelties through
+which she will not urge her victims, and, like fabled deities
+of the heathen, cover them with her mantle or cloud of
+invisibility.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Moral reflection founded upon the only motive worthy of
+exertion, the good of others, is a very distant object in the
+aspirations of a vain man.  Destroy selfishness, and all
+that is laudable, honorable, great, and worthy in the human
+character will then shine forth, and whether present success
+shall attend it, or future generations celebrate its worth,
+it cannot be destroyed by disappointment, since the serenity
+of equanimity is the same, whether the individual be humbled
+by the praises of men, or exalted by their persecutions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Selfish ambition, however plausible or deluding, cannot
+bear, with an equal mind, the frowns of adversity.  Success
+forms the criterion of its own excellence; and it can no
+more enjoy the quietude of retirement, than a famous actor
+can relish the coldness of his audience.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap02"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER II.
+<br><br>
+RIVALSHIP.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+The young student was evidently expecting to see
+something upon the waves of the Orwell more attractive than
+even the book in his hand, or the scenery before him; for,
+as the matin bell of the priory came pealing over the
+waters from the opposite shore, the warder's horn from De
+Freston's castle was heard to blow.  The signal appeared
+to be well understood by the youth, who immediately began
+to close his thick and heavy tome, and to adjust the silver
+hooks of the clasps into their sockets.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His eye was turned towards the bend of the river, round
+which, close under the dipping boughs of the old chestnut
+trees, a boat, impelled by four stout rowers, was making
+progress against the wind, but with the tide in their favor.
+The sparkling waters which dashed from the head of the
+skiff, as the oars struck the waves, glittered with scarcely
+more lustre than did the eye of the youth, whilst he
+surveyed the expected comers, and awaited their approach.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He stood upon a ledge, or very ancient hardway, called
+John of Wiltshire's Gap, nearly opposite to the great gate
+of his Wherstead domain, which domain was forfeited to
+the crown after the decapitation of that ill-fated nobleman.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The scholar was as well known to the rowers as they
+were to him, for it was often their privilege to meet him by
+their lord's orders, at the very spot where he then stood.
+No sooner did they see him than they redoubled their
+efforts, and soon brought their boat to ground with the
+usual salutation of 'Ready, Master! ready!' as they
+respectfully rose to make way for him to go astern.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There must have been something remarkably captivating
+and even commanding in the manners of the youth at that
+early age; for, not only was he noted for his scholastic
+acquirements by the sober, grave, learned, and wise, but the
+sailors of the port, who occasionally rowed him upon his
+native stream, whilst he was deeply engaged in skimming
+over the pages of his book, would delight to rouse him
+from his reverie, on purpose to hear his conversation and
+remarks.  He took peculiar delight in boarding the foreign
+vessels which came into the port, with cargoes consigned to
+his uncle Daundy; and often acted as interpreter whilst he
+amused himself with trying the brains of the Flemish, Dutch,
+French, or Norwegian seamen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The boat's crew hailed him with pleasure, for they looked
+upon him not only as the favored guest of their master,
+Lord De Freston, but they knew that he was the peculiar
+favorite of Ellen De Freston, their master's graceful
+daughter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thomas Wolsey had received an especial message to
+breakfast with Lord De Freston, and to meet his Lordship's
+cousin, William Latimer, then a learned student at the
+University of Oxford.  It had been part of Lord De
+Freston's promise that he should return to Oxford with
+Latimer, if Wolsey's father, and his fond mother Joan,
+could part with him, their only child.  At all events, he
+was to be introduced to his future friend; and the
+nobleman had promised, that both he and his daughter Ellen
+should use all their influence with his friends, that very
+day, to obtain permission for him to go to the University.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bright beams of future glory illumined the mind of the
+youth, as he took his station in the boat, and became a
+little more abstracted and thoughtful, and less communicative
+with his rough acquaintances than was his wont.
+They dropped their oars in silence, on gaining no reply
+from their usually animated scholar, and were all of opinion
+that they had never beheld him so little like himself as at
+that moment.  At almost any other time, and under any
+other circumstances, a thousand questions would have been
+asked, and as many remarks made upon their costume, their
+boat, their lord, their lady, the wind, the weather, the wave,
+the tide, the monks of Alneshborne, and their father
+confessor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Wolsey was now silent.  He watched the waters
+curling past the boat, as if he were making a calculation of
+the tide by the number of successive waves that passed him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As he did not give a single word to the men (and no
+men are more inquisitive than sailors), they could not
+endure his silence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How now, my master, you heave us no log to-day,
+though we deserve your smile perhaps more this morning
+than any other.  What's the matter, master?  You seem to
+have cast anchor upon a dull shore, and are as mournful
+as if your vessel had gone to wreck upon the rocks.  A-hoy,
+master! tip us a stave.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But deep thought seemed to chain the scholar's mind,
+as the frost would bind up the river in the darkest days of
+winter.  Yet his brow was smooth and calm as ice without
+a fall of snow.  There was no ruffle upon it, but a fixed
+and settled tone of thought that seemed to say he was
+immoveable.  He did not speak, and yet he altered his
+position, and cast his eyes wistfully upon the turrets of the
+castle as they came in view of the venerated walls.  'Ay,
+master, 'tis a fine old building, is it not?  I should like to
+see your young honor, or your worship, or your reverence,
+comfortably hauled up there, high and dry: 'tis a friendly
+port, master, and comfortable quarters thereabouts.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was not until they came full in view of the green
+slanting lawn which came down to the water's edge, directly in
+front of the castle, and the young man's eye caught eight
+of three figures standing upon the very edge of the
+landing-place, that his features lightened up with expression:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Who is the third person standing with your master and
+his daughter?' he asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He's alive now, Jack, I'll warrant!' archly observed one
+of the rowers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And so he may well be,' said the other; 'a little rivalry
+will do the young scholar good.  He has so long had his
+own way, that perhaps he might think no vessel could sail
+as well as his own.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That's my young mistress's cousin,' replied the man, 'and
+I hear, master, he's all at sea, like yourself.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What do you mean, my man?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Mean, sir? why, that he's as clever a chap as you are;
+that the broad sea of knowledge is as well explored by him
+as it is by you, and that he can talk to our young mistress
+in as elegant and entertaining a manner as yourself.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There are some words which, from their homeliness, may
+do more to rouse the spirit within a man than all the classical
+beauties which he had studied in his youth; and at that
+moment these words, from a common sailor, proved to
+Wolsey that even men of few words, and no letters, can
+form no mean idea of intellectual pleasure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was effectually roused, for, till then, he certainly had
+no conception of a rival in letters with any living man he
+had yet met.  He had found none to appreciate his talents so
+purely, so highly, and so encouragingly, as Lord De Freston
+and his daughter; and it might be truly said, that none
+could do so better than that learned and elegant scholar
+whose life had been devoted to study from his youth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He had married the niece of the wealthiest Commoner
+in the land, and married her not for her property, since
+he was himself the owner of vast estates on the banks of
+the Orwell, as well as in the vale of Worcester.  He had
+espoused the niece of Edmund Daundy, M.P. for Ipswich,
+and the most extensive merchant in that port.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His lady, with whom, for the first six years of their
+married state, he had lived in harmony and happiness, was
+taken from him at that most anxious period when she had
+just given birth to a son and heir.  Infant and mother died,
+leaving him one bright companion, the image of her mother,
+and in qualities of mind and heart superior even in
+childhood to most of her sex.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lord De Freston had thus become very early engrossed
+by the education and training of his affectionate daughter,
+and such was the delight he took in her, and so well were
+his parental anxieties repaid by the capacity, diligence, and
+sense of duty of his child, that years had imperceptibly
+fled away, until he found her growing more and more upon
+his affections.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He now made her his companion, not only in his studies,
+but in all his worldly affairs.  She was, indeed, the admiration
+of all who knew her, and had such a powerful mind, such
+a cultivated taste for literature and for all the elegant arts,
+then in their progressive rise in this country, that Ellen De
+Freston was as famed upon the banks of the Orwell as
+Madame de Stael, or Madame d'Arblay, in after-days for
+their precocious powers.  Hers, however, were of a different
+stamp, of a far deeper kind; and mind in that maiden might
+be said to have a texture so pure, that it gave unwonted
+charm to a face almost as beautiful as her intellect.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Young Wolsey, about her own age, was so attracted by
+these wonderful qualities, that it is not to be wondered
+at, that he should feel an interest in the only being he ever
+saw calculated to inspire him with the hope of excelling for
+the sake of pleasing her.  Such was the delight he took in
+her society, and such her pure pleasure in his, that distant
+relatives as they were, Lord De Freston looked upon them
+as brother and sister; and neither he nor his daughter had
+the slightest idea of their young friend ever imbibing any
+deeper feeling than the love of literature, and the joy of
+sharing its pleasures.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So fondly wedded in mind to this counterpart of his
+existence had he imperceptibly become, that half the
+cherished elegancies of Grecian and Roman literature had
+been treasured in his heart on purpose that he might
+breathe their euphonious harmonies in the ear of his cousin
+Ellen.  She, too, was ambitious of convincing Wolsey that
+she appreciated his talents, but she never had a dream of
+his aspiring to any nearer intimacy with her than a classical
+interchange of thought.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was not to be wondered at, however, that in that early
+stage of their acquaintance, the youth at fourteen should be
+sensible to the personal as well as intellectual attractions
+of such a being as the heiress of De Freston.  No feeling
+of his youth or of his life was ever purer than that which
+he then entertained towards his benefactor and his friend.
+It was like the brightest beam of light gleaming upon the
+path of youth, when that refined sentiment of soul burst
+upon him.  It was like the morning clouds, tinged with the
+prospect of the rising sun, and proclaiming the approach of
+a lovely day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He gazed at the stair as the boat approached the spot
+where Ellen De Freston, between the tall and portly figure
+of her father and the slender frame of William Latimer,
+stood awaiting his arrival.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was some sensation of pain which stole over his
+proud spirit at that moment, as he looked at the young
+man's figure, and beheld his favorite, Ellen, resting her arm
+upon that of the scholar.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Shall I,' he asked himself, 'shall I, indeed, meet a rival!
+Oh! if our merits be but weighed in the balance by the
+weights of future attainments, either in science, knowledge,
+industry, or application, I fear not the issue.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was a bold thought&mdash;the indication of a noble mind,
+though a feeling of rivalship might at the moment create a
+pang of jealousy.  The man who feels all honor, and
+endeavors to prove himself worthy of the favorable regard
+of any one whom he loves, and to whom he attaches the
+idea of being able to reward his exertions, is a worthy
+competitor to enter the lists of love.  The noblest souls in
+existence must breathe with such hope, and their exertions
+and attainments, their talents and their virtues, must form
+a bright beacon to guide their onward course.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The only drawback is, that all mortal rewards, be they
+what they may, are not enduring, and therefore fall short of
+satisfaction.
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'As when the eastern sky is tinged<br>
+  With clouds transparent, golden fring'd.<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Bespeaks the coming sun:<br>
+  So love anticipates a ray,<br>
+  Bright as the orb's arising day,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Before his course is run.'<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap03"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER III.
+<br><br>
+THE GREETING.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+A merry laugh and cheerful greeting saluted the ear of
+Wolsey as he stepped from the boat to the stairs, and
+received the cordial welcome of De Freston.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How is our uncle Daundy?  He is a loyal subject to his
+Majesty, and as friendly a supporter of the rights of the
+inhabitants of Ipswich as any man who lived before him.
+How fares your father, and your good and estimable
+mother?  Thomas, let me introduce you to my cousin
+Latimer.  There is so much wisdom in your young brains,
+that you must be akin to each other at Oxford, if not
+related by blood.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The scholars bowed, and each could discern in the ease
+of the other, that there was more within worth knowing
+than any external qualities.  They had never met before;
+but each had, through De Freston, obtained considerable
+knowledge of the character of the other.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Latimer was five years older than Wolsey, and already
+possessed the advantages of an Oxford school-training, and a
+university scholarship; so that, though he had heard much
+from Ellen and her father of young Wolsey's attainments,
+and, though he knew them capable of forming a good
+judgment, nevertheless he could not avoid feeling himself
+superior to his new friend, which Wolsey, from having
+attained a conscious superiority over every one with whom
+he had yet conversed upon classical subjects, was not in the
+least disposed to allow.  He was desirous to meet Latimer,
+as much to measure himself by him, and judge of his chance
+of future acquirements, as to see one of whom he had heard
+so much, and who was a relative of the noble lord, his
+patron and friend.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am glad to meet you, Master Latimer,' he said, with
+the ease and importance of a man of years and station;
+'it has unfortunately happened hitherto that, in your
+various visits to your relatives in this country, it has never
+been my lot to enjoy one hour of conversation with you.
+The Lady Ellen can tell you with what avidity I have read
+your letters, and indulged with her in those descriptive
+powers which you have so ably used upon the subject of
+this Tower.  I hope you have already found that neither
+your elaborate plan of architectural beauty, nor your advice
+concerning the periods of studious regularity, have been
+neglected.  Many have been the hours of improvement
+which have been permitted me in the society of these, our
+mutual friends&mdash;varied, indeed, according to your express
+instructions, and I can truly add, never tediously employed.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was something so manly, so easy, so unaffected,
+and yet so convincing in this youth's manner of address,
+that, in a moment, young Latimer was convinced that he
+had no common character to deal with.  The thought of
+superiority vanished, and he found himself compelled, by
+the unexpected dignity and simplicity of the speech he had
+heard, to reply instanter upon terms of equality.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My loss has equalled yours, but I will hope that, from
+this day forward, we may become better acquainted, and
+have more frequent opportunities of exchanging our
+opinions upon those classical subjects which are at this
+time beginning to circulate more freely among the nations
+of Europe.  I see you have been reading the first printed
+edition of Homer, which I had the gratification of forwarding
+to Lord De Freston, and I am glad to see it in such hands,
+for I understand you can appreciate the beauties of the poet
+in every passage.  I long to have some hours' conversation
+with you.  My fair cousin has had the privilege of hearing you
+read the whole of the "Iliad," and she has greatly excited
+my curiosity concerning you.  The Tower is complete, and
+both Lord De Freston and Ellen tell me that the place I
+proposed for acquiring knowledge is so good a one, as to make
+each day, nay, each hour, so devoted, of incalculable profit.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You must come with us, Thomas, to the Tower, at once,'
+laid Lord De Freston's daughter; 'I have ordered breakfast
+in my favorite room, and I shall confine you all, the greater
+portion of this day, for the indulgence of your conversation.
+I have often had each of you as my companion through the
+successive gradations of my ascending steps of knowledge.
+To-day you must permit me to be a listener to both.  I greet
+you, therefore, as my guests in the library, and if you will
+only pursue the thread of your discourse upon ancient
+minstrelsy, I will be as unwearied as Penelope, and, I am
+sure, far more happy.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You do me great honor, Ellen.  I can never refuse any
+of your requests, and one so agreeable as this it would be a
+punishment to be excused.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'On with you then, young people! on, to the Tower!'
+exclaimed her father.  And without more ceremony, whilst
+De Freston remained behind to give some charge to his
+boatmen, the young people bent their way towards a lofty
+tower, embosomed in the trees of the park, but commanding
+such scenes of the river and its banks, as, even now, in the
+nineteenth century, could not fail to create admiration.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Tower still stands, apparently in the pride of beauty,
+looking over the waves of the Orwell; and the author has
+ascended to its summit, and indulged, years long gone by,
+in thoughts which now find their way into these pages.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Freston Tower was first designed by William Latimer,
+whence it was, for many years, called by the name of
+'<i>Latimer's Tower</i>.' It was built by the Lord De Freston,
+his kinsman, who was related to the unfortunate William de
+la Pole, who took his final leave of his Suffolk friends at
+this spot, before he was beheaded upon the broad sea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The converse of the party, as they went towards the
+Tower, touched upon this point, and, singularly enough,
+was introduced by Wolsey, as an example of ill-fated
+ambition.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My father tells me that it was from this place that
+William de la Pole, the first Duke of Suffolk, took his
+departure thirty years ago.  What an ambitious family
+has that been, and how soon do the rewards of iniquity fall
+upon the wicked!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My grandfather,' replied Ellen, 'was the last friend
+that met him at Ipswich, and brought him on his way to our
+castle.  The vessel which was to bear him into exile could
+not get higher up the river than the channel opposite the
+priory, and from this spot my father's barge carried him
+on board his foreign ship.  Alas! he soon heard of his
+destruction!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And must wo not own, fair Ellen, that the retributive
+hand of justice was here displayed against the murderer
+of the good Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester?  No sooner
+is de la Pole beyond the precincts of his native power, than
+he finds he cannot escape.  Oh! that Gloucester's friends
+had prevailed to keep the Parliament in the metropolis, and
+this blot upon the escutcheon of the Duke of Suffolk would
+never have been seen.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Say, rather, Latimer, that it would have been well for
+the merchant of Ravenspurn to have kept to his northern
+port, at the mouth of the Humber, or have come no further
+south than Hull, than to have purchased lands, title, and
+fame, to fall by such a foul and fiendish crime, and to finish
+his right of nobility in England!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I do not hold with thee, Wolsey, in such a doctrine, that
+man is never to aspire to lift himself beyond the mud.
+The mouth of the Humber may give birth to as noble blood
+as the banks of the Orwell; and, if I mistake not thy spirit,
+thou wouldst bid fair to be a candidate for nobility.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It should not be my wealth that should entitle me
+thereto.  The king's favour should be purchased with
+wisdom, not with gold.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yet wisdom brings gold as naturally as that folly wastes it.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ay! but it wastes faster than it is attained.  But here
+we are at the Tower.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Come, then, in to breakfast; I see Lord de Freston
+coming; let us drop the subject of the de la Poles: it always
+carries with it a pang to my father's heart.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The party then stood before the celebrated Tower, the
+construction of which arose from an accidental conversation
+between De Freston and Latimer, two years previous.  The
+latter had seen the uncommon genius and application of
+Ellen to study, and had remarked to her father that, if her
+studies were not diversified, she would lose the sprightliness
+and vivacity of youth, and forget quickly what she had
+learnt with difficulty.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The way to retain anything is to let an impression of it
+remain upon the brain.  Overstrained toil does but enfeeble
+the body, as overstrained application to any mental pursuit
+will assuredly one day create disgust.  It will actually
+impair the powers of perception; and men who, at one time,
+have been the most intellectual students, find themselves
+overpowered by not being able to diversify their occupation.
+Besides,' added Latimer, 'I have found the body sicken,
+the brain turn dizzy, and the whole man enfeebled by too
+much application to one subject of thought.  Hands were
+given us for manual labor, and our feet for bodily exercise,
+so that our frame may be preserved in health.  Therefore, I
+say, diversify the occupation of your daughter's time and
+mind; and body and soul will be benefited.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ah!' replied De Freston, 'the theory is good, but how
+is it to be done?  It is now that I feel myself a widower,
+when my faithful child, rising into womanhood, requires the
+matronly guidance of a mother.  If you could project a
+plan likely to be successful in its operation, you would
+indeed add a charm to my existence I could not easily
+repay.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I can fully imagine your anxiety; and, had I a daughter,
+at your time of life, and with your means at hand, I would
+follow the very plan I now propose.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What is it, cousin Latimer?  What is it?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Simply this: I would build a tower in the liveliest spot
+of my domain.  Every room of that tower should command
+an extensive view of the beautiful scenery around me, and
+I would dedicate each to a different occupation.  Each
+should claim a separate hour for the work to be performed,
+and the higher story should possess the greatest charm; so
+that neither the hands nor the head of my child should be
+weary.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well said! young philosopher.  Let me hear your
+proposition more minutely laid down.  I can imagine the
+utility, and see much good in your proposal.  I will carry it
+out if you can satisfy my daughter as well as myself of the
+probability of its having a beneficial tendency.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'To your daughter, then, as well as to yourself, will I
+unfold my scheme.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was agreed that the young man should write down his
+plan, and submit it to De Freston and Ellen on the
+following day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was most gallantly and ably done by young Latimer
+in the following poetical lines, which were presented to De
+Freston after the evening's meal:
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p class="poem gothic">
+  De Freston's Tower.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Let not thy daughter's mind be fix'd<br>
+  On learning only, but be mix'd<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;With arts and studies light:<br>
+  And let her progress be to rise,<br>
+  Through woman's duties to be wise.<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;She will thy care requite.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Nor let her in a cloistered cell,<br>
+  Like monks and friars dully dwell,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Deprived of Nature's face.<br>
+  Let life and liberty be seen,<br>
+  With health and energy, to glean<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Whate'er has virtue's grace.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  The mind is useless, if the hand,<br>
+  No occupation can command,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;To ease the learning gained;<br>
+  The eye grows dim o'er books alone<br>
+  And dull and heavy in its tone,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;If once 'tis overstrained.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Had I a daughter, I would try<br>
+  To give of learning such supply<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;As other works should crown:<br>
+  I'd build a tower six stories there.<br>
+  With rooms ascending by the stair,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Each one with purpose known.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  I'd choose a spot, whence far and wide<br>
+  Yon lovely river in its pride<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Glides gracefully along;<br>
+  Where every room which higher rose,<br>
+  A scene extended should disclose,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Fit theme for poet's song.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  The basement story on the ground,<br>
+  Should be with benches fitted round,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And wide the porch and door,<br>
+  That here my daughter every morn,<br>
+  Should know the wants of the lowly born,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And listen to the poor.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  The story next I'd dedicate<br>
+  To works of industry, of late<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Becoming females bland:<br>
+  To needlework or tapestry,<br>
+  Her active fingers should apply.<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Taught by some Flemish hand.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  The story next&mdash;to music's sway<br>
+  I should devote, that she might play<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;On lute or lyre with skill:<br>
+  Her voice accompanied should sound,<br>
+  Enchanting through the groves around,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And make all nature thrill.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  My next to art of painting raised,<br>
+  Should be with lightest windows glased.<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A studio bright and clear:<br>
+  The tints of nature should be seen,<br>
+  Landscapes and figures intervene,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Alternate studies here.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  My next should be with books supplied,<br>
+  And writing instruments beside,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;With learning's aids at hand:<br>
+  This study should devoted be,<br>
+  To learning's richest treasury<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;All other rooms command.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  My last and highest should be given<br>
+  To contemplate the stars of heaven,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And study their design:<br>
+  Astronomy should here unfold<br>
+  Worlds upon worlds, whose works untold<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;No mortal can define.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  And here sometimes at night I'd be,<br>
+  To let my daughter clearly see,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;How works of wisdom shine:<br>
+  The fires above her soul should charm,<br>
+  As fires below our bodies warm,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;That we may not repine.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>
+So gratified was fair Ellen with this poetical device, that
+she scarcely closed her eyes that night for thinking of the
+spot, and of the kind of ornamental tower which should be
+raised for such a purpose.  The next day, the site was fixed
+upon by Lord De Freston and his daughter; and Latimer
+promised to make plans of the dimensions of the rooms,
+and drawings of the elevation.  How beautifully the works
+were completed even the lapse of so many centuries has
+not failed to prove.  Workmen were soon engaged, Daundy's
+ships brought the Caen stone for ornamental copings, and the
+bricks from Ipswich were soon laid, and a tower, according
+in every respect with the plan of the projector, was erected.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was before this building that the party then stood, and
+not until the previous day had Latimer beheld his fair
+project carried into execution.  He had, from time to time,
+visited the work, and had corresponded with Lord De
+Freston and his cousin Ellen, concerning its completion.
+This, however, was his first visit since the graceful tower
+had been opened, and dedicated to the purpose for which
+it had been projected.  Ellen, indeed, had occupied the
+different rooms as dedicated to her pursuits.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The lower room, to charity, from 7 to 8 o'clock.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The second, to working tapestry, from 9 to 10.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The third, to music, from 10 to noon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The fourth, to painting, from 12 to 1.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The fifth, to literature, from 1 to 2.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The sixth, to astronomy, at even.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was a turret from this last chamber upon which the
+only instruments then used in descrying and describing the
+stars were often fixed, when the evenings were such as would
+allow an observation, from the leads of the building, of the
+illumined sky.  They arrived at the foot of the Tower, where
+awaiting their approach numerous applicants for the bounty
+of the Lord De Freston were sitting upon the benches
+around.  A kind word Ellen had for all, a gracious greeting
+she gave them, and after distributing various donations, and
+making suitable inquiries, she dismissed them, one by one,
+to their respective homes, through the different paths across
+the park.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ellen welcomed her visitors, and followed them up the
+winding staircase into the first apartment.  She would not
+allow them to stop and admire the handy work she was
+then engaged in, namely, a piece of tapestry for Lord De
+Freston, representing the death of Harold, at Battle.
+Neither would she pause to indulge them that day with
+the sound of her harp, though there it stood, and before
+her some of the Welsh lays then so celebrated among
+minstrels.  Neither would she permit them to waste time
+upon the beautiful scenery from her painting-room, though
+the bay-window from this height gave exquisite views for
+the lover of the picturesque.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Breakfast was set out in the room of literature, and
+thither she hurried them, determined that she would pass
+over the usual routine of her every-day engagements to
+gratify her mind with the conversation of her two
+intellectual friends.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have but a short day for your company, as my father
+has determined to go to Ipswich upon the business so
+interesting to you, Thomas Wolsey, and we must all accompany
+him this afternoon.  Let us, then, lose no time in thinking
+about the progress I have made, but let your conversation
+be concerning those things by which you are surrounded.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Handsome shelves, containing costly manuscripts and
+volumes of such works as were then printed, graced the
+sides of the room, and the only vacant places were the
+angular spaces between the windows.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Breakfast was placed upon a small table in the bay-window,
+and consisted of such plain fare as milk, eggs and
+butter, with a few preserves, which were the supplies for
+the table in that early day.  It is true that the serving-men
+in the lord's hall had more substantial feast, for cold
+venison and boar's-head with large quarters of pork, were
+consumed upon broad wooden plates, and not a few of those
+plates were seen upon the long tables in the hall, so large
+was this nobleman's domestic establishment.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap04"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER IV.
+<br><br>
+THE CONVERSATION.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+It would be something strange in these days to find man's
+tongue, through fear, prevented from discoursing upon any
+subject, political, physical, or religious.  Men are so
+enlightened, and civil and religious freedom are so strongly
+established in this kingdom, that no one is afraid of
+investigating any subject.  Truth does not require any power but
+that of God to support it, and having his, it will
+predominate unto the end, through all discouragements and
+persecutions.  The man who loves his kind will stand the
+least in awe of death, or of any consequences whatever
+arising from that position in which his faith in God may
+place him.  But the men, in our day, who do not look
+deeply into times gone by, can scarcely conceive the terrors
+into which men were driven in those days when Freston
+Tower was first inhabited.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Throughout the length and breadth of England, in the
+years 1484 and 1485, awful divisions were created by the
+dissensions of the houses of York and Lancaster.  Men
+scarcely trusted each other with open declarations of loyalty,
+or with their equally prevalent hatred of King Richard III.
+Nor were they much less happy in their feelings concerning
+their religion.  The absolute power of the Pope had begun
+to be called in question.  Wickliffe's Bible was doing its
+work, and Caxton's press began to disseminate the light of
+truth amidst inquiring minds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yet, upon the subject of religion, faith and practice
+seemed to be at a most appalling distance from each other;
+and men did not like to speak before strangers, even of the
+God who made them, for fear of incurring the threatened
+censures of the Papal Hierarchy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was a singular thing that politics and religion should
+chance to be the first subjects discoursed upon by the young
+men, then partaking of their earliest meal in the library of
+Ellen De Freston.  This conversation arose from the
+circumstance of De Freston having received a curious edition
+of Æsop's Fables.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have a curiosity to show you here, young men,' said
+De Freston; and he took down from a shelf over the
+entrance-door, a volume, having the royal arms engraved,
+or rather worked, upon the inside of the cover.  'You
+are learned, Master Latimer&mdash;can you decypher the character?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ha; I perceive,' replied the youth, 'this is a book I
+should have thought would never have been sold, at least,
+not until the death of her to whom it was given.  It is
+Edward the Fourth's gift to his mistress, Jane Shore.  How
+did you come by it?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Lord Latimer, your father's friend, purchased it at the
+new bookseller's in Ludgate; and knowing my taste for
+anything new, or old, in such works, sent it to me as a
+present and token of his esteem.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I thought, father,' said Ellen, 'that you told me this
+wretched woman was no more; that she died two years
+since, under the severe penance inflicted upon her by the
+order of the Protector.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Hush!' said Wolsey, 'hush! call not Richard, the
+Protector! call him King, or you will be deemed disloyal.  I
+would, on purpose to share your accusation, call him
+murderer, not protector.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You would be a traitor, then, according to your own
+showing,' replied Ellen: 'but is not Jane Shore dead?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It was reported that she was.  That she did penance
+is certain; that the king, in the days of his protectorate,
+did accuse Hastings of secretly plotting with this woman,
+whom he called a wicked witch, to afflict his person with
+decrepitude, is equally certain.  But I hear she is still alive,
+and that Richard, though he persecuted her so unmercifully,
+has pardoned her, and given her in marriage to Thomas
+Hymore, who compassionated her sufferings and petitioned
+for this mercy.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Alas! beauty is a dangerous possession,' added Ellen,
+'where the laws of God reign not in the heart.  I am glad
+to hear she is a penitent.  May mercy be with her!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'This is certainly the signature of Edward.
+</p>
+
+<p class="capcenter">
+<a id="img-026"></a>
+<br>
+<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-026.jpg" alt="Edward's signature">
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+R. E. to J. S. Rex Edvardus, ad J. S.  It is valuable, as
+the first book having numbered pages, and a great acquisition
+this will be to science.  I sigh, my lord, to think how
+this country is torn asunder by faction.  When I last left
+Worcester, I can assure you men were there ripe for revolt.
+Richard is detested, his vices are so glaring, and his cruelty
+so great, that he reminds me more of the tyrant Domitian
+than of a Christian king.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Christian, indeed!' exclaimed the ardent Wolsey.
+'Christian?  He has murdered three relatives, who stood
+between him and power, and could Richmond but be
+reached, his neck would soon be stretched upon the block.
+I hope he will escape! nay, more, I hope to live to see the
+day when he may be King of England.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Hush! hush! young spirit,' added De Freston.  'Though
+we be five stories from the ground, you would soon be five
+feet under it, could Richard gain any knowledge of your
+language.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yet I assure you,' added Latimer, 'these were things
+are openly discussed at Oxford, though each man, since the
+death of Buckingham, fears a traitor in his servant.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That hateful Banister must be the vilest of the vile.  It
+was not an open enemy that betrayed poor Buckingham,
+but the very man who owed him suit and service, and
+pretended to be so grateful for his bounty.  Had I been John
+Milton, high sheriff of Shropshire, I would have stabbed the
+traitor to the heart, who could betray such a confiding and
+afflicted master as the generous Buckingham.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I little thought,' said De Freston, 'that I should try
+your loyalty, young men, by introducing Æsop's Fables to
+your notice.  I perceive, however, that your sentiments
+accord with my own, though I may not choose to speak out
+upon so slight an occasion.  I can truly say, however, may the
+houses of York and Lancaster unite, and the divisions of
+our Christian land be settled.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This last expression, 'Christian land,' gave rise to a sudden
+ejaculation upon the part of Wolsey, which rather surprised
+his friends and auditors: but at that day the youth's soul
+was full of the love of truth, and he hated most heartily
+the mummeries of a religion, which at that period were
+carried to the very verge of absurdity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Christian land!  Oh! when will peace heal the divisions
+of this Christian land?  In nothing will this country be
+more divided than in its ideas of the profession of
+Christianity!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was a bold declaration from so young a man, and it
+surprised Latimer, for though De Freston and himself
+entertained the enlightened views of that period, when men
+began to look into the Scriptures for truth, and into their
+souls for worship, Wolsey had started at once the expression
+of an opinion which both had entertained, but neither had
+declared.  This led to such an animated conversation upon
+the errors and absurdities of the times, the almost absolute
+dominion of the Pope, and the terrors of the Inquisition,
+that had information been given to the authorities of
+St. Peter's Priory, all present might have incurred the penalties
+of heresy and conspiracy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Ellen De Freston was too well known for the strict
+piety of her life, her conformity to all the good usages of the
+times, and the enlightened benevolence of her disposition,
+to be affected by the breath of slander.  It was not that
+there were no envious persons in that day, as in this, who
+were jealous of her superiority.  There were individuals who
+were her equals in station, as well as others who were her
+inferiors, who could not brook the praises which were so
+freely given by those who were fortunate enough to know
+her.  She was, however, happily ignorant of these attacks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There are, in this day, many maidens who infinitely prefer
+the companions of mind to all the dignity of titled wealth
+and preponderating influence of station.  But, in that day,
+outward pomp, external beauty, high rank, and large estates,
+exercised an influence over everything.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was from no love of making herself conspicuous for
+singularity, that Ellen devoted herself to intellectual pursuits.
+Her father was a man of mind, a man of virtue, of a superior
+intellect, and she had an hereditary taste for these
+things.  Permitted to think, and to express her thoughts,
+she was treated with deference, and gently argued with in
+things which her young mind could not fully understand,
+and hence her love of truth, and of searching for the truth,
+and obeying its dictates when understood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Though she seldom discoursed much with her preceptors
+upon the sacred volume, yet, with her parent, she would
+hold long and interesting communications, which rarely
+failed to increase their mutual estimation of each other.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the subject of religion was introduced by Thomas
+Wolsey, she maintained that deferential silence which she
+thought best adapted to her position.  Latimer was much
+pleased with Wolsey's views, and, as some of the stars of
+the Reformation were then beginning to shine, both in
+England and in foreign countries, the young men entered
+into the spirit of the Wickliffites and Hussites with a degree
+of toleration, surprising indeed at that day, especially in the
+neighborhood of a town so celebrated for its papal
+institutions and prevailing bigotry as Ipswich was.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A century before, and this town had an episcopal jurisdiction;
+but it had now merged into the See of Norwich, and
+Goldwell then held his court in the ancient residence called
+Wyke's Bishop's Palace.  The Church looked very closely to
+her rights, her possessions, and professions, and almost
+one-half of the wealth of the kingdom was in the keeping of
+ecclesiastics.  Lands, houses, castles, monasteries, priories,
+livings, together with estates and jurisdictions, giving them
+power over the persons and lives of men, prevailed throughout
+the land; all in subjection to the Pope; and though at
+the close of the reign of Richard III., the bloody wars
+between the Houses of York and Lancaster for a time
+diverted men's attention from the growing tyranny of the
+Hierarchy, yet, when these houses became united,
+ecclesiastical sway assumed a frightful temporal power in this
+country, and met with consequent detestation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is singular that, at this period, Wolsey should have
+been such an advocate for the dissemination of truth, who
+was soon afterwards the strongest supporter of the dogmas
+of Rome.  What circumstances were conducive to this
+change of mind in one so bold, so brave, so elegant, and so
+eloquent, and, at that time, so truthful and so virtuous,
+will be presently seen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is not intended to give, at full length, the detail of the
+conversation then going on in that elevated chamber of
+Freston Tower.  It may suffice, for the reader's information,
+to say, that books were taken down from their shelves, their
+merits freely and easily discussed, their beauties expatiated
+upon, and passages from poets, historians, and orators, read
+with spirit, and devoured with that delight which kindred
+classical minds only could enjoy.  Latimer and Wolsey
+proved themselves worthy of the fame they afterwards
+acquired&mdash;the former as the Greek tutor of the learned
+Erasmus, the latter as the great patron of literature
+throughout the kingdom, whose works of art remain to this day to
+prove the elegance of his mind, and the profuse liberality
+of his spirit.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ellen was delighted; she sat with unmixed pleasure to
+hear the scholars dilate upon their subjects.  She found the
+hours stealing away quicker than she wished them to do:
+nor was her peculiar taste for elegance of diction forgotten,
+and, in certain points of dispute, she was called upon to
+decide which was the most chaste and perfect translation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is strange, but too true, that the most learned men are
+so jealous of the laborious stores of knowledge they have
+obtained, that they will scarcely ever condescend to communicate
+them to the female sex, or to express their knowledge
+before them; as if they were not to be the companions of
+man's mind, as well as of his domestic affairs.  It is true the
+world has seen such couples as Andrew Dacier and his
+beloved wife, Anne, in a past century, and that it does see,
+in this day, a young and most learned lord in this land,
+famous for the style of purity in which he writes his ancient
+and modern histories, appreciating the elegance of his lady's
+mind, and enjoying its cultivation; but in those days it was
+a rare thing indeed for a female, and she young, beautiful,
+and wealthy, to be permitted to join in those studies which
+were then considered too exclusively masculine.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the mind of Wolsey, at that period, there lived the
+thought that such happiness he might one day share more
+intimately with the beauteous Ellen.  It was a thought that
+had taken full possession of his soul, and he trembled as he
+avowed it to himself.  He had ventured to indulge in the
+suggestions of Hope&mdash;that bright morning star that guides
+the young mind to distinction, and lightens up even the
+darkest caverns of despair, when the barriers of wealth and
+station stand between the object and the aspirant.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey's hope seemed to dawn upon him through the
+vista of future years of learned fame, like the sun rising
+over a most extensive wilderness; or, it seemed to him, like
+the light of a distant cottage which the poor traveller
+descries in the darkest night, upon some pathless moor,
+with which he connects the associations of home and
+comfort.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He had these feelings in his soul, and if for a moment
+they were diverted to the subjects of future ambition, fame,
+and glory, they always seemed to return again to the same
+point.  Never was he more anxious to distinguish himself
+in the eyes of Ellen than at that period; and it is true that
+he shone with most uncommon splendor, and made Latimer
+confess that he was not only a better scholar than himself,
+but that he had a more comprehensive genius.  Both De
+Freston and his daughter were proud of their young and
+learned acquaintance, and much enjoyed their intellectual
+conversation.  How long this might have lasted no one
+could have told, had not De Freston broke off the discussion
+by reminding his daughter of her engagement to go to
+Ipswich.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'We must not spend much more time here, Ellen.  Our
+mid-day repast is ready in the hall, and if we do not get off
+in time, we shall hardly be able to visit our friends.  Come,
+my child, let us proceed to the castle.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A shadow of disappointment passed over the brow of
+Ellen, but it did not remain there.  She had taken her share
+in the discourse, and would have prolonged it, but that she
+knew well the wisdom of obedience to her father's
+suggestions.  She rose, therefore, and, for a few moments stood
+admiring the brilliant scene from her lofty room, in which
+she was joined by those enthusiastic lovers of nature.  The
+very turn of the conversation upon the broad waves of the
+Orwell, the distant hills and woods of the opposite shore,
+and the moving ships in the distance, then with clumsy and
+cumbersome hulls, yet picturesque enough to enliven the
+landscape, proved that Latimer was correct in his view, that
+deep study should be diversified with pleasant scenery to
+make both agreeable.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He rejoiced to see the lively glance which that broad view
+of the Orwell called forth from Ellen's countenance.  It
+played like a sunbeam through the shade of the grove upon
+her graceful brow, ornamented as it was with a profusion
+of tresses, nature's richest ornament.  At that moment
+the old hall bell announced the mid-day dinner, and the
+whole party descended to the castle.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap05"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER V.
+<br><br>
+THE CASTLE AND COMPANY.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+To describe a baron's hall, as in the fifteenth century, with
+all its cumbrous materials inside and out, would be, no
+doubt, very engaging to the antiquarian reader; and Freston
+Castle, Freston Hall, or De Freston's Mansion, as it was at
+various periods designated, if minutely described, would fill
+many a page which the general reader would be glad to be
+excused.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not that it would be otherwise than entertaining, for the
+Lords of Freston had each added something to the style of
+his predecessor, and there was as great a variety of the Gothic
+from the year 1111 down to 1485, as could be found in any
+house in the eastern counties of the kingdom.  It vied with
+the ancient castle of Caister in its castellated front and
+lofty turrets, its old Norman windows, loop-holes, and
+bastions, and, standing as it did upon one of the most
+picturesque spots throughout East Anglia, it commanded, in
+that day, general admiration.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was one of those castles which were exempt from the
+fines to Peter's Priory, on account of the Lord De Freston
+having granted a hide of land on the opposite shore to the
+then learned priors of Alneshborne; and hence it was
+considered extra parochial, and the church and chapel of De
+Freston as belonging to the immediate jurisdiction of John
+De Freston, who appointed his own ecclesiastic from among
+the preachers or prebends of Wykes Ufford, and, after that,
+from Gypesswich (Ipswich).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is 'but justice to the memory of the De Frestons to say
+they were good Catholics, not good for their gifts of foolish
+and vain things, but for their benevolent offerings for the
+poor.  Their splendid old hall, gracing the banks of the
+Orwell, for several centuries was remarkable for the liberality
+displayed within it, not only to the inhabitants of Freston,
+Arwarton, Holbrook, Wolverstone, Chelmondiston, Harkstead,
+Tattingstone, and Bentley, on the western side of the
+river, in which parishes the Lords of De Freston held estates,
+but in all parts of Suffolk, Norfolk, and Gloucestershire,
+where their property was situated, they had their benevolent
+houses, in which the dole of charity was meted out to the
+surrounding poor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Their great residences were at Freston and Malvern; for,
+connected with the Latimers, they held much sway on the
+borders of the Malvern Hills.  Their head-quarters were at
+Freston Hall, a fortified mansion, exhibiting traces of decay
+in some parts of the then elaborate workmanship of the
+fourteenth century.  A most noble park lay around the
+castle, extending along the beautiful banks of the river,
+including many a grand chasse, where deer and game of all
+descriptions might be found.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Part of the great tenure by which this property was held
+free from the interference of the religious houses in Ipswich,
+as well as temporal authorities of the borough, whose power
+then extended to the waste marshes upon the borders of
+the park, was the furnishing of three fat bucks for the 8th
+of September, to the borough, on the day of the election of
+bailiffs; and, on St. Peter's day, two bucks to the Abbots of
+Bury, two to the Prior of St. Peter's, and one to the Black
+Canons of Dodness; from all other charges whatsoever the
+Barony of De Freston was exempt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But our party, joyful in the society of each other, bent
+their way from the lawn which surrounded the Tower to the
+broad and open space before the castle.  So level did the
+grass at a little distance appear with the foundation walls
+of the building, that were it not for the distinct evidence of
+the huge drawbridge and portcullis, no one would imagine
+that a moat ninety-eight feet wide extended round the walls.
+The building was a square with four towers, the south-eastern
+front of which, facing the Orwell, was then in its
+most perfect state.  It was only at certain periods, when the
+distant dependencies of the barony came to pay suit and
+service to the Lords of De Freston, that the other wings of
+the mansion were inhabited.  They were not suffered to
+decay; but, as they were not constantly used, they were
+only visited occasionally by the lord, who left it to his
+household steward to see that all things were kept in
+order.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It is a beautiful spot,' said Latimer to Ellen, as they
+approached the spacious front of the building, 'and I hope
+it may never again see the troubles with which it was visited
+when the Earl of Leicester and his Flemings came from
+Walton Castle, and were opposed by John De Freston and
+his troops.  This looks not like a place of slaughter, Ellen;
+yet many a brave youth did your ancestors' bowmen send to
+the bottom of the waves, before the enemy could effect a
+landing, or reach this spacious green sward.  How thankful
+should we feel that we can walk in peace free from such
+terrors; but other parts of the kingdom are, at this moment, in
+arms, and the Baron De Freston will, I fear, have to send
+his quota of men to the wars of the Roses!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Let him keep neutral if he can, say I.  He is out of the
+reach of the severity of the contest, unless Richmond should
+choose Suffolk for his field of action.  I trust my father's
+hall will be at peace as long as his honored head shall
+be erect!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Amen!' added Wolsey.  'This place is too peaceful, too
+blessed in its inhabitants, to be disturbed by faction.  It has a
+charm in my eye which, I trust, no bloodshed will ever destroy!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You are a partial friend, Thomas; but I wish all men felt
+towards it and its inhabitants as you do.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That do not I,' thought Wolsey, 'unless, indeed, I were
+the foremost and most favored of all;' but he only replied,
+'I have reason to be partial, Ellen.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Perchance, Thomas, the issue of our interest this day
+may make you more partial than ever towards my father and
+myself, though your gain must be our loss.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Wolsey, will not that be some consolation to you, when
+in Oxford, to know my fair cousin here will be daily a loser
+by your absence?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The youth blushed, feeling conscious that both his hopes
+and his fears might be excited during his residence at the
+University; but the color soon disappeared, and he joined
+in the conversation without any appearance of embarrassment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'If Ellen can promise herself the same pleasure in my
+progress, neither she nor I can be a loser by my residence at
+the University, however prolonged it may be.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I assure you, Thomas, I shall take a most lively interest
+in your success.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He will not fail, Ellen, to be well repaid for his labors,
+should he win your approbation.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Let him go on as he has begun, and his success will be
+considered to form part of the honors attached to the house
+of De Freston.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now, though Ellen, in this speech, meant no more than
+to convey an idea of a certain degree of patronage which
+the House of De Freston had already exercised in the behalf
+of the young aspirant for future fame, yet, upon such a
+temperament as Wolsey's it produced an impression not easily
+to be effaced.  The blood circulated warmly through his
+frame as he thought of the possibility of his being able to
+bring honor to the house of De Freston, and to be deemed
+worthy of the hand (for his ambition had conceived the
+possibility of such an accomplishment) of the beautiful and
+enlightened heiress of De Freston, the chief happiness of
+his life.  Wolsey could only bow and promise to do his best,
+and repeated that it was one of the greatest pleasures of his
+existence to have met with a person who had led him to the
+foot of the hill on which the temple of Fame was built, and
+was ready to welcome him upon his arrival at the summit.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The party arrived at the drawbridge, where the old warder,
+with his battle-axe in hand, as if he were then watching for
+his safety, or expecting the arrival of a foe, saluted his
+master.  He was in his niche in the side of the right-hand turret
+of the drawbridge, and presented his lord with a packet of
+letters, which had arrived since he went to the Tower.
+These were placed in the pouch or pocket of De Freston,
+then worn externally, beneath the belt which bound the
+leathern jerkin of the noble, and was wrought with
+ornamental gold embroidery, and studded with the head of the
+bear.  This crest of that ancient family was adopted in
+consequence of the reputation of his ancestor, who arrived with
+William the Conqueror, for great personal strength, in
+expressed in the following motto:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'Who meets De Freston must beware<br>
+  The arms and courage of the bear.'<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>
+On the summit of the two towers, at either entrance of
+the arch forming the outer and inner gateway of the
+drawbridge, were the well-carved colossal figures of a rampant
+bear, facing each other, forming a barbarous, but, at that
+time, very common capital to the huge square pillars of the
+gateway; and, in the arms over the old porch, the bear
+hugging a foe was said to represent the manner in which the
+founder of the family, after having broken his sword, rushed
+in upon his enemy, and, seizing him, crushed him in
+his arms.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At that time, when the barons of England were expected
+to decide which rose they would wear, it was almost a
+disgrace not to have their castles ornamented in every part with
+the especial rose&mdash;red or white&mdash;which they espoused.  It
+is singular that a flower should be the symbol of contention
+throughout the whole kingdom.  The Lord De Freston lost
+nothing of his reputation by commanding his adherents to
+espouse neither side.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They reached the Baron's entrance-hall, where Ellen's
+maid stood in readiness to receive the mantle and hood
+of her mistress, and to await her retirement to her room.
+The retainers, in their military habiliments still, as in
+war-like days, assembled in rank and file in the ancestral hall:
+and every day with their burnished arms, their broad
+breast-plates, and high peaked helmets, made their appearance at
+the mid-day meal, before the baron or his mareschal.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The utmost regularity prevailed in that mansion, and the
+absence of any member of the establishment was observable
+immediately.  All raised their right hands to their helmets
+as De Freston and his daughter entered.  His archers rested
+on their bows, his spearmen on their spears, whilst his
+boatmen, with the Flemish pea-green jackets and woollen
+hose, looked, in their sea-faring dresses, the most independent
+among his retainers.  Fifty spearmen, as many archers,
+twelve boatmen, grooms of the chambers, and grooms of the
+stable, together with domestics, in-door and out, were all
+assembled in that spacious, lofty hall; and before they filed
+off into the great dining-room, or, as it was then called, the
+steward's refectory, they had to make this daily assembling
+a conspicuous part of their duty.  Every man's name was
+chalked upon the boards of the house the day of his coming
+into his lord's service, and his place and position.  It was
+part of the steward's office to call over their names, and
+signify the cause of absence to De Freston.  In this manner,
+before partaking of their master's meat, every man was
+inspected, and it added no little to the pride of the lord, as
+of pleasure to his vassal, to be recognised daily for
+punctuality and cleanliness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'A man is mighty,' thought Wolsey, as he surveyed the
+band of warriors and retinue of servants, 'a man is mighty
+who can depend upon himself without these adjuncts!  Yet
+he who is popular with his own people, who serve him heart
+and hand, and without many protestations but with faithful
+deeds, must feel strengthened in his castle.  Should I ever
+be a lord, I will take pleasure in seeing my retainers
+marshalled in this way.  It must add to mutual regard, and
+make a man appear to himself of some consequence.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After a word or two with the officer, De Freston dismissed
+his servants, who retired to the great feast daily
+prepared for them, and which, with forest rangers, watchers,
+warders, soldiers, and serving-men, was always a joyful
+meeting.  It was then that they were permitted to arrange
+themselves around the great log fire, and speak of the
+adventures by flood and field any of them had heard, or
+manifest their regard for their master's honor; and many
+a boy imbibed that feudal loyalty which induced him to
+devote his life to his superior.  The iron helmet rang upon
+the broad stone pavement of the room, as each soldier threw
+it off, and exposed to view a manly countenance, then
+covered with profuse locks and thick beard, and took his
+seat among some of the less encumbered domestics.  Wit,
+fun, and frolic, had then their hour, and tales of the stables,
+of the river, of the park, the town, the village, the country,
+and often tales of love circulated rapidly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Some would talk of the great doings of the former
+Barons of De Freston, the feats of his followers, and the
+perils they had escaped.  Then was discussed, too, that
+all-important question with all the retainers, the settlement
+of their beloved mistress.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have no faith in these learned gentry,' exclaimed a
+sturdy fellow of the name of Bigmore, whose fathers had
+served the Lords De Freston for many generations.  'I have
+no faith in these learned gentry for the lord of my young
+mistress, though, bless her heart, she is worthy of the most
+learned man in the land; though old Joe Jordan, with his
+usual long face, declares that there will never be another
+warrior in the house of De Freston.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'So say I now, Hugh&mdash;so say I now; and if I do say it,
+may be, I may not regret the day I see it, should I see your
+troop disbanded and peace and liberty reigning without the
+help of the sword.  You laugh at me as a mechanic, as my
+lord's carpenter; now, to my mind, building peaceful habitations
+is far pleasanter than building castles, towers, or
+fortifications.  I say now, that the tower of peace which we
+have just finished on the banks of the Orwell, unsuited as it
+is for attack and defence, will stand longer than many a
+baron's castle, and, may be, outlast even the habitation of its
+builder.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why true, Master Jordan, it is but a slight concern, and
+might be easily battered to pieces.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And for that very reason men will not think it worth
+their while to attack it.  It is built for my lady's tower.  It
+is merely for her pleasure, that she may not be weary in het
+pursuits of science, and that no one may interfere therewith.
+Warriors as you are, you would none of you fight against a
+woman, and therefore will this lady's tower be respected,
+aye, should all the warriors be set in battle array against
+each other, and the bloody rose meet the pale one in De
+Freston's park.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ah, well! methinks, Jordan, thou wouldst have thy
+mistress marry a priest.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And pray why is not a priest as good a man as a lord?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why?  Because he may not marry!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This created a laugh among some who were always glad
+to hear old Joe Jordan's remarks, though they might not be
+exactly in accordance with their own.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That is their misfortune, not their fault.  I would not be
+a priest, to take such a vow.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I'll tell thy wife of thee, Master Jordan,' exclaimed Abdil
+Foley, one of the journeymen, who happened to be then
+employed in fitting up some frames belonging to the
+tapestry-room in De Freston's Tower.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And she would thank thee for thy pains, and say, Bachelor
+Foley, do thou marry, or else turn thou priest and get thee
+into the cloister.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Abdil, thou hast got an able answer.  Go to and get
+married.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I will when it suits my purpose!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well, friends, here's a health to our young mistress; and
+may she marry a nobler lord than her father, if he can be
+found in the land.  What do you say to that, old Joe?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I say, as an independent man would say, it may be
+improved upon.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How so?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Will you all drink it if I give it you improved?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All vociferated 'Yes.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well, then, I say, Here's a health to our young mistress
+and may she marry the man of her mind.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But may that man be a lord!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'May that be as it may be.  Our lord's a deserving lord.
+A good master, kind friend, upright, learned, wise, independent,
+generous, and great; and if all the barons of England
+were like him, their nobility would be an ornament to them,
+and they would be ornaments to the people; but I say it
+with no disrespect to our master, God bless him! there are
+many lords who visit him not half so good looking, nor half
+so knightly, nor half so learned, nor half so well behaved,
+as either Masters Latimer or Wolsey, now the guests at
+his table.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well, which would you have for a master?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That is not for me to choose&mdash;I could serve either; for
+they have both held much converse with me while the tower
+was building, and I can perceive both are learned, both are
+gentlemen.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I think she likes young Wolsey,' said one, 'but surely she
+will never marry a merchant's son, and the owner of the
+butcher's shambles at Ipswich.  My uncle there, John
+Carrington, is one of his tenants, and told me that old Wolsey
+is as strict a master as if he had nothing else to live upon
+than the rents of the butcher's shambles.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Our lord,' said another, 'did not scruple to marry a
+merchant's daughter, though he was a rich one, it is true!  Why,
+then, should not his daughter smile upon a merchant's son;
+and that son such a one as he is?  Hey, Master Bigmore! this
+is true logic.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I don't understand your logic.  I am for supporting the
+house of my master, and not letting it fall.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was in such manner that the men of De Freston frequently
+occupied that hour of their meals; and let education
+do what it will, it will no more prevent the current of
+observation and reflection in the kitchen than it will prevent
+many of those who call themselves most enlightened religious
+professors talking about their neighbors, and interfering
+much more in their families than any servants do in their
+master's affairs.  It is as impossible to stop men from thinking
+about national subjects as to control the conversations of
+their domestics when they see things passing before their
+eyes, either in the parlor, or the chapel, or the hall.  Good
+masters will not always make good men, nor good domestics
+cease to serve bad masters; but evil masters seldom fail of
+conveying evil consequences to their dependents.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In those days of feudal grandeur it was of as much or of
+more consequence than it is in these enlightened times that
+a lord should stand well with his vassals.  Though his power
+was great over their lives, yet his own life and state much
+depended upon their support.  Happily, no such tyranny
+now exists, unless it may be said to have sprung up in the
+nineteenth century, in the horrible tyranny of that law
+which now enslaves the poor.  The future consequences to
+this country, under this new system, remains to be seen; at
+present, great is the misery experienced; and it will be so
+whilst the liberty of the subject is so shamefully infringed
+upon as to make poverty an excuse for imprisonment, where
+crime only should be punished.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We may approach the days of high pressure upon liberty,
+and whilst we are speculating upon the rapidity of motion,
+we may be only forging chains for our confinement.  'We
+shall see!' is the expression of many a man who sees
+more than he chooses to discuss; but may we live to
+see more peace and prosperity, industry, simplicity, and
+contentment, than we do any of us see or know at the
+present time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dinner was in the banqueting hall, and De Freston, his
+daughter, and friends, sat as they did of old, at one long
+table, all on one side, while the serving men stood opposite.
+The banners of De Freston waved over the head of the
+gallery leading to the upper rooms, while the old carved
+chimney-piece, representing the battle of the giants, one
+party ascending on the right hand column of the fire-place
+to the grand contest, whilst the left hand represented them
+hurled down with rocks from Jupiter Tonans, who, in the
+very centre of the cross beam, was with his fiery eagles
+sending forth his thunderbolts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bowls of polished wood contained the simple meal of the
+day, and though silver and gold cups stood upon the table,
+no forks, but fingers only, tore asunder the limbs of fowls,
+the slices of venison, or whatever else was served up before
+the Lord De Freston.  It is true that a huge sword-like
+scimitar or knife was used by the steward of the table to
+sever for my lord the portions from the baron of beef; but
+ere the morsels could be reduced to the size fit for the
+mouth, they must be torn asunder by the delicate fingers
+which conveyed them to the teeth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But men were not less cleanly or happy in their feasts
+than they are now.  The water was poured upon the hands,
+the napkin more frequently applied, and conversation was
+far less formal, and much more general than at present.
+The lord and his daughter performed the duties of hospitality,
+conversed with their guests upon the great discoveries
+then making in the world; and the wonders of navigation
+were thought as much of in those days as the wonders of
+steam are in these.  The powers of the compass were then
+first discussed; and Captain Diaz, the celebrated Portuguese
+navigator, had sailed round Cape Stormy, now called, or
+soon after then called, the Cape of Good Hope.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nothing more gratified our party than to speak of the
+wonders of the press.  Wolsey declared that the monks
+should all turn printers, and that every monastery ought to
+have a press.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Had such been the case, it is much to be feared that
+truth would not have triumphed as she did.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The meal was soon over, and the party prepared to take
+their departure, according to previous arrangement, for the
+Port of Ipswich.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap06"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER VI.
+<br><br>
+THE EXCURSION.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+The state barge of Lord De Freston was moored against
+the stairs, or huge oaken steps which led down directly from
+the shelving bank of the park to the waves of the Orwell.
+Six men, with broad oars in hand, prepared to thrust them
+through the round loop holes in the gunwale of the boat,
+for thowles were then unknown, and the barges or boats of
+the noblemen who lived on the banks of that far-famed
+river, were things of such size, as required able-bodied men
+and strong hands to urge them over the waves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Unlike the little cockle which went bounding over the
+Orwell in the morning to meet the anxious Wolsey, this
+was a magnificent affair, somewhat after the shape of the
+Nautilus, and floating apparently as high out of the water.
+The huge bear rose rampant at the prow, and looked as if
+he would grapple with anything he met, whilst the seat at
+the stern was elevated, and with rude, but elaborately carved
+work, afforded room for as many persons as there were
+rowers in the boat.  If any attendants went in the state
+barge, they squatted down beneath the hind paws of Bruin.
+They were not permitted to intercept the view; but were
+mostly hidden by the sailors.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I wonder, messmate, how our moody young scholar liked
+his reception at the Tower to-day.  I thought he looked
+rather gloomy upon the view.  At all other times he was
+wont to be as brisk and bright as a light-hearted sailor-boy.
+I'll warrant he has something aboard his skull which presses
+heavily on the spirit.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ah!  Jervis, that boy, heavy as he appears to be, has
+more brains in his head than all we six put together; and
+he makes more use of them now than we shall ever make
+of ours.  Never mind his being a little dull this morning;
+maybe our mistress smiling upon the young Oxonian may
+make him a little thoughtful.  Did you not tell me that he
+was going to Oxford, or some seat of learning, for a time?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It was whispered so among our people, and Mistress
+Ellen's maid was heard to say her mistress would be very
+dull when young Master Thomas went away.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well, then, art thou surprised that young Master
+Thomas should be a little thoughtful at leaving such a lively
+friend as our young mistress?  I'll warrant now, Jervis, if
+our lord were to order thee to go by sea to the mouth of the
+Severn, and to wait his pleasure on that river, thou wouldst
+think of the maid Fanny, as much as Master Thomas does
+of her mistress.  I never knew a youth in love&mdash;and I
+believe this young scholar is so&mdash;that was not moody;
+sometimes fit for nothing, sometimes as close and almost as
+stupid as an oyster.  Young Wolsey was hard enough to
+open this morning.  But have ye all got your oars in
+hand? for yonder they come from the castle, and we must be
+prepared.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Heave out the plank from the stern, Osborne!' exclaimed
+the old steersman, 'and fasten it to the head of the stair.
+Heave the barge round, and point her prow to the Priory!
+Gently, boys, gently!  There, lay her stern as near the bank
+as you can!  Leave off talking about your betters, and
+mind your own business!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Six rowers, and this cockswain, whose long boom for a
+rudder bespoke a very primitive kind of steerage for
+himself.  His seat was a strong oaken plank, through which
+this long oar or steering-boom was to be thrust, and upon
+which, seated upon its broad beam-end, he was observed to
+possess the most elevated position in the boat.  Full three
+feet below his exalted post was the deck, if so it might be
+called, whereon De Freston and his friends were to take
+their seats.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Though Wolsey had never breathed a word of his devotion,
+yet these men appeared to be fully cognizant of it.
+The world will canvass the actions of a man, let the
+circumference of his orbit be what it may.  It will talk for us,
+and at us, and make us drink sometimes the waters of
+bitterness, even when we would live in peace and harmony
+with all.  There was no kind of evil will, however, in the
+conversation of De Freston's boatmen, as they spoke of
+young Wolsey and his love affair.  Love sails as freely with
+seamen as with landsmen, and its pleasures were in as high
+estimation amongst those young fellows, in their green
+Flemish jerkins, as it could be in the heart of any of their
+superiors then coming along the slope to the Orwell.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The scholar soon appeared, all smiles and animation, as
+he handed the lovely Ellen across the plank to her seat, and
+gave a nod of recognition to the men, to whom, in the
+morning, he had scarcely spoken a word.  They saw his
+altered mien, and rejoiced in that vivacity which now gave
+light to his countenance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The lady Ellen also was now on board, and when did the
+heart of a British sailor ever fail to feel respect for the fair
+and honored daughters of England, whenever chance gave
+them the opportunity of showing them their esteem?  With
+cap in hand, they saluted the lady and their lord.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Give way, my good men!' he cried, 'and hasten with
+all speed to the town!  We must go to Gypesswick and
+back this afternoon.  Is that the Prior's boat, Herbert, close
+under the Donham shore, or is it Fastolf's barque?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It is the Prior's barge, from the port with provisions.  I
+saw Fastolf's barge go down the river to the Haugh an hour
+ago.  We shall have time and tide enough in the channel
+for the way, my lord.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The old sailor gave the signal, the men thrust the oars
+through the holes, and soon, in stately grandeur, the lofty
+barge of De Freston was seen gliding past the banks of
+the Orwell.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The channel took almost a direct course from Freston
+Castle to the shores of the Priory of Downham, or Doneham,
+and swept, with a graceful curve, beneath the then overhanging
+woods which stood so prominently upon the projecting
+cliffs of the Orwell.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey and Latimer vied with each other in directing
+Ellen's attention to the beauty of the scenery, and in
+recording the different historical facts relative to the places
+which had been the scenes of daring exploit in the different
+periods of English and Danish warfare.  Ellen could
+appreciate the beauties of the scenery, but her gentle heart
+shuddered at the idea of bloodshed, as every Christian
+female heart must do.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was with far greater pleasure that she heard Wolsey
+recount the worthiness of the brotherhood who then
+inhabited the walls of Alneshborne Priory.  He spoke of their
+learning and devotion to deeds of charity, and represented
+them as an exception to any other of the religious
+communities, then so prevalent in the kingdom.  There was a
+raciness, fluency and force in his descriptive powers, which
+charmed even Latimer, who, though comparatively a novice
+upon the river, was alive to the spirit of poesy in which his
+companion indulged.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The tide had turned, but the channel was then both
+deeper and wider than it is now, and took a far more grand
+and oceanic sweep.  The soil of centuries which has flowed
+down from the Gipping into the Orwell, and different
+streams which have deposited their sand and slime, have
+formed that immense track of ouse, which, swelling into
+steep, muddy banks, has now conglomerated into vast fields
+of slimy clay, upon which green samphire and long weeds
+have grown, and very much narrowed the mighty channel,
+which, in that day swept, as an arm of the German Ocean,
+up to the walls of the town of Ipswich.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was then no uncommon thing, even in summer, to see
+the wild swan with his straight neck and yellow beak,
+sailing up the stream, followed by the brood of cygnets
+bred upon the flats of Levington; and in winter, the
+wild fowl from distant climes sported in thousands of flights,
+until they actually blackened the silvery waters around them.
+Gulls of every class used to whiten the ouse at low water,
+and coots used to blacken the waves at full-tide; now nothing
+of animated nature can be seen but a long, green track of
+seaweed, with perhaps a solitary swan, or a lonely gull.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the barge is dashing away with the speed of good
+stout rowers, amidst the beauties of the wave and the shore,
+and Ellen's smile restores much of its wonted happiness to
+the heart of Wolsey, who only the more and more strove to
+make a favorable impression upon her mind, by bringing
+forth from the treasure-house of his intellect, such instances
+of his classical knowledge as should make her remember
+the last day when he went up the river with his patron and
+patroness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was indeed for his sake that she visited the town of
+Ipswich at that moment, in company with her parent; to
+urge upon Robert Wolsey, his father, the imperious necessity
+of sending the scholar to Oxford.  Both De Freston and
+his daughter were carried away by their enthusiastic feelings
+in patronising this youth, and anticipated the day when he
+would rise to be an ornament to his country, and an honor
+to themselves.  The thought of doing an act of kindness to
+Wolsey gave a peculiar degree of interest to the journey.
+Ellen, in particular, quite gloried in the thought of being
+of service to one who had been to her so congenial a
+companion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The magnificent banks of the Orwell, opening their views
+on each side, on as lovely a late spring day as it was possible
+to see, added a great charm to the excursion; and, as they
+swept in view of the ancient town, they could not but admire
+the grand semicircle which the wharf and Peter's Priory,
+and different religious houses in the distance, then afforded.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But, as they neared the town, and beheld the tower, turret,
+house and hall, of the great merchants and burgesses of the
+borough, the old pilot called the attention of his lord to
+the number of boats then leaving the quays and sides of the
+river.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Methinks, your honor, that all Ipswich is turning out
+to meet on the wave; their numbers seem to increase, and
+I certainly never saw such a float of boats upon the river
+before!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I see something on the wave before the boats,' replied
+De Freston.  'Now it disappears&mdash;now it meets us&mdash;now
+it turns, and the boats seem gathering round it.  What can
+it be?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I see it now, my lord, I see it; and I think I discern
+two fish which the inhabitants of the town in their
+cockle-shell boats are pursuing.  Yes, I see them plainly.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Come up, my child,' said De Freston, 'or if not able to
+ascend hither, if you can stand upon the seat, you will see a
+lively scene.  Come hither, let the two young men be your
+supporters.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The river, as they approached the town, seemed alive with
+boats, and it was evident that the people in them were
+engaged in pursuing two large fish, which were in vain trying
+to escape down the channel.  One seemed larger than the
+other, and the declaration of Herbert at the helm soon
+pronounced what they were.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'They are two dolphins, old and young, and I think
+they have wounded the young one, and the parent will not
+leave it.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And so it literally was.  The pursuers had harpooned
+the lesser fish, and with several boats joined together were
+towing it from its mother, who, with that extraordinary
+instinct which this fish has often been known to display,
+preferred following its young to death, to making its own
+escape.  Many times it was seen to return and run its nose
+against the exhausted body of its offspring, as if
+endeavoring, with maternal anxiety, to teach it to follow her;
+for it would, the moment after, dive down the current of
+the ebbing tide, and then seem to wait the approach of
+the wounded dolphin.  It would then return with redoubled
+anxiety, and, unable to induce its young to follow, would
+lay itself alongside, and regardless of boats, blows, and
+harpoons, keep with it until they drew towards the shore.
+Even then it would not return, but as De Freston's barge
+came along, the heart of Ellen was grieved to see such
+maternal solicitude followed by a train of blood which
+actually streaked the waves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Alas! poor dolphin!' she exclaimed, as she saw it
+dragged to the shore opposite the creek, then leading up
+to Wyke's Bishop Palace in the hamlet of St. Clement.
+'Alas, poor dolphin! thou didst deserve a better fate!
+For thou hast respected the laws of nature more than cruel
+man!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She sat down in the barge and wept.  De Freston had
+intended to have landed, and his men would have been
+equally glad to have seen a creature so rare in the Orwell.
+He urged them to proceed at once, without delay, to the
+landing-place beside St. Peter's Priory.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was a long time before Ellen could rouse herself
+from the sorrowful feeling into which the recent incident
+had thrown her; and she spoke not a word until the
+hand of De Freston assisted her to land, and then it was&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Father, I shall never forget the dolphin and her offspring.'
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap07"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER VII.
+<br><br>
+THE VISIT.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+The outer wall of St. Peter's Priory then abutted upon the
+waters of the Orwell, and formed a long river border, from
+the Common Quay nearly to the first lock gates where
+the Orwell and Gipping meet.  At the junction of the
+two rivers, where the salt water and fresh salute each
+other at high tide, there was formerly the termination
+wall of the Priory, and the southern gate to the town of
+Ipswich.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this point was, at low water, the celebrated Stoke
+Ford, where the Danes entered the town; and Terkettel,
+the Danish giant, was slain by an archer from the wall.
+The channel of the river swept along close under the
+walls of the Priory; and though the cells of the monks
+did not face the waves, yet there were light niches or
+loop holes in those walls, through which, if occasion
+required, any one ascending by ladder, or frame, might
+discharge his arrows upon an enemy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There were small Saxon arches, equidistant along the
+wall, which gave a degree of light and elegance to
+that otherwise dark and dreary brick fortification.  The
+Priory was then in its greatest prosperity and had vast
+possessions in the town, on the banks of Stoke, and along
+the meadows of the winding Gipping.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+De Freston's barge had been espied coming up the
+river, and the Prior, for many reasons, paid court to the
+lords of De Freston.  Independently of the many donations
+he received from the charity of his ancestors, he had only
+a few days before received substantial proof of the
+liberality of the present lord, who had presented to the
+fraternity, for the shrine of St. Peter, two massive
+candlesticks of silver, together with twelve ornamental brass
+ones for the chapel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was, therefore, nothing surprising in the fact,
+that when De Freston came to St. Peter's, or
+the Southern Gate, he should be met by the Prior
+and six canons, bareheaded, to solicit a visit to their
+monastery.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Prior John.' said the nobleman, 'I am sensible of
+thy kindness, but I cannot now accept the offer of thine
+hospitality.  I am visiting Ipswich upon business, and
+must return again by moonlight to my own castle.  But
+I would crave thy charity for these my boatmen, if thou
+wilt give them rest and refreshment, beneath the roof of
+the porter until such time as we come back.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Most assuredly, De Freston!  We should have been
+proud to have entertained thee, thy daughter, and thy
+friends; for we are not unmindful of thy love for our
+institution, and know well thy devotion to the ways of thine
+ancestors.  Our books record thy gifts.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Say nothing of them, Father John, say nothing of
+them, and think of them less.  If thou wilt receive my men,
+I will not forget it when I next pay my vows at St. Peter's
+shrine.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'They shall be made welcome.  The boat can be moored
+to the Priory steps, and, Antony, conduct the men to the
+lodge.  We will see that they shall be taken care of.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The men were glad enough to be so located for a
+time, for they knew well that, however seemingly
+self-denying and outwardly stern the Prior and his
+brotherhood might be in ceremonious matters of religion, there
+was no lack of good cheer within their walls, and no
+failure in their supply to any whom they made welcome.
+Gladly they followed Antony, after their master had
+departed with his daughter and the young men for the
+interior of the town.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They had not long been seated on the polished oaken
+benches of the lofty room, in the interior of Antony's
+lodge, before they were visited by some of the fraternity,
+under pretence of seeing if they fared well.  There was
+no doubt of that; but the Friar was curious, and when
+did a monk note a stranger of any consequence and not
+desire to know more of him?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Who is the young man with thy master?' asked the
+inquisitive Simon, as he placed a huge leathern black jug
+of Prior's ale upon the table before Herbert, the pilot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That is Master William Latimer, my master's kinsman,
+from Oxford.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ho! from Oxford! and dost thou know why and
+wherefore he is come?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I know not, your reverence, why or wherefore he is
+come; but we have our thoughts, good father.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'So have all men, Herbert, so have all men; and I
+dare say now thy thoughts were as much toward thy
+mistress as towards the young man?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I don't know that, father; I seldom trouble my head
+about things that don't concern me; and when I said
+we had our thoughts, I was not then thinking of our
+mistress.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Humph!'&mdash;and the Friar seemed a little disappointed&mdash;'hath
+he been long at the castle?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But three days, father.  He came to see Freston Tower
+finished and adorned, and to bring his presents of learned
+books to the Lady Ellen.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And did he bring them for her?  I have heard thy
+mistress is wonderfully clever for her years.  Our young
+townsman, who accompanies them, tells me thus much.  But
+dost thou know the object of thy master's visit to Ipswich
+this afternoon?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'We have our thoughts, and it is said amongst us that it
+is to settle about Master Thomas Wolsey's going back with
+this young learned Latimer, to Oxford.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ho! ho! that is it, is it?' and the brother returned from
+the lodge to report to his principal what he had made out
+of the Lord De Freston's visit.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now there was nothing uncommon in all this, for the
+monks of Ipswich knew everything going on around them.
+They had time to talk over the condition of every nobleman,
+and to calculate upon what might be got from them, for the
+benefit of their community.  Prior John had noticed the
+abilities of Wolsey, and, as books were scarce, and more
+valuable than land, and he saw his great love for these, he
+had indulged the youth with many an hour's study in his
+own cell, and had hopes that he would one day be useful to
+the Priory.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was the fact that at that very time the party were on
+their way to the house of Edmund Daundy, the wealthiest
+man in Ipswich, who was related to Wolsey, and connected
+with De Freston.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was one of the most benevolent-minded men of his
+day, whose works of charity remain to this hour.  Singularly
+upright, generous, pious, and devout, he conceived it to be
+his duty to devote the first fruits of all he obtained to
+purposes of benevolence, so that no ship brought home
+his merchandise, no speculation answered in which he
+engaged, but he set apart a portion of his profits upon every
+article to a fund for doing good.  His prosperity became so
+great, and his punctuality so conspicuous, and his store laid
+by for charity so accumulated, that he seldom refused the
+prayer of an applicant for his bounty.  He founded schools
+for the young, alms-houses for the aged, a market-cross for
+traffic, and a chauntry for a priest to pray for his own
+soul and those of his relatives.  His munificence was
+proverbial:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'If bricks be sold for Daundy's gold,<br>
+  The town of Gypesswick will ne'er be old.'<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+As much as to say that his wealth could purchase bricks, for
+which Ipswich was then celebrated, more than could be
+made and used for centuries in renewing the town.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His magnificently old carved and ornamented house stood
+in the very centre of the town, in St. Lawrence parish, and
+nearly fronting the then gates of St. Lawrence Church.  It
+was situated between two very opulent mansions, that of
+John Fastolf and John Sparrowe, gentlemen, who, together
+with the said Edmund Daundy, at different periods,
+represented the borough of Ipswich in parliament.  The
+family of Fastolf had a residence in Ipswich, and at the
+Haugh, beyond Alneshborne Priory; and though they had
+castles at Caister and at Woodbridge, they resided the
+greater part of the year at Ipswich.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Edmund Daundy, though he had so much interest with
+the monks of Alneshborne as always to have apartments
+in that Priory devoted to him, never deserted his native
+town, but lived and died in it, beloved for every amiable
+virtue, and deeply regretted when he was taken away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The object of De Freston's visit was to persuade him to
+intercede with Dame Joan Wolsey, or, as it was then termed,
+Wuley, to part with her son for a time, that he might go to
+Oxford.  There was no kind of difficulty, in a pecuniary
+view; though, had there been such, it would have been no
+disgrace whatever to his after career.  But, as we have said,
+Wolsey was related to Edmund Daundy, a man who was
+ready to serve him, hand and heart.  With such powerful
+friends as De Freston and Daundy, there could be no difficulty,
+as has been stated there was by some writers, in his
+being sent to Oxford.  All the circumstances of the time
+tend to corroborate this fact.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His father, likewise, was an independent man, upon the
+most intimate terms of friendship with all the leading men
+and merchants in Ipswich, and had no mean estates at the
+very period when some biographers speak of his poverty.
+His will is fortunately in existence, and is now acknowledged,
+by all modern historiographers, to prove that he was a man
+of considerable possessions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He leaves his property to his wife&mdash;for his son Thomas
+had, before his decease, intimated his intention of becoming
+a priest; and this may be the reason for the father's 'lands
+and tenements in St. Nicholas' parish, and his bond and free
+lands in the parish of Stoke, being left to his widow, and
+only a priest's portion, for prayers, being appointed for his
+son in that will.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The fact was, Thomas Wolsey was an only child, the pride
+of his parents, and the particular hope and delight of his
+attached mother.  She had been alive to his disposition from
+infancy; she saw his eager aptitude for learning; she first
+fed and then encouraged it, and, being herself a woman of
+considerable attainments for her day, she rejoiced in the
+growing fame of her son.  She had, however, taken a
+decided aversion to the priesthood as a profession for her
+son, and fearful lest, by going to Oxford, she should lose
+him, she had set her face against all the suggestions of his
+friends, and the arguments of her relatives.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If prejudice alone had operated upon the mind of this
+excellent woman, she would not have been, as she was, so
+calmly forcible in her decisions against the measure; but
+she little thought what a powerful battery was to open its
+artillery upon her that day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The party arrived at the mansion of the wealthy burgess,
+and was welcomed by him with that hearty favor which he
+always bore to De Freston and his friends.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Right welcome art thou, most noble lord&mdash;right welcome
+to my house and home.  I did not expect to see thee, fair
+maiden, but, as thou art come, thou must be a coadjutor in
+our suit; and, if I mistake not, thou wilt carry more
+weight with Mistress Joan than all our united forces.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The maiden felt a little surprised, and, if truth be told,
+young Wolsey felt a no small degree of joy in the interest
+excited at the moment.  Ellen could not help saying&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I cannot conceive, my dear friend, how I can have more
+weight with Wolsey's mother than thou hast.  She has been
+very kind and attentive to me in a thousand ways; but she
+is no kind of debtor to me.  I am rather under obligation
+to her.  Is it not so, my father?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'She has always shown herself very partial to thee, Ellen,
+and, I must say, has taken a most motherly interest in thy
+behalf; for, as soon as I lost thy mother, she was incessant
+in her kindness towards thee, and recommended that good
+old faithful nurse, Dorothea, whom thou didst lose last year.
+Thou art indebted to her likewise for thy present maid,
+Fanny; and she has worked with her own hand, and sent
+thee by this young scholar many a little comfort for the
+furnishing of thy tower.  These certainly are indications,
+as Master Daundy says, of strong predilection; and if those
+who love us are in any way to be influenced by us, I see here
+a very proper occasion for the exercise of that influence
+which thou mayest possess.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And I can tell thee,' added Daundy, 'more than this.  It
+was but last evening I was speaking to her upon the very
+subject which we now discuss, when she said: "If anything
+could induce me to let Thomas go to Oxford, it would be
+Ellen De Freston expressing a wish that he should go."'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A blush mantled upon the cheek of Ellen, as she looked
+innocently enough at Wolsey, and caught his glance of
+intercession.  The boy's whole soul was wrapt up in the
+interest he then excited.  His own heart told him at once
+the cause of his mother's favor towards Ellen, and though
+he dare not, even to his heart, breathe the hope that she
+would see it&mdash;nay, indeed, hoped that she would not&mdash;yet he
+entertained a sort of indefinite idea, that she might one day
+perceive that, for her sake, he would do anything.  The
+youth's animated countenance must have quickened her
+perception, or she was struck with the possibility of doing
+him service, for she replied&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Could I but think I could persuade her, the effort would
+be nothing for me to make.  I have strong arguments to
+back me, have I not, cousin Latimer?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Indeed you have, Ellen!  I will say it before my young
+friend, that, in your letters, you only did him justice.  I did
+not expect to find your descriptive power of character so just
+as I have found it in the talents of this youth.  Thomas
+Wolsey, you are little aware what an advocate you have had.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If ever Wolsey felt abashed, it was at that moment, yet
+he found words to reply&mdash;.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I know not,' he said, 'how to speak my gratitude to
+Ellen De Freston, or her father.  They have been the
+brightest fosterers of my love of literature, and of every
+virtue which can prompt a young man to exertion.  Should
+Ellen succeed in her petition to my mother, for my father
+has already acceded to the persuasions of his friends, I shall
+for ever feel indebted to her, and in future years, if my
+exertions should be crowned with success, the greatest joy
+I can feel will arise from the consciousness of the approbation
+of such a friend.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Come, then,' said Daundy, 'I can see clearly we shall be
+able to effect our purpose.  I never saw a mother more
+against her son's entering the Church than is Dame Joan.
+She trembles, Thomas, lest thou shouldst become a priest,
+and, knowing the restrictions which would be placed upon
+thee, as the child of Rome that thou must then become, she
+fears that thou wouldst be sworn to give away all thine
+affections, and that she should lose thy love, thy attention
+to her, and thine interest in life.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I know my mother's fears.  I have, however, endeavored
+to combat them; first, upon the grounds that I
+never think of becoming a priest, though I told her
+then that it would be wrong in me to make a vow that
+I would not.  Then I have represented to her the field
+of glory open to one who enters the cloister, and would
+show her what fame, what present and future joy, there
+was in the employment which the Pope now gives to all
+the sons of the Church.  She thinks every priest must
+be lazy, bigotted, and superstitious, and, at times, almost
+makes me think she is, or would be, an heretic.  But
+she shakes her head at me, tells me I am young, that
+we think differently as we grow older, and often take
+steps too precipitately in our youth, before our judgments
+are formed, of which we afterwards bitterly repent.  Now
+I wish to go to Oxford that I may obtain an insight
+into learning, such as this, my native town, cannot afford
+me.  I wish to study logic and the laws of my country,
+as well as all the literature of this and foreign lands,
+and I cannot do it better than by going to Oxford; can
+I, Master Latimer?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Most assuredly not.  I can be of some service to you,
+and will, if your parents consent.  I am very intimate
+with Grocyn the learned and newly-elected prebend of
+Lincoln.  He has more influence with Magdalen College
+than any man.  He wishes, most heartily, to introduce
+into that society men of first-rate classical ability; and,
+as he is Divinity Reader there, he has obtained a promise
+that those whom he can recommend for letters, shall be
+admitted upon that foundation.  Now I know Grocyn
+would be glad to hear from me, and if friends here will
+find me a messenger, I will forthwith write and
+recommend Master Thomas Wolsey; and I greatly deceive
+myself if he do not distinguish himself and gratify us all.
+This is what I can do!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And, doing this!' added De Freston, 'you will lay us
+all under obligation.  Come, Thomas, your prospects
+brighten!  I think, with all these promises in hand, we
+cannot fail in obtaining our suit.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Then let us no longer delay.  Ellen, as the oldest
+friend of Dame Joan's, I shall offer thee my hand.  We
+will walk to St. Nicholas.  I have but to leave a message
+for Master Cady, upon the subject of the market, and it
+is not out of our way.  So let us be moving; we shall
+be back in time for our evening meal.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The party were soon ready, and Daundy and Ellen
+led the way.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap08"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER VIII.
+<br><br>
+THE EVENT.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Strange things occur when we least expect them, and
+often either further or retard the progress of our views so
+unaccountably, that with all our wisdom we could never
+effect what is often done by accident.  We call it accident,
+or chance, but, call it what we may, there are designs
+fulfilled by man of which he has no kind of presentiment;
+and only after performance are they looked upon
+as providential.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The party, as merry as friends intent upon doing mutual
+good could be, bent their way round by the market-place,
+where the butchers' shambles, a square-built, ancient
+building, then reared its four sides.  It has been misrepresented
+that one of these stalls was kept by Robert Wolsey,
+the father of our young scholar; but all the stalls belonged
+to hire, which he had received as the security of his wife's
+dower from the wealthy family of Daundy.  The whole of
+the butcher's shambles, which they were then approaching,
+were rented by the different occupiers of Robert Wolsey
+and just in the same manner as any of the great property
+in Grosvenor Street might belong, upon leases, to the Earl
+of that name; or the property in Lambeth, held by lease
+from the Archbishops of Canterbury, might be said to be
+the property of that See.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It would be unjust to any of the great men who own
+considerable estates in houses, shops, and tenements, built
+upon their grounds, to say, that they were, originally,
+bakers, butchers, brewers, mercers, or hardware men.  Yet
+upon no other ground was Wolsey's father denominated a
+butcher.  He was a merchant and a man of property, and
+married a lady of one of the highest families, short of
+nobility, yet truly noble in deed.  The party were walking
+from the market-place towards St. Nicholas, where Wolsey's
+father resided, in a house which formed the termination of
+two thoroughfares now called St. Nicholas Street and Silent
+Street.  They were proceeding in front of the area or open
+market-place by the shambles, just as two surly mastiff dogs
+were growling and quarrelling for a piece of offal which had
+been thrown to them.  They were huge, tawny mastiff dogs of
+great power, and most formidable appearance.  After eyeing
+each other with savage fierceness they flew to the conflict.
+Daundy, at any other time, would have passed by such
+savage contests among men, boys, or dogs, but having De
+Freston's daughter upon his left arm, and the animals
+passing a little too near him, bearing each other down, he
+hurled at them a small short stick he had in his hand.
+Had he boldly struck them, and kept the weapon in his hand,
+they might have been cowed, but as he had inflicted a blow
+and thrown away the weapon, they turned furiously upon him
+and his companion, who, in an instant, were borne to the
+ground.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One savage seized the loyal burgess by the throat, and
+though he was kicked, and pulled, and beaten by Latimer
+and De Freston, he maintained his grasp.  Ellen was seized
+by the arm, and the beast had already torn her garments,
+and the blood was starting from his jaws.  It was then that
+Wolsey displayed his presence of mind and his prowess, for
+not choosing to waste his time upon the animal's sides, he
+seized a huge shin-bone of an ox, which lay upon the
+butcher's stall, and instantly dealt such a blow upon the
+mastiff's skull as dashed his brains upon the pavement.  He
+then raised the terrified Ellen, who had fainted away with
+pain, and whilst a butcher, with a cleaver, administered the
+same punishment to the other mastiff, he had carried the
+poor girl into Cady's house, and committed her to the care
+of its good mistress.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey still kept the shin-hone in his hand, and when
+his fellow townsmen saw him walking to his own house with
+the weapon, and they knew what he had done with it, they
+would have carried him in their arms in triumph to his
+father's house.  But he had hastened home to tell his
+parents of the accident, and to request his mother to provide
+accommodation for Lord De Freston's daughter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dame Joan was by no means content with preparations:
+she ordered her servants to follow with a litter and went
+at once to Cady's house.  Ellen was glad to see her, and
+confided herself to her care.  Daundy was most severely
+bitten in the throat.  It was thought best he should go to
+his own house, while Ellen was conveyed to Dame Joan
+Wolsey's.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was an arrangement to which De Freston could not
+do otherwise than assent; for, as the dogs were in a state of
+mad rage at the time when they flew at them, it was
+impossible to say what the consequences might be if the
+patients were neglected.  To Dame Joan's, then, his daughter
+was borne, and, as might be expected, was for some days
+in a state of feverish excitement concerning her wound.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was a grand hour for Wolsey, and he was proud of that
+ox-shin bone; he called it his friend in need: he had it
+cleaned, and tipped with silver.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I will never part with it,' he said to De Freston, 'and if
+ever I should be worthy of a coat-of-arms, it shall serve as
+my crest.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It was a brave and judicious act, Thomas,' added De
+Freston, 'and one for which Ellen and I shall ever feel grateful.
+Had you not killed the mastiff, he might have killed my
+daughter.  The act is worthy of your energy, Thomas, and
+I should be glad to see your crest exalted.  I shall leave
+Ellen with your mother with as much confidence as if she
+were at home; but I will send her maid early in the morning
+to assist dame Joan's household.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+De Freston had a melancholy return to his castle; indeed,
+he would not have gone at all, had not his daughter
+requested that he would attend to some things which she
+had proposed doing.  On that beautiful evening, Latimer
+and De Freston took their seats upon the stern of the barge,
+and departed for the castle.  Daundy did well, and so did
+Ellen, who did not forget to intercede with Dame Joan
+in behalf of Wolsey.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'As thou dost urge it so warmly, fair maiden, and dost
+seem to take such interest in the fate of my dear son,
+Thomas, I will not oppose it further: but if he should take
+to the priesthood, I shall never forgive myself, or&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Me&mdash;thou wouldst say, my dear friend.  But why take
+such a hostile view of the priesthood.  Men of letters, men
+of wisdom, men of piety, men of godliness all enter into holy
+orders, and I see no reason why you should lament, should
+your son be so resolved.  I heard him say, however, that he
+had no such intention, and methinks you should be content
+with that declaration.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am content, but I dread it, because I know that Thomas
+is not fitted for that sequestered life which the cloister calls
+for.  He is, in his nature, social; in his heart, generous; in
+his soul, ambitious; in his habits, domestic; and if he should
+find a partner suited to his mind, he would be an ornament
+to his country.  But priests must not marry&mdash;must not have
+property&mdash;must not love their parents&mdash;must not dress as
+other people do&mdash;walk or talk as other people; but are
+tutored in ways which appear to me suppressed, deceitful,
+and unfeeling, if not unnatural.  I have but one son, and I
+confess I should like to see of that one a line of honorable
+descendants; but if Thomas should be a priest, I shall
+blame myself for listening to your persuasions.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I do but intercede for him as he deserves.  He has
+gained the love of every one here, and possessed himself of
+all the knowledge here to be obtained.  I admire both him
+and his talents, and should be glad to see him a distinguished
+man.  I am persuaded he will be such; for the energies he
+has put forth in my behalf have shown him to be of a
+strong frame, and the thirst he has for science, literature,
+and languages, proves that these, with proper encouragement,
+might render him equal to some of the greatest men in the
+land.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This conversation took place when Ellen was recovering.
+Her father became her constant companion under the roof
+of Wolsey; and Daundy having been pronounced out of
+all danger, the parties met somewhat oftener.  A favorable
+answer was received from Magdalen, and it was soon agreed
+and arranged that Wolsey, under the auspices of William
+Latimer, should taka his departure for Oxford.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The very event which afterwards turned to his ill account,
+among his enemies, was looked upon at that day as worthy
+of all honor.  Wolsey took for his crest the arm holding a
+shin-bone, and in the second volume of Edmonton's
+'Heraldry,' the arms of Wolsey are emblazoned, and a
+naked arm embowed, holding a shin-bone, all proper, is
+adopted.  In other parts of the kingdom, where his arms
+are found, there is also represented the mastiff's head.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is not likely that Wolsey, so proud a man as he afterwards
+proved himself, and so very particular in all things
+appertaining to dignity, should have chosen for himself
+a crest which could cast any degree of obloquy upon his
+origin.  Had he been a butcher's son, he would either have
+acknowledged it, or have sought to conceal it.  We do not
+find that he any where alludes to his origin, nor that he
+makes mention of the circumstance which induced him to
+adopt the heraldic emblem of this great deed.  He had his
+arms emblazoned in the days of his prosperity, and before
+the cardinal's hat superseded the shin-bone, in every part of
+his house the same crest ornamented his balustrades, his
+plate, his pictures, and his canopies.  However much this
+might have been perverted by his enemies, beyond all doubt
+it was chosen by him to denote a brave action.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The following poem is supposed to be written previously
+to Wolsey's departure from his native town.  It was breathed
+in the solitude of his own study, and addressed to her who
+then held such sway over his affections.&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p class="poem gothic">
+  De Freston's Daughter.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Hail! beauteous creature of thy race,<br>
+  Most glorious in form and grace!<br>
+  In every feature purely bright,<br>
+  Reflecting innocence as light;<br>
+  Calm dignity is on thy brow,<br>
+  Intelligence doth round thee glow,<br>
+  And thou art lovely, and of gentlest kind,<br>
+  My kinsman's daughter, and my kindred mind!<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Fair Ellen, were yon rich domain,<br>
+  Yon castle, tower, and portly train<br>
+  Of serfs and vassals, in their state,<br>
+  Attendant on my nod to wait;<br>
+  And riches of all Europe mine,<br>
+  And thou couldst say, no wealth was thine<br>
+  Then wouldst thou be as much, or more, to me,<br>
+  Than now I wish the scholar were to thee.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Alone, I'm seated in my cell,<br>
+  My studies weary me unwell,<br>
+  My thoughts distracted, mind no more<br>
+  The beauties of the classic lore;<br>
+  For all I read, or hear, or see,<br>
+  Remind me, Ellen, but of thee<br>
+  And if of thee I can alone have thought,<br>
+  My heart would fain of thee alone be taught.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Fair Helen was not half so bright,<br>
+  Though heroes for her met in fight,<br>
+  Though Paris lov'd, and sons of Troy,<br>
+  With aged Priam, lov'd the boy<br>
+  Who stole her.  Helen was not fair,<br>
+  If virtues thine with hers compare;<br>
+  For thou, in grace, in modesty, and mien,<br>
+  Transcendent far the far-famed Grecian Queen!<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Thine head is Grecian, brow is high,<br>
+  Expansive as the summer sky;<br>
+  And crown'd with locks of flowing hair,<br>
+  Such as thy mother, Eve, might wear,<br>
+  When first to Adam she appeared.<br>
+  And Paradise of Eden shared;<br>
+  So open, innocent, and calm a brow,<br>
+  None but the purest of her daughters show!<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Thine eyes half shaded by thine hair,<br>
+  Dark flowing down thy forehead fair,<br>
+  Cast forth their beams, inquiring how<br>
+  All things created ought to bow<br>
+  To Him who made them.  E'en of me<br>
+  They ask what worship ought to be;<br>
+  And, when I view them, I confess I feel<br>
+  As if their radiance would make me kneel.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  To see that eye intent on thought,<br>
+  Which learning has in wisdom taught;<br>
+  And see its glance to heavenward bend,<br>
+  As if thy spirit would ascend<br>
+  And bring down answers from the sky<br>
+  To all that seems a mystery:<br>
+  Its swelling orb, as rolling sphere at night,<br>
+  Glitters in aqueous moisture pure and bright.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Thy form, how graceful! like the fawn<br>
+  Bounding along the spacious lawn;<br>
+  Or, as the lamb at morning light<br>
+  Skips from the fold in sportive flight,<br>
+  Enjoying life, so oft I've seen<br>
+  Thy form light bounding o'er the green<br>
+  To meet me coming.  O! that I could be<br>
+  Ellen De Freston, ever near to thee.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Oh! if to learning's seat I go,<br>
+  And Fame's bright wreath should crown my brow<br>
+  And honors raise me to the height<br>
+  Of all ambition could requite,<br>
+  And every tongue and every hand<br>
+  Should give me all they could command,<br>
+  Fair Ellen, still I'd lay them at thy feet:<br>
+  Thou couldst alone my happiness complete.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Whilst now before me visions spread,<br>
+  And seem to crown the aspiring head,<br>
+  And call me from my native town,<br>
+  And drive away the darkest frown,<br>
+  My life has dreaded that alone<br>
+  I should be lost and left unknown:<br>
+  The visions now so clouded which I see,<br>
+  Is lighted up, fair Ellen, but by thee!<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Thou in the distance shining bright<br>
+  Appearest like a speck of light,<br>
+  And brighter as the present cloud<br>
+  The darkened foreground seems to shroud,<br>
+  Whilst full on thee the sunny ray<br>
+  Descends as beaming as the day,<br>
+  When full of glory, I shall see thee shine,<br>
+  And hope to call De Freston's daughter mine!<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>
+Had this poem but been sent to Ellen before the youth
+left Ipswich for Oxford, it would have explained to Lord
+De Freston the nature of the feelings of the writer; but it
+was never sent; it was seen by Wolsey's mother, and copied,
+but it was supposed and intended to be kept secret by the
+young aspirant for fame.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap09"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER IX.
+<br><br>
+COLLEGE CAREER.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+The youth departed from Ipswich with the love of many
+hearts following him, and with no lack of things requisite
+to make his career at Oxford brilliant.  He was introduced
+by a student who had already gained University honors, and
+was looked upon as a man of sound learning and piety, and
+one eminently calculated to judge of Wolsey's capacity.
+Wolsey and Latimer were friends under the most pleasing
+circumstances which could possibly arise between two young
+men: congeniality of mind, pursuit, and honor.  The
+latter, when he found Wolsey at Ipswich, covered himself
+with glory by writing that letter to Grocyn, dated April
+29th, 1485; wherein he says: 'I have found a youth,
+inferior in years, superior in knowledge; with far less
+opportunity of cultivating the elegancies of literature, yet
+with infinitely greater industry than young men generally
+exercise who have those opportunities.  He has a genius
+superior to mine, and already surpasses me in the
+acquirement of the Greek language.  I can only say for him,
+what he might truly say for himself:
+</p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  "Major rerum mihi nascitur ordo."'<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>
+Young Wolsey, at Oxford, had a glorious struggle within
+his soul to win the distinction he sought.  His letters to his
+mother frequently breathed the hope that Ellen De Freston
+took an interest in his welfare.  Supposing that this pure
+motive of distinguishing himself had for its object the fair
+lady of Freston Tower, the course he was pursuing was one far
+more honorable and arduous than the daring actions of war
+or enterprize.  Courage of no common kind, and application
+of the most intense nature, were then inseparable from honor.
+The means of acquiring knowledge were more clogged and
+difficult than they now are, and the mind of the scholar
+was far more burdened with absurdities than it is in this
+enlightened age.  But all that patience, industry, perseverance,
+and high talents could accomplish, Wolsey performed.
+He won every prize nobly, fairly, and against men of superior
+years and longer application, but not of equal ability.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In one year, and that the very first in which he went to
+Oxford, he was acknowledged the first man of his day.  So
+much so, indeed, that the president, tutors, divinity reader,
+and fellows of Magdalen, pronounced him fit to enter the
+theatre against all opponents before the termination of that
+one year's residence at the University.  He was permitted to
+go in for his bachelor's degree after one year.  He did so,
+and was the first man in all academical pursuits, obtaining
+the degree of Bachelor of Arts before his fifteenth year had
+been completed.  Wherever he went, he was designated by
+the title of the Boy Bachelor for it was never known before,
+and certainly never afterwards, that a degree conferred not
+as honorary, but as actually attained by competition, was
+given to so young a lad.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey was not young in manners, ideas, attainments, or
+knowledge.  It was, singular in him at that early period,
+and served him well in after years, that a certain ease of
+deportment, of conscious mental capacity, and quiet
+expression of countenance, gave him a commanding influence
+among men of years, station, and power.  He appeared,
+whilst at Oxford, to be a man whose wisdom had the command
+of all his passions, and who was never betrayed into
+any excess of bad taste, in manners, morals, or general
+conduct.  He gained the good will of so many that it was
+impossible for him or any one not to feel elated in some
+measure at his success.  Little did the world know how
+deeply moving in his young soul was the thought that
+Ellen De Freston would be gratified with his progress.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nature, love, honor, truth, and grace, shone in his course
+as he strove to gain a reputation that should place his name
+above all plebeians who moved upon the world's surface.
+Virtuous feelings were at that time so cherished in his soul,
+they commanded the inmost movements of his heart.
+Though his parents watched his onward progress, and
+were delighted to recount to Edmund Daundy, their rich
+relation, the great and rising fame of their son&mdash;though the
+meed of imputation was given him by all his Ipswich
+friends, yet he anxiously looked for sympathy and
+encouragement in the daughter of De Freston.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Is there any period of life more fraught with love and
+hope than when the scholar gains his first distinguished
+prize? when youthful competition fairly tests his abilities,
+and honor, like the sun, rises in golden grandeur before
+him?  He feels the warmth of the praises bestowed upon
+him, and hopes that his dearest kindred may be gratified.
+Perhaps he has a hope that one, whom he is ambitious of
+pleasing, may be captivated with his talents, and reward
+him with a sweet smile of approbation.  There is no
+disgrace to any young man in being so prompted.  His
+affections being pure, his views will be exalted.  Thrice
+happy is he if his whole life's struggle shall be a steady
+impulse of this kind, capable of so existing to his latest
+hour.  There are few such young aspirants who, in their
+day of youth, can see through the transient troubles of their
+tide.  It seems to them as if it would flow on, and on, and
+on, and never turn.  Alas! the ebb must come, and the
+stream of life decrease; the channel must become narrower
+and narrower, the waters of life diminish, until, becoming a
+small calm rivulet, it vanishes into the ocean of futurity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At times, Wolsey was, in his younger days, subject to
+depression of spirit, arising either from too great
+application to study, or from that more probable cause, the
+heart-yearning sickness after the object of his affection.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Soon after Latimer was made Fellow of All-Souls, and
+Wolsey elected Master of Arts, the former entered his
+friend's apartment in Magdalen, and found him in this
+melancholy meditative mood.  It was no easy thing at such
+times to rouse him, for though constitutionally robust, and
+mentally powerful, having made most surprising progress in
+logic and philosophy, he would be sometimes so depressed
+as to be unfitted for the duties of his station.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He filled various offices in his college from the year
+1488 to 1495, before he took orders, and was extremely
+active in superintending, even before he was elected master,
+the progress of youth in the schools belonging to the
+college; but at times he would confine himself to his
+rooms, and endeavor to conceal from his most intimate
+friends this depression.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The fact was, that in his letters to his mother he had
+sought for some favorable report of Ellen De Freston's
+interest, and, if possible, a word of attachment which might
+inspire him with hope.  At that period the communication
+between Ipswich and Oxford was only by pack-horses and
+special messengers.  Young men did not often visit their
+friends during their academical career; and, if progressing
+favorably at the University, they were content to let their
+relatives perceive their affection by their devotion to the
+studies of the place.  Had any letter from his mother given
+him encouragement to come home, Wolsey was not the
+man to delay.  It was when he was in one of these
+abstracted moods, that Latimer came to announce to him
+that he was going to Ipswich, and thence to a foreign
+country, to Padua, the seat of learning, especially of
+perfection in the Greek language.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I must visit Freston Tower again,' he said; 'can I not
+convey some token of your regard for old and early associations?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Are you really going to my native town?' he answered,
+apparently with deep interest.  'Yes, my friend, I would
+have you call and see my parents, and commend me to
+them.  Tell them I want for nothing here; that I send my
+duty, love, and greeting, and hope that they continue in
+health.  Commend me also to my old friends Daundy,
+Sparrowe, Cady, Smart, and Tooley, and tell them all that I
+am so mindful of their early fostering care of me, that I
+will not forget their bright example of encouraging
+learning&mdash;that I am devoted to it, and will do my best
+endeavors to promote it at Ipswich.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here he paused, and Latimer replied&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And Lord De Freston&mdash;and Ellen! no message for
+them?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes, yes!  I have a message to the former.  Tell De
+Freston that I never forget him; that I am very proud of
+all his congratulatory letters; that I think of his castle, of
+his lovely tower, of the beautiful banks of the Orwell, of
+his love of literature.  Yes! convey this, my first prize, to
+him, this beautiful edition of the first New Testament ever
+printed, which was in the memorable year I came to Oxford.
+Tell him, from me, that I have proud pleasure in sending
+by your hand such a token of my regard.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He took down from his book-shelf a splendid edition of
+the Novum Testamentum, Nicolai De Lyra, beautifully
+bound in vellum, with a Latin inscription upon the exterior
+of the cover, to Thomas Wolsey, scholar of Magdalen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This work had every capital letter throughout its pages
+illuminated with blue and red paint.  The text is superb,
+and the marginal notes elaborate, and beautifully printed
+at Nuremberg, in the year 1485.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And what for Ellen, Thomas?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ah, Latimer!  What can I send her?  I must confess I
+would gladly send my whole library, if you would take it,
+in token of the happy days we have spent together in De
+Freston's Tower.  And you will be there, Latimer, participating
+in the joy of such a scene and such a mind!  Oh! how
+dull, how dark, how dismal, do these cloisters appear
+compared with my walk along my native banks, and Ellen
+De Freston's converse and company.  Those were bright
+days, most bright and glorious days; I would I could be
+with you, but it cannot be!  I must perform the duties I
+have undertaken.  Speak a kind word for me to Ellen, and
+say that the scholar never forgets his instructress.  Tell her
+she is as a polar star to my existence, and that the
+newly-discovered power of the needle and magnet points not
+more truly and constantly to each other than my regards
+to her.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Do you love her, Thomas?  Will you commission me
+to tell her so?  And shall I mention the matter to Lord
+De Freston?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No! no! no!' replied Wolsey, hastily.  'You must not say
+so much, not exactly that; that would not be what I would
+commission you to say to that beauteous creature.  I am
+not in a condition of life yet to employ an ambassador for
+such a purpose.  This, however, you may state&mdash;that I
+shall count it the happiest day of my life when we meet
+again.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I will repeat it for you, Wolsey, with all my heart.  In
+the meantime, despair not.  You have a great deal to do in
+the University; let it be done with vigor.  I will speak you
+fairly to all your friends, and most fairly to the fairest.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You are indeed my friend, Latimer, in this, as all other
+cases.  I have had all the honors Grocyn could heap upon
+me, through your recommendation, and how shall I repay
+you for your friendship?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Wait until I ask you, Thomas, and when I do, may it be
+such as you can perform.  I have now to urge upon your
+friendship only to remember that I am constantly your
+friend.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'When I forget that, may I forget father, mother, and
+friends; even Ellen De Freston herself; and as I can never
+do that, so can I never do the other.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And thus they parted.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap10"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER X.
+<br><br>
+ELLEN AND HER SUITORS.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Whilst Wolsey was pursuing his honorable career at
+Oxford, and paving his way to future fame, the maid of
+Freston Tower was not less honorably distinguishing herself
+for every amiable virtue.  During the greater portion
+of the year, the graceful building was her daily resort.  Not
+that she neglected the duties of society; for she became
+the ornament of De Freston's Hall, and was celebrated for
+her beauty, her learning, her piety, and accomplishments.
+There were few who really knew her but loved her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She was received, as she had every right to be, among the
+noblest and wealthiest of the land, and now that she had
+arrived at an age when the last trace of girlishness vanishes
+in the graces of womanhood, she commanded much homage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The fair sex, though not in that day remarkable, generally
+speaking, for the cultivation of letters and for the most part
+precluded from scientific pursuits, had as great a sway over
+the persons and manners of the age, as they have at this
+day.  Fair ladies were highly prized in the land, and stately
+and ceremonious were the attentions paid to them in public,
+however much neglected in the castle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The bloody wars between the houses of York and Lancaster
+had now terminated; and in the persons of the
+reigning sovereigns, Henry VII. and Elizabeth, the contending
+families became united, and this example was beginning
+to be generally followed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As soon as these differences were terminated, that is in
+the following year, the first rose-plants were cultivated in
+England.  All the flowers which the friends of the opposing
+parties wore were sent over from the continent: there might
+be some exotics, but not till the wars of the roses
+terminated did the banks of the Orwell, and Ellen's garden,
+exhibit plants of both the red and white rose, and hers
+were some of the earliest planted in England.  Not for
+thirty years after did they become generally cultivated
+throughout the country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ellen grew to womanhood beloved.  She was not only
+admired, but she was sought after by many who courted an
+alliance with the family of De Freston.  She was an
+heiress too of no mean possessions, as well as of high
+connexion.  Had she been disposed to wed highly and merely
+for nobility of blood, the De la Poles were accounted
+sufficiently noble to claim equality with any in the land.
+Independently of estates, of good personal carriage, and fine
+countenance, she possessed a mind like a diamond of great
+value, fit to make its possessor incomparably happy.  Nor
+was she without suitors, led to her by the fame of her
+beauty, her acquirements, and her fortune.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lord Willoughby, of Farham House, in the county of
+Suffolk, was one of the first to endeavor to create a
+sympathy in the fair maid of Freston Tower for his own person
+and establishment.  He was a frank, independent nobleman,
+of gallant mien, and ever deemed the foremost, whether
+with horse and hound, or helm and spear.  He was lofty in
+his carriage, vain of his person, and proud of his feats; and
+according to his ideas, whoever he took to be his wife must
+be considered to have acquired infinite honor by the alliance,
+and must observe an obsequious servility before him: for,
+an equal in a man he could scarcely brook; and, as to a
+woman, though Ellen might be his wife, she must never
+expect to be his equal.  She had wisdom to perceive this,
+and declined the proffered honor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lord Ufford, from Orford Hall, a man of gaunt figure,
+approaching to gigantic stature, broad shoulders and
+expanded chest, with vast domains in the county of Suffolk,
+became a rough and formal suitor for the maiden's hand.
+This nobleman was remarkable for having a most unsightly
+countenance; but having a fine castle on the banks of the
+Aide, and considerable territory on the sea-coast, together
+with rich lands, woodlands, highlands, lowlands, and
+sands, he was a kind of autocrat whose word was not to
+be disputed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Camden relates a curious circumstance of a sea-monster
+being caught by some of his villains, while it was basking
+upon the desolate shores of the Aide, not a great way from
+Orford Ness.  Old Ralph de Gogershall, from whom
+Camden takes the tale, says, the monster went directly out of
+the sea, and through the river, up to the gates of his castle,
+and was there captured.  It was most probably a species of
+seal&mdash;perhaps a stray walrus from the northern regions.
+Having been borne by its captors to the castle, Lord Ufford
+had a strong cage made for it by the sea-side, and took
+great delight in feeding it with fish, and such watery
+sea-cale as grew upon the North Vere.*  Hence grew
+preposterous tales of his attachment to this monster,
+which, it was reported, had a head so much like his
+lordship's, that the latter must have been a most
+marine-looking animal.
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+* A large desolate track of shingle and clay,
+separating the river Alde
+from the sea, upon which the Orford Lights now stand.
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>
+He went to pay his court to Ellen, but as may readily be
+supposed, he was not successful.  On the day that his suit
+was refused at Freston Tower, the sea-monster escaped and
+was heard of no more.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Richard Fitz-john, of Dunwich Castle, and the noble
+Rous, of Dennington Hall, though barons not upon very
+friendly terms at that time, were both suitors to the maiden
+of Freston Tower; but neither successful, though both
+were men of high honor and renown.  Felton, of Playford;
+Naunton, of Letheringham; Corbett, of Assington; and
+brave Sir William Coppinger, whose fame for living like a
+lord became proverbial, were numbered among the aspirants.
+The first wanted temper.  The next, though famed for
+deeds of munificence, had a very uncultivated mind; and
+the last Ellen considered would love his table more than
+his wife.  So they were all rejected.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sir Thomas Crofts, of Saxham, a man as proud of his
+person as of his estate, did what he could to win the lady
+to his mind.  He had much knowledge of letters to aid
+him, but was so personally vain, he could scarcely control
+himself when Ellen, not consenting to admit his pretensions,
+told him, she was herself proud, very proud; and,
+therefore, must decline his offer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fitz-Gilbert, the first Earl of Clare, came to see if he
+could persuade the maiden to join her fate to his.  He was
+skilful in war, and equally skilled in music: and there were
+other things in which few could bear comparison with him.
+He was elegant in mind and person, yet he pleased not
+Ellen; and he took his rejection so to heart, that music
+became distasteful to him; and not until he heard of
+Cavendish's unsuccessful suit, did he become reconciled to
+his own loss.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One of her greatest suitors was John Mowbray, from
+Framlingham Castle; a man so high and mighty, that he
+thought, with his splendid establishment, any woman
+would be glad to accept him.  He cared not for books, or
+science, taste, or mind.  He left such things to those who
+had any inclination for them.  A rich dower he could offer,
+and he did not calculate upon having a refusal; but he was
+mistaken.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Cove, of Covehithe, a very honest unassuming man, of
+good property, noble heart, and generous blood, made an
+offer of all he possessed; and Ellen much admired his
+principles and character, but did not accept him.  Neither
+did she accept Sir John Bouville, Sir James Luckmore, nor
+Warner, of Wammil Hall.  Tendering, of Tendering Hall,
+met with no better success&mdash;Lanham of Lavenham equally
+failed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sir Robert Drury, who could break swords as well as
+words, and use both dexterously, was not sufficiently
+persuasive with his words to obtain the maid of Freston
+Tower.  Neither Kedington nor Jermyn of Raesbrooke
+succeeded.  If valorous conduct could have won her
+William Lord Helmingham must have been successful; for
+none of the warriors of Suffolk were braver than he.  Sir
+Richard Broke, of Nacton, was his equal, but excelled him,
+neither in the warlike field, nor in the lady's bower.  Sir
+Edward Edgar, of Glemham, was one of the last of the
+bold but unsuccessful Suffolk suitors.  And now it was that
+people began to think she had sworn to live and die a
+recluse.  But Ellen De Freston was not a cold and cheerless
+maiden, who evaded society and friends, and shunned
+her fellow creatures like a nun.  She delighted not in the
+cloister to read books and tell beads, and to kneel before
+the Prior in the confessional, and vow allegiance to the
+Pope of Rome.  Ellen was possessed of such true nobility
+that she was never afraid of losing or compromising her
+own dignity in conversing with a gentleman, though he
+was not so highly bred, but better read than many a
+noble.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She was alike benevolent to all who visited her father's
+mansion, for life and love were in her soul, and she could
+behave ill to no one.  She well knew the ignorant phantoms
+and fallacies of her day; and though she conformed to the
+church in most of its observances, she was by no means an
+admirer of its tricks and follies.  She read the Bible in
+Latin and Greek; and drew therefrom the just laws of
+God, and could separate the dross of superstition from the
+good seed of religion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There were few nobles at that time who ventured to think
+for themselves concerning matters of religion.  The Church
+of Rome, or rather the Papal power and its hierarchy, had
+obtained such dominion over the landed gentry, merchants,
+and squires, that the care of the soul was left to the priest,
+and to obey human penances, human penalties, human
+obligations, with the sanction of ecclesiastical authority,
+was the all-sufficient devotion of the period.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Few read the Word of God to improve their souls.  A
+superficial knowledge of the events of Scripture, so that the
+plays and holy representations, in the shape of acting or
+pictures, might be understood, was considered sufficient for
+any nobleman.  Letters, learning, literature, and the love of
+God, were all mere names, fit only for the monasteries,
+abbeys, priories, and religious houses in the kingdom; and,
+as long as men paid their offerings at Easter, and gave alms
+to the poor, told their beads, said their Ave Marias,
+Paternosters, and attended matins, vespers, or saints' days, they
+were considered godly men by the priest.  And who else,
+on that day, had any right to say whether a man was fit to
+go to heaven or hell?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ellen, however, determined that the man who aspired to
+her hand should have some knowledge beyond the mere
+externals of religion.  However brave he might be in the
+face of the foes of his country, however expert in single
+combat in the tournament, she would have nothing to say to
+him unless he had learnt to combat internally with the
+sinful propensities of his heart.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was this secret, which she kept in her own breast, that
+induced her to dismiss so many suitors for her hand.  She
+boasted not of her own knowledge, her own perception, or
+her own requirements; but she did manage to try those who
+came to court her, by that beautiful test of humility which
+she had herself, in the midst of a superstitious age, so
+piously adopted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She received all the friends who, according to the custom
+of the age, came to pay court and suit.  She accepted their
+introduction at the hand of her father, and, during the
+three days allowed for her answer, never once appeared to
+shun the society of the hall, or to converse with these
+nobles; but in that period she contrived to ascertain, beyond
+all doubt, whether the man who was to be her lord, had for
+his Lord the God of truth, love, and charity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She felt this to be her privilege; to endeavor to use every
+exertion before she bound herself for life to any man, to
+find out his religious principles, and whether or not God
+was his acknowledged head; for she was well assured of
+that truthful doctrine: 'The head of the woman is the
+man, and the head of the man is God'; and if she could not
+look up to her earthly lord as one who looked up to his
+heavenly Master, she felt she could never expect to be
+happier than she was, and resolved, until such was the case,
+that she would remain single.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She was neither haughty, cold, proud, nor censorious, but,
+having been taught good principles, she was very firm in the
+maintenance of good resolutions.  She despised not nobility,
+ancestry, honorable distinctions, birth, parentage, valour,
+goodly person, manners, nor acquirements; she only
+preferred good, solid, sound sense, humility, and a right
+dependence upon God; not so much in words, but in life,
+character, conduct, and actions.  She considered faith best
+shown by works such as these; and if she found them not,
+she did not value the possessor of any other qualities,
+as having those qualifications to render her earthly career
+comfortable.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There were many who, if they had understood this secret
+bent of her youthful mind, might have tried the tricks of
+hypocrisy to have won the prize; but, to the honor of that
+age, such species of hypocrites were then very few; and
+though, they may now be discerned more quickly than they
+were, yet true love only can possess the power to perceive
+the arts of the pretenders to religion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There were some in that age who were such bigotted
+adherents to the mere outward forms of sanctity, such
+devoted slaves of the papal domination, that, had they
+known Ellen's secret, would undoubtedly have set her down
+for a heretic, and in revenge for their dismissal might have
+given information to the ecclesiastical authorities, who then
+interfered with the consciences of men as much as they did
+with their temporalities.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This would have seemed to them but a mere species of
+duty which they owed to the church; and it was no difficult
+thing then for men to drive away every species of natural
+affection, however innocent or virtuous, under the idea of
+doing God service.  Frequently the most malignant passions
+were vented in what was thought to be holy ardor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Even Ellen would have been sacrificed to the demoniac
+frenzy of a bigot, had she consented to be the wife of some
+of those whose consciences would have allowed her to have
+been made a just victim to the fiery stake.  So powerfully
+operated that hideous principle of man, trusting his conscience
+in the hands of fallible man, without making the Word of
+God the ground-work of his direction.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is true that nothing but the superiorly-gifted and
+superiorly-educated mind of the maid of Freston Tower
+could have led her to adopt the course she did in this
+selection of a husband.  It was wisdom, indeed, in her not
+to divulge the principle she acted upon to any one but her
+enlightened father, but, confiding in his honor, love, and
+wisdom, she had no fear of exposure.  He was too true a
+father, too fond a parent, and naturally too noble a minded
+man, ever to demand of his daughter a sacrifice which she
+could not willingly, with her full consent, approve.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lord De Freston too dearly loved, valued, honored, and
+respected the child whom he had educated, to bias her
+affections.  One thing he was quite sure of, that she would
+marry a gentleman and a Christian, and he was content
+to leave the matter to the direction of His hand who
+governs and orders all things for man's felicity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was not to be supposed that the Baron of Freston
+Castle had no pride of ancestry.  He had as much as his
+contemporaries.  He was a man who could uphold the
+appearance of a noble by as much internal dignity and
+self-composure as any of the judges of the land; but he was a
+man enlightened enough to perceive that nothing unnatural
+could be acceptable to the God of Nature.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He found in the revelation of God everything virtuously
+natural upheld, that corruption only had instilled false
+principles of superstition, which alike defied the laws of nature
+and of God.  Though he admired the devotions of piety, he
+abjured the horrors of fanaticism; though he honored men
+of learning, he despised not the ignorant; and only when
+he found fools claiming, or rather arrogating to themselves
+superior godliness, and showing it in the condemnation of
+others, did he venture upon open rebuke and expostulation.
+His zeal was even then tempered with such manly discretion
+that the censorious fanatic, confused before the noble, could
+not but acknowledge that he might be wrong; yet seldom,
+though defeated, would he turn and say, 'I am benefited';
+such is the difference between rebuking a wise man and
+a fool.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+No wonder, then, with such a father, Ellen should feel
+confidence in maintaining her own right to judge for herself
+in that event which, for good or evil, is certainly, with all
+who do enter into its bonds, productive of misery or comfort.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap11"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XI.
+<br><br>
+THE CONVERSATION.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+If there is in England a spot where hill, wood, and water,
+without being too expanded, can be just sufficiently
+extensive to be enchanting, it is the view from Freston Tower
+over the waves of the Orwell.  No poet can fail to imbibe
+the purity of nature's thoughts when seated in or near that
+spot.  The very sight of the drawing of the Tower called
+forth the feeling of some descriptive stranger, whose words
+are thus recorded in the history of Ipswich:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'Who can o'er thy summer tide,<br>
+  Winding Orwell, ever glide,<br>
+  Nor with raptured eye confess<br>
+  Many scenes of loveliness,<br>
+  Spreading fair thy banks along,<br>
+  Subjects meet for poet's song?<br>
+  But the scene I love the best,<br>
+  Here is faithfully express'd<br>
+  By the artist's skilful hand,<br>
+  Mightier than wizard's wand:<br>
+  Yes, old Freston, stern and gray,<br>
+  Looking o'er the watery way,<br>
+  Hath for me more charms than all<br>
+  Wooded park or lordly hall!'<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>
+The tower only is now standing, but how long it may
+continue to grace the Orwell no one can tell.  In these
+utilitarian days, almost every mark of ancient elegance
+seems to be giving way before the desire of making
+money.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ellen De Freston was seated with her father in the fifth
+room of Freston Tower, in the bay-window, looking over
+the waves.  She had seen her parent's anxious eyes diverted
+from his wonted study, and restlessly wandering over the
+banks of the river, evidently not surveying the scene with
+any interest, but ruminating in his mind over some thoughts
+which engaged his soul.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Father, I perceive you are in deep thought, but not upon
+the work you are reading.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Nay, my child, it is the work I am reading which makes
+me thoughtful&mdash;deeply thoughtful; for it astonishes me
+to see how near to the language of inspiration a heathen
+writer conceives to be the value of the soul.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ah! my father, what are the sentiments which have
+moved you so forcibly to meditation?  I see you are reading
+the ancient treatise of Longinus, "On the Sublime."'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am, my daughter, and will read to you part of the 44th
+section.  It is so extraordinary a description of the prevailing
+sin of man's nature, especially where Mammon reigns
+supreme, that had Longinus composed it for the very worst
+and most abandoned days of the world, he could not have
+placed our corruptions in a stronger light!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Is not this grand and sublime, my daughter, and fit for
+any Christian pastor's discourse?' said Lord De Freston.
+'How wonderful is it, that man, uninstructed by the Gospel,
+should have so perfect an insight into the value of our
+immortal souls!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It is, indeed, sublime: and I thank you for reading it;
+but can you be surprised, dear father, estimating, as you do,
+the sublime qualities of the soul, that I should not marry for
+money?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I did never urge you so to do!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No, dear father; but I have seen some anxiety about
+you lately; intimating that I should not send every suitor
+away from the castle; that I might as well live like an
+anchorite in this tower.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have been anxious for your happiness.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I know it well, dear father; and if ever I find a mind
+like your own, you will have no cause for regret that I am
+married.  You have made me dainty in this respect.  I
+cannot wed lord or squire, unless I find myself capable of
+acknowledging him to be my head; one who will regard
+me, not for my personal estate or appearance, but for my
+mind: that as we steer our course through life, we may
+mutually respect each other, that I may reverence him for
+his good qualities, and he may cherish me as his companion
+in the ways of wisdom and virtue.  For if my lord, whoever
+he may chance to be, can never bend his ear to hear my
+words, and I cannot aspire to read his soul, how can I feel
+the true control of love?  The hand, if bestowed without
+the heart, and without a sufficient respect for the superior
+qualities of the soul, can never secure happiness, at least to
+an educated mind.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It is not for me to say, my dearest child, that your visions
+are fanciful; that you are building castles in the air, and
+looking for too great a degree of perfection in a sinful man.
+I own the truth of what you have said respecting the power
+of the mind.  But may not contentions arise in the
+dispositions of intellectual people, and produce much discord?
+You will never find the soul so free from the trammels of
+earthly things as you desire it to be.  You raise up an
+imaginary being, and make him possess impossible qualities.
+Good nature, grace, a manly port, and open countenance,
+with noble deeds, and a good name, are surely not to be
+despised.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Nor do I despise them, dear father!  They may win many
+a maiden, and are undoubtedly great and noble qualities:
+but years of culture have so much refined my mind, that I
+cannot be content with ordinary natures.  Cavendish is a
+nobleman, and more learned than Lord Willoughby; I own
+that Lord Helmingham is brave, and so is Kedington.
+Drury, of Arwarton, is a wise man in his way, and I greatly
+honor Sir Richard Broke.  Mowbray is incomparably grand,
+but where would be the delight of being his Sultana?  No,
+father, your love is infinitely to be preferred.  I would not
+change it, for all the honors of a duchess, if my tongue were
+never to be permitted that kind of interchange of expression
+upon the best things of life, which I now enjoy in your
+society.  I am contented; I never murmur; I am as happy
+as I wish to be; only let me remain so.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I never wish to urge you, my child, into any precipitate
+marriage.  You have been so affectionate a daughter, and
+so dear a companion, that without you I should have been
+miserable.  Yet I am not so unreasonable as to desire that
+you should remain single on my account.  I know you will
+lever marry any one who is unworthy of De Freston's
+daughter.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Father, I will only say, I hope not.  This I promise, that
+even if I should see the object like yourself in mind, and he
+should be a suitor for my hand, I will never wed him, though
+he were as rich as Crœsus, or as poor as Lazarus, without
+your full consent.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Say no more upon the subject, my child.  I know your
+heart; it burns pure and spotless in your life.  I do not
+wish to chain your will, or to choose for you; nor even to
+recommend, much less to urge a suit which you could not
+approve.  I will still hope, that before my sun of life has
+gone down, I may see you settled with the object of such
+affection as you can bestow; a joy to yourself, an honor to
+your husband, and a comfort to your father.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Without such hope I will never marry.&mdash;How lovely is
+the day,' she added, as if to change the subject: 'and how
+beautiful, in the full flood of this summer sky, appears the
+silvery light upon the waves of the Orwell.  Dear father, I
+imagine no moments of this life can be more pleasant, more
+truly grateful, than when I contemplate the features of
+nature, and find a tranquillity within, that cheers me with
+the hope of one day enjoying far brighter scenes.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You are young, my dear child, and though learned in
+many works, and constantly employed in the cheerful studies
+of nature and religion, you know but little of the struggles
+of life, which thousands have to make.  You may see
+something of them among the poor, but you are not aware of
+many thousand trials to which men of the highest grades of
+society are exposed.  Scarcely one of those books which so
+delight us, and expand our intellects, but was produced in
+poverty and sorrow.  And even now, at this very time that
+I am speaking, I fear that the passions and prejudices of
+men will not suffer the truth to prevail without a struggle
+severe, even unto death.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Truth will prevail at last, however.  As it is so powerful,
+it will shine more gloriously through the very clouds which
+would obscure it.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You are right, my child; but as yet you know but few
+hardships.  Your days smile, your nights are bright like
+the stars, and you view everything with the eyes of
+innocence.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You seemed inclined to reprove me for my too great
+sensibility in the matter of the dead dolphins; but that
+very weakness proves that I saw not with the eyes of
+indifference the cruelties of mankind.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That is rather an extreme case, my child.  In the world
+you will find persons still more cruel in the persecution of
+their own species; and could you bear such scenes?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I know not if I may ever see such; I will not anticipate
+them, but will trust that, should they come, I may
+be prepared with strength of mind to endure them.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Spoken as I would have you speak, my daughter, and
+like yourself.  I wish for nothing more than such
+fortification for myself or you.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At that moment an announcement was given, that a
+messenger from Goldwell Hall (or, as it is now known,
+Coldwell or Cauldwell Hall) had arrived at the castle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I suppose,' said Ellen, 'that Bishop Goldwell has arrived
+at his palace of Wykes; and yet the messenger, I hear, is
+from Goldwell Hall, the seat of his deceased brother.  We
+shall have to fulfil our engagement, father, and visit him
+in Suffolk.  Alice&mdash;the proud and stately Alice&mdash;is to
+accompany him, and she was very kind to me when I was
+but a child.  We have not seen them for a long while.
+She will scarcely know me.  I wonder, my father, we have
+not heard from our cousin, Thomas Wolsey, lately.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I hear that William Latimer is on his journey hitherward,
+and will, beyond all doubt, be the bearer of letters
+to us from the far-famed Boy Bachelor, as I hear he is
+called.  Thomas has plenty of ambition in his character,
+and will one day prove himself a remarkable man.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He might, I think, have been courteous enough to keep
+up his correspondence.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'In this, perhaps, he was ungracious; but I can imagine
+a youth like Wolsey rising by his own brilliant talents,
+and concluding that even our attentions to him were solely
+on their account.  Let us not judge him unfairly.  We
+shall hear of him from our cousin Latimer, and I have no
+doubt it will be good news.  He cannot forget us, any more
+than we can him.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But we must prepare to visit the Bishop.  He may,
+for Alice De Clinton's sake, visit the old hall of his brother
+but our invitation is to the palace, and we shall there find
+that open house and hospitality for which Goldwell, the
+able Secretary of State and Bishop of Norwich, is so
+celebrated.  We have much to do, for we must go in state,
+else Alice, should she be with her uncle, would scarcely
+condescend to own us.  Let us, then, leave the Tower; one
+farewell look at the lovely scene, and then for Wyke's
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap12"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XII.
+<br><br>
+THE PALACE.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+The palace of the Bishop of Norwich, then commonly called
+Wyke's Bishop's Palace, was one of the most splendid
+buildings in the whole of East Anglia.  It was built in those
+early days when the men of God were also, alas! compelled
+by ignorance to be men of war; who, though loving peace,
+had so many temporal possessions in estates, and fines, and
+properties of various kinds, that they were expected to
+defend them with armed men, instead of with the sword of
+the Spirit, or the Word of Truth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The building was of very ancient date, and was
+castellated and well fortified with bastions at eight different
+points, surrounded by a moat of great width, with a huge
+drawbridge on the western front.  It was situated in a
+beautiful valley, surrounded on three sides by hills of
+considerable height, even now called the Bishop's Hills, and
+in what was then called Ufford's Dale, in which were the
+celebrated Holy Wells, where pilgrims came from all parts
+to visit the font St. Ivan, said to have the effect of curing
+every disease.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The castle, as it might be very properly called, had four
+watch-towers, in which were windows looking towards the
+four points, north, east, south, and west.  In no other part
+of the structure, save the warder's room over the great
+gateway, was there any window; for this building had
+withstood many an insurrection, and many an incursion of the
+furious Dane, and was not only a Bishop's palace, but, in
+the ninth century, one of the strongholds of the townsmen
+of Ipswich beyond their walls.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was a great square in the centre, into which all
+the apartments of the palace looked, so that it was not
+until the visitor had passed under the great arch that he
+could conceive the beauty of the building, or form any idea
+of the extent of its accommodation.  Externally, its
+character was sombre, having battlements on all sides, enlivened
+only by the watch towers, plain walls, strong and thick,
+though in its latter days, in the time of which this history
+treats, symptoms of decay began to be visible in various
+parts, where landslips from the springs around had caused
+considerable inclinations of the buttresses.  Still the inside
+of the area was kept up in all the characteristic state of
+Goldwell, Bishop of Norwich, the last of the possessors of a
+palace at Ipswich.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A small creek at that day ran up the valley in which
+the palace was built, and approached so near it that a
+boat could ascend from the Orwell almost up to the moat.
+That creek does not now exist, but in its place there are
+magnificent fish-ponds, and the ancient stream is diverted
+to a use very foreign to its original purpose.*  But the
+palace was not half so grand in its appearance as its stately
+inmates.
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+* The Cliff Brewery.
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>
+Goldwell Hall, which then belonged to Bishop Goldwell
+and was so called in his lifetime, was the marriage portion
+of one of his sisters, who married Geoffery De Clinton, of Castle
+Clinton, near Linton, in Cambridgeshire.  He was a wealthy
+noble, as well as proud, and had but one daughter by this
+marriage, though he had two sons by a former wife.  He married
+Alice Goldwell when he was much advanced in years, and
+could scarcely expect to see his young offspring arrive at
+womanhood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In consequence of this, and of the loss of his partner, the
+Lady Clinton, he left his daughter to the sole guardianship
+of Goldwell (then Secretary of State) her maternal uncle.
+He left the income of certain estates in Norfolk, Suffolk,
+and Cambridgeshire, to the Bishop, as long as his child
+should live and remain single, and then to be given to her
+as her dower; and in case of the demise of the said
+Bishop and his niece, then to revert to the heir-at-law of
+the family of Goldwell.  The Bishop's private chapel then
+stood on the opposite side of the hill on which the mansion
+was built.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Alice De Clinton, the particular care of the Bishop of
+Norwich, grew up under his superintendence a most magnificent
+woman to look at; so much so, that she was generally
+called Alice la Grande.  She was very stately in her person,
+and always wore a haughty expression of countenance.  She
+was quite a drawback upon the hospitality of Goldwell; yet,
+strange to say, she possessed a great degree of influence
+over the Bishop.  He was liberal beyond what was usual in
+his day, and was never but once betrayed into an act of
+persecution, and that was in the case of one single heretic,
+John Bahram, whose death-warrant he countersigned not
+many months before his own exit.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Goldwell was not in spirit a persecutor: he had been
+possessed of very high influence in affairs of State, and was
+a learned and liberal-minded man.  He who was not to be
+deceived by courtiers, could be commanded even by his niece,
+and yet be blind to her power.  He was proud of her, but
+it was because she was proud of herself, and would brook no
+equal.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Her pride was so great as to be proverbial; and most
+persons were glad when Alice De Clinton was not at the
+palace.  She would yield to none&mdash;not even to her uncle,
+the opinion she had once adopted.  With neither priest nor
+squire of inferior degree would she ever exchange a word,
+though he might be a visitor in the palace, receiving the
+hospitality of the Bishop.  Her hauteur was so great that
+none but a lord must speak to her; or if they did dare to do
+so, her uncommon expression of disdain was enough to
+silence any humble-minded man.  Her bounty to the poor
+was never bestowed from pity.  She gave the boon, whatever
+it might chance to be, as a gift after partaking of high mass;
+but none could possibly feel that relief of spirit which
+acknowledged the blessing was due to the giver, since she
+would make every one to understand he was much more
+blessed in receiving than she was in bestowing.  Alice De
+Clinton gave with such haughtiness as to make the gift
+painful; so much so, that whenever she visited Goldwell
+Hall, in the neighborhood of Ipswich, it was called by the
+poor <i>Cold Hall</i>, so stiff, so benumbing was the influence of
+her miscalled charity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To the palace of Wykes, in that day, came many of the
+unfortunate, who, in the previous wars of the Roses, and in
+foreign as well as domestic broils, had been reduced to
+become objects of bounty.  House, home, board, and lodging,
+the weary pilgrim and broken-down stranger would always
+find at the hospitable palace.  Those were days at least of
+generosity in this respect, whatever pride or superstition
+might be connected therewith; and, singular as the custom
+would now appear, the Bishop never sat down to his meal at
+mid-day without the company of every stranger in the
+palace.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Alice had been an inmate of De Freston's castle with her
+uncle in the early days of Ellen's childhood; and such was
+the meekness of the daughter of De Freston that even the
+proud Alice condescended to look upon her as a friend; but
+it was certainly as a friend beneath her, one to whom she
+might show a kind of patronizing air without any
+compromise of her dignity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Years had elapsed sines the maid of Freston Tower had
+been summoned to visit Alice De Clinton.  The messenger,
+however, had arrived at De Freston's castle, and the lord
+and the lady prepared to set forth upon their journey.  In
+those days no carriage came sweeping round to the hall-door
+with their prancing steeds, and gold-laced coachmen and
+footmen; but ladies rode on horse-back, or were borne in
+covered litters to their places of entertainment.  Horses
+'with flowing tails and flying manes,' dressed with gorgeous
+trappings and high saddles, came from the stables to the
+mansion.  There was no lack of attendants, for a noble
+then counted his state by the number of his retainers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ellen and her maid, on palfreys of beautiful jet black,
+were soon ready for the journey to Wyke's Bishop's Palace.
+Lord De Freston, on a milk-white horse of uncommon
+strength, one he had received as a gift from Lord
+Willoughby, from Hanover, accompanied his daughter, whilst a
+train of servants preceding as well as following, all mounted
+on black steeds, made him and his Snow-Ball, as he was
+called, so much the more conspicuous.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His horse had eyes so full of fire, and nostrils so
+expanded, that he looked well adapted for the battle-field.
+But he was now upon a visit of peace, and to a peaceful
+man: and his cavalcade left the castle accompanied by men
+bearing all the usual luggage which such state visits
+required.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+De Freston, indeed, infinitely preferred the journey by
+water; for he was too sensible a man to delight in the mere
+pageantry of appearance, yet he was not insensible to the
+customs of his age.  He had, however, a daughter in whom
+he delighted, and the thought that Alice De Clinton, who
+loved the forms of etiquette, and would blush to see any one
+she called <i>her</i> friend lowering herself by condescension,
+would be affronted were he to forget the dignity of his
+barony, induced him to take the journey with all his retinue.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They descended the Freston Hill, which was then the
+boundary of the park, and swept along the strand, toward
+the Bourne Ford, where, following the guide who knew the
+passage, they dashed through the briny flood, and paced
+along the levels of Stoke, the tide of the Orwell actually
+washing their horses' hoofs, as if they were riding along the
+sea-shore.  So beautiful and so clear were the waves of the
+river which then washed the banks of its course, that the
+receding tide left a sand almost as clean as that which
+borders the German Ocean.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So high were the waves at that time at the Prior's Ford,
+between St. Peter's Gate and Stoke, that the party had to
+sweep round beside the narrower stream of the Gipping,
+and pass over the Friar's Bridge before they could enter
+Ipswich.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The town was at that time celebrated for its religious
+houses, Grey Friars, Black Canons, White Monks,
+Benedictines, Carmelites, and all manner of brotherhoods and
+botherhoods of papal Rome.  Mendicants of all descriptions
+accosted the industrious with a boldness such as no
+beggars dare in these days assume, for fear of the treadmill.
+But the terrors of Rome were much greater upon the
+priest-ridden yet industrious Britons than ever the
+treadmill could be to the vicious.  Those who were sanctioned
+by the Pope to beg, carried along with them a mandate
+which few dared refuse to obey.  The anathemas of the
+church were then bestowed with such a plentiful outpouring
+of bile upon such trivial subjects, too, as would have made
+Longinus laugh at the sublimity of their pompousness.  But
+men trembled then with scarcely any conscience, for absolution
+had its pecuniary price, and could be purchased for sins,
+past, present, and to come.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The holy brethren at the Friar's Gate bent lowly to De
+Freston as he gave them his salutation, and passed on
+through St. Nicholas Street, past Robert Wolsey's house,
+down to St. Peter's Priory, along the warder's way, over
+the Bailiff's Customs Quay, through the parish of
+St. Clement, into the hamlet of Wyke's Ufford.  The cavalcade
+then proceeded on what was termed the procession-way,
+leading to the shrine of St. Ivan, from which they digressed
+on the broad Palace Road to the Bishop's Gate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The whole party soon passed over the drawbridge, then
+under the warder's arch into the area of the palace, where the
+verger, with the silver and golden ornaments of office, stood
+prepared with a number of serving-men to receive the noble.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Here, my men,' said De Freston, after he had assisted
+Ellen to alight, 'ye will refresh yourselves and horses, and
+then set forth upon your return by the way ye came, and
+see that ye keep well together, and enter into no broils with
+any one.  Ye will be in readiness for your summons for our
+return whensoever ye receive command.  Pass on!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+De Freston and his daughter passed into the presence of
+Bishop Goldwell, who was seated in a chair of state at the upper
+end of a long and vaulted chamber prepared for their coming.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He rose, his step was proud and stately, and his large and
+noble eye glanced a penetrating look upon the noble.
+Goldwell would maintain in private the same dignity which he
+was accustomed to show in public.  He was gracious though
+grand; his manner mild, bland, yet becomingly distant.
+Though a man of state, he was also a man of ease, and
+showed what was due to his own person, and what he
+expected even if he did not deserve it&mdash;which he did as much
+as any other man could.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He received the Lord De Freston and his daughter with
+such a courteous manner, as only to seem himself to be proud
+before his household.  With the most paternal air he accosted
+Ellen, receiving her hand at her father's request, and led her
+to a seat, and, with great politeness, welcomed De Freston
+to his palace.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Fair daughter!' he said to Ellen, 'this visit to my niece
+affords us both infinite pleasure: we have sought it many a
+day; but I scarcely think that Alice will be able to recognise
+thee; for thou art grown up from childhood to such form
+and feature that I should not, but for the likeness to thy
+father present, have discovered thee to be his daughter.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then, turning to the father, he added&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am proud to see thee, De Freston, maintaining thy
+years with becoming verdure.  Time has laid his hand upon
+me, and the cares of state have borne me down.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I hope the years of peace yet reserved for your reverence
+may make amends for all your state anxieties.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I thank thee, De Freston, but let me send for Alice at
+once.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Bishop rang a small bell; a female made her appearance,
+and was ordered to inform her mistress that Lord De
+Freston and his daughter had arrived.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap13"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XIII.
+<br><br>
+THE RECEPTION.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Alice De Clinton had been made acquainted with the
+arrival of Lord De Freston and his daughter, even before
+they had made their appearance in the presence of the
+Bishop.  She was engaged in her own private apartment,
+working a cross for the altar of the chapel of Goldwell Hall,
+when her maid informed her of the arrival of the expected
+guests.  She scarcely raised her head from the embroidery
+to receive the tidings.  She ordered her maid to hand her
+some threads, and pursued her work.  It was neither her
+custom nor her inclination to do otherwise.  She had actually
+received the Bishop's message before she condescended to
+lay aside her work.  None, however, of those she called her
+friends were more highly esteemed than Lord De Freston
+and Ellen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She rose in due time, with perfect composure, from the
+embroidery of the cross, and leaving the work as if she
+intended to pursue it again after a pause, came very slowly,
+and with great state, into the presence-chamber of the
+Bishop.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Alice was handsome.  She had a remarkably fine face
+and figure, but her beauty was of that nature which the
+eye can look upon with wonder, without feeling any degree
+of affection.  She was like some of the finely-chiselled
+figures of the ancients, admirable to look upon, but cold
+indeed to touch.  Nay more, when she approached the
+party assembled in the palace hall, so pale, so stately, so
+immoveably placid, fixed, settled, cool and composed was
+the smooth, white face of the maiden, that, she looked more
+like beauty in the winding-sheet of death, than a creature
+of life, whose veins contained a circulating fluid, warm
+from the heart.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She approached to meet her guest; not a smile passed
+over her features.  Her high and lofty brow, with its wintry
+air, formed a strange contrast to the sunny brow of the
+happy Ellen.  The frozen expression of one face contrasted
+with the glow on the features of the other.  That eye, too,
+so large, so glassy, and so stern, was strangely opposed to
+the beaming vivacity of Ellen's.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ellen received the salutation of Alice with that ease
+which innocence and virtue ever maintain in the presence
+of pride.  She knew the dignity of Alice, and left her to
+bend as she thought fit, whilst she retained her standing
+place, leaning on the arm of her noble father.  The
+haughty maiden broke the silence; but with words that
+rather confirmed than altered the position of pride she had
+assumed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thou art changed, indeed, maiden, since I knew thee in
+thy childish years.  I can scarcely believe thou art Ellen
+De Freston, but that I see the lord of Freston Hall
+supporting thee.  I must forget, I presume, the day I found
+thee playful as the young fawn; since, now I behold thee
+grown up to woman's estate.  Thou art Ellen De Freston,
+art thou not?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am the same Ellen, Alice De Clinton, as I was when,
+in the days of friendship, you condescended to treat me as
+your companion.  I am unaltered in heart.  I have often
+thought of your visit to my father's hall, and have longed
+to see you there again.  I hope we shall soon know each
+other better.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This reply had the effect of somewhat thawing the icy
+distance between them, for the haughty Alice gave her
+hand to Ellen, and led the way back to her own apartment,
+leaving the Bishop and Lord De Freston to converse upon
+politics or the more eloquent theme of the day, the growing
+plant of heresy, as it was called, which then began to
+spring up in Ipswich, and in various other parts of the
+diocese of Norwich.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am much concerned,' said Bishop Goldwell, 'to observe
+the increasing propensity to heresy which seems to be
+spreading far and wide throughout the kingdom, unsettling
+the minds of our people, and inducing them to call in
+question our authority as agents of the See of Rome.
+Thou knowest well, De Freston, that I hold my churchman's
+station as far preferable to my worldly state; that the
+supremacy of the Holy See over all causes ecclesiastical is
+part of my acknowledged creed; that, looking upon the
+Pope alone, as Christ's vice-gerent upon earth, is vicar-general,
+who has the power of St. Peter's keys, to loose and
+bind, to curb dissent, and to give absolute decision in cases
+of dispute, I refer every difficult case to his court, and
+rest contented in my own conscience with his commands.
+There are two youths, now inmates of my palace, come on
+purpose to plead with me, concerning the state of their
+consciences, and to ask my ghostly counsel and advice.
+One of them is of such amiable deportment, such gentle
+manners, and of such godly fear, and disposition to respect
+his superiors, that I cannot refuse to admit him to an audience,
+and to argue with him upon the state of his mind.  He
+speaks with ease and fluency; but I discover much strong
+prejudice under this quick manner, and I know not how to
+root it out.  Thou art learned, De Freston, and canst,
+perchance, afford me some assistance, for thou art a true
+churchman.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I hope I am, my lord, without being a blind one.  I
+know the liberality of your mind, and that you have seen
+more of men of wisdom and letters than most men now
+living; and I think that you act as a Bishop ought in giving
+audience to a conscientious man.  There are many innovations
+crept into the church by means of the supineness of
+the clergy, and the love of money in the higher powers,
+which you know, as well as I do, ought not to have been
+admitted.  So many fraternities joined to the Papal power,
+and receiving therefrom a sanction for their superstitions,
+may, perhaps, have created a jealousy in the minds of some,
+which may require much soothing to correct.  I heartily
+wish, churchman as I am, that many of the miscalled relics
+of the priories, and the absurd fallacies of miscalled pious
+customs, were done away with.  What is the name of this
+disputant who has sought you, and whence does he spring?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The youth I speak of is John Bale, of Cove.  He is a
+Carmelite of the strictest order of mendicants, claiming his
+descent from the prophet Elisha; rigid and austere in his
+deportment, and yet so humble, and enlightened in letters,
+I heartily wish his conscience was not so tender.  It burns
+him, he says, so sore, that he cannot help complaining to his
+Bishop, and seeking, at my mouth, some consolation.  When
+I argue with him, he hesitates not to tell me how far he
+admits my authority, and how far he disputes it: prays my
+patience towards himself, and towards my own self when
+he states where he thinks I am wrong.  He says he prays
+for me, that I may see the error of my ways, and may come
+to the full truth.  They cannot conceive in Rome to what
+state things are coming in England.  I fear that these two
+men, John Bale and Thomas Bilney, are incorrigible
+heretics.  As they claim the privilege of asking my advice,
+I can but be courteous towards them.  I only wish they
+would attend to my suggestions, and be obedient to my
+mandates.  Thomas Bilney, the other disputant, is a man
+of warm temper though of very clear head.  I have asked
+some of my clergy in this town to meet them at the hour
+of noon; and as thou dost know that I admit all kinds of
+addresses without fear of persecution, loving, as I do,
+discussion, thou wilt probably take part therein, and I am sure
+with discretion.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'If, in the least degree, I ventured to give my opinion,
+it would, I trust, be on the side of that which I consider
+truth.  If these scholars be not too profound for me, I shall
+take some interest in the discussion, having thought very
+deeply upon the prevailing notions of the times.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A servant came at that moment to announce a stranger
+to the Bishop, and to deliver a note to Lord De Freston.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ah!' exclaimed the noble, 'I have notice of a visitor to
+your lordship's palace, who, though unexpected here, was
+not totally unexpected by me at my home.  He will be
+quite an acquisition to the interest of the discussion, as he
+is a learned theologian from Oxford, alike eminent for his
+modesty as well as his superior attainments.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Who is the stranger?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It is William Latimer, the friend of the celebrated
+Grocyn, and of the Ipswich scholar, now so distinguished
+at the University.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Latimer I have heard of, and I know Grocyn well.  I
+presume thou dost refer to the Boy Bachelor, whom I have
+heard of&mdash;Thomas Wolsey, the son of one of the best
+tenants I have for the Priory Farm at Alneshbourne.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The same, father, the same, and will you permit me to
+welcome to your hospitable palace, this friend of mine?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Any friend of thine, De Freston, shall find a welcome
+here, even were he not the learned man thou hast
+represented him to be.  Pray bid him welcome.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The lord followed the servant to the corridor, and there
+he found Latimer waiting.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The greeting was of that kindly nature which had ever
+subsisted between the family of the Latimers and the De
+Frestons.  De Freston was, indeed, attached to Latimer, as
+a superior in experience and wisdom would be to a young
+friend whom he patronized.  Yet De Freston felt a degree
+of attachment to him, peculiarly interesting for his daughter's
+sake; for, to this young man's perception, plan, and
+proposition, was owing the health, happiness, and comfort of his
+child, through the daily course of intellectual employment
+to which she had become an assiduous and habitual
+devotee.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am glad to see you, Latimer, but sorry it is not in my
+own hall; but you can go on thitherward before our return,
+for we must stay our appointed time here.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I heard, in my route, that you were a guest of Bishop
+Goldwell.  Knowing his hospitality, I did not hesitate to
+wait upon you here, as I should have found even the beauty
+of your castle and the lovely Freston Tower insipid without
+their cheerful tenants.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The Bishop gives you welcome, and, to say truth, I am
+doubly glad you are come, for I want your aid.  Come
+with me into my private room: I have some minutes of
+discussion which I would share with you before we enter
+the hall of reception.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The domestic in waiting soon showed the friends the
+apartments prepared for De Freston; and there, for a few
+minutes, did Latimer converse with his relative upon the
+all-important matters of the day.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'First tell me of Wolsey!  He seems to have forgotten
+us.  How is the youth, and does he not send us his
+greeting?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am the bearer to you of his first prize at Oxford.  So
+that you see he renders to his early patron the first fruits
+of his success.  He has sent by me a very valuable Testament,
+the earliest which has issued from the press.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I said he would not desert us.  He has been very silent
+of late, and Ellen and myself were fearful lest he was ill.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Wolsey is well!  I have delivered letters to his parents
+and friends in Ipswich.  This one is for you; and I can
+assure you and Ellen that you both live in his heart and
+memory.  He has great cares just at the present time,
+having undertaken to superintend the schools of his college.
+He is extremely anxious in mind, and though with no
+bodily ailment, yet, at times, I fear the intense application
+which he bestows upon study should affect his spirits.  He
+is sometimes depressed by this over-anxiety, beyond what
+is usual in youth.  It is then I talk to him of home, Ipswich,
+and yourselves; this rouses him and he revives.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You should have persuaded him to have come with you,
+the change would have done him good.  We always
+remember your mutual visit to the Tower.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I did endeavor to persuade him, but he has a high
+notion of duty.  He spoke with enthusiasm of the Tower:
+told me he never had such delightful days as those which
+he spent there, and dwelt upon them with so many sighs,
+that I am sure the Isis, which passes close by his college
+window, is, in his eyes, insignificant compared with the
+Orwell: still he says Oxford is his theatre of action, and he
+will not leave it until he has seen certain works he has
+undertaken completed.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ellen will be glad to hear you speak of him, for she
+has certainly accused him of being proud, negligent, and
+almost ungrateful.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He is not the latter, though I will own there is too
+much of the former in his composition.  She would not
+think him either had she heard him deliver to me the
+message of remembrance which he gave.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Of these things you must convince her.  We must
+prepare for the public banquet hour; and, but that I know
+your readiness, I should tell you that you will be rather put
+to it for wisdom, since, at the Bishop's table this day, you
+will meet, I suspect, some stormy disputants.  One thing
+in Bishop Goldwell I greatly admire&mdash;his hospitality to
+strangers.  Whilst, at the same time, such is his courtesy
+and kindness towards his inferior clergy, that I believe he
+would support the poorest at the expense of his mitre
+sooner than see him wronged.  He rules them not with
+a rod of iron, but maintains his own dignity, whilst his
+sons in the church look up to him with the assurance of
+protection.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have heard this spoken of him; but I have heard
+also that he is swayed greatly by the influence of his
+niece, who is not the counterpart of his reverence in suavity.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You have heard right, but you must judge for yourself.
+Come and see, for the hour of meeting him approaches.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The friends were soon in readiness, and descended
+together to the grand banquet-hall of the Bishop's palace.
+It was a spacious chamber, more than one hundred feet in
+length, with six windows of Gothic architecture and stained
+glass, representing six different periods of the world.  The
+first, the Temptation in the Garden of Eden; the second,
+the Flood; the third, the Sacrifice of Abraham; the fourth,
+the Delivery of the Law; the fifth, the Building of the
+Temple of Solomon; and the sixth, the Crucifixion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The designs were much more splendid in colors than in
+conception, for singular contradictions of unity existed in
+all the windows.  A lady's lap-dog, with a bright gilt
+collar round his neck, was found in the garden of Eden;
+Abraham had philacteries on his forehead and robes; in
+the Flood, some monks with crosses were seen descending
+down a rushing cataract; in the Delivery of the Law,
+Moses had a mitre on his head; at the building of the
+Temple, there stood several orders of the Roman Brotherhood
+celebrating high mass, and so many impossibilities
+of fancy crowded into the ornamental portions of the sides
+of the windows, that it was difficult to say what they were.
+Still the light gleaming through the different colored glasses
+had a brilliant effect at noonday.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thirty guests were expected.  The Bishop's chair was
+at the centre of that long table, and his own family of
+friends were to be seated on his right and left hand, whilst,
+on the opposite side, were ranged the seats of strangers,
+travellers, pilgrims, or any who might chance to claim the
+hospitality of the palace.  These all waited in a spacious
+receiving-ward, where there was water to wash their feet,
+and clean apparel, if required.  A peep into that room
+would have put to flight all the ideas of modern luxury
+and modern notions of hospitality, even in a bishop's
+palace.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Various monks from distant parts were there&mdash;with
+various priests of various parishes, who came to pay their
+court to their diocesan.  Those who came without express
+invitation were all received into this apartment, and
+prepared for the table of the Bishop.  They had to wait
+with the rest, be they who they might, and were never
+seen or heard until the hour of public entertainment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the common room were waiting, amidst friars,
+pilgrims, monks, and mendicants, Thomas Bilney and John
+Bale, men who, at that day, took advantage of the
+opportunity offered them to speak without reserve to
+Goldwell, who was generally looked upon as friendly at
+least to intellectual discussion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The noon-bell sounded long and sonorous, so that, in
+all parts of the town, strangers knew that it was the hour
+of hospitality, and, whoever was so disposed, might pass
+the drawbridge and partake of the benediction of the
+Bishop, sure to find a seat at his board, an attentive ear
+to his history, and, if he had any cause of complaint,
+promise, if he lived within the jurisdiction of the diocese
+of Norwich, that his suit should be attended to.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap14"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XIV.
+<br><br>
+THE RECLUSE.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+In the days of Bishop Goldwell, and towards the end of
+the existence of the palace of Wyke's Bishop, there lived
+a man who came from a far country, and took up his solitary
+abode at the head of the little stream which rose from the
+side of the hill, in the valley of Utford.  He had existed
+twenty years in that secluded spot, and was never known to
+shave his head or trim his beard in the course of that
+period.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In an age when superstition reigned supreme, and the
+poor dejected sinner knew not how to worship God in spirit
+and in truth, without flying from the face of men, and
+seeking something in solitude; in an age when the
+ministers of Rome taught that penance was meritorious,
+the self-immolating sacrifice of solitude became the surest
+way to obtain the crown of the saint; and many were the
+conscience-smitten convicts who were urged to depart from
+every tie of life, and give themselves up to the sternest
+impositions of devotion.  They would retire from the world,
+live in a cave, kneel a certain number of hours on a hard
+stone before a cross in the wall of their cells, eat just
+enough coarse bread to keep life from departing, and drink
+of the water from some fountain sacred to their fancy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Amongst the ignorant, these men were looked upon with
+the most profound veneration, were esteemed paragons of
+excellence; the most virtuous, the most pious saints upon
+earth.  Their names were handed down to posterity, their
+deeds mentioned with respect, whilst they themselves
+deceived their own hearts with the ideas of their own
+fancies for divinity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the period of this narrative there existed a devotee
+of this kind, who went by the title of St. Ivan.  He boasted
+his descent from Hurder the Dane; and, because his father,
+grandfather, or great-grandfather had been stolen, when a
+child in his mother's arms, and carried away by the chieftain,
+Hurder, during a Danish incursion, he called himself of
+Danish extraction.  There was an Ivan de Linton, who
+originally built the chapel of Wyke's Bishop, and appointed
+priests to chaunt a requiem therein, for his father's soul,
+who was saved in the battle with the Danes upon Rushmere
+Heath, and died in a cottage or cave where an old man
+lived, at the Ufford Dell.  A wild descendant of this Ivan
+came from Cambridgeshire, and became the St. Ivan celebrated
+for his solitary eccentricity.  He was a physician in
+the latter part of the reign of Henry V.; so that he
+must have been an old man when he retired from the
+world.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For twenty years he administered advice to all who
+came to him, and, as he recommended abstinence for a
+certain number of hours previously to his consideration of
+plethoric diseases, he obtained wonderful celebrity for the
+cure of the Holy Waters from St. Ivan's Spring.  Thus
+the spot was called, and, to this day, bears the name on
+the Holy Wells.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This old man used to perambulate the Bishop's palace
+every day.  He never entered its walls, because he used to
+say that, when he did so, they would fall down, because the
+palace had been built upon the site of the chapel of his
+forefathers.  He was greatly respected by the inhabitants of
+Ipswich, as pilgrims from all parts came to be healed at the
+well of St. Ivan.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From time to time, as the old man went his rounds,
+perambulating the moat of the castle, he observed, as many
+others might have done, had they as regularly frequented
+the spot, indications of danger in the walls of the building;
+for the banks of the moat on the castle side began to press
+more and more into the waters, evidently showing that a
+settlement was taking place which must one day be
+destructive to the edifice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From year to year he had observed these signs, and no
+doubt expected to behold the demolition of a palace which
+he considered an innovation of his rights.  For the twenty
+years he lived there, this was the theme of his prognostication,
+whenever any friend or stranger visited his cell.  His
+ominous declarations had rather increased with his latter
+years, as the slips into the deep moat became larger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lord De Freston had often visited this eccentric man,
+and finding something more in him than the delusions of
+ignorance, he made great allowance for his vagaries.  He
+found him communicative and well-informed upon all historical
+subjects, though pretending to be wrapt up in abstruse
+fallacies.  He humored his fancies, and received from him
+far more honest disclosures than such men are apt to make.
+But upon the subject of the fall of Wyke's Bishop's Palace,
+he found an uniformity of opinion that made him doubtful
+of the man's sanity.  Little, however, did that nobleman
+know of the daily calculations of St. Ivan, and perhaps, had
+he been aware of them, he would have equally doubted
+their accuracy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A friendship certainly subsisted between them, which was
+nurtured by the kind heart of De Freston; for, unknown to
+the recluse, he employed poor people, from whom alone the
+hermit would take anything, to supply him with gifts of
+bread and viands whenever he could understand they would
+be received.  Kind acts are always, one day or other,
+rewarded, let them be done by whom they will; whilst
+unkind ones will as assuredly meet with bitter reflections, if
+ever retribution visit the offender.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Noon, as was stated at the end of the last chapter, was
+the hour of hospitality at that day, when men were less
+hasty to be made rich, and could afford the most wakeful
+hour of the day for public entertainments.  Now, indeed
+friends visit each other at hours when their ancestors were
+about to retire for the night.  But the hour of noon that
+day was a busy hour in the palace of Wyke's Bishop.  It
+was alive with people passing and repassing, as the dinner-bell
+in the lofty turret kept up its peal.  A joyful sound,
+indeed, to many a poor priest, who was melancholy only, on
+the prescribed day of fasting, when he was bound to keep
+in his own cell.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Many of the wealthiest townsmen were expected.  The
+mayor, burgess, and portmen, together with their wives and
+daughters, were to be partakers of the hospitality of the
+Bishop.  Understanding, as they soon did, that Ellen De
+Freston, the amiable daughter and heiress of the Lord of
+Freston Tower, was to be there, they assembled with far
+lighter hearts and livelier countenances than if they had no
+one to meet but her contrast, Alice De Clinton.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There came also, at the invitation of Bishop Goldwell, the
+priests of St. Peter and St. Lawrence, the priests of
+St. Mary at the Tower, St. Mary near the Elms, St. Saviour,
+St. John, St. Margaret and Trinity, then held as one, and
+of St. Michael, which stood upon the borders of the town
+wall.  These were all assembled in the great hall, or
+banquetting-room of the palace, and took their seats previously
+to the entrance of Bishop Goldwell.  The table was so
+arranged, in the shape of a section of a roof, that the Bishop
+was seen, as it were, from every part of the board, and could
+himself see every one of his visitors.  He could thus be
+addressed by any one without inconvenience, and every
+speech could be distinctly heard.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As the Bishop entered, the numerous company rose.
+His reverence came, accompanied by the bailiffs of the
+ancient borough and their friends, together with all such as
+were acquainted with Lord De Freston.  There was
+Edmund Daundy, Thomas Smart, Robert Tooley, John
+Sparrowe, and several others, twelve in number, who
+entered from the palace reception-chamber into the hall.
+The Bishop led the way in state, followed by Alice and
+Lord De Freston, Daundy and Ellen, Latimer and the
+bailiff's wife, and other couples, who were escorted to their
+seats with all-appointed etiquette.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lord De Freston sat on the right hand side of the chair,
+or throne, and next to him sat Alice De Clinton, at whom no
+one could look without being struck with her cold and
+haughty dignity.  Next to her, to his discomfort, sat
+William Latimer, who was in every respect a gentleman, at
+perfect ease with himself and others, though far from
+obtrusive.  A daughter of the house of Sparrowe, a very
+ancient family in Ipswich, sat on his right, and then several
+of the burgesses of the town, the priests, and travellers,
+mendicants, and strangers, to the end of the table.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the left of the Bishop sat Edmund Daundy, and next
+to him Ellen De Freston, and next to her John Sparrowe
+and others invited as friends, and then Thomas Bilney,
+John Bale, and several of their friends who had come with
+them, to hear what advice the Bishop would give in those
+troublesome times.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The 'benedicite' was chaunted by the priests, and the
+company arranged for the feast partook of the celebrated
+hospitality of that princely bishop, than whom Norwich
+never, in those Popish days, before or after, had a more
+truly liberal prelate.  He was a man with a great degree of
+knowledge of men and manners.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He professed not a liberality he did not practise.  He
+was consistent in his conduct, and did not condemn the
+ignorant.  He courted not popularity at the expense of
+public principle, nor made friends of the private enemies
+of the church in preference to the encouragement of his
+own clergy.  He regarded the conscientious scruples of
+others, permitted free discussion before him, and gave his
+opinions and advice with judgment and discretion.  He
+was superior to the times he lived in, and was much beloved,
+both in private and public.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whilst the Bishop was entertaining his company, St. Ivan,
+whose hour for perambulating the walls of the palace
+had arrived just as the bell had ceased, descended from his
+cave.  He bound his loose vest round his loins, and, taking
+his staff in his hands, began his walk down the stone steps
+from his dwelling.  The old man always knew everything
+going on in the palace.  The poor who visited him could
+tell him the characters of its inmates, and frequently they
+described the haughty maid in her true character.  He had
+that day heard of the arrival of Lord De Freston and his
+daughter, and was observed to be more than usually stirred
+in his mind at the circumstance.  He paused as the palace
+came in his view, and shook his long white locks from his
+forehead as he surveyed the walls.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+''Was it for this,' he exclaimed, 'that my venerated sire
+built on yonder site the Chapel of Ufford, that wassail and
+waste might come, and the pomp, pride, and state of a
+Bishop's See might be gathered therein, to greet the nobles
+of the land, and the inhabitants of this town?  Did he, for
+the space of a whole year, kneel day by day on the cold
+stone with which he laid the very foundation of his chapel?
+Did he dedicate the same to the saints, and vow to heaven
+one half of his wealth to build a holy temple, where priests
+should pray day and night, and the holy fire should be kept
+burning upon the altar?  Was it for this, that, over his
+bones which lie there, a Bishop should hold his court, and
+invite all the world to partake of his hospitality, whilst I,
+the descendant of the founder, should be doomed to live
+in the sandstone cave of the Holy Wells, and to see the
+inheritance of my fathers thus polluted?  But it will not be
+for long.  Those walls will fall.  They have not long to
+stand, perhaps not a day.  I must look to it again.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was in this strain that the recluse indulged in his own
+peculiar view of things, and entertained a morbid hope
+that he should live to see the fall of Goldwell's palace walls.
+He indulged in a propensity for the superstitious, and, like
+an ancient sage, spoke in an oracular manner, as if positive
+of nis own inspiration.  He was, however, much more hopeful
+from his earthly view of the state of the building and its
+adjacent ground, than from any second sight that he
+possessed, and this he hastened that very day to indulge.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+St. Ivan, reverenced as he was by all the ignorant, and
+even respected by the learned, was not much regarded by
+the monks of St. Peter's Priory, or the abbots of Bury, on
+account of his utter detestation of their absurd relics, and
+silly pretensions to things they called sacred, which were of
+no estimation in his eyes&mdash;such as the shirt of St. Edmund,
+one of his sinews, his sword, the parings of his
+toe-nails, and other things to which they attributed great
+sanctity; drops of Stephen's blood, a piece of the real
+cross, the coals which broiled St. Lawrence, pieces of the
+flesh of saints and virgins, St. Botolph's bones, St. Thomas-à-Becket's
+boots, penknife, etc., skulls, candles, crosses, and
+such a variety of holy things, one and all of which St. Ivan,
+like a wise man, laughed at.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Though the monks were jealous of him, and some termed
+him heretic, others entertained a superstitious dread of him,
+which he well knew how to manage.  The learned fraternity
+of Alneshborne alone paid him any respect, and he used to
+tell Lord De Freston that these Augustines were the only
+monks he ever knew good for anything.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The old man was kind to all.  The austerity of his manners
+was softened by any case of humanity in distress; and
+it is supposed that a disappointment in his life, either in
+ambition, love, or professional celebrity, led him to the
+lonely cell of Ufford's dale.  In that day, religion was so
+clouded with oral traditions, vain external ceremonies, and
+exclusive dogmatical pretensions to superior gifts of healing,
+miracles, and works, that real faith and godliness were things
+almost driven from the earth.  No wonder, then, that a man
+who had perception enough to see so much dishonesty should
+be driven into himself for notions of duty and worship.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was deep anxiety in his countenance as he glanced
+into the rippling stream from the Holy Wells, and took his
+way down its pebbly, shingly, and craggy sides towards
+Wyke's Bishop's palace.  His foot was firm, his eye bright, and
+except the trembling of the hand as he placed his staff upon
+the ground, but little could be discerned of infirmity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His path lay on the outside of the moat, and was so worn
+by twenty years' perambulations, as to have created a path,
+known as St. Ivan's path; few would walk in it, and hence
+the old man's observations upon the sinking of the walls,
+and the encroachings of the turfy bank, though strictly
+marked with willow twigs, were unnoticed by others.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That day, all his landmarks were bent prostrate with the
+waters, and with consternation, increased by previous
+anticipation, he observed a certain tremulous motion of the
+waters, ebbing from beneath the castle side of the bank.
+For a moment he stood aghast.  He knew well what was
+going on in the palace, the number of souls therein, and the
+imminent danger which awaited every one then feasting at
+the Bishop's board.  Recovering himself from his surprise,
+humanity prevailed over every other consideration, and the
+thought of so many perishing induced him to hasten his
+steps round the moat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As he went on, his keen perception became more alarmed,
+for he perceived that the fall of the palace must quickly
+come.  His agitation increased to such a degree, that he
+could not move quick enough, and men were surprised to see
+St. Ivan, hitherto always slow, calm, and gentle, with his
+hoary hairs and well-composed walk, now stepping short and
+quick with extreme trepidation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His heart seemed swollen within him; his agitated spirit,
+now that he saw the near accomplishment of what he had
+been looking for so long, was dreadfully disturbed.  He
+knew it would be in vain to tell the warder, the gardener, or
+the serving men.  He knew they all understood that he
+would not pass the draw-bridge lest it should fall upon him,
+as he himself had issued a sort of oracular declaration that
+when he entered the palace it would fall down.  He, therefore,
+hastened his steps, determined to terrify every one out
+of the palace before the crash came.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap15"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XV.
+<br><br>
+THE JUDGMENT.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+The guests were all seated in the ancient palace-hall, and
+before them were placed the profuse hospitality of one
+whose board was as regularly supplied by mayor, portmen,
+burgesses, commonalty, and gentry in the country, as if they
+were all tenants of the See, and bound to furnish the
+Bishop's board.  There was, in those days, no niggard
+bounty, no measured dole to the comer; but such as could
+feast on ample fare, without intoxicating potions, were
+welcome to the palace.  Latimer had been introduced to Alice
+as the friend of Lord De Freston.  Alice took her seat in
+the assembly, as if every creature before her was her slave.
+Her stern, majestic, pale, oval face, with the conical
+headdress of the period, gave her such a lofty look, that it was
+the theme of observation amongst most of the guests.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+How haughty is the Bishop's queen! was the speech of
+more than one of the guests, as she surveyed the assemblage
+before her, and scarcely condescended to give a glance of
+recognition, much less a word, to any one.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ellen De Freston, who had known the failing of Alice,
+was pained to see how deeply it had grown upon her since
+she had last seen her; but she was doubly pained to observe
+in her a contempt for every one there present, but more
+especially for her cousin, William Latimer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In vain did he endeavor to elicit one word from his
+haughty companion.  To see the man in whose society men
+so delighted, whose converse was the purest and most
+gentle, and, at the same time, so wise and elegant, set at
+naught, by one whose pride alone gave her any pretension to
+dignity, was something so revolting to her nature, and so
+foreign to her ideas of respect, that she could not fail to feel
+for Latimer at every attempt he made to address the haughty
+Alice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The proud Alice would condescend to speak to the Lord
+De Freston, but a supercilious stare was the sole result of
+every attempt on the part of Latimer to draw a word
+from her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He is the friend of my father,' thought Ellen.  'Surely,
+he cannot be aware of the indignity she puts upon that
+friend by her behaviour.  He would never encourage such
+hauteur by engaging in conversation with her, if he could
+see the gentle and manly Latimer treated as he in by Alice.
+But he sees it not.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was evidently observed by Daundy, who was seated
+near to Ellen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Do you see, my fair Ellen, how that haughty maid flaunts
+at the young scholar's address to her?  Latimer must feel
+himself very uncomfortable.  I rejoice that I am not near
+her; I might be apt to forget even the courtesy of the
+Bishop, and tell her she had better keep to her own closet
+than pretend to come into society, and not know how to
+behave in it.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I perceive it,' replied Ellen, 'and I am almost indignant
+enough to wish that you had the opportunity of giving a
+deserved rebuke to the spirit of pride which, delights in
+paining the humble.  I am sure Latimer feels deeply
+wounded by such treatment.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If the conduct of Alice wounded the gentle and generous
+Latimer, he was more than repaid by the sign of interest
+which Ellen evinced for him.  It was then, for the first
+moment of his life, that the thought of love came down
+upon his soul, and dispelled the gloom of sorrow which had
+brooded over his mind at the pride of the fair one near him.
+It was a similar thought that aroused in Ellen the blush of
+consciousness, as she felt the first throb of the warm blood
+rush from her heart, in sympathy with the architect of
+Freston Tower.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was perhaps well, just at this moment, that Latimer
+and Ellen were called upon to listen to the language of
+orators upon the most vital and important subject which
+could come under human contemplation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+John Bale, who had waited patiently till grace had been
+chaunted, and was expected to speak publicly before the
+Bishop upon matters touching some scruples he entertained,
+rose.  Silence being enjoined, he addressed the Bishop in
+these words:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I rise, my Lord Bishop, though with many misgivings,
+on account of the time and place for such occasion, to put
+a very serious question for your judgment.  Nothing where
+you preside can be said, I trust, in an unbecoming spirit,
+and nothing, certainly, should be spoken without charity.
+I humbly, pray, then, for the full protection of your
+presence upon this occasion, that if we speak with respect, we
+may not be insulted with ribaldry.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'We maintain that the Scriptures are given by God, to
+be a chastening warning and correction to the sinner's soul,
+a comfort to the righteous, and God's great boon to all
+the world.  That without these Scriptures, commonly called
+the Bible, salvation cannot be properly known and
+understood.  That they alone contain the truth which we ought
+to preach and teach, and the observances which we ought to
+hold.  That the pious should receive such truth, and the
+learned preach it.  That no man can know anything of
+God's will or his decrees but from the Sacred Scriptures.
+That all our learning of languages is but to keep these
+Scriptures pure, and to teach the unlearned and ignorant
+therefrom the sure and certain meaning of the Word ones
+spoken to man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'We advocate the cause of the Scriptures being placed
+in the hands of the people, and maintain that, so far from
+this derogating from our authority, such a step would tend
+to increase the respect paid us, since all men can then see
+that the doctrines we preach and teach are the solid truth.
+That if the Scriptures be withheld, no man's judgment can
+be sound upon what we teach; for without them, it is
+impossible they should acknowledge the truth of our
+preaching.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I request your voice and judgment hereupon, to say
+whether we hold or not, in these matters, anything contrary
+to true discipline and the right directions of mankind.  I
+know your mind to be replete with learning, and that you
+do not despise others, nor would destroy research, in the
+bosom of the church.  I, therefore, the more confidently
+commit what I say to your consideration, and await your
+answer.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was a pause among the auditors before the Bishop;
+though the priest of St. Peter looked as if he would tear
+his crimson vest in pieces.  The priest also of St. Saviour's
+was so much stirred that he felt as if the sin of schism was
+in the very palace.  He rose up from his seat like a rampant
+and roaring lion, and for very rage could scarcely keep his
+hands off the humble man who had resumed his seat.  He
+did not, as it was, fail to give him a curse in no very gentle
+terms.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Heretic!' he exclaimed, 'thou art doomed to the fiercest
+and deadliest death.  Down to the darkest doom beneath,
+where the devil and death prevail.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Canst thou hear him, my Lord Bishop, defame the very
+church of which thou art thyself a prelate?  Does he dare
+to mention in thy presence his deeds of shame?  Hear him,
+Bishop Goldwell!  Like Wickliffe, he wishes that all could
+read that he might sell his Bible, and get paid for his pains.
+He would raise up the people like wild hyenas to come and
+feast upon the priesthood.  Observe how insidiously he
+turns the whole tenor of his argument upon placing the
+Bible in the hands of the common people.  He does not
+say he would subvert the hierarchy; he does not say he
+would do away with the priesthood; but he speaks as if we
+were all dishonest, and he would not have the people believe
+one word we speak.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He will not abide by the decision of the Papal power,
+though he now seems to acknowledge thy right of jurisdiction
+over him.  This is but an insidious covering for
+treachery; for whilst he pays thee court, and owns thy
+supremacy in ecclesiastical affairs, he denies the very power
+by which thou, O Goldwell! holdest thine authority.  His
+words are as smooth as oil, yet he will not own that the
+church has the right of sole interpretation of those Scriptures
+which he is such an advocate for placing in the hands
+of the people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He will not admit that the Pope has the keys of St. Peter;
+that he is the head of the Christian church, and the
+only infallible source from which decision can be given.  He
+would have the people taught no longer to depend upon
+our teaching, but would have them dispute our authority
+and deny to us the powers of absolution.  So, my lord, he
+would have the people believe they are quite as good judges
+of scriptural things as we are; and shortly they will think
+they have quite as much right to this palace and the revenues
+thereof as thou hast.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But shall this heretic teach them never to believe in our
+commission to stand betwixt their souls and heaven, to give
+them their meat in proper season, and explain the Word, as
+we ourselves receive it?  I flatter thee not with enticing
+words, knowing that the judgment of the church is with
+thee, and that thou wilt not fear to pronounce that heresy
+which militates against the teaching of the church.  I
+beseech thee not to cherish and encourage heretics within
+the precincts of thy palace.  I have done.  I await thy
+judgment with confidence.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He had no sooner taken his seat than the youthful Bilney
+rose, his heart full of sorrow, woe, and trouble, yet
+throbbing alone for the truth.  He had seen, with an eagle's
+eyes, the sins of the papal hierarchy, and sighed to be free
+from the pestilential darkness which covered, as with a veil,
+the light of the Scriptures.  He addressed himself to the
+Bishop in the following terms:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thou knowest, Bishop Goldwell, that I came not here
+this day, to intrude upon thy privacy, or to boast in defiance
+of thine authority; but that thou thyself didst desire that I
+should speak out candidly before others that which I had
+more privately and conscientiously divulged to thee.  I
+know that thine intention was good in this: that thou didst
+it to elicit the truth, and never intended that we should be
+in thy presence and in thine own palace insulted and have
+epithets of opprobrium cast upon us; nay, that we should
+be condemned without benefit of clergy to the nethermost
+shades of hell.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It is the rule of thy board that every man should have
+full liberty to speak, provided he confine his arguments
+within the prescribed limits of decency and order.  I
+cannot enter upon the all-important matters which I
+conceive it my duty to lay before thee, if I am to meet
+with the same frantic and uncourteous treatment which
+my friend has just received at the hands of the priest of
+St. Saviour's.  There can no charity dwell where rancor
+burns within.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Owning thy full authority here, I shall not attempt to
+speak until I hear thee lay down the law of thy palace,
+and command that we be at least so far respected before
+thee, that we may not be afraid to give utterance to
+whatever we may advance.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bilney sat down, and the priests of Ipswich looked a little
+confused at the clear and manly tone of speech with which
+this young man then addressed the Bishop before the
+company.  There was wisdom enough in it to call forth
+these words from Goldwell.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thou art invited freely to speak, and not summoned
+hither to answer to any accusation of crime or heresy, and to
+deliver thy sentiments without any personal fear.  I like
+thy temper, and must insist upon my clergy's observance of
+such forms of decorum as the courtesy of my palace
+demands.  Thou must not be surprised, indeed, if thy
+doctrines and those of thy friend Bale should create a little
+rheum in the spirits of those so unaccustomed to have any
+of their decisions disputed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thou mayest go on, and should thine opponents, friends
+as they are to me, and subordinate to my authority, conduct
+themselves in an unbecoming manner, thou mayest depend
+upon the soundness of my judgment to give them a merited
+rebuke.  Hoping I shall hear nothing more of acrimony, I
+invite thee to proceed.'
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap16"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XVI.
+<br><br>
+JUDGMENT CONTINUED.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+All paid respect to the person and speech of Goldwell; all
+acknowledged his influence; and, had he rose to retire, not
+an individual would have remained to dispute one moment
+longer any matter whatsoever.  All knew this well; so that,
+when the Bishop had once declared his decision, not the
+most furious zealot dared to utter a word.  Bilney rose
+amidst the most profound silence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I can perceive,' he said, 'most worthy prelate, how very
+quickly these priests of Ipswich judge our motives, how
+little credit they give us for sincerity, and how soon they
+would gag our mouths, could they prevent our speech before
+thee.  I am glad to find, however, that they pay thee the
+respect which not only thine office, but thyself dost deserve,
+inasmuch as they retain silence at thy command.  I am
+silent, Bishop Goldwell, if thou dost command me; but, as
+thou hast given me liberty to speak, I will confine my
+observations to the one point which my friend has taken up upon
+this occasion&mdash;namely, the giving the Word of God into the
+hands of the people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Now, if I, or any other person having authority so to do,
+preaches the gospel, is the source whence we derive all our
+knowledge to be concealed?  I would ask, supposing a
+messenger came to thee to order thee to go to such a place,
+wouldst thou not ask whence he derived his authority,
+what credentials he had to show for thine undertaking such
+a journey?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No man would attend the bidding of another unless the
+bidding came from a source he could not dispute, and he
+was convinced it was his duty to obey.  So I maintain before
+thee and all this assembly, that when we preach and teach
+the glad tidings of salvation, the people should have the
+law and the testimony, the Old and New Testaments, before
+them, that they may judge of the truth of the message,
+invitation, or threatenings which we hold forth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How is it possible for the people to believe any truth of
+Scripture without the assurance of the Scriptures
+themselves?  I might as well preach the heathen mythology if
+they are merely to believe what we tell them, without our
+laying before them the grounds of our belief.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I would never believe there were such persons as Adam,
+Abel, Seth, or Noah, or such an event as the Deluge, or such
+a person as Abraham, or the promise given to him as is
+recorded, without I had read or heard the Scriptures read,
+from whence the knowledge of such things and persons is
+derived.  And how can we expect that the things we would
+not believe ourselves without such evidences, others should
+take upon a man's mere ipse dixit?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It is here that men are subject both to credulity and
+incredulity; but give them the whole Word of God, let them see
+the wisdom which it conveys, let them think for themselves,
+and I am persuaded that we need never be afraid of the
+spread of divine knowledge.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'We cannot pretend to be inspired prophets of God,
+deriving from him a direct communication independent of
+that which he has once shed upon his ancient prophets and
+apostles.  However secluded and separated we may be from
+the rest of the world&mdash;I ask thee, Bishop Goldwell&mdash;can
+we derive a direct communication from Heaven beyond the
+written Word of God?  I do maintain then, that we should
+teach nothing for doctrine, but what the Revelation of God
+has unfolded.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I would not, therefore, have the Word of God a sealed
+book amongst us, but spread far and wide among all people,
+that honest hearts may see the salvation of God, and glorify
+the Father of Light from whom it proceeded.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Such appearing, to my mind, to be the wisdom required
+in the present day to drive from men's minds the clouds of
+darkness, I ask thee, Bishop Goldwell, wherein I speak what
+can, with justice, be called heretical?  I should be glad to
+hear thy decision upon this point.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The priest of St. Peter rose quickly from his seat, and
+stood erect before the company.  He had his hair shorn
+with the utmost precision, his scalp bald, save the curling
+edges of grey hair which were allowed to cover his ears.
+He had a dark, black, piercing eye, which told of anything
+but calmness, every now and then flashing at Bilney and at
+the Bishop, as if it would strike a spark out of theirs to
+consume them.  His spirit was evidently perturbed within
+him, and he could scarcely compose his nerves sufficiently to
+let his words come forth without passion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He shook his vest with anger, as if he would not be
+contaminated with the touch of such men as spake that
+day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Shall the church,' he exclaimed vehemently, 'hold no
+more traditions?  Shall we teach no kind of observances?
+Is the advice of our prelates and preachers to be no longer
+listened to, except it accord with the crude notions of this
+man?  Are the people to run wild here and there after such
+preachers as John Bale and Thomas Bilney?  We may as
+well at once give up our holy vows, and yield our right to
+the power of this wild abuse&mdash;that the people are to have
+private judgment, and cavil at our interpretation of the
+Bible.  They hear our anthems, they join our prayers, they
+attend our altars, receive our absolution, and what would
+they have more?  They want not to trouble their heads
+about the Scriptures.  It is surely much better for them to
+accept what we tell them than to seek to be wise above
+learned men.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But if their minds become disturbed by such men as
+these, there is no telling what may be the consequence.
+The real fact, Bishop Goldwell, is, these men have become
+bitter enemies to the Church of Rome, and, under the
+pretence of introducing the Scriptures to the notice of the
+people, they take every opportunity of inveighing against
+our authority.  They know themselves deserving of censure
+from the church, they subject themselves to punishment,
+and I should think it no more than a duty I owed to the
+church, if I were in thy place, to commit them at once to
+the custody of some keeper.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I conjure thee, venerable Prelate, not to listen to their
+complaint; "the poison of asps is under their lips, and they
+do but flatter with their tongues."  I conjure thee, by the
+vows thou hast taken to support the church, to summon at
+once to thy court at Norwich these refractory sons of the
+church, that they may be made to answer before thy dean
+and chapter for the evil they have done; that if they do
+not cease publishing their absurd notions of religious
+freedom, their mouths may be stopped by thine authority,
+which, if thou dost fail to use, I tell thee before this
+company that I shall at once make a complaint to the
+Pope.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It is all very well for thee to make this show of popularity
+in this ancient palace, and at thine own board, but a bishop
+who is so discourteous to his own clergy, and so very partial
+to these recusants, is not, I conceive, faithful to his trust.  I
+am discontented and dissatisfied with the treatment which
+we true sons of the Roman Catholic Church have met with
+this day, and I conceive that a just cause of complaint is
+given to the hierarchy in Ipswich; and, unless a direct
+distinction be forthwith made in our behalf, I shall call upon
+all my brethren to join me in a petition to the higher
+authorities, that we may be justified in the sight of our
+fellow-townsmen.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A dead silence pervaded that assembly, and even the
+Bishop waited to see if any other speaker would venture to
+utter a word.  All eyes were turned towards the place where
+he sat; yet the only person seen to move was Alice De
+Clinton, who, leaning towards the Bishop, begged an
+exchange of place with Lord De Freston, that she might
+the more easily communicate what she had to say in
+the Bishop's ear.  From her well-known character, her
+stern dignity, and cold-blooded, chilly disposition, it was well
+considered that nothing amiable could proceed.  It was with
+some degree of shame that the Lord De Freston saw this
+female influence exercised, as unbecoming modesty as it was
+the real interest of her sex.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ellen read in her father's face his dissatisfaction, little
+thinking that the sight of her intelligent countenance would
+awaken the eloquence of her friend Latimer; but De Freston
+had been speaking to him and urging him to say a word
+upon the occasion.  Alice, however, having taken her seat
+with immoveable frigidity of feature, and silence still
+prevailing, Latimer rose.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'As a stranger to thee, Bishop Goldwell, and to the
+greater part of this company, I should not have risen to
+give utterance to the words of my heart had I not been
+urged thereto by my learned and truly liberal friend Lord De
+Freston.  He assures me that, so far from being affronted
+with my boldness, thou wilt be the rather pleased that I
+venture to trespass upon the attention of thine assembly.  At
+Oxford we are, as it is well-known, infected, if I may so call
+it, with orthodoxy, overgrown to such a state of particularity
+as to make things in themselves of no moment appear of
+the utmost consequence, and things of the most vital
+interest of but minor consideration.  We are, moreover,
+intent upon learning, and never doubt for a moment that
+wisdom will ultimately prevail.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'If a youth who departed from this town a few years ago,
+and who has since become so distinguished for his learning
+and wisdom were here this day, I should keep silence before
+him and thee, well convinced that he would be much better
+able to speak those truths which I conceive ought this
+moment to be spoken.  His relatives and friends I see
+before me, and some of them may not be sorry to hear
+me reëcho his sentiments, though they may regret his
+absence.  Speaking in our theatre, some days ago, upon the
+same subject this day discussed, I heard him declare, in a
+long and animated speech, the duties of students with
+regard to scriptural learning, and the study of the original
+languages in which the Scriptures were written; but as all
+could not be learned enough to understand many things
+difficult therein, the duty of the ministry is to explain those
+things, and to afford living examples of that faith which
+they teach and preach.  He hoped to see the time when the
+Scriptures might be unlocked and distributed in abundance
+to feed the people.  His arguments were based upon the
+grounds of truth, that the Word of God can never be too
+widely circulated.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The clergy, he declared, were but a very small portion
+of the visible church, and would lose nothing of their
+influence with the people by liberating their minds from
+ignorance of the Word of the living God.  In speaking of
+heresy, he maintained before the whole university that it
+was nothing heretical to disseminate the Scriptures.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I mention Wolsey as my authority for this assertion,
+not only because I know that in this his native place his
+fame is justly celebrated, his learning esteemed, and he
+himself, though young, is so highly respected, but because,
+Bishop Goldwell, his sentiments accord with my own.  I
+would ask any man here present, who desires to know
+anything of his Redeemer, how he is to do so without the
+Scriptures?  Our Saviour said, "Search the Scriptures, for
+in them ye think ye have eternal life, and these be they
+which testify of me."  Now if we can have the Scriptures
+to search, it is our duty to look into them, that we may
+discover the truth as it is in Him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I see before me all the principal priests of the various
+parishes in this town, who all are attached to the ancient
+See of Rome.  I value the preservation of the records of
+truth there as highly as any of them; but I say now, that heresy
+consists in the introduction of impositions, not required by
+the Word of God.  The impositions I call <i>heresies</i>, are
+those of teaching for doctrine the commandment of men.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I was at Bury lately, and saw what numbers of devout
+penitents were sent from all parts of the kingdom to pay
+their devotion to a piece of St. Edmund's shirt: Is not this
+heresy?  There I saw what was termed the sinew of St. Edmund,
+his sword, the parings of his toes; and are such
+things to be held sacred?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The monks showed me certain drops of what they
+termed St. Stephen's blood.  Even if it had been the blood
+of Stephen, was it an object to be worshipped? is not this
+heresy?  They showed me the coals on which St. Lawrence
+was broiled, Thomas à Becket's boots and his penknife, and
+numerous other things, to all of which they attributed such
+a degree of sanctity, that I was convinced of their
+ignorance; and however much history, revelation, and faith,
+might induce me to thank God for the examples of such
+men, I could not but think it <i>heresy</i> to pay any kind of
+adoration to relics of such things.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But the spread of God's Word cannot be heresy, nor
+are those who preach it heretics.  God grant that our
+country may be the foremost to spread the light of truth
+over this benighted world.  Nothing can be productive of
+so much happiness, either to the priest or the people, as this
+enlightenment.  But I have done, Bishop Goldwell, and I
+have only to apologise for the length of time I have occupied
+the attention of this assembly.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Latimer took his seat, not without a smile of thanks from
+Ellen, which not even the stern expression of Alice could in
+the least chill.  Yet Alice frowned at Ellen as if she
+despised her for that look; and nothing but the rising of
+Bishop Goldwell to speak to his guests prevented her
+precipitate and indignant retirement.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap17"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XVII.
+<br><br>
+ST. IVAN'S WARNING.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Silence prevailed amongst the guests as the venerable
+prelate rose to reply.  Looks, yes, fiery looks, shot to the
+head of that board against the learned Latimer; and even
+Lord De Freston, with all his well-known bounty, liberality,
+orthodoxy, and piety, did not escape the furious glances of
+St. Peter's priests; nor of the violent advocates for the
+Pope's supremacy.  They gnashed upon him with their
+teeth; and could have wept for very vexation.  So serious
+did the matter seem, that there were many peaceful townsmen
+who wished most heartily that they were at home with
+their wives and children, instead of being witnesses of this
+unbecoming hospitality.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Bishop, with great knowledge of the world&mdash;a truly
+liberal heart, yet not without deep prejudices, which in that
+day were not so easily subdued as in this, replied:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have ever considered it one of the best privileges of my
+palace of Wykes, that here the stranger may speak unmolested,
+that we may all reap the benefit of each other's
+experience in learning, science, travel, or the wonders of
+nature, art, or industry.  On this account has the hospitality
+of this roof been devoted to the purposes of an open free
+court; wherein as long as men behave themselves with
+courtesy, so long shall they and their communications be
+respected.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It has been my lot, frequently, to hear interesting discussions
+upon science, upon the ancient interpretation of words.
+Frequently, both naval and military works have been
+propounded, the uses of the rudder, and very lately, that
+new and wonderful invention, the compass.  The discoveries
+of distant shores have been spoken of; the manners, arts,
+customs, and peculiarities of people scarcely heard of
+before are made familiar to us; and we have all participated
+in the interesting information.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The very openness of my table has afforded the power
+to suppress mere hearsay reports of things, and to bring
+forward those that are trustworthy.  But nothing has so
+much puzzled the brains of many leading liberal men, as
+the now rising discussions upon the subject of religion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Each speaker claims for himself sincerity, and we are
+bound to respect what he says as coming from a heart
+devoted to a holy cause.  Yet how opposite do I find the
+tendencies of both.  On one side it is maintained that the
+Scriptures should be freely given to the people, and be
+expanded as the waters of the broad sea over the earth.
+Another maintains that it is unprofitable so to do; that the
+Scriptures should be confined to the contemplation of the
+learned; so that the priesthood alone should be the readers,
+preachers, and expounders thereof, and that the people
+should he hearers and doers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Now there is much truth in both these positions.  We
+well know that if one nation goes to war with another, that
+which has the best disciplined army will generally prevail.
+If soldiers were to fight just as they pleased, and be under
+no orders from their superior officers, they would soon be
+but a rabble route, and be easily defeated by steady and
+well-conducted troops.  If battles are to be fought, it is
+evident there must be command and a commander; obedience
+and men to observe it.  Mutual confidence is necessary
+to ultimate success.  Even officers have to obey their
+superiors, and though each must rely on the aid of
+Heaven for success, yet each must obey some superior on
+earth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'So do I maintain that obedience is necessary in every
+department of the church, and that if the spread of the
+Scriptures among the people shall tend to disaffection
+instead of obedience, we do wisely to keep the records of
+religion confined to the knowledge of the priesthood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My opinion, therefore, is given freely upon this subject.
+It is our duty to obey the Pope as our chief commanding
+officer, who holds his head-quarters at Rome.  Your officers
+receive their commissions from him, and are responsible for
+their obedience to him.  And, as one of his marshals, I
+command you to keep holy your sacred vow of obedience, and to
+fight the fight of faith under his banners.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I do not see that Wolsey should have any weight whatever
+in the councils of the church.  He is, no doubt, a good
+and clever young man; and is held in very proper estimation
+among his friends in this, his native place; but others
+in the church are as good and wise as he, and their judgment
+is not to be despised.  Older heads opine that it is not
+at all necessary to salvation that a man should read the
+Scriptures; and I, for one, think if the people are thereby
+to be stirred up to rebellion, they had better never read them
+at all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'We do not intend to cite you, Bale and Bilney, to our
+court, at Norwich, to answer for the dissemination of
+doctrines which we deem calculated to stir up strife and
+contention in the church.  Nor thee, Latimer, for thy harsh
+declarations against the Prior and monks of St. Edmund's
+Bury, albeit we do seriously admonish thee not to let words
+of indiscretion escape thy lips.  To all we freely extend the
+customary privileges of the Palace of Wykes, and declare
+that you are irresponsible for your expressions here this day,
+but I warn you to beware how you take advantage of this
+custom only to lie here observed, and venture to express
+these vague opinions in the world.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'We command you, by virtue of our ecclesiastical authority,
+to spread no more those doctrines which we do consider
+tending to mutiny in our camp, and exhort you as good
+soldiers to keep your ranks free from disaffection.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Though we freely pardon the errors of all this day, and
+shall dismiss you in peace to your respective homes; yet we
+are assured, that if these contentions should continue beyond
+these walls, some delegate from Rome will receive ample
+powers to punish all refractory children who may provoke
+the displeasure of the Holy See.  We spare you now, and
+bid you all obey, and all farewell.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the very instant in which the Bishop rose to depart,
+a voice from without exclaimed&mdash;'Make way for the Hermit
+St. Ivan!' and, with breathless agitation, the venerable old
+man strode up to that part of the hall directly opposite the
+Bishop.  It was evident to every one that he was fatigued
+with over exertion.  He leaned against a pillar, as if to
+recover himself&mdash;refused to be seated, though he kept every
+one standing around him.  He twice essayed to speak&mdash;lifted
+his arms to heaven, and demanded, by his actions, that
+they would pause a moment to hear him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The sight of the man was enough to interest any one.
+His head uncovered, his staff in his hand, his eye beaming
+with philanthropy, though evidently excited by his intended
+communication.  He had, indeed, hurried into the hall, he
+had seen the vibrations of the waters, and knew that the
+walls of Wykes' Bishop's Palace could not stand long.  He
+knew, likewise, that unless he could deliver himself in an
+authoritative and alarming manner, that many souls must
+perish.  He had no desire they should, and therefore he
+assumed a sort of prophetical manner of address which the
+imminence of the danger alone warranted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His warning is given in such quaint, old poetry, and is
+yet so forcible, that to narrate it in a set speech would
+destroy its effect; and to give it in its old style would be
+tedious to the reader.  He must pardon, therefore, its
+transposition into language more in accordance with modern
+phraseology, though, perhaps, not so genuinely characteristic
+of the hermit.
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p class="poem gothic">
+  St. Ivan's Warning.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'The time is come, proud Goldwell, hear?<br>
+  I speak to thee no more with fear!<br>
+  Though round thee shining lords attend<br>
+  And priests with burgesses may blend;<br>
+  And haughty in thy palace fair,<br>
+  Alice De Clinton has her share,<br>
+  And mocks to scorn whoe'er she will,<br>
+  And bids the hermit's voice be still.<br>
+  I bid her listen to my lay,<br>
+  I call her from this scene away;<br>
+  And tell both thee and her and all,<br>
+  They must obey the hermit's call.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'The time is come! the warning lake<br>
+  Already doth the palace shake.<br>
+  There stands by thee the haughty maid<br>
+  Whose pride and cruelty are said<br>
+  To govern thee and urge thee on<br>
+  To deeds no bishop yet hath done.<br>
+  The poor despise her though they bow<br>
+  In fear of frowns from such a brow.<br>
+  I, too, have felt within my cell<br>
+  Her hate can burn as demon's spell;<br>
+  For none who humbly live to love,<br>
+  To her can acceptable prove;<br>
+  And were not here a better found,<br>
+  These walls would tremble to the ground.<br>
+  But her I warn to haste away,<br>
+  Nor longer in this palace stay,<br>
+  Lest she and thee, and hers and thine,<br>
+  Be buried by St. Agnes' shrine.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'The time is come&mdash;the doom is spoken,<br>
+  Spells of life and charms are broken;<br>
+  And thou mayst live as yet thy day,<br>
+  But here thy bones thou shalt not lay!<br>
+  No more on thee, Wykes' Bishop's Hill,<br>
+  With verdure green find pleasant rill,<br>
+  Shall smile upon thy turrets' dome,<br>
+  Nor more to thee thy people come<br>
+  To meet thee in this place of peace;<br>
+  Its pleasant days must quickly cease;<br>
+  And men from yonder hill shall say,<br>
+  "How soon does grandeur pass away!<br>
+  There stood in state Wykes' Bishop's Hall,<br>
+  How sudden was its rise and fall."<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'The time is come; I look around<br>
+  On those who now within are found;<br>
+  De Freston, hasten thou away,<br>
+  Nor let thy maiden longer stay.<br>
+  Lest thou shouldst rue the hapless hour<br>
+  Thou didst forsake thy lofty tower,<br>
+  And seek to minister thine aid<br>
+  Of friendship to a haughty maid.<br>
+  Go! haste away.  Oh, couldst thou tell<br>
+  How deeply in my lowly cell<br>
+  I oft have prayed for thee and thine,<br>
+  Thou wouldst respect the hermit's shrine.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  The time is come! fair maid of peace,<br>
+  Ellen De Freston, thy release<br>
+  From danger here will only prove<br>
+  A greater danger in thy love.<br>
+  But haste away! thou dost not know<br>
+  The anger of thy deadly foe.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  The time is come! Good townsmen flee.<br>
+  These walls are tottering, and must be<br>
+  Known as a place of midnight feast,<br>
+  Where owls and bats by day will rest.<br>
+  But never more will matin bell,<br>
+  Or vespers' sound, be heard to tell<br>
+  Wykes' Bishop's priests the anthem raise,<br>
+  A duty to the saints they praise;<br>
+  But bell and belfry both shall fall<br>
+  Before another matin's call.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'The time is come, thou haughty maid,<br>
+  Whose eye now shining on the dead,<br>
+  With stain of pride and cruel scorn,<br>
+  Falls not on one who feels forlorn.<br>
+  Thou'lt feel the loftiness of pride<br>
+  When raised, unknown, unseen, denied.<br>
+  Thou think'st thyself to be a queen,<br>
+  And com'st to nothing in thy spleen!<br>
+  He comes to raise, and take thee home:<br>
+  Proud maid he comes&mdash;the time&mdash;'<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>
+The old man's voice here totally failed him.  A pallid
+hue was seen to spread itself over his countenance, which
+underwent a complete change.  His head fell gently back
+against the stone pillar, and the hermit St. Ivan stood a
+corpse in the hall of Wykes' Bishop's Palace.  At the same
+moment, the glass of those beautiful windows cracked from
+the very top of the arch to the bottom, and fell inwards&mdash;a
+tumbling; noise was heard&mdash;the outer walls fell down; and
+bishop, lord, lady, priest, burgess, townsman, visitor,
+monk, traveller, friar, and mendicant, together with porter,
+warder, serving-men, and slaves, all fled in terror over the
+drawbridge, leaving St. Ivan standing against the pillar,
+the only one who was unconscious of fear, inasmuch as he
+was dead.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap18"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+<br><br>
+THE FALL OF THE PALACE OF WYKES
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Terror was depicted in every countenance as the drawbridge,
+that mass of stone, iron, wood, and brick-work was
+seen to give way, and divide with a crash, falling into the
+waters of the deep moat which surrounded the palace.
+Every inmate of that place who could move escaped before
+this catastrophe took place; and a motley group of terrified
+faces stood looking upon the troubled waters, the yawning
+land, the falling walls, as one after another of those massive
+pieces of stone fell inwards upon the beautiful tesselated
+pavements of the courts, and refectory, and cells, which had
+been so kept by the Bishop's serving men.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was as if an earthquake had suddenly shaken the
+building to its foundation; but it was nothing more than a
+sudden landslip, arising from the springs which let in the
+banks of the moat, so as to lessen its once formidable barrier
+into the appearance of a ditch.  This was not apparent at
+this moment, for the waters were so raised by the sudden
+ingress of the earth, that for a time a flood spread itself over
+both sides of these banks.  It was only when the excess of
+water had escaped down the stream of the Holy Wells, into
+the Orwell, that the barrier became less formidable.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Bishop and his niece were not long spectators of that
+terrible catastrophe.  He was apparently excited to
+consternation, and showed it by his hasty departure, with Alice
+De Clinton, for Goldwell Hall.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Philanthropy moved in the heart of De Freston, who,
+after confiding his daughter to the care of Latimer, desired
+him to go at once to the mansion, of his relative and friend,
+Antony Wingfield, then in treaty with De Freston for the
+sale of those very premises which afterwards became his
+property.  The young Antony had then consigned his mansion
+in Brook Street, and his chapel of St. Mary's, to the
+Lord De Freston.  This chapel was called the Lady Grey's
+chapel; and was the spot in which De Freston requested
+his daughter, and such as liked to accompany her, to go
+and return thanks for their deliverance.  Meantime, a
+messenger was sent to Freston Castle, for horses and men, to
+convey his daughter and her attendants home.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Alice De Clinton did not wait even to invite Ellen to
+accompany her to Goldwell Hall.  She would have died
+before she would have condescended to show any affection
+towards one whom she considered as a favorer of heretics.
+Hence her haughty departure with her less haughty uncle,
+and such retainers as at such a time were not too terrified to
+attend upon them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+De Freston, having disposed of his daughter Ellen, turned
+his attention to the state of those unhappy domestics of the
+palace, who were then without house and home; and by his
+interest with the monks of St. Peter's Priory, and other
+religious houses, together with his more private interest
+with numerous rich householders in the borough, he got
+them all treated in such a way as to suppress their cries of
+lamentation at the fall of Wyke's Bishop's Palace.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thousands of spectators soon collected round the spot,
+upon the green hills in the vicinity, to look upon the prostrate
+ruins.  The central pillars alone of that proud building
+stood erect; and every now and then an alarm was given
+that they were seen to totter.  The expanse of waters did
+not subside that night, so that the flood had reached to the
+very foot of the hills, in consequence of the main-buttress of
+the drawbridge having fallen, and choked up the passage of
+the stream, where the waters usually escaped to the Orwell.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Had any one been disposed to go over to the ruins, they
+could not have done so without a boat, and the only one
+belonging to the gardener had been sunk by the pressure of
+the falling boat-house.  There was no fear, however, of any
+such intrusion.  Men who looked upon the sacred edifice
+were too cautious to think of venturing over the waters,
+lest they should be buried under its walls.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Conversation, however, was alive, and superstition not
+less active among the people, for many said they had seen
+the Hermit St. Ivan hastening over the drawbridge into
+the castle, and many had heard him say that when he did so
+the walls would fall down.  Some had dreamed one thing,
+some another.  Some prognosticated the fall of Bishop
+Goldwell and his proud niece.  Some had seen a strange
+thing fly up the chimney the night before&mdash;and one had
+seen St. Ivan riding upon a black cloud over the hills to the
+river, and was sure some catastrophe would befal him.
+Innumerable ingenious speculations were started, and as is
+very often the case in calamities of any kind, it was
+attributed to all sorts of causes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I will not believe,' said butcher Stannard, 'that St. Ivan
+is dead, until I know his ceil is deserted; so, who will go
+with me to the Holy Wells?  What, none willing to go?
+What a set of cowards you all are!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I saw him go across the drawbridge, and I have heard
+him say, he should never return alive!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And so have I,' replied the butcher, 'and I have heard
+that he is now beneath those ruins, and yet I have my
+doubts, and if no one will go to the cave with me, I will
+go alone.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The sturdy butcher started off for the deep dell of the
+Holy Wells, followed at a respectable distance by two or
+three of the townsmen, whose curiosity had been excited:
+but who gave him plenty of space to show his bravery by
+himself, not willing to interrupt him, or interfere with his
+ascent to the hermit's cell.  A party stood at the foot of the
+stone steps by which Stannard ascended to the cave.  He
+had indeed called aloud to the old man before he ventured
+to ascend&mdash;but of course received no answer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He entered the cave&mdash;he found a rustic table with a Latin
+Bible thereupon, a lamp suspended from the ceiling, two
+loaves of brown bread in a recess, and a jug of water.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The cave was dry, and strewed with rushes; his bed was
+formed of the same material, placed upon a ledge of
+sandstone rock; a few boxes of salves, and bottles of medicine
+were ready to be given to the poor: but this strange habitation
+possessed no pretensions to comforts.  Yet here Ivan
+had been for many years, the celebrated hermit of the Holy
+Wells.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Butcher Stannard soon returned, convinced, and convincing
+others that the old man was only to be found under
+the ruins of the Bishop's Palace.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Gorgeous tapestry might be seen floating in the wind
+from the various broken down compartments.  The walls
+had mostly fallen inwards, and the waters had rushed into
+the court, and escaped through the broken and other
+confined masses on the other side.  A more complete specimen
+of ruin could not be seen: valuable pieces of furniture,
+panels, and legs of tables, were floated out of the ruins
+upon the moat, and these were strictly preserved, as relics,
+and carried to the various religious houses, as mementoes of
+the once flourishing palace of the Bishops of Norwich, the
+first and the last in the ancient town of Ipswich.  What a
+wretched sight did that palace now afford: but how much
+more calamitous might it have been, had the festive hour
+not been so suddenly interrupted by the entrance of
+St. Ivan.  It was better that the palace should fall down than
+that souls should perish therein.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The site of the palace&mdash;the spot of the Hermit's cell&mdash;the
+stream of the Holy Wells, are still to be seen, though now
+the square plot of ground is an orchard belonging to the
+owner of Holy Wells, and the stream which then flowed in
+a direct line to the river is now diverted, and forms
+magnificent fish ponds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Tradition still preserves the name of the Hermit: and the
+monks of St. Peter, after his decease, though they had been
+jealous of his sanctity, raised a cross to his memory, at the
+Holy Wells, which went by the name of St. Ivan's Cross,
+and became a place of pilgrimage for saints and sinners, for
+two hundred years afterwards.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Throughout the records of that day, nothing is discoverable
+but the jarring complaints of the Prior of St. Peter's
+and his brethren, at the influence of the hermit of the Holy
+Wells, who would not submit to observe any of the rites
+and ceremonies of the Church of Rome, without a restitution
+of his lands, hereditaments, and rights in Wykes Ufford
+and Whitton, which belonged to his ancestors, and descended
+from them to himself.  It is recorded that he sued the
+Bishops of Norwich in the ecclesiastical court of Canterbury,
+for their usurpation of one moiety of that property which
+belonged to him and his heirs, the whole of which had been
+seized by the church.  Law was the most expensive thing
+to be had in England in that day, as it is in this.  A flaw is
+to be picked in almost every man's title to his estate, through
+which lawyers gain an entrance to the property&mdash;and there
+they fed and fatten.  Formerly Judges were elected from
+ecclesiastical bodies, and their amanuenses, generally
+clergymen, called clerks&mdash;they retain the name to this day: but
+better for them and all men, they are not the judges of the
+land.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+No doubt Goldwell knew the claim which had been
+urged by Ivan De Linton's descendants to recover the one
+moiety of the estates in Wykes Ufford and Whitton, as the
+Bishop of Norwich was left executor, after the various gifts
+to the church, to see the rightful heir instituted.  It might
+be that this Ivan, who was Dr. Ivan, of St. Mildred's,
+A.D. 1425, was not considered the rightful heir.  Be that as it
+may, he considered himself such, and spent a fortune in
+endeavoring to obtain his property.  From that day, the
+gradual decline of the Bishops of Norwich, as far as
+regarded temporal possessions in Ipswich, began, and there
+is scarcely now a single acre of land, or a single house in
+the neighborhood, which belongs to that See.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Every record of that period will produce testimony of
+their possessions in Wykes Ufford.  The Bishop's Hill still
+forms one of the loftiest features over the town.  The deep
+glens of Holy Wells, at the bottom of that hill, with the
+stream, the moat, the site of the palace, nay, within the
+memory of man, the beams of the cross which stood at the
+head of the stream which gushed from beneath the sandstone
+rocks, were found crossing each other, and were dug
+out of the earth during the life of the late owner of the
+property.  Many an hour has the writer of these pages
+spent in that glen at that spot, and many a book has he
+perused within the precincts of the Hermit's cave, now
+closely planted with alders, firs, and brush-wood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lord De Freston and his daughter Ellen might be found
+in the Lady Grey's Chapel of St. Mary's returning thanks
+for their deliverance.  Lord De Freston lived in an age
+when the support of the Papacy was accounted such an
+undoubted act of piety, that any nobleman attempting to
+dispute its sway was to be looked upon as an enemy to his
+God and his country.  Lord De Freston, though he never
+exercised his authority with the hierarchy, to argue with
+them upon useless and fanciful customs, which they
+constantly introduced, was highly pleased with the manner in
+which William Latimer had conducted himself that day,
+and fully agreed with him in his animadversion upon the
+fooleries of the monastic establishments, the wisdom of
+unfolding the Scripture, and the necessity of learning in
+those who were to be the public expounders of the truth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After returning thanks in the chapel, he accompanied
+Edmund Daundy to his mansion, where the conversation
+was renewed concerning the steps to be taken for the inspection
+of the ruins, and the disposal of the body of St. Ivan.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I do not think the priests of St. Peter's will grant him a
+place of sepulture within the precincts of their monastery,'
+said Daundy; 'neither will Bishop Goldwell be disposed to
+allow that he may be buried within the grounds, inside the
+walls of Ipswich.  For the most part, the priests looked
+upon him as one excluded from the kingdom of heaven,
+frequently crossed themselves whenever his name was
+mentioned, and none of them, I am quite sure, would perform
+his funeral ceremony.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yet the old man had some virtues, which would be no
+disgrace to any one!  He was conversant with the Scriptures,
+he was kind to the poor, meek and peaceable in his
+demeanor, spent many hours of the day in meditation and
+in the exercise of benevolence, and but for his abhorrence
+of the superstitious deceptions of those customs which the
+worst days of Rome have sanctioned, might have been
+deemed a good Catholic.  Abstemious to the utmost, his
+fasting was an every day temperance.  Devout in the
+extreme&mdash;all his hours were spent in devotion; generous to
+the last farthing, he gave away all that was given him, and
+lived upon the loaves of charity.  I took care that he should
+not want bread whilst he lived, though he always thought
+it came from poor people, whom his medicinal cures had
+restored to health.  I will not ask any of the religious
+houses in Ipswich to give him a place of burial.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Where then do you propose to bury him?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'In the chapel of the Priory of Alneshborne.  I will see
+this fraternity to-morrow morn, and ask their permission
+that the bones of St. Ivan may rest in my own family
+vault, beneath the altar in their chapel: for the Lords of
+Freston, though not all buried there, have a right of sepulture
+reserved to themselves, beneath the high altar of their
+chapel.  This was one of the conditions upon which the
+extra-parochial lands, belonging to their monastery, were
+granted to them.  I think I shall have no difficulty in this.
+The only difficulty I expect to meet with will be the finding
+a place of rest for the body in some sacred place, until all
+the preparations for his interment shall be completed.  I
+will bring my men up to the town on the morrow.  In the
+meantime, do you interest yourself in the good graces of the
+bishop, and the monks of St. Peter's, first that I may search
+the ruins of the palace for his body, then, that it may be
+decently kept within the walls of St. Peter's Priory until
+such time as I am prepared for the burial.  I intend to
+watch the body myself on the night of its burial, as a mark
+of my respect for the deceased.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I will do my best endeavors.  I can go to Goldwell
+Hall, suggest the propriety of searching the ruins, under
+the authority of the Mayor of the town, both to preserve
+whatever valuables can be thence recovered&mdash;end then ask,
+for you, the body of St. Ivan.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This the good Daundy faithfully performed.  And that
+very evening Ellen De Freston and Latimer, together with
+Lord De Freston, were seated in their favorite room of
+Freston Tower.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap19"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XIX.
+<br><br>
+ST. IVAN'S FUNERAL.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+An interesting conversation was held in Freston Tower that
+evening between the three persons who wanted nothing to
+cement their affections, since love reigned in their hearts.
+Extraordinary circumstances had unexpectedly given birth
+to the warmest feelings for each other.  Interested in the
+deepest sense had each become.  Perhaps that of Ellen De
+Freston was the greatest, because she felt so much both for
+her father and Latimer.  Again they rejoiced in being seated
+in their happy retreat, with their souls full of thought, as
+they surveyed the waves of that river which appeared by the
+setting sun more beautiful than ever.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I must go with the sound of the matin bell, and ask John
+of Alneshborne to grant me leave to bury the body of Ivan
+De Linton within the precincts of the chapel,' said De
+Freston.  'I shall have a mournful duty, but I hope a
+satisfactory one, in committing to the ground the body of a man,
+who, with all his eccentricities, was a pure philanthropist.
+Our priesthood will grant no place of burial to an heretic;
+and from all I hear, St. Ivan was looked upon by them as
+something worse than a heretic, and only worthy of the
+burial of a dog.  I must propitiate the priests of St. Peter
+on the morrow, and get through the preparations as well as
+I can.  In the meantime, Latimer, I request your stay at my
+castle: at least until this funeral be over.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Latimer had left Oxford with the full intention of being
+in Padua as soon as wind and weather would permit.
+Little did he think, when asking his friend Wolsey to give
+him permission to convey some love token to Ellen De
+Freston, on his account, that he should be made to feel that
+he himself had inspired an interest which he could not fail
+to appreciate.  He had no compunctions in regard to Wolsey,
+for he had received no commission to declare his sentiments,
+and had no idea of their engagement to the lovely Ellen,
+for whom now, he could not fail to feel the most animating
+and grateful interest.  In a few days, Latimer found more
+occasion to concentrate his affections upon the fair object
+that had excited them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That evening passed away with many reflections of
+thankfulness, and on the morrow Lord De Freston ordered his
+barge, and visited the fraternity at Alneshborne Priory.  All
+that he requested was immediately granted by that truly
+learned body.  The night was fixed upon for the solemn
+funeral to take place, and De Freston made a vow, more in
+accordance with the superstition of his age than with true
+wisdom, to keep watch in the chapel of the priory, and to
+speak to no one, to answer no one, and to be moved by none,
+until the priory bell should give the sound of morning
+prayer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His next care was to visit the monks of St. Peter's, and
+obtain their permission to let the body of St. Ivan lay in state
+within their walls.  He had some difficulty in this, and it
+was only by promising to pay a handsome sum for watching
+the body, and for prayers against sorcerers, that he could
+prevail upon that bigotted body to grant him his request.
+The next thing was to look for the hermit.  Bishop Goldwell
+had sanctioned the Mayor's search for various articles
+of value, and had given permission to remove the body of
+St. Ivan.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lord De Freston and his men were the first to pass over
+the moat in boats to search the ruins, whilst hundreds
+collected on the banks to see the removal of the body, which
+was found erect, against the very pillar upon which he had
+leaned when he died.  A cross-beam had fallen against the
+top of the pillar so as to form a shield over him.  A mass of
+rubbish, of brick-work, broken tiles, glass, and furniture
+had to be removed before the corpse could be taken out
+There was a placid serenity, even in death, upon the face
+his form was stiff, and the silvery locks fluttered over his
+features as they moved him through the ruins.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His bearers were awe-struck with the downfall of that
+princely palace; and, not quite satisfied in their own minds
+that some of the standing portions of the building might
+not fall upon their heads, they made what haste they could
+to Lord De Freston's boat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Curiosity excited some to pass over the broken walls;
+and a desire to possess relics of Wykes' Bishop's Palace
+instigated others.  The occasional slip of some congregated
+mass terrified the pilferers and made them hasten from
+danger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the corpse of St. Ivan was removed to the boat,
+the Mayor gave orders that none but authorised workmen
+should be permitted to pass the bounds of the moat, and that
+a clerk should give an exact account of the articles found
+for the use of the Town Clerk and the Bishop's Secretary.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+De Freston's care was now to convey the body to St. Peter's
+Priory, there to have it lay in state until all things
+should be ordered for the funeral.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was not without great bribes that it was admitted
+within the precincts of the Priory, but the monks were not
+insensible to the costly gifts of De Freston, and of Edmund
+Daundy; nor insensible to the use that might be made
+among the common people of the fame of St. Ivan.  He was,
+therefore, admitted, embalmed with all due ceremony,
+and candles were dedicated to the altar for St. Ivan.  Priests
+had to pray for his soul's release from purgatory.  A solemn
+requiem was sung in the chapel, and during the six days'
+rest in the Priory costly dedications were made to the
+shrine of St. Peter, at the expense of the nobleman and his
+friends, who were only anxious that decent respect should
+be paid to his memory.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+How different are the customs of different periods relative
+to the burial of the dead; how different, likewise, in different
+countries!  That decency should be observed, every Christian
+will freely acknowledge and where society is formed
+upon true principles of piety, all these things will be done
+with propriety; but it is better to have the prayers of the
+poor destitute than to build the most splendid mausoleum
+in the world.  The heart of one good man is of more real
+value than the whole fabric of St. Peter's at Rome.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lord De Freston was not ashamed to show to the
+world that he considered the old man worthy of the
+customary Christian burial which, at that time, was
+bestowed upon the nobles of the land.  Hence his
+preparations were made upon a corresponding scale.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The seventh evening was appointed for the funeral.  It
+was agreed that he should be buried by torchlight at the
+Priory of Augustine Monks, beneath the shrine of
+St. Peter, at the altar of Alneshborne Chapel.  Lord Ivan De
+Wykes, as the family were originally called when the
+estates were conveyed to the See of Norwich, had great
+possessions in Dorsetshire and Cambridgeshire, as well as
+in Essex and Suffolk; but retaining only certain estates
+at Linton and Ipswich, the name of Wykes was dropped
+and Ivan De Linton substituted.  These things were known
+to De Freston when the old man first spoke to him
+concerning his titles and family.  It might be on this account
+as well that he chose to pay him every mark of outward
+respect.  He had learnt something of Ivan's private history
+in conversation with him, and found that much of his
+eccentricity arose from a disappointment of the heart in early life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The long procession of boats with torches was collected
+at the quay of St. Peter's Priory.  There were twelve
+belonging to the Mayor and burgesses; four to the Prior
+of St. Peter's; Daundy's, Sparrow's, and Wolsey's barge,
+and others among the common people who chose to
+accompany the procession with muffled oars, five miles
+down the river, to the vale of Alneshborne.  At midnight,
+the procession, headed by De Freston's boat, with himself
+and his friend Latimer, started at the sound of the solemn
+bells, which, from the various religious houses, gave forth
+their mournful note.  They were all muffled.  Torches
+were seen in the towers; and along the river side the glare
+of one hundred and sixty torches upon the waters showed
+a long array of mourning pomp.  The body lay exalted
+on a large flat-bottomed boat, and was towed by the sailors,
+who were appointed to bear the coffin from its deck.  They
+were seated in another boat, belonging to the Priory.
+Four portmen, ten burgesses, and a numerous company of
+priests and choristers brought up the procession.  Their
+lengthened notes came swelling over the waters as they
+chanted the requiem of the departed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was a dark night, the waters were gloomy, the banks
+of the river seemed in mourning, the clouds looked as if
+they were gathering to weep, and save the wild note of
+the curlew as the torch-light disturbed her upon the ooze,
+one mile down the river, all was profoundly mournful.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+De Freston's men were well acquainted with the river,
+and as the lights from the town began to grow dim, and
+the sound of the tolling bells distant, and their oars
+were muffled, a solemn stillness made a feeling of awe
+creep over their frames, as they thought of the hermit
+whom they were escorting to his last cave.  As they
+passed the long hanging wood which bent to the waters,
+then termed Long Island, since corrupted into Hog
+Island, the startled cormorants rose in succession from
+their roosting-places, and filled the air with their hoarse
+chaunt.  Darker and darker grew the banks, and still
+darker spread the clouds above, as the train swept slowly
+along.  The distant turrets of Alneshborne Priory became
+visible, and soon after torches were seen to glare upon
+the waters' edge; and the fraternity of monks were visible
+awaiting the arrival of the funeral.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As the boats approached the sandy strand against the
+creek of Alneshborne, the whole brotherhood assembled to
+receive the monks of St. Peter's and Lord De Freston;
+and along the shore a solemn chaunt arose from the
+choristers as the men eased down the coffin of St. Ivan
+from the deck of the barge.
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p class="poem gothic">
+  Chaunt.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Holy brethren, we are come<br>
+  Here to bring St. Ivan home;<br>
+  Take him, take him, holy men,<br>
+  As St. Peter's denizen.<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Alma Mater!<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Sancte Pater!<br>
+  En et ecce!  Ecce en!<br>
+</p>
+  
+<p class="poem">
+  Holy brethren! now we mourn,<br>
+  Hear us, monks of Alneshborne!<br>
+  Take St. Ivan, take him then,<br>
+  For St. Peter's denizen.<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Alma Mater!<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Sancte Pater!<br>
+  En et ecce!  Ecce en!<br>
+</p>  
+  
+<p class="poem">
+  Holy brethren! pity take,<br>
+  For the Great St. Peter's sake;<br>
+  Lay St. Ivan in your glen,<br>
+  As St. Peter's denizen.<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Alma Mater!<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Sancte Pater!<br>
+  En et ecce!  Ecce en!<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>
+The venerable brethren received Lord De Freston and
+the mourners with due solemnity, and made the following
+response to the chaunt of St. Peter's priests.
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p class="poem gothic">
+  The Response.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Welcome, welcome, to our shrine,<br>
+  Here St. Ivan may recline;<br>
+  Bring him onward, on his way,<br>
+  Holy friars of orders gray.<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Ora! ora!<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Sine Morâ!<br>
+  For St. Ivan, brothers, pray.<br>
+</p>  
+  
+<p class="poem">
+  Here the saint shall taste repose,<br>
+  Here the tomb shall o'er him close.<br>
+  Whilst we sing his resting lay,<br>
+  Holy friar of orders gray!<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Ora! ora!<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Sine Morâ!<br>
+  For St. Ivan we will pray.<br>
+</p>  
+  
+<p class="poem">
+  Welcome he who comes in peace,<br>
+  Here his honours shall not cease;<br>
+  We will chaunt them night and day,<br>
+  Bear him, brothers, on his way.<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Ora! ora!<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Sine Morâ!<br>
+  Thus we chaunt St. Ivan's lay.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>
+The procession was then formed, headed by the monks
+of the place, and by the whole body of the fraternity of
+St. Peter's.  Then came the bier, on each side of which
+walked six burgesses, Lord De Freston following as chief
+mourner.  Then Latimer, and the various friends, townsmen,
+and acquaintances, who, as much out of respect for
+the living Lord De Freston as for the dead St. Ivan,
+attended the costly funeral.  There was Robert Wulsey,
+as it was then written.  He was an old man, and certainly
+would have been much better at rest in his own house
+in St. Nicholas, than braving the midnight air to gratify
+his friend, De Freston.  So grateful did he feel to him
+for the interest he had taken in his son Thomas, that as
+soon as Daundy mentioned the subject to him, and told
+him that it would be a compliment which De Freston
+would feel, he actually resolved, let the cost be what it
+might, to attend the funeral of St. Ivan.  The cost,
+as the sequel will prove, was as much an any man
+could pay.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The corpse was borne to the chapel, which then stood
+beyond the walls of the Priory, in a small secluded glen,
+near the bright stream which flowed into the moat, and
+thence down to the waves of the Orwell.  The torches
+illumined the glen, and when they all entered the little
+chapel, a person outside might have supposed that the
+building was on fire, so glaring was the accumulated light
+of so many torches.  In front of the altar was the family
+vault of De Freston.  Amidst the chaunts of the assembled
+priests, the body was lowered into the vault, the ceremony
+was concluded, and De Freston alone, with only the candles
+burning upon the altar, was left to watch, according to his
+vow, till the morning matin-bell should permit him to open
+the chapel door.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It may seem singular that a person like Lord De Freston
+should submit to such unnecessary devotion, but he had
+made a vow to do it himself, and he was not a man to turn
+aside from any purpose he had once resolved to put in
+practice.  It was in vain that the elder brother of the
+monastery offered himself to exonerate him from his vow,
+and to supply his place.  He was determined: consequently
+the whole body of attendants had to leave him in the
+chapel.  He charged Latimer to return to the castle, and
+not to think of coming over the waters again until the
+morning-bell should be heard from the Tower of Alneshborne
+Priory.  The mourners, therefore, retraced their way,
+the burgesses and townsmen up the waves of the Orwell,
+and the last to leave his friend was William Latimer, who
+promised to return at the time appointed.  Taking leave of
+the friendly Augustines, he ordered his rowers to unmuffle
+their oars and make the best of their way across the tide.
+A light was to burn all night in the fifth story of Freston
+Tower.  The mourners separated, and their torches were
+seen quickly ascending the waves of the Orwell, and Lord
+De Freston was alone in the chapel of Alneshborne.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap20"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XX.
+<br><br>
+A MEMORABLE NIGHT.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Never, under such circumstances, did a noble undergo a
+severer trial than did Lord De Freston on that memorable
+night.  The parties had separated upon the wave, the
+monks had returned to their cells, one holy brother alone
+keeping watch in the belfry tower to denote the hour of
+matin worship.  The Lord of Freston Tower knelt by that
+lone altar, beneath which the hermit St. Ivan now rested,
+and he was performing the last form of devotion, which,
+according to his vow, he could then pay to departed worth.
+The tomb could not be closed up until that vow had been
+strictly observed.  Superstitious and uncalled for, as
+according to our far wiser notions of acceptable duty this would
+be considered, it was deemed a high mark of personal
+devotion in that day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He had vowed that nothing on earth should entice him
+from the chapel.  The proof of sanctity attending upon this
+vow was to be the strictness with which it should be kept.
+He was to answer no voice whatever&mdash;to admit no one into
+the chapel when once he had locked himself in&mdash;to be
+terrified at nothing internal or external&mdash;that come
+whatever might, no word should escape his lips: but in silent
+meditation he should kneel at the altar and watch until the
+morning.  In a word, he should remain there and keep his
+vow in spite of every temptation to make him break it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If men would only keep watch within themselves to guard
+against the entrance of evil thoughts into their souls, and
+prevent the devil from urging them thereby to wicked words
+and actions, they would not want to shut themselves up in
+gloomy chapels, to appear before men in sanctimonious garb.
+There would be no need of costly sacrifices to the fancied
+glory of the true God, which alas! do but tend to blow out
+the swollen pride of man because of false notions of doing
+him honor.  Keep the heart sound, encourage there every
+virtue, and let the grace of God cleanse it from apostacy
+and superstition, for otherwise man will soon be unfit to
+dwell with holiness, and make his heart unfit for spiritual
+consolation or comfort.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+De Freston's self-devotion was the theme of praise among
+the deluded though learned monks of Alneshborne Priory,
+as well as amongst the priests of St. Peter, or the mayor
+and burgesses of the town of Ipswich&mdash;and perchance the
+cold-blooded Alice De Clinton, in the private chapel of
+Bishop Goldwell, might have deemed this act worthy of her
+praise.  But she knew it not, or else she would not have
+supposed him to be a heretic.  It is impossible for a good
+heart to be always silent in its devotions.  It will, it must
+speak to the glory of God.  It has so done in every age,
+and will so do to the last day; but its internal struggles to
+conquer its external and internal foes will be observed alone
+by God, and be known only to him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whilst De Freston kept his silent watch, the grumbling
+clouds gave intimation of a coming storm.  It had been a
+murkey night, and sweeping folds of darkness had spread
+themselves over the sky: but now the thunder began to
+roll, and the lightning to illuminate the waters of the
+Orwell, and for successive moments to darken even the
+torches of the boats.  Ellen De Freston and her maid
+were in the tower, watching for the expected return of
+Lord De Freston's boat.  On such a night, though her
+father had not charged her to remain there, but to let a
+light be burning in her usual lofty apartment, she had
+chosen to keep watch for her friend's return.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The light was seen in the Tower, and the boatmen were
+guided by it and by the light in the belfry of the Monastery
+as certain beacons for their safety.  But every now and
+then the murky darkness of the clouds, and the vivid flashes
+of the lightning, would alike obscure these beacons from
+their sight.  They could see the windows of the little chapel
+they had left faintly illuminated by the wax tapers within.
+Latimer felt a degree of sorrow for his lord, that on such a
+night he should be exposing himself to a long and dreary
+watch, instead of being calmly at rest upon his pillow in
+his own castle.  It is true, that his anxieties were somewhat
+roused by the roar of the elements, but he had six stout
+rowers, who knew the channel well, and though they
+declared that their boat had never been so tossed about before
+upon the river, yet they had no doubt of soon reaching the
+landing place beneath the shades of Freston.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The wind was dead ahead against them, and the short
+successive gusts which blew directly down upon them,
+seemed to chop the waves into spray as they dashed along.
+The torches of twisted rope and pitch held by two men
+astern required the greatest dexterity in holding them lest
+they should be jerked into the waters.  Nothing but
+complete immersion could extinguish them: for even if the
+wind blew them out, it soon blew them in again, and the
+first billow found the flame again aspiring.  But every now
+and then the boat struck against a piece of timber, either
+the arm of some tree, or the mast of some vessel, or a piece
+of wreckage, which rather alarmed the most experienced
+boatmen of the party.  One flambeau was sent forward,
+and the man held it as high as he could, to give notice of
+any coming danger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'If our friends going home have not better luck than
+we have,' said one of the men, 'we shall hear of their
+being capsized or driven ashore.  Thy have, however, wind
+and tide in their favor and will scud homewards pretty
+quickly.  Pull away, my hearties!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was the language of young Harry Benns, whose
+ancestors had for years been servants of the Lord De Freston,
+and the same youth was attached and engaged to the
+serving maid of Ellen De Freston.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The light burns brightly in the Tower, Master Latimer,
+and I fancy every now and then I see something flitting
+past it.  I suspect we have friends watching us there.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I wish both your lord's watch and theirs were over,'
+replied Latimer.  'I like not this dark, stormy struggle.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Oh, never fear, Master!  We have a good pilot to take
+charge of us!  Give way, my lads! that's it! a strong arm,
+and good courage, my boys!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Two very good things in their way, but both may be put
+to the test when other things come in their way.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Just at that moment a flash of lightning opened upon
+them, and showed them such a sight as made the stoutest
+heart among them tremble.  A vessel without light aboard,
+or sail, or man to steer her, seemed as if she had broken
+from her moorings, and was driving before the wind in the
+very direction of the boat.  She looked like a floating
+mountain as she came along, seen for the instant, and then
+involved in impenetrable darkness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'There she comes,' exclaimed the man ahead; 'bout ship,
+my lads, or we are all overboard!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Down she came&mdash;the work of an instant&mdash;she swept
+directly over them, turning De Freston's boat keel upwards.
+Happily she did not strike them midships, but caught them
+astern, twisted them round first&mdash;and was gone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The shrieks of those unhappy men were borne upon the
+wind, and plainly heard by the Lord De Freston in the
+chapel of Alneshborne.  The neighboring monks were
+roused from their slumbers by the alarm given by the
+brother in the watch-tower: they listened, and could plainly
+hear the cries of distress.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The boatmen, who had all been capsized, extricated themselves
+as well as they could, and clung to the boat, which,
+having been so suddenly upset, contained a great quantity
+of air, which added to its buoyancy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Are you there, Benns?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Is that you, Atkins?  Hold on, my boys!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I say, where is my young master?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Latimer alone was not there.  Having been seated directly
+in the stern of the boat, the violence of the blow had
+thrown him into the eddy of the driving vessel, and in a
+moment he was drawn, as it were, in a vortex far away from
+his companions.  The vessel, however, drove faster than he
+did upon the waters, and, being an expert swimmer, he had
+struck out boldly against the sweeping and curling waves.
+When a man has to struggle for life, and knows, too, that
+it must be a hard struggle, he had better not waste his
+strength in his first efforts.  Presence of mind is certainly
+the greatest requisite in sudden emergencies; and Latimer's
+first exclamation was not a shriek of terror, but a prayer,
+short, earnest, and expressive.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Lord help me!  I am in danger.  Support me through
+this trial, with the help of thy right hand and holy arm.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He had scarcely uttered the words, and lifted himself up
+to strike out as a brave swimmer, when a huge plank, from
+the beams of a wreck, came floating by him.  He caught
+hold of it, lifted himself upon it, and, in another moment,
+sat across it, in humble thankfulness to God for so much
+mercy.  He could hear his companions calling aloud for
+help, apparently a long way from him, drifting before the
+howling winds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It should be understood by the reader, that to reach
+Lord De Freston's stair whilst the tide was flowing, the men
+had to row at least three quarters of a mile out of the direct
+line, that they might the more easily fetch the point at
+which they were to land.  They were at the very utmost
+distance when the accident occurred.  The boat then was
+driven back almost to the Downham shore, and
+consequently, as the men mounted the keel, the wind had a
+greater power upon the drifting mass, and took them
+swiftly onward; but Latimer, struggling against the chops
+of the waves, and at last finding a friendly plank to ride
+upon, was swept more along the channel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The beacon still burnt in Freston Tower, and the anxious
+watchers therein were suddenly alarmed by the extinction
+of the light upon the waves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I cannot see the lights of the boat upon the waters,'
+said Ellen De Freston, to her maid.  'I can see a light
+beaming from the chapel; I can still see lights floating
+towards the town, and dancing reflections upon the distant
+waters; I can even see the Tower light from the Priory, but
+I see not those from my father's boat.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'O! fear not, my lady&mdash;fear not.  I dare say the wind
+and rain have extinguished the torches; but depend upon
+it they will reach the shore in safety.  Do not be afraid.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I saw the boats part upon the waters, and my father's
+boat bending its course to come across the river.  They
+seemed to be coming nearer and nearer every minute, and
+the torches to burn brighter; but all of a sudden I miss
+them.  I see no lights, all is darkness except the lightning's
+flash, and that shows me nothing.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'O! do not fear, my lady.  They can see our light,
+though their torches are extinguished; and I have heard
+my Henry say he could always find his way across, even if
+there were no lights burning in the Tower.  It is a bad
+night, but do not let the thunder and lightning terrify you;
+they will soon be ashore.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I fear not so soon as you seem to expect.  You appear
+to be very bold, Maria, but I fear Him only who holds the
+thunder and the lightning in his hands.  He is very terrible!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It is in His help I trust, my lady.  He is merciful and
+kind, and my Harry is a good man, and I hope God will take
+care of him.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I hope the same for others,' sighed Ellen: and again she
+looked anxiously upon the troubled waters.  She could see
+nothing but the dashing waves, illumined by the sudden
+flashes of lightning.  She could hear nothing but the roar
+of the artillery of Heaven, which was indeed enough to
+shake the stout nerves even of the brave Lord De Freston,
+but not enough to prevent his or his daughter's watch.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The brethren of Alneshborne, whose monastery lay
+directly in the course of the wind, had heard the mournful
+cries repeated upon the waters, and, with all speed, had
+quickly followed their watchman to the shore.  There,
+shoving off their own boat, and guided by the occasional
+call of distress, they plied their accustomed oars upon the
+wave.  At times they lifted up their generous voices, and
+fancied they were heard.  The thunders roared above, the
+pelting rain fell in torrents, and they had nothing but hope
+to guide them.  They could hear voices calling for help, but
+so dark was the night, and so heavy the shower, that they
+could scarcely tell from which point of the channel the cries
+came.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the midst of a peal of thunder came a flash of lightning
+so vivid and clear that the parties actually saw each
+other as distinctly as if it were day; and such a shout of
+joy arose, as deliverers and the delivered could alone utter.
+A few more strokes of the oar from the monks, and they are
+alongside the capsized boat, picking off the men, binding
+the rudder to their own boat's stern, and receiving the
+blessings and embraces of the sailors of De Freston.  Nothing
+could exceed the gratitude of the poor fellows thus
+mercifully delivered from a watery grave.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Lord De Freston's friend.  He was not there; and
+the sailors looked sad and sorrowful in each others' faces.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Alas! he is gone to the bottom,' said Benns, 'I saw the
+great trader strike him a heavy blow, and send him along
+the wave dragging him with her.  He is gone! holy men! and
+we must acquaint our master with his loss.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Leave that to me,' said the Superior, 'I will go alone to
+the chapel; meanwhile, you must come to the monastery and
+partake of such accommodation as our means can render.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'We shall be well pleased to land, your reverence, for
+some of us have shipped more water than we can carry, and
+should be glad to have it pumped out of us.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The monks took the boat in tow, and landed at their own
+chore, to the great satisfaction of the poor sailors.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A fire was soon lighted in that ancient hall; and old
+cloaks, and hoods, and dry garments exchanged for their
+heavy soaken woollen clothes.  Nor were the friendly monks
+less careful for their internal comfort, having placed before
+them such spirituous liquors, as might best qualify or
+remedy the chill of the salt water in their stomachs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Prior himself went to the chancel-door of the little
+chapel, leaving the poor fellows talking about their lord and
+his lost friend, and wondering in their own minds whether
+the vow would or would not be broken.  Old John of
+Alneshborne went himself to the chapel.  The Lord De
+Freston heard the noise upon the waters.  The sounding of
+the alarm-bell from the monastery, the thunders roaring,
+and saw the lightnings flashing; but he firmly kept his vow,
+for he had resolved that nothing should tempt him to
+break it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A gentle but hasty knock was heard at the door, and a
+voice exclaiming:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am John of Alneshborne, I come to absolve thee from
+thy vow.  Thy boat is upset, thy friend is lost; oh! leave
+off thy watch and come and help us.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But no answer from within gave any indications of
+slackened duty or of wavering vow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Open the door! watch no longer, thy men are exhausted,
+They are in the Priory! they want thy help!  O, noble
+lord, let me entreat thee to come and advise us what we
+are to do.  The light still burns in Freston Tower; shall
+we pass over to the castle?  What shall we do?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not a single word came in reply, though the noble heard
+the news with a deep pang, only to be imagined by those
+who felt for him.  Yet he put up a silent prayer for support,
+and even that the morning's light might bring him better
+tidings.  He felt as if he should hear better news, if he
+kept his vow; and, if he did not, that some fresh horror
+would approach with the matin-bell.  Never was father,
+friend, or noble, more deeply tried; yet he kept his watch,
+and the Prior returned from his ineffectual attempt to move
+him.  That night was, indeed, a night of horrors.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Some of the monks attributed all these accidents to the
+admission of the hermit's body into their chapel; and took
+upon themselves to lecture their elders for ready acquiescence
+in the will of Lord De Freston.  Others thought it a judgment
+upon Latimer, as he was the only one lost.  They all
+made vows to be more strict in the performance of their
+duties, and some of the sailors confessed to them their sins.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It was a bad night when we started,' said Harry Benns.
+'I could tell by the clouds we should have a storm, and
+perhaps the judgment you speak of may have fallen heavily
+upon the priests of St. Peter's.  A storm is but a storm, good
+monks, and there is a God above to rule that, as well as
+ourselves.  He has delivered us out of peril, and we have
+reason to rejoice and be thankful.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Young man,' replied the Superior, 'dost thou know the
+means by which thou wast saved?  St. Peter was our help.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I know that you and your brethren of this Priory were
+the instruments in the hands of God to save our lives; and
+I give God thanks first, and thee next; but I do not see how
+St. Peter helped us, any more than the dead St. Ivan.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The monks looked at each other, as much as to express
+astonishment at the youth's impiety, and one said to the
+other, 'I wonder this fellow was not lost!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Let us hope the best,' replied the Superior, 'his
+ignorance is the best excuse which can be made for him.  He
+will soon know better.  I will take care and inform his
+lord; so that he shall do penance for this slur upon
+St. Peter.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The conversation then turned upon the lost Latimer; the
+monks all agreeing that he was not an ignorant man; but
+one who had certainly entertained notions contrary to the
+ordained decrees of the Pope; one who had ventured not
+only to think for himself, but to argue with others, and even
+with the learned fraternity of Alneshborne.  He was, doubtless,
+punished as a heretic, and his fate would be a warning
+to many how they dared to open their lips against St. Peter,
+They thought that good would come of this, even to the
+Lord De Freston, whose pious watch they did not fail to
+laud; and to praise him highly for having kept his vow
+through such unexampled difficulties.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap21"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XXI.
+<br><br>
+THE FATE OF THE SWIMMER.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Latimer was drifting on the tide, his long straight piece of
+timber, very unsteady in its progress, at one time going at
+an angle as if it would drive to the shore of Freston Tower,
+at another steering with a wide course towards the Priory.
+Its progress was slow only when it came among those long
+winding weeds, fine as the smallest ribbons, and ten or twenty
+feet long, which would occasionally twist themselves over
+the board.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This he felt to be his worst position, for whenever his
+plank was delayed, he found the greatest difficulty to keep
+his place upon it.  The incessant spray, too, was such as to
+blind him, and scarcely permitted him to see the light of
+the tower on the Freston side, or upon that of Downham
+Reach.  Still Latimer was thankful that he had found this
+friendly help in the hour of need.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He looked at the light glimmering from that happy spot
+in which he had spent the most enlightened moments of
+his life, he looked and longed for that friendly shore:
+nor did he forget to pray both for her whom he loved, and
+for her father, whose superstition, even at that moment, he
+conceived to be the cause of the catastrophe.  He could not
+help thinking that if that watching had not been, he
+should not then have been a solitary sufferer upon the waves
+of the Orwell.  Again, he thought it might have happened,
+even if De Freston had been on board the boat, and a thrill
+of joy ran through his cold frame at the thought that he
+was safe.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was evident that his plank neared the Freston shore;
+for, as the lightning flashed, he beheld the castle, and the
+tower, and the trees, and even imagined that he distinguished
+the very stair in a line with the light of the tower.
+Just at that time, too, his limbs seemed to be released from
+the clinging sea-weed and his floating spar to rush into deep
+water.  It darted forward as if released from confinement;
+its course seeming to be towards the shore.  It was
+evidently in the deep channel, and Latimer thought it was the
+very channel which he knew swept up to the Freston shore.
+The light of the tower was now behind him, and again the
+weeds stopt his plank.  It was then he thought of making
+his greatest effort.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am leaving the shore,' he said to himself; 'and my
+plank will soon be drawn down by the weight of the weeds,
+and I shall go with it.  I must now try my strength, and
+with God's help, I may reach the land.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He cast off his coat, he tore off his shoes, stript himself
+as much as he could, and with prayer heavenward, and his
+eyes upon the beacon, he cast himself upon the waters.  In
+a moment, he felt those long winding weeds twisting
+themselves around his limbs.  His presence of mind did not
+forsake him.  He had often swam the waters of the Severn
+and had been well tutored against weeds.  To struggle
+against them he knew to be vain.  The old fisherman on
+his native waters, had often told him that the only way to
+escape them was to lay himself out as fleet as he could, and
+never to strike until they untwisted themselves, which
+they would be sure to do if he would not resist them.  He
+did this directly, and though it delayed him, yet delay in
+this instance was avoiding danger.  He struck out as fleetly
+as he could until he escaped these treacherous weeds, and
+to his great joy he came into deep water.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His eye now rested upon the beacon, his arms expanded,
+his chest breasted the waves, and hope, that sweet
+companion, hope in the mercy of God, did not forsake him.  It
+was a hard struggle, however, to buffet the opposing waves,
+with both wind and tide against him.  He had youth,
+health, strength, hope, and love in his favor; and all that
+a young man with a good heart could do, he did to reach
+the wished-for shore.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is, however, a limit to human exertion, beyond
+which no man's strength can avail.  He was ignorant of the
+distance he had to swim.  A light looks sometimes nearer
+than it really is, and the poor smuggler's heart was greatly
+tried, as, with all his efforts, he did not seem to near the
+shore.  Yet the light seemed to burn higher up in the sky;
+and as the lightning illumined the waters, he thought that
+the dark woods were nearer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Did the classical scholar think of the Hellespont as he
+breasted the waves, or remember the fate of the far-famed
+Leander?  The night was such as to create despondency,
+without referring to the classical allusion.  But the Christian
+Latimer knew what Leander did not&mdash;that God was his
+help.  He had not presumptuously braved the waves for a
+secret amour, and, much as he admired the true love of
+Leander, he felt himself in a very different position, though
+Freston Tower was then his aim, and he hoped that Ellen
+De Freston might be expecting his return.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Great were his repeated exertions, but he felt his strength
+beginning to fail him!  He looked up at the light, and he
+thought it less distinct.  He felt a strange dimness
+overshadow his brain, a nervous prostration of strength, and a
+weakness, which made him anxious only to exert himself
+the more.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The light from the tower suddenly disappeared.  Oh! how
+his soul seemed to sink; and not only his soul, for a
+dimness, like a film, seemed to spread itself over his eyes,
+and his hands and his feet to sink lower, and to strike
+feebler beneath the waves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Strange mists are beginning to fill those longing eyes,
+and sparkling, star-like lights to flit across his vision.
+'And is it thy will, O Lord!' was the last exclamation
+from his fainting lips, as he lifted his head in the darkness,
+and his feet sank motionless downwards.  That very motion
+in one moment convinced him of God's mercy; that it was
+His will he should be saved.  He felt the ground; his
+feet touched the shore.  With a bound of joy, such as
+angels may be supposed to feel at the returning steps of the
+repentant, he sprang forward&mdash;the tide had previously
+turned&mdash;the wave helped him&mdash;and the flash of the now
+friendly lightning showed him the stair of De Freston just
+before him!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One effort more&mdash;aloud cry of joy, and for help&mdash;he seized
+the step of the stair&mdash;vain his effort to ascend; too weak,
+too feeble, too exhausted, he fell, still grasping the lowest
+step of De Freston's landing-place.  All consciousness
+was gone; instinctively he grasped the step, and every wave
+became less powerful, until it only washed against his feet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ellen De Freston had cautioned her maid to take the
+lamp out of the way of the window whilst she opened the
+casement looking down upon the waves.  Hers was rather
+a dangerous position, in a lofty tower surrounded by trees,
+in the very midst of thunder and lightning.  Many minds
+would quail before such terrors; but love is very strong,
+and when aided by education, and divested of all superstition,
+it in a power of dependence upon God stronger than a
+castle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She felt that her father and her friend were absent; that
+they were returning from sacred duties, difficult to fulfil,
+and requiring the assistance of her loving aid.  Who can
+watch so well as they who wish for our safety?  And who
+can do this better than an affectionate child?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ellen De Freston opened her casement, anxious to hear
+some sound of the plashing oars, or some voices upon the
+Orwell.  She thought she heard, through the lull of the
+storm, a faint moan.  She listened again&mdash;she did hear it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Hark, Maria! leave the lamp; come to the window.
+Hark! dost thou not hear a moan?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I do, my lady&mdash;I do!  It is some poor wretch upon
+the shore!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Haste thee below, maiden.  Come, let us haste!  But
+hold!  we must not take away the beacon.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Shall I run to the castle for help?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No, quickly descend, and ascend again with the torch
+that hangs upon the porch door.  Quick! quick!  Maria.
+Fly!  I can still hear the moan of distress.  We must be
+above our sex in the moment of danger.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The torch was soon lit.  Neither felt the coldness of the
+wind, nor the fury of the storm.  Some poor sufferer must
+be cast upon the shore; and when is a woman's heart so
+deeply alive, and so warmly engaged, as when conveying
+help to the disconsolate.  The man that cannot appreciate
+female philanthropy knows not what true pity is.  It glows
+so vividly, it comes so blessedly, it shines so graciously, that
+the most warlike men have, in all ages, been subdued by it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With rapid steps did Ellen De Freston and her maid
+hasten, by the burning torchlight, to the shore.  Their
+first care was to hasten to the stair, by which they could
+descend to the level of the waves.  They reached it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Holding down the torch, they see a form below&mdash;they
+descend&mdash;the light shows them at once the features of
+Latimer, and their tender hearts are struck with horror.  A
+wild shriek reaches the castle of De Freston, and arouses
+the inmates, who were awaiting their lord's return.  The
+ancient dame of the castle, with servants and men, came
+running down the green sward towards the light which they
+saw burning by the stairs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They soon perceive their young mistress leaning over the
+apparently lifeless body of a young man.  They soon recognized
+the features, and lent their aid to remove him to the
+castle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Glad, indeed, was Ellen of their help, and quickly did she
+follow them into that place of hospitality whence a sufferer
+never was excluded, or failed to receive the kindest
+attention.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But such a sufferer as then entered the walls, and under
+such circumstances, commanded all the interest of affection
+and pity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was quickly conveyed to a warm bed.  Oh! what
+deep anxiety dwelt in the mind of the maiden, as her
+unconscious friend was placed at least out of further danger,
+and she received the assurance of her old nurse that he was
+alive.  She dropped upon her knees, put up her prayers for
+help, and every returning minute confirmed the report of
+his revival.  Exhaustion was so great that the sufferer
+had no voice; his eye only could speak his thankfulness,
+and this seemed eloquent to heaven.  Yet it
+beamed too with gratitude upon that dear friend who had
+first relieved him from his cold, dark fate on the shore of the
+Orwell.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was long indeed&mdash;for hours are long to the suspended
+hopes and fears of any&mdash;before the faintest whisper could
+narrate the miseries of that dismal light.  In faint, very
+faint, whispers did the sufferer unfold to his kind attendants
+the catastrophe which had occurred.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ellen knew her father's intention to keep watch in the
+chapel; but she thought of his anxieties, what they must
+be if any report should reach him of the fate of his crew
+and the loss of Latimer.  Happy, very happy, was she in
+being the blessed instrument of his recovery, though even
+that might be a longer work than she expected.  She was
+thankful that a whisper could be heard, that a consciousness
+of her care had come to the sufferer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This, indeed, had come long before he could express it.
+When he could, it was exquisite pleasure so to do.  Oh! how
+grateful do we all feel to the kind hands which minister
+to our wants in sickness!  When are we more virtuous?
+When are we more thankful?  When is our love more
+lively than when, unable to do anything for ourselves, we
+find a helping hand to lift up our weary head, and to
+place it upon our softened pillow?  Religion comes never
+sweeter in her influences than when she approaches
+our sick bed, and tells us how grateful we ought to be to our
+God.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+How sweet is the first sleep after struggling nature,
+restored from exhaustion, relieved from exertion, is lulled
+into repose, by the rest of tenderness.  'Blessed, indeed,
+are all they who provide any comfort for the sick and needy;
+they shall find relief when they are themselves in need of
+help.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In prayer for Ellen, came Latimer's first repose; and the
+maid of the castle then gave orders for a boat to be
+prepared for the first sound of the Priory matin-bell.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+De Freston was the first to hear that sound and to rise
+from his watch, to open the chapel-door, and, with a calm
+composure, to receive the congratulations of the brotherhood.
+Well did he know that he could afford no assistance
+to Latimer, if he were drowned in the Orwell; and well he
+knew that the monks could best administer to the wants of
+his men.  He walked forth, therefore, from his devotions
+with no surprise; nor was he astonished to find his boat
+ready, the water baled out, all his men equipped in
+dry clothes, and quite anxious to pass over to Freston
+Tower.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He thanked the learned fraternity for their kindness,
+paid all the customary fees, and promised what he knew he
+could well perform for their attention to his people.  He
+walked to the shore, thinking of his daughter; and before
+he could embark&mdash;though the tempest had passed away, yet
+the waters were greatly troubled&mdash;he beheld that daughter
+approaching from her Tower to convey tidings which every
+soul upon that beach was glad to hear.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Alas! my child,' exclaimed De Freston, as his beauteous
+Ellen rushed to his arms, 'where is Latimer?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Safe, my dear father, in your own castle.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Then God be praised for his mercies!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Amen! amen! amen!' was the response from all; and
+soon were they all, beneath happier auspices, passing over
+those now less formidable waves, to the welcome precincts of
+Freston Tower.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap22"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XXII.
+<br><br>
+WOLSEY.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+How fared the friends of De Freston, Daundy, Wolsey,
+the aged Sparrow, Samson, Felawe, Fastolf, Gooding, Cady,
+and such as were connected with the ancient borough of
+Ipswich, who were anxious to show respect more to the
+living lord than the dead St. Ivan?  That night was death
+to the venerable Wolsey, the father of the scholar.  The
+boat he was in got aground on Long Island, and the waters,
+at that period, were so full, as to fill all the flats of the
+Greenside, now called Greenwich Farm; so that the whole
+of that night was spent upon the shore, by this aged man,
+who was exposed to the rain and wind, and he never recovered
+from the ill effects of it.  Robert Wolsey had been in his own
+boat, manned with his own six men, who were accustomed
+to convey his stores from his wharf and lands at Stoke; for
+Robert Wolsey was a man of some substance in those
+days&mdash;a large agriculturist and dealer in ships' stores, and
+especially in the victualling of all his Majesty's ships in the
+ports of Ipswich and Harwich.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The old man returned home the next day, having been
+taken off Long Island by his rich relatives' men, who came
+in quest of him the morning after the storm.  Dame Joan
+was full of anxiety at the night, and at the delay, and
+dreaded the worst; but the worst was yet to come, for
+Robert Wolsey returned alive, took to his bed, and though,
+nursed with care, and supposed to be almost convalescent
+soon after making his last will and testament in
+the presence of Mr. Richard Farrington, suddenly declined
+and died, to the great grief of all his friends and
+connexions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey was summoned from his college to attend upon
+the funeral of his father, and to administer to his last will
+and testament.  His grief was heavy at the loss of a kind
+hand; but he started when he heard of the interest his
+friend Latimer had excited in the heart of Ellen De
+Freston.  Never did his hopes receive so severe a blow
+as when he learnt, from his mother's lips, that Lord De
+Freston had consented to acknowledge Latimer as the
+future guardian of his lovely daughter.  His mourning had
+a double weight&mdash;a burthen insurmountable to many, and
+even in his strong mind, not without a degree of weakness
+which changed the current of his years, and made him
+what the never would have been, the highest and most
+exalted subject in the realm, and afterwards the one most
+prostrate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Few men were more wise for their years than Thomas
+Wolsey, when Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford: few,
+if any, ever attained greater celebrity for his extraordinary
+progress in logic and philosophy: so that at twenty-four
+years of age, it might be said of him that he was, take him
+for all things, the wisest man in the University.  Melancholy
+indeed were his reflections when he attended the funeral of
+his father, and heard the news of Ellen De Freston's
+engagement to Latimer.  Up to this period of his existence,
+the secret bad been kept within his own soul, unless
+a slight breath thereof reached his mother's ear.  It
+never would have been known beyond that ear, had not
+a very old poem, called 'Wolsey's Lament,' revealed it;
+and accounted for very much that was alike strange in
+his early years and upon no other grounds to be
+accounted for.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey's grief at the loss of his father was given out as
+the reason why he visited no one, would be seen by no
+one&mdash;excluded himself from all his former associates, and
+even deserted the mansion of his noble Lord De Freston.
+Ellen sent him an invitation&mdash;Latimer, unable to move to
+Ipswich, hoped he would come to him.  He wanted to talk
+over College affairs; but Wolsey's heart sickened at these
+things.  Dame Joan had the task of making excuses for
+him, which she did, assigning his utter inability to enjoy
+anything.  A certain time he must remain at Ipswich to
+settle his father's affairs, prove his will, and administer to
+his effects.  He felt that the sooner that time was over,
+the better it would be for him.  Vain were all the kind
+letters, messages, and even personal attentions which the
+Lord of Freston Tower and his daughter paid to him.  He
+could neither receive nor answer them: but wandered
+over the hills of Stoke, where he poured out his melancholy
+spirit.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was a spot upon his father's estate which
+commanded from its summit an extensive view both of the
+Orwell and the Gipping.  His parents used frequently to
+visit it on a summer's evening; and the old man had built
+a sort of summer house, and made a plantation round it.
+It was a lovely place, and rose abruptly, almost like a crag,
+from the green hills sloping around it.  The landscape was
+at once grand, wide, and sweeping, commanding a direct
+view of the whole town beneath it, and the waters circling
+along the walls of St. Peter, and the ancient quay far away
+to the right of the spectator.  Thence might be seen all
+the churches and religious houses in the vicinity, the
+shipping upon the Orwell, the boats ascending the Gipping,
+which at that time, instead of horses and waggons,
+conveyed the hay from the meadows, or the straw from the
+lands to the port of Ipswich.  To this pleasant spot, did the
+now melancholy youth repair.  His brow was careworn,
+and his heart ill at ease and sick with disappointment.
+He needed prayer to rouse him from his torpid state, or the
+cheerful voice of some confidential companion to take off
+the load of his distress; but he was too proud a spirit to own
+what he felt, or to open his lips to any one upon the
+subject.  Yet would he sit hours together in that
+summer-house, away from every human being, and bend his glance
+upon the scene, and think of all that was gone by, not only
+in his own life, but for ages past.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Latimer had occasionally known him in his melancholy
+hours.  He heard of his conduct, and could not conceal
+from himself, or others, the wish he had to go to him; but
+the weakness, arising from his dangerous illness, was of
+such an extent as to prevent the possibility of his seeking
+him, and ministering to him in friendship.  Had the
+attempt been made, it would have been rejected; for
+Wolsey never would have said to him: 'Thou art thyself
+the cause of my distress.'  His lament, however, which was
+written at that period, speaks the tone of the man's mind
+better than any words which can be said for him.
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p class="poem gothic">
+  Wolsey's Lament.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Ye skies above me shining fair,<br>
+  And clouds transparent floating there,<br>
+  How bright ye seem! how swift ye fly!<br>
+  Ye seem to be in extacy,<br>
+  Why do ye shine so purely bright,<br>
+  On soul as gloomy as the night?<br>
+  Ye mock my sorrows as ye lightly roll,<br>
+  And seem to say, 'The scholar has no soul!'<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  I have a soul&mdash;I see ye shine;<br>
+  Would that my light were such as thine!<br>
+  Ye ride triumphantly along,<br>
+  Delighted as with cheerful song;<br>
+  But, oh! what mockery to see<br>
+  That you can thus be glad and free,<br>
+  Whilst I am chained with heavy loaded grief,<br>
+  Nor sky, nor clouds, nor sun can give relief.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  O, glorious sun! thou shinest there<br>
+  The beacon of this hemisphere,<br>
+  Calling to life the seeds of earth<br>
+  And myriads to happy birth.<br>
+  They dance on silv'ry wing with glee,<br>
+  Made merry through the warmth of thee,<br>
+  Whilst I alone, 'neath thine All-warming ray,<br>
+  Feel not thine influence&mdash;so dark my day.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  O, hide thee! hide thee in a storm,<br>
+  Or take the darkest, blackest form;<br>
+  Perchance my glominess were shock'd,<br>
+  And from mine heart, my grief unlocked,<br>
+  Might fly to thee, and happ'ly say,<br>
+  'Sun, I am brighter than thy day;'<br>
+  But shine not now so brightly o'er my woes<br>
+  Thou mock'st the heart that darkness doth compose.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Ye trees so green, so freshly green!<br>
+  What vigour in your stems is seen;<br>
+  Why, robed in mantles of delight.<br>
+  Do ye thus mock my aching sight?<br>
+  Ye look so lovely in your smile;<br>
+  Have ye no pity in your guile?<br>
+  Why look so rich, enchanting to the eye,<br>
+  Of him who, like a severed leaf, must die?<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Your leaves must wither, fall away;<br>
+  Another spring you'll look as gay;<br>
+  Your roots receive the vernal shower,<br>
+  Your buds put forth their leafy power;<br>
+  And grateful shades to love ye give,<br>
+  And bid the songsters happy live;<br>
+  But, oh! no love for me is found to dwell<br>
+  Within your shade, your love-enchanting spell.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Ye swallows passing on the wing,<br>
+  Catching at every tiny thing;<br>
+  Gliding so swiftly o'er the plain,<br>
+  And then returning back again;<br>
+  Ye summer friends with happy hearts,<br>
+  What pleasure life to you imparts!<br>
+  Ye know no winter! grief doth bring no care,<br>
+  To such as you, ye children of the air!<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Oh! do not mock me!  I would fly,<br>
+  Ay, lightly too, as happily,<br>
+  Could I but feel I had a wing<br>
+  Of love, could lighten such a thing<br>
+  As I am&mdash;heavy-hearted man&mdash;<br>
+  In this, my short and dreary span.<br>
+  Go, fly away! depart to distant land;<br>
+  Mock not my spirit with your flirtings bland.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Ye hills around me, why so gay?<br>
+  Vanish! oh, vanish ye away!<br>
+  Why stand ye there in fertile pride,<br>
+  My heart and senses to deride?<br>
+  Ye looked so lovely; but of late,<br>
+  I could have contemplating sat<br>
+  Where now I sit, and long had wished to stay<br>
+  But flee ye! flee ye from my sight away!<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  How oft in shadowy forms ye rose!<br>
+  Not then exulting o'er my woes;<br>
+  But courted as Parnassus height.<br>
+  From wing of love to give me flight.<br>
+  My native hills, I weep, I groan,<br>
+  I feel, ay, wretchedly alone!<br>
+  Will ye be green to mock my broken heart?<br>
+  O! hills of Gypeswich, depart! depart!<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Ye walls monastic, here and there,<br>
+  With turrets rising in the air;<br>
+  Sure not in England can be found<br>
+  Town with more consecrated ground.<br>
+  The streets are lost, they seem so small,<br>
+  Before the space ye claim for wall!<br>
+  Are monks and friars in their cells so free,<br>
+  They do but laugh at such a wretch as me?<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  So let them laugh with sidelong glance,<br>
+  I do detest their ignorance!<br>
+  Oh! if my soul could gain its hope,<br>
+  I'd give my native town some scope<br>
+  For learning, far above the trash<br>
+  Of superstitious, tasteless hash!<br>
+  But woe is me! I know not where to go<br>
+  To soothe the torment of this deadly blow.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Thou stream majestic!  Orwell's tide,<br>
+  Why dost thou here so gently glide?<br>
+  And wash, with waves as soft as down,<br>
+  The borders of my native town?<br>
+  Have I thy bosom breasted well,<br>
+  With gently undulating swell.<br>
+  And shall I never more thy waters press?<br>
+  Oh, Orwell! rob me of this deep distress!<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  I'd kiss thy waves!  I'd bow my knee,<br>
+  Could'st thou relieve mine agony;<br>
+  But now thy smile ungracious is,<br>
+  And speaks to me of others' bliss;<br>
+  Whilst I, who loved thy waters green,<br>
+  Am desolate and lonely seen.<br>
+  O! ye loved waters of my youthful day!<br>
+  Robbed of my love, how can ye love display?<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Thou winding Gipping, where I strayed<br>
+  In boyhood on thy slopes I played,<br>
+  And loved to angle from thy banks,<br>
+  And sportive in my childish pranks,<br>
+  To gather wild flowers from thy side,<br>
+  How canst thou now my woes deride?<br>
+  Stream of mine infant steps, my tears would flow<br>
+  Were I beside thy gay banks walking now.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Yet thou dost move to meet the tide<br>
+  Of Orwell's waters, like a bride<br>
+  In garments white, and pure, and chaste.<br>
+  Oh! why so cheerful in thy haste?<br>
+  Ah! there ye give the mutual kiss,<br>
+  As that of matrimonial bliss,<br>
+  And never parted, never know ye pain,<br>
+  But flow united onward to the main.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Ye friends within my native town,<br>
+  Me, kindly, ye are proud to own;<br>
+  A father's form was lately there,<br>
+  With placid brow, and hoary hair,<br>
+  He's gone where I shall shortly go,<br>
+  And there but terminate my woe.<br>
+  O, friends of youth!  I cannot now reveal<br>
+  The bitter anguish of my word, farewell!<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Mother, ay, mother! in thine heart<br>
+  I found my own dear counterpart;<br>
+  For thou, in youth, wert all to me,<br>
+  Until this eye had turn'd from thee<br>
+  To give admiring thoughts to one,<br>
+  Who ne'er reflects them on thy son.<br>
+  O! mother, mother, never shall I know<br>
+  The heart's revival from this fatal blow.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Hills, woods, and valleys, is't a dream?<br>
+  Ye beauties of the Orwell's stream!<br>
+  Castles, and churches, monasteries,<br>
+  And all your rich varieties,<br>
+  Hereafter be ye dull to me,<br>
+  No more your beauties let me see,<br>
+  In aught that can another scholar move,<br>
+  To taste the sweetness of this scene of love.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Ye smile so sweetly&mdash;not for me&mdash;<br>
+  I groan within to look on ye;<br>
+  Ye look so lovely, not to shine<br>
+  On anything I welcome mine;<br>
+  Ye breathe so softly on mine ear,<br>
+  Death seems to kill the atmosphere;<br>
+  Why do I not this moment here decay,<br>
+  And, sighing, breathe my very soul away?<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  O, agony! I turn mine eye<br>
+  To dwell on distant turret high,<br>
+  Where oft in joy extatic past,<br>
+  I've hoped my happiness would last,<br>
+  Where life with hope and love began.<br>
+  Ambition roused the rising man.<br>
+  O, darkest woe!  O, weary, dismal hour!<br>
+  I loved&mdash;and lost&mdash;the maid of Freston Tower.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Weep, eyelids, weep your fountain dry,<br>
+  Ye ne'er can soothe mine agony;<br>
+  Lips, never ope again to speak,<br>
+  Save when the bursting heart will break;<br>
+  Tongue, cleave thou to thy parched roof,<br>
+  And never give one lisping proof<br>
+  That she I loved hath ne'er that love returned;<br>
+  My loss is greater than my love hath earn'd.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  I cannot bear yon sails to see,<br>
+  So smoothly gliding merrily;<br>
+  Time was, they gave me joy to view<br>
+  Their contrast to the water's hue;<br>
+  And I was happy! happy then!<br>
+  To know both boats, and sails, and men.<br>
+  Now know I none! and none can welcome give<br>
+  To him who soon this busy scene must leave.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Oh! whisper not, ye zephyrs mild,<br>
+  Oh! whisper not to man or child,<br>
+  Nor tell it in my lady's bower&mdash;<br>
+  To Ellen of De Freston's Tower!<br>
+  To friend, or father, that I sigh<br>
+  For her with deepest agony;<br>
+  Let not the noble or his daughter know.<br>
+  That Wolsey suffers from a rival's blow.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  I'll far away for ever flee<br>
+  From this unknown catastrophe!<br>
+  I'll seek in science my relief!<br>
+  Science will only swell my grief;<br>
+  I'll court the cloister, try the priest,<br>
+  All will believe I loved it best!<br>
+  That my celibacy, for conscience' sake,<br>
+  Is for the holy orders I would take.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  I'll rule my will, I'll curb my love,<br>
+  I'll bow submissive as the dove;<br>
+  O, Ellen! yes, for thee I bow,<br>
+  And never, never shalt thou know,<br>
+  Till in another world we meet,<br>
+  How sat the heart thou could'st not great!<br>
+  Deep in my soul thy virtues I can feel,<br>
+  But, that I love thee, tongue shall never tell!<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Farewell, my friend! thou shalt not know<br>
+  How thy success has caused me woe;<br>
+  Though, like Prometheus, I am chained,<br>
+  I'll kindle fire which none have gained,<br>
+  For all shall see, and all partake<br>
+  The sacrifice I then shall make;<br>
+  O, Latimer! my friendship thou wilt prove,<br>
+  May'st thou ne'er feel the agony of love!<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  My native town, my native wave,<br>
+  My native hills, my parent's grave.<br>
+  My friends of youth, my days of joy,<br>
+  My hopes of fame, my life's alloy,<br>
+  My woes, my cares, my fears, my sighs,<br>
+  My sorrows, and my agonies,<br>
+  Must bend to fate, and future years must tell<br>
+  How my soul loved ye, when I said farewell!<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>
+This poem is extracted from one many hundred lines long,
+which when a poetical age shall come, may, perhaps, many
+years hence, be thought a great curiosity.  It is in the
+possession of a gentleman who will doubtless preserve it, if he
+does not publish it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This portion seems to be written upon Wolsey's property
+upon Stoke Hill, at the very spot where the high windmill,
+called Savage's Mill, afterwards stood&mdash;perhaps may now
+stand; and where the miller, if at all like Constable, the
+miller's son, one of our favorite British landscape painters,
+could not have failed often to have witnessed the beauty of
+the scene as described in 'Wolsey's Lament.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was soon after one of his longest reveries in this spot,
+that he received a message from Bishop Goldwell to go
+to him at Goldwell Hall, and Dame Joan informed him,
+that the Bishop was accompanied in his call that day by a
+very fine young woman, his niece, Alice De Clinton.  There
+is a mood in a man, most strangely wayward, which prompts
+him to take a sudden thing into his head which he had for
+a long while rejected.  The cup of woe, which men are
+made to drink, often for their good, is very bitter; and if the
+soul seeks not God for aid, it will be led only into further
+misery which it sees not, until, like an Alpine avalanche, it
+becomes overwhelming in its fall.  In the humor Wolsey
+was in, he instantly determined to go, and stay at Goldwell
+Hall.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+What a sudden change!  The Bishop was a personal
+stranger to him.  His vanity was perhaps touched by the
+attention as a compliment to his abilities.  He thought not
+one moment of his refusal to visit Freston Tower: but to
+the astonishment of Dame Joan he immediately consented,
+and became that very day a guest, and indeed an honored
+guest, at the Bishop's Palace.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap23"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+<br><br>
+CHANGES.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Bishop Goldwell, who had been Secretary of State,
+and was as good a judge of character as any man,
+pronounced Wolsey to be a man of a thousand: for he said,
+to his cousin Nicholas Goldwell, whom he made his
+arch-deacon:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He is a man equal to any emergency.  He has a genius
+adapted for enterprise; a spirit equal to the highest
+actions&mdash;and a perfect knowledge of men, and a good address.
+Nicholas, thou wilt do well to cultivate that man's
+acquaintance!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Wolsey attended at the private mansion of Bishop
+Goldwell, he was received with all courtesy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey's character began to show itself powerfully at
+that period.  He assumed a courteous manner, which he
+ever after maintained, winning affection from those who
+became attached to him.  He had ease, a commanding voice,
+and very dexterous address.  He was refined in the choice
+of his words, which he pronounced with the most persuasive
+accent.  His knowledge was vast, and his powers active.
+In a word, he won the Bishop's heart, and he was himself
+won also.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was a singular circumstance, that the lofty demeanor
+he thought proper to observe to the pale Alice De Clinton,
+made that haughty lady bow before him.  There was a
+self-possession about this handsome young man, that made Alice
+think she had never before seen such a personification of
+dignity.  In one moment she was made to perceive that she
+was in the presence of a man whose pride of heart was
+greater than her own.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Never,' said the Lady Alice to her uncle, 'did I behold
+such a compound of style and majesty in any man!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Nor I either, Alice: and I can tell thee, moreover, that
+this outward appearance, doth not, as in sycophants, form a
+covering for ignorance, for Wolsey is internally the man
+he appears.  He has knowledge, intellect, and perception,
+such as I never met with in all my diplomatic acquaintance,
+and I have seen a little of the world, Mistress Alice!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thou hast shown me a little of men and manners, but
+none that have interested me as Wolsey has.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Alice, take care!  I have already designed this youth
+for Rome.  He must go thither; he must be seen of learned
+men!  I find he loves the church, and is disposed to be a
+priest.  I have pointed out to his ambitious soul the
+dignities, honors, and emoluments, which the Pope of Rome
+has to bestow.  His breast seems fired with a holy flame,
+and thou must not interfere with it.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Oh, fear not, my Lord Bishop and worthy uncle, fear
+not my influence over such a man.  I have too much
+regard for our Holy Mother Church, ever to think of
+disqualifying him for taking the vows of service to the Pope.
+He is far too high to be ever tempted to his fall from
+such a post; and I should be the last to offer him such
+temptation.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well said, my niece! thou hast a good sound heart!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am astonished, uncle, that Latimer should have
+ventured to quote such a man, as entertaining any heretical
+opinions concerning church views.  It appears to me, that
+Wolsey would in one moment have annihilated the arguments
+of that clique, who were so bold for innovations.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am certainly agreeably surprised to find this youth so
+firm.  I had fears indeed as to his being of that wavering
+disposition which is beginning to be prevalent.  But in all
+my conversations with him upon affairs of state, books,
+men, and things, I find him a perfectly congenial spirit;
+and nothing in the least heretical in his views.  He is like
+Latimer in one respect, in his contempt of the monkish
+follies of the overgrown superstition of the Abbots of Bury.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But dost thou not agree with him therein?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I do, for the most part; but not in all things.  He is a
+young man, Alice, and will think differently as he grows
+older.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I hope he will be a great man.  I think he will; for I
+can scarcely imagine the Pope to be more dignified.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Hush, Alice; hush!  It must be many, many years
+before Wolsey could have any claim to the Popedom; and
+there may be many changes before that time.  Thou mayst
+live to see it.  I shall not!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And here the conversation dropped.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nothing could have hitherto been more disposed to the
+widest and most liberal scope of ecclesiastical polity than
+Thomas Wolsey.  He had repeatedly conversed with Ellen,
+Latimer, and Lord De Freston upon the many impositions
+of the Popedom: so much so, that all Oxford had been
+alive to the views which Wolsey had so manfully expounded,
+and treated of so truthfully, that reformers began
+to think the learned scholar of Ipswich would be a host in
+himself.  But then his views had Ellen De Freston in the
+foreground; and he found himself anxious to propagate
+the love of truth above every other consideration.  Ellen
+De Freston had vanished; and the Pope had taken her
+place.  Certainly, a less pleasant object, but the spiritual
+ambition inspired by his view seemed to soften, or rather
+harden, the regrets which arose from disappointed love.
+Wolsey was now a different man.  His conversations with
+Bishop Goldwell confirmed him in his altered prospects.
+The Pope's supremacy became his favorite theme; and a
+few weeks before, the man who had no intention of ever
+becoming a priest, was now ordained by Bishop Goldwell,
+and soon alter took his departure for Oxford, where he
+became as celebrated in the defence of the Pope, as he had
+been conspicuous for a more enlightened polity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Men's circumstances do sometimes make them change
+their opinions; but those opinions could never have been
+based upon the immutable grounds of truth, which could
+be changed with any change of outward circumstances,
+that vary as the wind.  But the mischief was done.  The
+change had taken place; and Wolsey had left Ipswich
+before Lord De Freston became acquainted with the fact.
+Wolsey, after his return to College, pursued his career of
+tuition with the utmost diligence, and became the tutor
+of the sons of the Marquis of Dorset.  Few who came
+under his care could fail to improve in the elegancies of
+literature, as well as in knowledge of the world.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His sudden departure for the seat of learning was
+attributed to his shock at his father's death by some, yet his
+total absence from the society of his friends at Freston
+was considered a remarkable thing; but when men understood
+that he had entered the priest's office, they concluded
+that the separation of friendship arose from some dissimilarity
+of views upon matters of religion.  Lord De Freston,
+after the celebrated discussion at the palace of Wykes',
+had given an invitation to those two champions of truth,
+Bale and Bilney, to partake of the hospitality of his
+mansion.  It was here, during the slow progress of
+Latimer's recovery, that these honest friends took it by
+turns to read and converse with the learned scholar upon
+the sick-bed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Men whose hearts are thankful to God for his signal
+preservation of them in time of extreme danger, are always
+ready to exclaim, 'O, what shall I say unto thee, thou
+Preserver of men!'  Latimer's mind and soul were full of
+thankfulness.  He was more learned than his visitors, but
+not more sincere.  Men of strong minds, with a just
+abhorrence of deceit and superstition, and a fervent desire
+for greater grace and knowledge of God, could not but be
+edified when they came to converse of His mercies.  The
+hearts of these friends being given to God, were thankful
+every hour, for their converse was of that holy, pure, and
+lovely cast, which was sure to derive fresh vigor from the
+expanded view of mercy displayed before them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was in one of these afternoon visits, that Latimer
+heard from Daundy of his friend.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have observed,' he said, 'ever since his father's death,
+that Thomas has been shy of all his friends; that he has been
+moody and melancholy, and very different towards his
+mother.  He used to be of a free and open disposition;
+was glad of the society of his relatives, and especially of
+those who dwelt here, to whom he owes so much more
+than he can repay.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have heard,' said Bale, 'that he is ambitious, very
+ambitious; and the Church of Rome, and the Papal Hierarchy,
+afford a magnificent field for the ambition of a man
+of Wolsey's abilities; but I do not envy him.  He must
+submit to many impositions, must practise many deceits,
+must wink at many fooleries, and with his mind, can
+hardly put up with such unmeaning ceremonies as he must
+daily behold.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You know him not, my friend,' replied Latimer.  'Wolsey
+is a very determined man, firm in his purpose, and if he
+should rise to power, will do much good.  I grieve wo
+have not seen him.  I should like to have held converse
+with him upon these matters, which we have all so
+pleasantly discussed.  God grant him grace.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Amen!' was the response from every heart.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But fears were then entertained, by those who knew
+nothing personally of the young priest, that he would not
+do much good to the cause of Christianity, however devoted
+he might become to the Papal religion.  Rome and her
+errors&mdash;her idolatries, her superstitions, her infidelities,
+absurdities, abuses, and anti-Christian practices&mdash;were now
+freely discussed; and many a deep sigh escaped the souls
+of those men, when they reflected upon the probability of
+some dreadful persecution arising, to oppose the love of
+God, and his commandments, by the malice and inventions
+of men.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I know not,' said Bilney, 'if in this land, we shall ever
+see the Church purified from its corruptions.  I cannot bear
+to see the grace of God changed into unmeaning ceremonies,
+pompous penances, bead counting, prayer-doling,
+fines, stripes, penalties, punishment fastings, feastings,
+pilgrimages, and such a countless variety of ignorant and
+wicked inventions, as contrary to nature and religion as
+light is to darkness.  I cannot bear to see those priests
+with their heads shorn, their long rows of black beads
+hanging down to their feet, their stuff gowns, cowls and
+cassocks, passing along the streets, and requiring of every
+man they meet a genuflection, at the sign of the cross they
+carry in their hands.  I saw one yesterday seize a poor,
+ignorant, half-witted fellow who did not make obeisance to
+him, with violent anger, more like a demon!&mdash;oh! how
+abhorrent to the idea of a minister of Christ&mdash;cast him to
+the earth, and made him kneel in the mud and kiss the
+cross he held in his hand.  The poor fellow trembled
+exceedingly, and took the cuffs and kicks of the priest as if he
+were a dumb ass.  I felt as a brother towards the poor
+man; I lifted him up; and, despite the furious madness of
+the priest, I told him to his face that he deserved to be
+punished by the civil power for his violence.  He dared
+not strike me; I believe he knew me, for he said:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'"Heretic! thou shall answer for this interference.  The
+civil power!  I defy the civil power!  It has no authority
+over Rome!  Thou shalt find that it shall avail thee
+nothing!"  And he shook his garments in his rage.  Oh! what
+passion lurked under that revengeful soul!  I walked
+away with the poor man, and may expect some visitation
+for this act of common humanity.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have already had the complaint made to the civil
+authorities, and it is said that thou, Bilney, didst violently
+assail the priest in the discharge of what he considered his
+religious duty.  He maintained that the man was confessing
+to him a crime.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It was seen by many.  Some blessed me for this
+act&mdash;surely they will come forward and speak the truth!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Such is the terror of a man's mind at being denounced
+as a heretic, that I question whether any townsman in the
+borough dare come forward and say that the priest was in
+the wrong.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'This, O, worthy magistrate! this is the state of religion
+in Ipswich, that oppression is to be exercised in broad day,
+and the people see the violence, and dare not complain.
+Oh, dreadful day! when rulers shall no longer be a
+terror to evil doers, but to the innocent; when the weak
+shall be without the protection of law, and priests of fury
+predominate instead of the gospel and God's grace.  I
+pity thee, Mr. Daundy!  I pity thee, as a magistrate, in such
+a town!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I fear, Bilney, I shall one day have to pity thee if the
+priests get thee into their clutches.  What wilt thou
+answer to Bishop Goldwell, against a host of witnesses
+which they will take care to bring against thee?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What? but that I am innocent, and appeal to the laws
+for protection!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Daundy shook his head significantly, for he well knew
+the little chance which any individual had, if accused by the
+priests of Rome, of any crime contrary to their canons.
+The civil authorities might exercise their jurisdiction over
+the people, but ecclesiastics of Rome submitted not to their
+laws.  Bilney was strongly urged to go into Cambridgeshire,
+to his friend Arthur, lest the cause of the Reformation,
+then beginning to dawn, should lose his services by
+his being cast into prison.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Conscious innocence is very bold.  It may retire until
+called forth to suffer; but when its possessor is wanted,
+he will be found equal to the emergency for which he is
+required.  By innocence in this sense, is not meant entire
+freedom, from in-dwelling sin; but innocence and uprightness
+of faith, which hates to see another suffering wrongfully
+without secretly desiring to defend him against the
+oppressor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bilney and Bale spent many days with Latimer and
+Lord De Freston, who began at this period, in consequence
+of the mercy and pity he showed to these men, to be
+suspected of heresy.  They escaped this time from
+persecution, much through the respect which all men paid to
+Edmund Daundy, at Ipswich; who, though an enlightened
+man, was considered to be a good churchman.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A good, benevolent, and charitable man he was, as
+thousands have found who lived to be partakers of his
+bounty long after his death; and even at this day, through
+all the various changes of laws, customs, religious
+persuasions, and alterations of time, Daundy's charity is
+dispensed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That Lord De Freston and his lovely daughter profited
+greatly by the conversation of those days, their future
+attentions to these good men plainly proved.  They never
+forgot the days of Latimer's recovery.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They were happy days to Ellen, and not less so to the
+scholar, who daily grew in every grace which could adorn
+either his private or public character.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Life is very sweet to men who can feel they are improving
+it for eternity.  It is sweet, because they walk in the ways
+of pleasantness and peace, notwithstanding the persecutions
+of those who know not God.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Latimer was a young man, with views then before him of
+the most brilliant kind on earth.  His own father was a
+man of good property, having an hereditary estate of
+considerable worth in those days, and he had the prospect of
+marrying one in every way gifted with grace and qualities
+of mind, independently of large possessions in the county
+of Suffolk; so that he might be said to have earthly hopes
+beyond the common lot of man.  Yet Latimer argued very
+justly, when he said to Ellen one day, as he sat in Freston
+Tower, and looked upon the waves:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What would all these things have been to me&mdash;nay,
+dearest Ellen, and what wouldst thou have been to
+me&mdash;had God seen fit to let me sink to the bottom of
+the waves, on that memorable night, when I was so
+mercifully preserved?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I can only say, Latimer, that we must be ready to part
+with everything, at every moment; for they are none of
+them our own,' said Ellen, 'and learn to give ourselves and
+all we have into his hands.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'True wisdom, my dear.  May I never forget the changes
+which have been wrought within these few weeks!  May
+I ever remember the Lord's hand, accept all I have as
+from Him, do all I do as unto Him, and yield all my
+thoughts, hopes, and wishes to His will!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ah, dear Latimer! in such faith, how delightful it is
+to wait all our appointed time, until our change comes!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It would be useless to give the account of Latimer's
+journey to Padua, his interview with Erasmus, his giving
+up his Fellowship at All-Souls', Oxford, and his return to
+Ipswich after these things.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Strange changes quickly followed, which shall be
+discussed as more in accordance with the narrative.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap24"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+<br><br>
+AFFECTIONS.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Youth has powerful struggles with itself to command its
+various affections in the order of wisdom.  Early education,
+it is well known, not only from the wisest man's declaration,
+but from the world's constant experience, will do much in
+the tuition of self-governance.  Men talk of tempers,
+passions, and affections, as if they were the predominant
+powers over the soul.  These may be all subdued and
+brought into subjection by the constant exercise of prayer
+for grace.  A man always does well to subdue his natural
+infirmities of temper, and to pray against their power, to
+control his passions, and to calm his affections.  He cannot
+do these things without help.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey's was a wonderfully strong mind in his youth.  Yet
+he had very violent passions, as men of great talents
+frequently have.  He fled to Oxford for occupation; devoted
+himself with ardor to his classical pursuits, became bursar
+to his college, built the famous Magdalen Tower, and
+instructed the Marquis of Dorset's children, in his school
+and yet was not the happy man he looked to be.  Though
+methodical in all he did, his spirit was not gifted with
+humility.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was very proud of his tower, spared ne expense from
+the college funds, or from his own private purse, and was
+very angry with the president and fellows for accusing him
+of extravagance, when he knew that he was doing all he
+could for the future honor and ornament of his college.
+He suffered at this time a very great deal of mortification,
+and, in writing to his mother, confessed that he was almost
+tired of his college career.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Latimer wrote to him repeatedly; but, as may be supposed,
+this was no particular comfort to his proud but
+disappointed spirit.  To be reminded of Freston Tower,
+and of the days of his youthful ambition, when he was in
+his lonely college-room, or walking in the gloomy cloisters,
+was indeed vexatious to his haughty and unsubdued soul.
+This, however, was nothing compared with the trial he had
+afterwards to endure, the very bitterest which the human
+heart has to suffer.  It was occasioned by the following
+conversation:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Let us ride to meet our uncle; he is coming to-day,
+according to his promise, to stay with us for two or three
+days,' said Lord De Freston, 'and I have no doubt we shall
+enjoy his conversation.  He has seen the purchase of Sir
+Antony Wingfield's house completed for me, and when the
+time comes, my dear children, for your marriage, I hope
+you will find that house in Ipswich convenient for your
+abode.  I cannot part with you for a greater distance, as
+your society is necessary to my happiness.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And why should you, father?  Latimer and I ought to
+count it our peculiar privilege to be able, at any time,
+to promote the comfort of one who has been so kind a
+protector and parent to us both.  But look, dear father!  I
+can see our uncle riding along the strand, beyond the
+bounds of the park.  There he is, with his faithful wolf-dog
+by his side.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You are right, Ellen, there is no mistaking his long
+gallop.  The horse, dog, and master are alike eminent of
+their kind.  Daundy is a fine specimen of an Englishman,
+in person and in heart.  His horse is of Flanders breed,
+and quite what a horse should be, in bone, figure, and
+action.  And his dog, though of the largest and roughest
+Irish breed, is one of the most sagacious I ever beheld.  I
+am not surprised, remembering the attack of the mastiff,
+that any of his breed should be no favorite with him.  He
+would never go out without him.  There must be a patch
+of rushes laid for him at his master's door.  This shall be
+my care.  Come, Ellen, you and Latimer must ride to meet
+him.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was not long before horse and groom appeared at the
+castle gate; and Ellen and the happy Latimer cantered
+along that beautiful park, their steeds as happy as
+themselves to enjoy their pleasant freedom.  As the greensward
+was open before them, they did not follow the stately road
+from the hall, but bounded along, sometimes passing under
+the shade of the knotted oak, whence darted the old English
+red deer, then the graceful tenant of the borders of the
+Orwell.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was a lovely scene; youth, health, and cheerful spirits,
+together with that unison of mind which existed with them,
+made the sun shine pleasanter, the trees look more green,
+and the very sod over which they cantered more soft.  They
+descended from the last long sweeping hill to the park-gates
+on a level with the shore, which were opened by one of the
+worn-out foresters, whose youthful days had been spent in
+the service of the grandfather of De Freston, and whose
+hoary head now bent in the service of the last of the De
+Frestons.  As the old man doffed his green cap to the young
+people, they drew in the rein to speak to him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Allen! how are you to-day?' said Ellen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thank you, kind mistress, all the better for the good
+things you sent me.  My old dame is laid upon her bed, or
+would be here to make her duty and reverence.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am glad she rests.  Do not disturb her.  We shall be
+back again, presently.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Blessings on you, I could stand here for your return,
+could I but see you all the way you go.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That you will do better, Allen, from your lodge-window,
+therefore go in.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'A happy old man is that,' said Latimer to Ellen as they
+rode away from the old gothic-carved and massive gates,
+and turned their horses' heads to the shore.  The praises of
+the poor are not always to be had for money.  The master may
+bestow all his gifts to feed them, and yet not be charitable
+towards them.  To bestow injudiciously, or indiscriminately,
+however bountiful the gift, will often create desires, and
+jealousies, which will not admit of thankfulness.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I agree with you; on this very ground has my father
+acted in all his distributions of charity.  Long service and
+fidelity he rewards.  Industry, honesty, and cleanliness, he
+upholds.  Laziness he would suffer to starve before he would
+supply food for its discontent; and I can tell you, moreover,
+that not one single donation would he bestow upon any of
+the mendicant order, now travelling the country under the
+garb of holy vows.  No, not though they repeat the "Pater
+Noster," "Ave Maria," or show their bare feet blistered with
+their self-devoted journeying.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I sigh to see talents prostrated to beggary and superstition
+as they are in our day.  Religion, Ellen, is become a
+superstitious torment, rather than a holy comfort.  Men
+seem to me to be under a curse rather than a blessing, and
+to walk trembling from fear of different fraternities, more
+than in the love of God.  Oh! Ellen, when I see, as, alas! I
+too often do, men and women entering the dark cells of our
+monastic institutions, and with bare feet walking along the
+dark aisles and cloisters, and bowing at the tomb of corruption,
+themselves overcome by the sombre shades of the cold,
+silent, superstitious places in which they move, I often think
+how poor must be their conceptions of the God of light, if
+they can confine their notions of Him to the cloister!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But God is love, Ellen, and this love is manifested in his
+Son, whom He gave to death for the salvation of our
+souls.  If men did but love one another for this great
+salvation, O, Ellen, we should see but little of those terrors
+and abuses which now threaten the world.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Along that strand, and a very few paces from the waves
+of the Orwell, was seen the well-known figure of the
+venerable but active Edmund Daundy, a man whose name will
+long live in the town of Ipswich, as connected with its
+welfare, with the early education of the learned Wolsey, and
+with every charity in the town.  He had an only son, who
+was then in Holland, perfecting the trade of the port of
+Ipswich, with the rich burghers of Amsterdam, and as he
+was amassing wealth in that country, and had formed a
+domestic connexion there, the father only held him to his
+promise, that he would not forget the place of his nativity,
+but would, in any case of dispute between the nations,
+return, and dwell at Ipswich.  And he did so in after years;
+when the fine old man, now galloping his black horse along
+the strand, was gathered to his fathers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Galloping, or rather cantering with long strides, came the
+long maned charger, with the grey and shaggy wolf-dog
+keeping pace beside him.  That was a dog but seldom seen in
+these days, except upon the heights of Snowden, or the
+wild districts of the Highlands of Scotland.  The old Irish
+elk hound is the most like him, though this has become
+almost extinct.  Power, activity, energy, and sagacity, were
+the characteristics of the old English wolf-dog.  Even the
+mastiff and the blood-hound were no match for him.  He
+was a picture of terrific ferocity, when once he stood erect,
+the color and mane of the hyena upon his back, with head
+and tail, uplift, like the lion.  His bushy rudder, however,
+was more like that of the Newfoundland, his head was
+shaped like the grey-hound, and his limbs calculated for an
+enduring chase.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Cæsar looked up at the comers, and for a moment paused,
+and stretched himself upon the sand, as the friends reined
+in their steeds for the cheerful greeting.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hands and hearts were united in welcome, and Ellen
+remarked, 'Even Cæsar looks complaisant.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He loves a run, my young friends, as well as you or I,
+the ride.  Cæsar'&mdash;and at the sound of his master's voice
+Cæsar's shaggy feet were on his master's stirrup, and his
+long head beneath his glove&mdash;'Cæsar, these are my friends.
+Fall back! fall back!' and the faithful dog took his place
+at his master's heels, as with slow paces the party proceeded
+towards Freston Tower.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am coming to the castle to-day upon very particular
+business, in which I suspect that you, my young friends,
+are both concerned.  I have completed the purchase of
+Brook Street House, and have forwarded the title deeds
+by my servant, with my baggage.  I hope you will both
+live long and happily as my neighbours.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Let those who have ever been in similar situations, and
+have found a friend to take a lively interest in their
+happiness, suggest the reply.  It would not be very studied;
+but rather the expressions of mutual gratitude, than which
+no man can hear anything more pleasant.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am beyond measure distressed, Latimer,' said Daundy,
+'at the abrupt departure of Thomas Wolsey.  Never
+found I such a transformation of character in any man as
+in him.  Dame Joan tells me, life and animation were
+completely gone, as far as regarded his spirit; that he was
+more like a being entranced than the lively boy of
+former days.  Was he ever subject to depression?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have known it occasionally so at Oxford: but I
+attributed it to over-anxiety in his studies, and the deep
+interest he took in University proceedings, more than any
+constitutional affection.  I have ever found at such times,
+that my friendly chat of Ipswich, and his friends,
+had the effect of raising his spirit.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'These things seem now to have lost their charm,
+replied Ellen.  'I fear we shall have but little influence
+over him, as he has rejected us all for Goldwell, and the
+cloister.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Had I not known that he had taken orders, I might
+have suspected that some other attraction induced him to
+pay such deference to the Bishop's Court.  I hear that
+Alice De Clinton has been subdued by him.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Is it possible?  What in Wolsey could have made
+Alice bend?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I know not, Mistress Ellen.  All ladies bend to those
+they admire; and this dignified and cold statue may see
+a charm in Wolsey of the same kind as that you have
+seen in Latimer.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Oh! would it might be so; but how can that be, my
+dear friend, when Wolsey has received at the hands of
+her uncle that only barrier between their
+affections&mdash;ordination&mdash;and its consequent celibacy?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That is to me the mystery!  I hear that Alice never
+was so enlivened by any man's society as by his.  Her
+cousin, Archdeacon Goldwell, told me that Thomas
+had most wonderfully improved her disposition, and by
+the simple means of not appearing to know she was ever
+present.  All courtesy he paid to the Bishop.  All attention
+to his visitors.  He shone in conversation, erudition,
+policy, and Church government, and bitterly noticed the
+innovations of the day.  But he took no notice of Alice,
+and might be said to be as contemptuous towards all who
+approached her.  Wolsey was quite her master, and I
+hear the proud damsel is sick at heart!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Astonishment seemed the prevailing expression in the
+face of Ellen; who probably marvelled at Wolsey's
+coldness towards one who was his superior in fortune and
+rank.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+De Freston came to meet his aged friend, and then
+the young people were able to converse by themselves.
+They came to the conclusion that Alice De Clinton had
+persuaded herself that Wolsey would be a bishop, perhaps
+a Pope: and that she might live to bask in the splendor
+of his greatness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Tower rose in grandeur amidst the trees as the
+party approached the park, when Lord De Freston, leaving
+the side of his friend, hinted to Latimer that he wished
+for a private word with Ellen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The young man rode forward, and Lord De Freston
+took his position by his daughter's side.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ellen, my child, thou alone hast the power to bring
+this young man to his friends.  I find, through the activity
+of your uncle, that Brook Street House is ready for your
+reception, and I, my child, am anxious to see thee happy.
+Write thou to Wolsey, tell him how glad thou wilt be to
+see him, and say, that as he is so dear a friend to thee
+and Latimer, it is my prayer to him, that he will unite
+you at St. Lawrence Church in the month following.  I
+will add my petition, and my faithful servant, Arthur,
+shall convey to Oxford our united communication.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The letter was written, and all parties united in the
+request that Lord De Freston had suggested.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap25"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XXV.
+<br><br>
+THE LETTER.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey is seated in his college-room over the gateway
+leading into the principal quadrangle.  He has been
+engaged, during the day, in superintending the schools
+attached to the college, and has now thrown off his
+heavy academical dress and broad hat, and in a plain
+wooden chair without cushions, but with back and arms
+well polished, is seated at a table inspecting the plans
+laid before him for the finishing of the celebrated Magdalen
+Tower.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes,' exclaimed the delighted youth, as he looked upon
+the plan with eager attention, 'Latimer may surpass me
+in pleasing Ellen; but I will be remembered when he
+shall be forgotten.  His tower may grace the banks of the
+Orwell, and please his fair mistress's eye, but this&mdash;this!'&mdash;again
+inspecting the plain elevation, and the ornamental
+plans&mdash;'shall astonish even the eyes of the University.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It seemed, however, that painful recollections arose as
+he viewed that work which still stands in its lofty grandeur
+on the borders of the Cherwell, at that day flowing
+nearer to the tower than it now does.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Certainly,' he resumed, 'the Cherwell is not like the
+Orwell; but Oxford shall surpass Ipswich, and my tower
+shall put Freston Tower in the shade.  I will have a
+grander room in the fifth story than Ellen has in Latimer's
+tower.  But shall I find greater intelligence than I found
+there?  Ah! who knows but that even Ellen De Freston
+and Latimer may envy me the power I now possess of
+making the entrance over Cherwell Ford, into this renowned
+seat of learning, more beautiful than anything of the kind
+they have ever seen.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Long did the bursar dwell upon the thought of his tower,
+and little did any one in that college imagine that Wolsey's
+taste for building received its first impulse from recollections
+of admiration Ellen De Freston had expressed when that
+comparatively insignificant tower, now standing on the
+banks of the Orwell, was built.  It is the remembrances of
+early praise bestowed by those he loves upon his youthful
+works, that prompts the spirit of a man in after years to
+perform works still more worthy of admiration.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey's taste for building was first displayed in the
+erection of Magdalen Tower.  He could now dwell upon
+great and ambitious thoughts, but not without connecting
+them with many pleasant reminiscences.  As he had taken
+holy orders, the future was closed against him for every
+hope of domestic comfort.  He was forbidden, by his vows,
+to think of woman, as the sharer of his cares or the
+promoter of his comforts.  He had once thought of one whose
+mental qualifications bade fair to give a zest to his whole
+life; but William Latimer had supplanted him, and Ellen
+De Freston was happy.  Well, was he to be dissatisfied? was
+he to pine away his existence? were there to be no joys
+unconnected with this fancy of his youth?  Alas! the very
+struggle of his proud heart and susceptible nature told him
+how difficult a thing it was to control the early impressions
+of that pure attachment to which the God of nature
+and of grace had made him subject.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this period of Wolsey's life, there could not have
+occured a more congenial occupation than this project of the
+tower.  It accorded well with the thoughts of his heart, at
+that time ready for any enterprize.  The peculiar pleasure
+he found in raising the structure of Magdalen Tower was
+known only to himself.  Ostensibly, it was done for the honor
+of his college, but more prominently in his mind existed
+the thought of out-doing the work of his successful rival.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He had various plans presented to him, but the one that
+pleased him best was that which reserved its ornaments for
+the highest stories.  'Man,' he used to say, 'is like a
+building; his life should begin upon a firm, plain, solid
+foundation, and improve as he advances, until he reaches
+maturity; then, if worth anything, he may crown his years
+with the ornaments of existence, and show forth all his
+beauty and strength; but if he begins with ornaments, he
+will end in dulness.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His tower was an inimitable illustration of this doctrine:
+plain, solid, firm, and unadorned, it ascended from its
+basement to its superstructure.  Its architectural decorations
+were reserved for the fifth and upward story.  Alas! poor
+Wolsey.  Like his celebrated tower, his splendor was
+reserved for the highest pinnacles which, compared with his
+basement, were sure to provoke envy.  The future Cardinal
+had then before him the vision of fame, as connected only
+with Magdalen Tower.  He scraped together all the funds
+which could be collected, he made half the University
+subscribe to his project, obtained all the fines he could, made
+the tenants of Magdalen endowments pay a certain bonus
+for the renewal of their tenures, and for his pains drew a
+hornet's nest around his head, even among the fellows of
+his own college, who condemned his extravagance and
+extortion, even whilst they openly admired his project.
+Great men have always to contend with little difficulties,
+which plague them very often much more than obstacles of
+greater magnitude.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the midst of the scheme of the tower a sudden and
+unexpected visitor was announced by the entrance of his
+long-coated serving-man, who said that a man from Suffolk
+had arrived at the college gates, and desired to see him
+instantly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Shall I admit him at once, sir?  He comes upon a
+superb horse, and one which must have a good master, for
+it is as fat as our Magdalen bucks, and sleek as the
+Vice-Chancellor.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What can he want?' said Wolsey to himself, as his old
+servant, having received his directions, descended the stone
+steps to the magnificent portal of the college.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I say, mister!' said the Suffolk man, who had travelled
+through many a muddy lane, impassable to vehicles, to reach
+Oxford, 'is this the house Master Thomas Wolsey lives in?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes it is, and if thou likest to remain in it, we shall
+make thee welcome; our bursar never lacks hospitality to
+the stranger!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Is it possible that Master Wolsey can be the owner of
+this palace?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ay, to be sure, part owner, general purveyor, and I'll
+warrant as good a master as thou hast got.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That remaineth to be proved, though.  Do you see,
+I've as good a master as a man wants; and let me tell ye,
+time was that your master owned my master for his lord,
+and bowed his head to him, just as I'll warrant you do to
+Master Wolsey.  But before I go along with you, you must
+along with me, and show me where the stables are; for I
+should not like to rest on a good bed myself and my poor
+horse be standing out all night.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thou shall find good accommodation for man and beast.
+So lead thy horse along.  Our stables are as famous as our
+tables.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ah!' thought Arthur Burch, 'Mistress Ellen should see
+this house.  I did not think Master Thomas lived in such a
+place.  I don't wonder at his liking it.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The horse was soon stabled, nor would Arthur leave him
+until he had assisted the far-famed grooms of Magdalen
+stables to give him a rub down.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Jokes, even in those precise and formal days, one hostler
+would have with another; and it was no little amusement to
+the knowing pals of the seat of learning to see the country
+bumpkin mistake a college for one man's palace.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Your master's house,' said Arthur, 'is larger than that of
+mine.  Do all these horses belong to him?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well, that's a good one.  And to whom dost thou suppose
+they should belong?  How many horses has thy
+master?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Four short of thine.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ha! has thy master twelve?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He has in all; if I take into the lump old Stumpy, the
+chesnut punch.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What does he do with twelve horses?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why, ride them, to be sure.  What does thy master do
+with his?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Keep them for us to ride, to be sure!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well, master does not ride all his horses.  There be
+three for my young mistress, three for journeys, three for
+work, and three for master.  Occasionally, howsome'er, we
+all mount in procession, and then we look as a lord's
+retinue should look.  Is Master Wolsey's stud as well
+employed?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Master is very good.  He lets all gentlemen who visit
+him in this great mansion take a horse whenever they please.
+It is for this reason thou seest so many saddles and bridles on
+now.  And, hark!  John, thou'rt called.  Lead out the brown
+mare to the block's foot and never mind the blockhead.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was said with a knowing wink to John Hibbert, the
+groom's boy, afterwards Wolsey's state-groom, and was
+meant to make a jest of Arthur Burch, in whose simplicity,
+however, there was nothing to be ashamed of.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was the evening hour in which the fellows of Magdalen
+indulged in the recreation of a summer's ride, then so
+frequent along the banks of the Isis, that a man of Magdalen
+was thought nothing of, except he were an equestrian.
+Arthur was astounded at the number of friends, serving-men,
+and gentlemen acquaintances, which Master Thomas
+Wolsey must have; and he bethought him then, what a
+famous thing it must be to be a learned man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Presently, he was soon conducted to the stone staircase
+leading to the bursar's rooms, and was confronted with the
+man whom he once looked upon as my lord's hanger on;
+and now beheld, as he thought, the lord of all that princely
+building.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey started, as he recognised Lord De Freston's
+servant.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Arthur, what now?' he exclaimed.  'What brings thee
+out of Suffolk?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My master's orders.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Dost thou deliver them, verbally?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No, sir, by letter.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here he delivered one enclosed in a leathern case, which,
+though couched in quaint terms, may not form an unpleasant
+diversion to the reader.  Its matter was of sufficient moment
+to induce Wolsey to say:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Arthur, thou mayst retire; my servant's room is at the
+foot of the stairs.  Tell him thy wants, and they shall be
+supplied.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thank you, sir; but I shall want little else than an
+answer to my lord's message.  I should like to see this fine
+house, and something of the city.  I hear ye be all very
+learned people here.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Peter will show thee something of the University.
+Thou mayst retire.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Arthur retired, filled with the most inconceivable admiration
+of Master Thomas's greatness; and soliloquised as ha
+descended the stone steps:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I always said Master Thomas would be a great man.
+He always walked like one, spoke like one, and seemed so
+easy with all great men, and so learned too!  No one can
+be great without learning.  It must be a fine thing.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The letter was written in the following words:
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>
+'<i>To Thomas Wulcey, bye th'r hand of Arthur Burch, oure
+survin-man.  This comeyth from Lord De Freston and Ellen his
+well-beloved daughter.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>
+'We commende ourselves unto thee, Thomas, in pease and love,
+and are well assuride itt is noo lesse joye to thee to heare fro' us
+than for us to hear fro' thee.  In truithe and honeur thou art
+much extemyde.  Wold it wor our fortune convenientlie to have
+seen thee when in our nebourhede, when thou didst journeye last
+from Ox'nforde to Ippyswiche.  We heare that thou art a prest,
+Thomas, devoted to hevyn.  We do heare this fro' thy mod'r
+Johan, and fro' thy friende and uncle Edmunde Dayndye; and
+that Bushop Gouldwelle dyd ordayne thee.  We are informyde
+that thou art so contentyde in this matter that the bushop's haundes
+have ben doublee well bistowide.  If all succede with thee wee
+shall rejoyce.  Wee wish thee prosesperous in thy determyning;
+and hope yt is for the best for the Churche sin thy learnin is gret
+and thy demenor gude; for ther levithe no man more hartilye
+devotede to God.  We wish to tell thee it is in thy pow'r and
+provinc to serve us, by givin us agen thy companie.  And wee
+think thou canst hardley deny'de us as wee send all way to
+beseeche thee come.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'If itt soo had fortunyde that wee had sen thee we wou'd have
+explaynede to thee what wee now do.  We hould thee to thy
+promyse upon the holy ewangelysts to be presente at the ceremonie
+of marrage whensoewer and whhersoewer suche shall take place
+tween Ellen De Freston and whomsoweer it may be.  Now that
+thou art a prest, Thomas, we shall looke for thy help which we
+hope for at St. Lawrence Churche in Ippyswiche the XII day at
+next moneth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Willyam Latymer wrott latelie to thee, as he haythe declayrede,
+telling thee how muche he suffrid not hearinge from thee: and
+then informynge thee of his plesure to have thee his friende present
+at his nuptials.  Not doubtyng of thy mynde to promoat the joye
+of oders wee hope thou wilt come.  Our plesur will be gret in thy
+companie at Frestone Castel; and thy moder Johan will be glad to
+have thee.  So, Thomas, wee shall hope, that on this behalve thou
+wilt not forsayke us, but unyte William Latymer and Ellen De
+Frestone in the bonds of matrymonie.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Wee hope thy answer by the haunde of the sayed Arthur
+Burch, and are thy loving friends,
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+  'DE FRESTON<br>
+  'and ELLEN.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+  'To Thomas Wulsey,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;'Magdalyne College,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'Oxnforde.<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'JUNE xviii, A.D.MCCCCXXXXXVIII.'<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>
+This epistle created a deep impression.  It had been
+enough for him to discover his own blighted hopes, with
+regard to the first and fondest attachment he had formed in
+life.  But Wolsey then had no thought of the ambitious
+projects which afterwards swayed him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The pride of the man never was greater than in the tone
+of argument he held with himself at that time when his
+nature said 'Do not go,' and his spirit said 'Go!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes, I did promise, and I will perform the ceremony, or,
+at least, I will be present at these espousals.  It shall never
+be said by Alice De Clinton, or her uncle, that I shrank
+from a duty which required nothing but exertion to
+discharge.  Ellen, Latimer, De Freston, nay, my mother, and
+all Ipswich shall see, that I care not for friends or relatives,
+and that the boyish fancies of my former days shall be
+forgotten in the duties of my office.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he sat leaning on his elbow, with hand upon his
+forehead, thinking of what he should write.  Thinking,
+indeed, he was, all that night; and not one word could his
+proud spirit pen to his friend Latimer, or to Ellen, or her
+father.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His servant came to ask his commands about Lord De
+Freston's messenger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Tell him,' replied the priest, 'I will give him his answer
+at six o'clock on the morrow.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So the restless spirit tossed him to and fro all night, and
+when the dawn arose, Wolsey arose with it, and might be
+seen walking under the magnificent frees of Magdalen Park.
+When he returned to his rooms, Arthur Burch was in great
+distress.  His horse had been taken ill in the night, and, as
+the farrier said he would be quite unable to proceed on his
+journey, he came to petition Wolsey for the loan of one of
+his numerous stud.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have but one, Arthur, and that I shall want myself.
+Mine is but a poor substitute for thy noble Flanders black.
+Yet I can hire here better than thou canst.  So thou mayst
+have my nag.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Arthur's eyes were open, and his tongue soon gave
+utterance to his astonishment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What, a'nt all those horses yours I saw in the stables? and
+a'nt all this great house yours? and a'nt you master of
+all these folks?  They told me you were a-going to build a
+great tower, like Master Latimer's at Freston; and yet you
+say you've got but one horse!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'All this is true, Arthur, and I have but this room, and
+that I call my own, and yet it is not my own, for I cannot
+sell it, or give it to any one.  It belongs to the college.  I
+am going to build a tower, but with the college money.
+Yet one day, Arthur, it will as much surpass Freston Tower
+as the King's palace does thy master's house.  But we will
+not talk of these things.  Go thou and look to thy horse,
+and if not fit to journey, take thou mine.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But the letter, your reverence?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Say I wrote none; but that I sent word by thee, that
+I will be there anon, ready to do what duty may be required
+of me.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So Wolsey dismissed Lord De Freston's servant, and
+prepared himself to follow him to Ipswich.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap26"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+<br><br>
+THE JOURNEY.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+A journey from Oxford to Ipswich in these days is as the
+swallow skimming along the air, save that his pinions make
+less noise than the gliding railway.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey resolved to journey to his native town.  Arthur's
+horse had recovered, and Arthur himself, taking advantage
+of a cavalcade to Aylesbury and Bedford, had already
+started.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In those ages, men travelled in company for security, and
+a cavalcade was made up of people of all grades, from the
+highest to the lowest, each feeling some sort of protection
+in the presence of the other.  Now-a-days, men are drawn
+along by fire and water, feeling no kind of security in each
+other, and yet, though the greater the speed the greater the
+danger, they are devoid of fear.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey was not long in finding a party going to the
+metropolis, in whose company he could ride with safety, and
+speak, as every one then did, of the dangers of the road,
+without any fear of robbers.  Travellers even from Oxford
+to London had then some trepidations about the
+freebooters of High Wycombe, or of Hampstead Heath; and
+like prudent men, made their wills before starting, and they
+have need, as prudent men, to do the same now.  They
+made their wills then, filled their wallets, belted their
+purses, mounted their steeds, and, well-armed, proceeded on
+their way, with pistols well primed; nor did they journey
+without swords or cudgels.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The party which Wolsey had joined was mostly composed
+of wool-dealers, who at that time were sheep-dealers as
+well.  They were journeying to London, to meet some
+Spanish merchants, who had begun to purchase the fine
+flocks of England, to pasture upon the plains of Toledo.
+This was carried to such an extent just then, that
+Government had to interfere, and did so at the suggestion of
+Wolsey, who had become aware of the extensive exportation
+of flocks from this country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On his white-faced cob, and not despising his academical
+or priestly appearance, sat Wolsey, making himself as
+agreeable as possible to his company.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You will sell half the flocks of England, Master Cuthbert,
+if you go on with this species of merchandise much
+longer.  What will become of our own wool-trade, if you
+thus sell the very sheep's backs upon which it grows?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'As to that, master, we have nothing to do with it.  No
+matter to us so long as we get a profit, and these Dons give
+us a good price; and I say, prosperity to the sheep trade!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But do you consider that you injure your country in this
+traffic?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How so?  We do but buy and sell at the best market;
+and what's a country to us, if we cannot make something
+out of it?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Our wool-trade is great; but every flock you sell must
+diminish our means of supplying the demand upon us, and
+increase it in other countries.  Have you no desire to see
+your country flourish?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes, and I hope it will, and last our time.  The price of
+sheep is wonderfully got up of late.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And not to be wondered at either, when you take off so
+many.  If I were a statesman, I would take care of the
+trade of my country, and not destroy one of the best staple
+commodities we have.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why, master, you don't think we poor dealers want to
+ruin others, do you?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No! you may not care much about that; but the sheep
+are more profitable in our country than they can be out of
+it, and I have no idea of enriching others by our own
+poverty.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well, master, now I dare say you'd buy books out of
+foreign countries if you could.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That I would, to enrich my own, and not to impoverish
+them.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well, master, then why mayn't others do the same
+by us?  What's the difference betwixt traffic in sheep and
+traffic in books?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'A wonderful deal of difference.  We buy books to
+increase the knowledge of the world.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And we sell sheep to increase the clothing thereof.
+What's the difference?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'If you sell the staple commodity of a community, you
+create a want of general employment, and injure trade for
+the future, in that country.  Our flocks produce the finest
+wool in the world, and, consequently, our wool-combers and
+their families thrive; but if you sell the flocks which
+produce the wool, you immediately take off their families from
+their accustomed employment, and your own people are
+destitute.  Books are but few now-a-days, and scholars are
+far less.  Printing is but in its infancy, and is a matter of
+art and ingenuity.  If I were a legislator I would protect
+the flock-growers against you wholesale flock-sellers.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well, master, all that's easy said, but not so easy done;
+but yonder troops of gipsies look as if they would have no
+objection to case us, either of our sheep or our money.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ay, and I would control them as well; and see if I
+could not get rid of an idle set of vagabonds, who do
+nothing but live in the wastes upon the plenty of others,
+which they either pilfer, petition for, or purloin, just as
+they please.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You would make a rare statesman, if you could rid the
+country of such folk: but I think, master, you would be
+too hard upon us poor flock-dealers.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was well the party advancing on the road towards
+Hampstead were as strong as they were, for there was
+then at that place a formidable encampment of that artful
+and imposing people, who had gained such a footing in the
+midland counties as to make it dangerous to affront them,
+or to refuse their demands.  Woe to the unfortunate
+traveller who had anything worth losing in his purse, and
+lost his way in that neighborhood.  It was even dangerous
+for small parties to travel unprotected.  The gipsies and
+the robbers were in league against the liege subjects of the
+realm.  Nothing worthy of being called a surprise occurred
+to any of the party until they had passed through the
+metropolis, and those who were journeying towards the eastern
+counties became less apparently able to defend themselves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey changed companies in London, and had now
+joined a party of Flemish manufacturers, who were going
+down to his native town, to teach the weavers there the
+manufacture which afterwards raised Ipswich to such
+notoriety.  These men were a contrast to those with whom
+he had journeyed to London.  These were consumers, and
+teachers of consumers, of that very article for the
+preservation of which, to this country, he had been so strong an
+advocate.  He was now more convinced than before of the
+folly of sending the flocks out of the country when such
+good workmen came from foreign countries, to teach our
+men their value.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He found these foreigners intelligent and industrious,
+acting under the guidance of a leader, who undertook to
+give them wages from the time of their starting from their
+own country.  With them he entered freely into conversation,
+speaking to them in their own language, and astonishing
+their minds with the knowledge he seemed to possess
+of their country and people as well as of the town to
+which he was bound.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was upon this journey, too, that Wolsey had an
+opportunity of discovering that he had made friends with a
+worthy, honest class of men, as stout-hearted as they were
+strong-armed; and that they were ready to look upon him
+with respect as their superior, though by no means better
+mounted or provided with cash.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not far from Ingatstone they were met by a very formidable
+body of the idlers who infested that neighborhood,
+half gipsies, half robbers&mdash;men and women, travelling in
+company, tinkers, shoeing-smiths, and braziers, yet of such
+a wild character, that they never failed to tax all they met
+who happened to be too weak to resist.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They were headed by a tall, swarthy man, commonly
+called the Ingatstone Bear, or Wild Man of Brentwood.
+He was known as King of the Gipsies far and near.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He had come over from Spain, having escaped the violent
+persecution at Toulon, which those unfortunate people had
+aroused, in consequence of their having had a deadly
+encounter with some Turkish traders, whom they had
+murdered to a man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Stanton, as he was called among his own people, was a
+sinewy and bony man, who never did any work, but led his
+people about the country, occasionally haranguing them in
+a circle, and appointing the different men their specific
+duties.  The King of the Gipsies understood the handicraft
+of all his people.  He also had a very quick apprehension
+of character, such as he found among the gentry and
+commonalty of England, though he pretended to understand
+nothing of their language.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The party of Flemings then journeying to Ipswich in
+company had hired a guide who undertook to see them safe
+through the country.  Whether this man was in league with
+the gipsies or not, it was never strictly ascertained, though
+this was much suspected.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About eight o'clock in the evening, three miles of the
+Chelmsford side of Ingatstone, near Hide Green, a large
+party of these idle fellows, headed by the Wild Man of
+Brentwood, chose to stop them, and to demand, in terms
+not to be misunderstood, whatever they could spare.
+Wolsey, desirous of peace, undertook to state the nature of the
+journey the Flemings were pursuing, and the consequent
+poverty they were all in at present.  As to himself, he told
+them he was a scholar, and that what little money he
+had was at their service: but he stipulated that the
+poor Flemings should be permitted to proceed on their
+journey without molestation, on his surrendering his own
+purse.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Flemings were ignorant of Wolsey's generosity until
+they saw him give up his money.  They then saw that he
+had purchased their liberation.  They were not the men,
+however, tamely to submit to imposition, or to suffer an other
+to be imposed upon in their company.  One fine young
+fellow, who seemed to be well backed by the rest, came
+forward to the King of the Gipsies, and demanded the
+purse back again.  To his own surprise, the gipsy gave it
+him; and he immediately delivered it to Wolsey, who with
+a quick eye, and as quick a command, told them at once
+to be prepared for an attack: for once having made a
+compromise with the King of the Gipsies, the demanding
+again the surety given was a certain declaration of war,
+and they must expect it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The warning of Wolsey was taken in earnest.  The
+Flemings had been hitherto in their loose jackets, seeming
+to have nothing but their working tools.  In one moment
+each man had a formidable weapon, scarcely known in
+England, but used with great dexterity by the Flemish, and
+which gave them, as will be seen, a perfect ascendancy over
+their antagonists.  This weapon was a ball and thong.  A
+ball of lead or iron, which they could cast out of their
+hands, End draw back again with well-trained facility, called
+a 'Battledoer.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They had scarcely collected themselves in a band round
+Wolsey and three others, before a shrill whistle from the
+King of the Gipsies announced the commencement of
+hostilities.  The women and children ran screaming up the
+green to their encampment, whence several men might be
+seen hastening to the scene of dispute.  The heavy
+Flemings, on their long-tailed shaggy horses, were not
+accustomed to move very quickly along the road; but were as
+little accustomed to be stayed in their steady progress.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The King of the Gipsies presented a bold front; for,
+coming forward from his numerous subjects, ha insisted
+upon the whole party going back the way they came, or
+paying the toll which they had once paid and taken away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Flemings were not disposed to turn their backs;
+their tactics were of a very simple kind.  If the attack was
+made in front, four from each side drew up in a moment,
+to support their leaders.  If in the rear, three on each side
+drew up for the defence; and if on either side, there were
+seven on each side perfectly prepared.  This little oblong
+square was formed with dexterity and resolution, and
+evidently discomposed the gipsies at the very first step; for
+when the leaders moved on, the King of the Gipsies receded
+instinctively.  In another moment, however, his word of
+command was given, and his men came on, with bludgeons,
+stones, and iron hooks, to the attack.  One or two gipsies
+only appeared to have fire-arms, and of these they made so
+much parade that it was strongly suspected that they were
+unloaded, or that they dare not fire them off.  A volley or
+stones, however, soon came rattling among the Flemings,
+who from that moment moved on with a front rank of ten
+horsemen and a flank of eight, undismayed by the numbers
+of their antagonists.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The very first volley of their leaden missiles had all the
+effect of a discharge of musketry.  The balls were thrown
+with such precision that men fell as if they were shot; and
+the immediate recoiling of them, so as to send another
+shower, as quickly as a man could pick up a stone, was
+what these fellows did not wait for.  They fled immediately,
+the King of Brentwood Forest among them, whilst the
+brave Flemings, passing over the bodies of their stunned
+foes, moved on without further molestation to Chelmsford.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The only man injured in their party was their guide, who,
+being knocked from his horse by a blow on the forehead
+from a stone thrown by the gipsies, was carried into the
+town of Chelmsford, and there left with the Abbot of the
+monastery.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey now became the conductor of the party, and,
+greatly pleased with their conduct, he felt a pride and
+pleasure in introducing such men into his native town.
+Messrs. Hall and Baldry were the parties to whom they
+were engaged, and our young scholar did not fail to speak
+of them by letter to his uncle, Edmund Daundy, in terms
+of such commendation as they deserved.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They arrived without any other molestation, and Dame
+Joan received her son, for the last time, into her house, and
+found him grown a greater man than she had ever known
+him, but at that time far from happy or cheerful.  She
+never knew him to smile upon her after that day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Mother,' said Wolsey on his arrival, 'I am come to
+perform a promise extracted from me, in your own
+presence, on the memorable evening of my gallantry, when
+the ox shin-bone did execution upon the head of the
+mastiff.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What was that, my son?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'To be present at the marriage of Ellen De Freston&mdash;ay,
+and more, not only to see her given in marriage, but to
+unite her with my friend Latimer.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Oh, why, my son, why perform the ceremony?  I know
+you have loved Ellen, but&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But, hush, mother! hush! breathe not a word of this.
+Let it die.  I am a priest, mother.  I must not marry&mdash;I
+cannot.  I must deny, denounce, and destroy any such idea
+in my soul!  Your prayers, mother, in silence; but tell it
+not to De Freston&mdash;tell it not to my uncle&mdash;breathe it not
+to the world&mdash;that thy son, Thomas Wolsey, ever had such
+a weakness.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How, my dear son, wilt thou ever sustain the shock?  I
+cannot bear to think of it.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thou must assist me, mother, with all thy courage and
+thy kindness to smile upon the bride and the bridegroom.
+Doubt not my strength.  I can do what I will with myself,
+but do not thou betray me or my weakness.  I would
+retire to prepare for the morrow's interview at Freston
+Hall.  Once more I will see the Tower, the Orwell&mdash;the
+scenes of my youth and of my early love&mdash;and then,
+farewell for ever.'
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap27"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+<br><br>
+THE INTERVIEW.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+The morning sun rose as clear and lovely on the day that
+Wolsey left Ipswich for his last visit to Freston Tower as
+it did upon the day of his first visit.  But how different
+were the sensations of the man in the few short years
+which had intervened between the hour of buoyant love,
+and that of painful compliance with a request which any
+other man would have studiously avoided!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was quite true that he felt himself independent; but
+was he really so?  It is true that he was not dependent
+upon the smile of De Freston, or the generosity of
+his relative, Edmund Daundy, or upon any friend in
+Ipswich.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He rode out of his native town, along that beautiful
+strand, in the morning sun, with a gloomy heart&mdash;a heart
+which nature, or rather the God of nature, had gifted with
+a sensitiveness and grace which now the spirit within him
+had resisted, but had not quite banished.  Whoever sins
+against philanthropy cannot be happy in spirit, let his
+knowledge embrace an insight into every book that ever
+was written or printed in the world.  Nothing but the love
+of our fellow-creatures can make any work of any mind
+pleasant to the soul of the Christian.  Men may be selfish
+in gaining knowledge, but what is the use of finding a
+treasure, if it is only to be selfishly enjoyed? for
+intelligence, except it can be used to enlighten others, would
+make its possessor only the more miserable.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey used to journey in the days of his poverty with
+pure love in his heart&mdash;love for De Freston and his
+daughter&mdash;love for his father, his mother, his uncle, hu
+friends.  He loved none of these now, and this made the
+Orwell so dull and gloomy in his sight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was on his way to that hospitable hall, where all was
+mirth and harmony within at the prospect of the marriage
+which was to take place on the morrow.  The banks of the
+river were as green as in former days, the swallows were as
+lively, boys were bathing, ships were sailing, boats were
+moving, birds were singing, nature smiling; the difference
+was in Wolsey, and not in the things around him.  The
+monastery of St. Peter's frowned upon him as he crossed
+the ford of Stoke, monks were chanting matins, country
+folk bringing in their produce from the farm-yard, and
+smiling health animating some lively lass who was
+paying her first visit to the great provincial town of
+Suffolk.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Stern were Wolsey's features, as deep thought sat upon
+his brow.  He saw not the bows which foot passengers gave
+him.  His eye seemed fixed upon some mental object.  He
+was absorbed in his own reflections, thinking of those who
+were his friends, and of the manner in which he should
+receive their welcome.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+De Freston had been his patron in days past; but De
+Freston could be of no service to him now.  He was now
+a priest, and a priest must not feel as other men do.  He
+must be more dignified, more reserved, more distant, more
+exalted.  He was a priest of Rome; he must forget that he
+was ever a poor scholar at Ipswich, fostered and cherished
+by many friends, and sent to Oxford by their kindness and
+patronage.  He was a priest of Rome!  Rome must be now
+his patron; Rome must claim every secret impulse of his
+heart, and all his kindred must be forgotten.  Something of
+offence arose out of De Freston's preference in bestowing
+the hand of his daughter upon Latimer.  Something of
+offence suggested itself in Ellen's preference of his friend,
+and towards Latimer a sort of aversion sprang up on
+account of his successful rivalry.  But human nature must
+be subdued.  The decree of Rome forbade any such ideas
+to be entertained; not on account of any exigency of the
+times, but because the priests could not, without this
+decided law of privation, be trained in the way of implicit
+obedience.  If Wolsey really loved Ellen, he would have
+been glad to hear of her happiness, even though she had
+preferred his friend Latimer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In self-sacrifices for the promotion of another's happiness,
+there is ever a noble and graceful love, which carries with
+it unspeakable admiration.  But this passion of Wolsey's
+had given way to a misanthropic philosophy, which ever
+after induced him to look with disregard upon the ties of
+mutual affection.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the time he was moving along the strand, he was as
+sharp an ascetic as any monk whose monastery he afterwards
+caused to be destroyed.  At last, Freston Tower
+broke upon his view, glittering as it did in the morning sun
+of a lovely June day, without any exclamation of pleasure.
+No longer did his heart bound at the sight, as if he was
+about to see those who loved him, and those whom he had
+loved.  Time was that he would have wished for a horse to
+have borne him to that lovely Tower, and few would have
+gone fast enough to have answered the quick and lively
+energy of the young aspirant for everything laudable,
+honorable, and good.  Now he was moving in solemn state,
+without any apparent emotion of joy or sorrow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By Bishop Goldwell he was much admired, and had
+received wonderful encouragement from him to devote
+himself to the good of the Church.  Alice, too, the proud
+Alice, had promised to work him a piece of altar tapestry
+whenever he should be presented with preferment.  Did
+he then contrast this unfeeling woman, superstitious and
+cold as she was, with the mild, amiable, and lovely
+Ellen?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was espied from the Tower by the fair one, who
+waved her hand from the sunny chamber, where they had
+so often met.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Here he comes, Latimer.  Here he comes! but how
+slowly he moves.  Perhaps he is thinking of the days of
+his youth, and weighing in his learned mind the thought
+whether he is happier now than he was then; for he takes
+no notice of our salutation, though his face seems lifted to
+the Tower.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He is perhaps conning over some passage of the poets,
+or thinking of some deep logical question of the schools.
+He is very often lost in thought.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But this is not a time, William, for Thomas Wolsey to
+forget us.  He must surely be thinking of us.  He cannot
+fail to discern us.  Or does he think it beneath the dignity
+of his office to come on merrily to the marriage feast?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I know not, Ellen, but that you may find Wolsey a
+little changed in this respect.  At no time of my acquaintance
+with him did he fail in self-esteem or self-deportment:
+and we have not often seen him on horseback.  Had we
+not better receive him in the hall?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Is it so, indeed, William? and are we to forget that in
+this very room we have spent so many joyful hours of
+literary pleasure?  I shall be almost sorry that I wrote to
+him to come, if thus it should seem by his progress that
+he was performing a penance rather than promoting love!
+Let us, however, receive him with respect in the hall, as
+he has become so great a man as not to recognise us in
+the Tower.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey had recognised his former friends; he even saw
+their hands waving from the fifth story; but the man had no
+answering delight to say, 'My heart is glad,' or, 'God be
+praised that you are well!'  All feeling was dormant, even
+the salutation of the poor old lodge gate-keeper elicited no
+recognition.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Dame, I say,' said the old man, as he addressed his aged
+partner, 'pride is come home from a distance, and I have
+opened the park gates to the visitor.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What art thou talking of? what dost thou mean?' she
+replied.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I mean to say, that I have opened the gate to Master
+Wolsey, and he is gone up the park; and if he meets my
+lord and lady as he has done me, he'll turn all our
+merrymaking into misery.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What, the lively Master Thomas grown proud!  Well
+a'day, well a'day!  Men's fortunes will sometimes change
+their faces, and Arthur Burch told me Master Thomas was
+grown a great man!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+De Freston was made aware of Wolsey's coming; he
+waited not for his formal announcement; but came from
+the hall across the drawbridge in company with Ellen and
+Latimer to welcome their friend.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Oh, that word <i>friend</i>!  How dreadfully is it abused!
+How often made a mere conventional term, and used in the
+world just as interest may prompt, or anything be got by
+it.  One true one is better than a host of pretenders, and a
+man without that one is miserable.  To look for many, is
+not to know the world; to value one when you have found
+him is to possess wisdom.  Ice, in summer; hail, in harvest
+time; and a swallow in winter, are as congenial, as a cold
+and heartless friend meeting you in the day of your rejoicing.
+Fond hearts met Wolsey at the entrance to Freston Hall.
+Fond hearts beaming with love, rejoicing in his arrival,
+and bounding to make him welcome.  But they could not
+fail to remark how stately he had grown! how very
+dignified! how distant, grand, and great.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ha! Thomas, my friend!  Welcome to De Freston's
+Hall!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I thank thee, thy daughter, and her friend!' with a
+most courteous bow of seemingly profound respect, which
+at once killed all the natural joy of the interview, and
+told the nobleman that an ambassador from Rome had
+arrived, in the place of that cheerful friend who was once
+the delight of his hall.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey was stately, not uncourteous.  He had schooled
+himself most admirably, and acted his part with all the
+precision of an accomplished performer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So gentlemanly in his external deportment, but resolved
+to show no intimacy; so very easy in his manner, that no
+one could be affronted; and yet so little heart, that Ellen
+could have burst into tears at the strange alteration of the
+man who once was her liveliest companion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The very domestics, anticipating from Arthur's account
+the arrival of a great man, and who had so associated
+Thomas Wolsey with all that was cheerful and gay, becoming,
+and pleasant, were petrified at the stately gaze with
+which he seemed to contemplate the architecture of the hall,
+and the little notice he took of any one in it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'We have friends to meet thee, Master Wolsey,' said De
+Freston, evidently convinced that some more distant form was
+now necessary.  'Some of thy oldest friends will be with
+us at the hour of noon.  They will be delighted to greet
+thee, after so long an absence.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey's reply shot like a shaft&mdash;ay, and a well-aimed
+one it was&mdash;to the hearts of Latimer and Ellen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I suppose thy friend, Bishop Goldwell, and Alice, his
+niece, have consented to be here.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Indeed they have not; nor have we invited them, for,
+since the day of Ivan's death, we have never exchanged
+a word.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I can only regret it,' replied Wolsey.  'He is a man
+whose acquaintance I should have courted, and his niece a
+fit companion for thy daughter.  I thought they had been
+intimate.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Their characters are very dissimilar.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That should be no bar to friendship.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But I know that Bishop Goldwell does not admire thy
+friend Latimer, and that he is the aversion of Alice.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'On such an occasion as this, distances should be
+abridged, and differences of opinion softened, wounds
+healed, and friends united.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I agree with thee, Wolsey; thy doctrine is herein sound,
+but somewhat opposed to thy practice.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ah! how so?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thou thyself art not thyself as formerly.  Thy bearing
+is widely different; thy manner, speech, and conduct, have
+undergone a great change.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am a priest; yet I am here to-day by thine invitation.
+Why not Bishop Goldwell and his niece?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'They are not our kin.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And I now have no kin, no connexions, no property,
+no friends, but the church, to which I am henceforth
+devoted.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Does that destroy thy former friendships?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It cancels every one: I have given them up!&mdash;forsaken
+them all!&mdash;and I shall follow the Church of Rome, of which
+I am her devoted servant.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And so,' said Ellen, 'I may address thee no longer as
+my learned and dear friend&mdash;my choice companion&mdash;my
+tutor&mdash;my relative and associate, but simply as "Your
+Reverence?"'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am come to perform a duty, Mistress Ellen, and if
+thou wouldst have me discharge it gracefully, I pray thee
+mar not the dignity of mine office by any allusions to the
+past.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I cannot forget what thou wast, Thomas Wolsey,
+both to me and to thy friend Latimer, once our loving
+companion.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And now,' said Wolsey, with a bow of studied courtesy,
+'the humble servant of both!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No, Thomas Wolsey,' replied the maiden, 'thou art not
+humble at all!  Thy priesthood, Thomas, sits mournfully on
+thy years; and the wisdom which used to ornament thy
+brow seems lost in outward stateliness.  I like thee not in
+thy change.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'May be, Mistress Ellen, thou may'st one day think
+differently, and then praise that reserve which now thou
+dost misinterpret.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It may be so, Thomas Wolsey! but my heart must be
+contracted instead of being enlarged; my soul must bend to
+form and ceremony, and not to love; and I must admire
+Alice De Clinton, and imitate her bearing, and forget the
+friends who taught me truth, that I may be admitted to the
+favor of a priest!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Even the self-possessed Wolsey was abashed at this
+charge.  His well-schooled reserve was about to give way
+to generous impulses, and thoughts of joy and thankfulness
+to God for such kind friends and benefactors were beginning
+to rise in the heart; but over them all, rose his vow of
+devotion to the church; and, denying himself where self-denial
+was uncalled for, he rejected the spirit of love, and
+feigned a momentary sickness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He retired to his room to get the command of himself,
+leaving the friends of his youth to talk over his
+estrangement.  He nevertheless attended the banquet, sat on the
+right hand of the betrothed, was attentive and most
+punctilious in his devotions, spoke when addressed, and yet
+offered no opinion of his own, nor put himself forward to
+lead the converse; heard all, and reflected upon all,
+surprised all, and pleased none; yet did he conduct himself
+with such dignified exterior, that no man could say he
+transgressed the strictest rules of decorum, or thought not
+of others as much as of himself.  It was difficult to decide
+upon such a point.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To his uncle, to his friends, to the assembled company
+at that festive meeting, to De Freston and his daughter, to
+Latimer and his father, who had through his son received
+such a favorable account of him, he was the same dignified
+unaccountable being.  Sir William Latimer was never more
+astonished at seeing such a character as Wolsey then
+appeared.  His son had assured him that he had been the
+means of his introduction to the University, and that he was
+his bosom friend: nevertheless, nothing could be more
+distant than Wolsey's manner and conversation with
+him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He retired early to his room, to prepare himself for the
+last ceremony he ever performed in his native town, and the
+last time he saw his friends at Ipswich, though he never
+forgot the early steps of education which he had there
+received.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap28"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+<br><br>
+THE MARRIAGE PROCESSION.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+A marriage in the year 1498, and in a nobleman's family,
+was almost like an affair of state.  In the metropolis, such
+an event might not have been uncommon; but, in the
+country, it was in that day so joyous an event, that he was
+considered but a niggard nobleman who had not the whole
+country to participate in his festivity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such a maid as Ellen, too&mdash;so universally beloved in her
+own neighborhood, and so celebrated for every female
+virtue of her time&mdash;was sure to command the generous and
+gentle affections of all who had any regard for their betters.
+There might be some morose dispositions, who staid at home,
+brooding over melancholy forebodings, and caring nothing
+for a marriage, for bride, bridegroom, bridal attire, bridal
+friends, men, maids, banquets, or any kind of festivity; but
+there was then no lack of well-wishers, who really loved
+Ellen De Freston, and wished her happy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Alice De Clinton, had she been at all of Ellen's
+disposition, would have been her companion upon this occasion,
+but she lacked not friends of the noblest class to fill her
+place.  The fair daughters of Fastolf, and De Broke, from
+the Haugh, were at Freston Castle, together with four
+other maidens of quality, to accompany her to the
+wedding.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The morning broke most lovely!  The merry bells could
+be heard from the town of Ipswich, ringing cheerily; for
+Lord De Freston and Edmund Daundy were as universally
+loved for their amiable qualities, as they were known to
+be rich and generous.  Everything indicated a happy
+morning: birds were singing blithely, and men and women's
+voices mingled therewith.  The hills around Ipswich echoed
+the joyful notes, whilst people looked upon that day as
+one of the brightest festival in which love reigned
+omnipotent.  In short, every face exhibited something of the
+anticipated pleasure of the bridal.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Maidens might be seen tripping along the meadows of
+the meandering Gipping, with little baskets of flowers, on
+purpose to strew the bridal path from St. Peter's Gate to
+the porch of St. Lawrence.  It was no loss of time to them
+to be seen to participate in the happiness of a lady whom
+some one or other of them had known, for her kindness to
+some poor relative, or for her gentleness and amiable
+bearing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fame, when not courted but deserved, will come with a
+reward which is as pleasant as it is unexpected.  Actions
+done upon the Christian principle of brotherly love are sure
+to be successful in the end; they carry with them their own
+reward, being done from faith, and a sense of duty.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were those of the whole life of Lord De Freston and
+his daughter.  Such were the motives which influenced him
+in his patronage of Wolsey; such were his daughter's motives
+in the interest she felt in his rising fame.  But whilst
+hundreds around them were grateful, and rejoiced to show
+the interest they felt in Ellen's happiness, that one, the
+scholar and the friend, felt nothing of gratitude, little of
+affection: he felt only the deepest, the most heartfelt
+mortification.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Early on the morning of the 8th of July, 1498, did
+Thomas Wolsey, Priest of Magdalen College, rise.  Whether
+he slept or not, those who saw him could only give a
+surmise, and from the swollen appearance of his eyes, and
+the excessive pallor of his countenance, it was thought that
+his reverence had passed a very restless night.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was not stirring earlier than William Latimer, who,
+when Wolsey descended from the internal balcony of the hall,
+was, with Edmund Daundy, preparing to depart for Ipswich,
+that both might be in readiness to receive the <i>cortège</i> of
+the bride at the house of the latter in St. Lawrence.  As
+they stood in the hall, Thomas Wolsey descended.  He
+bowed haughtily in return to the generous salute of his
+uncle and his young friend.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am ready to depart for Ipswich, gentlemen, and to
+solicit of the officiating priest of St. Lawrence permission
+to perform the <i>marriage ceremony</i>.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These last words created a kind of adhesive firmness of
+his tongue to the roof of his mouth; for, when his uncle
+replied that he had already secured that permission, there
+was but a bow of acquiescence, and a dignified move towards
+the massive hall-door.  The party went forward.  Three of
+Lord De Freston's horses stood caparisoned for them at the
+porch; but a delay was created by the proud priest saying
+to the groom in waiting&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My own horse!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My lord thought your own would be fatigued, and
+requests that you will use his,' said the man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My own horse, sirrah!' was the uncourteous reply.  The
+gentlemen were equally as astonished as the groom; but
+seeing that Wolsey quietly retreated into the hall, they could
+but desire the groom to be as expeditious as possible in
+bringing the said nag round to the door.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was evident that Wolsey would have his own way, and
+not put a foot into the stirrup until he had.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The horse was brought round.  The bridegroom, bridesman,
+and priest, departed with a retinue of horsemen for
+the town.  It was a stately ride.  Nothing seemed to please
+Wolsey.  He received all that was said to him with silent
+indications of assent, as if they were only such
+commonplace sayings as he might expect to receive from the
+attendants upon his greatness.  So passed they to his
+native town, where, at this day, nothing remains in any way
+connected with him but a postern gate of brick, leading to
+the school-master's lodge within the area of the schools, and
+not, as some have called it, the principal entrance to the
+President's Court.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They arrived at the mansion of Edmund Daundy at seven
+o'clock on the morning of the eighth of July.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dame Joan, Wolsey's mother, was there before them,
+with many of the friends, wives, and daughters of the best
+families of the town and neighborhood, who came to
+participate in the joyous doings.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I give thee this, young man,' said Wolsey to the groom
+on taking his horse, 'that thou mayest learn that a reward
+is worth having when it is deserved.  At ten o'clock do
+thou be at the portal leading to the chancel door of
+St. Lawrence Church.  Thou knowest the priest's entrance, his
+private entrance, from the lane.  There be thou with this
+horse, caparisoned exactly as he now is&mdash;his trappings on,
+exactly as thou seest them now.  Let nothing be taken out
+of thy possession.  There is an angel for thee.  Another
+angel doth await thee.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey gave the man a golden angel, of the value of
+six and eightpence, a gift which commanded much more
+attention than many such pieces would do now-a-days.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He not only promised obedience, but kept it punctually.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thou wilt accept once more, Thomas Wolsey, thine aged
+uncle's hospitality.  Come in.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have a vow at the altar of St. Lawrence, which I must
+pay this morning.  I can enter no house until that is paid.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How long wilt thou be?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Until this marriage is over.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'We shall hope to see thee then?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thou mayest then hope.'  And Wolsey departed for the
+church.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whilst he bent at the altar of St. Lawrence Church, glad
+to escape from anything like cheerfulness, he was steeling
+his heart for a trial to which the pages of romance could
+scarcely afford a parallel.  Never once did he reproach
+himself for the cruelty of his behaviour towards those who
+really loved him, and had given him the greatest possible
+proofs of attachment.  Never once did he reflect that his
+then state of deportment towards Ellen was barbarous or
+unjust; his whole soul was enveloped in the cloak of his
+own selfishness.  His heart was full of gall and bitterness,
+grief and agony.  And as he knelt before that altar to
+which he had devoted himself soul and body, did he pray
+for that high, that holy, inward peace, which the man who
+sacrifices every selfish feeling for the good of another would
+so earnestly desire?  His heart could have burst at the
+very position he had then placed himself in, but for that
+indomitable pride which prayed for future aggrandizement,
+that the poor scholar of Ipswich might rival, or rather
+out-rival, the Lord De Freston and his friends.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His vow was but an excuse for the feeding of his own
+solitary disappointment, but for the opportunity of brooding
+over the melancholy superstition to which his nature and
+his enlightened mind were adverse, but to which his
+seemingly injured affections had fled for solace.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whilst Wolsey was thus mournfully fasting and praying,
+and the gay world was shut out from the gloom of his
+devotion, parties of maidens formed in rank, a long and
+pleasing file, went with their baskets of flowers from
+Daundy's mansion gate towards St. Peter's Ford, by which
+the bride was expected to enter the town, and as they went,
+their leaders lifted up their voices and sung one stanza, at
+the conclusion of the last two lines of which the whole
+company joined:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Come all ye merry lasses!<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Come bring your flowers gay;<br>
+  Come all in smiling masses,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And strew the bridal way.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Leave sorrow far behind you,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And be not you forlorn,<br>
+  For Love alone should bind you<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;To greet the bridal morn.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  CHORUS.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Then haste! oh, haste, this happy hour!<br>
+  To meet the Maid of Freston Tower.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>
+It was a lovely morning, indeed; and Ellen, the Maid of
+Freston Tower, with her dear and anxious father, and her
+whole train of fair damsels and rustic maidens, and tenants'
+daughters and servants, were seen descending Freston Hill,
+from the park side to the strand.  It was a long and sweeping
+<i>cortége</i>; the bridesmaids and the bride attired in
+travelling costume, attended by noble gentlemen, the friends
+of the various parties, swept along that happy strand amidst
+the blessings and praises of those poor people, who left
+their morning toil by permission of their masters.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was a sight in those feudal days worthy of being
+recorded in a better ballad than the old one extant in the
+archives of the borough of Ipswich, written by old Dan
+Lydgate, monk of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Edmund's
+Bury; though he was a genuine poet of his day, and few
+could vie with him in allegory, or in narrative, or in words;
+and yet old Dan wanted that sense of feeling that meditates
+in love upon things passing around him.  He described
+them with flowery colours, and now and then with a daring
+liberty almost approaching to licentiousness.  He was seldom
+pathetic or reflective&mdash;yet he is a good old poet, and
+describes his times quite as well as Byron does his, with far
+less morbid selfishness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From far and near, Ipswich was like a vast fair; but
+there was no gambling, hooting, hallooing, cheating, drinking,
+bargaining, and brawling.  Instead of these, there was
+a cheerful wedding, upon which every face smiled with
+delight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Beautiful indeed was the attachment between two such
+souls as those of the son of Sir William Latimer and the
+daughter of Lord De Freston, enhanced by similarity of
+taste, a love of truth, literature, and talent, and by every
+virtue which adorns or ennobles human nature.  An
+abhorrence of anything unjust and oppressive pervaded De
+Freston and Sir William Latimer, and was instilled into
+their children.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The country was alive with joyful faces, and not only the
+hamlets of Ipswich, but from every village down the Orwell,
+as far as Felixtow Beach on the one side, and Shotley Point
+on the other, boats ascended the tide to the gaily festive
+scene.  Songs were got up by the village singers.  One
+ballad, or song, or chaunt, or whatever else it may be called,
+is preserved, which affords not only a lively description of
+the feeling then felt towards the daughter of Lord De Freston,
+but it is not devoid of elegance or metrical beauty,
+though it may not be exactly accurate in rhyme:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p class="poem gothic">
+  The Boatmen's Bridal Song.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Come, row the boat, row! from Levington Creek;<br>
+  The boat full of roses as e'er it can stick.<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Row the boat, row!<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Yoho! yoho!<br>
+  For the pride of the castle, fair Ellen, we go!<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Come, row the boat, row! 'tis the bridal day;<br>
+  And woe to the maiden who stays away.<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Row the boat, row!<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Yoho! yoho!<br>
+  For the pride of the castle, fair Ellen, we go.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Come, row the boat, row! o'er the Orwell's wave,<br>
+  If the youth or the maiden would happiness have.<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Row the boat, row!<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Yoho! yoho!<br>
+  For the pride of the castle, fair Ellen, we go.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Come, row the boat, row! from the Haugh's green side,<br>
+  'Neath the Wolferstone shade let our oars quick glide.<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Row the boat, row!<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Yoho! yoho!<br>
+  For the pride of the castle, fair Ellen, we go.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Come, row the boat, row! with all your power.<br>
+  For the maiden is gone from De Freston's Tower.<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Row the boat, row!<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Yoho! yoho!<br>
+  For the pride of the castle, fair Ellen, we go.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Come, row the boat, row! for the fairest maid.<br>
+  The roses we'll strew ere the dew-drop fade.<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Come, row the boat, row!<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Yoho! yoho!<br>
+  For the pride of the castle, fair Ellen, we go.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Then row the boat, row! ye Levington boys.<br>
+  For who would not welcome the true lovers' joys?<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Row the boat, row!<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Yoho! yoho!<br>
+  To the bridal of Ellen, fair Ellen, we go!<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>
+The very metre of the old song gives an idea of the boat
+pulled by stout rowers in the vigor of youth, bent upon a
+scene of festive rejoicing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Levington was the first village on the Orwell, celebrated
+for the cultivation of the rose, which the Lord of the Manor
+of Levington Hall, Hugh de Fastolf, encouraged, and gave
+permission on the day of the celebration of Ellen's
+marriage for the villagers to gather from the hall garden as
+many as they could place in their boat for the occasion; so
+that the village maidens who went up the Orwell in the
+Levington boat, were literally in the midst of roses.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They arrived at St. Peter's Ford, to the no small delight
+of hundreds who sought for a bunch of flowers to scatter
+on the maiden's path.
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  And ill the luck that maiden's lot,<br>
+  Who had her flowrets then forgot,<br>
+  Lest sorrow should her marriage mar,<br>
+  Or fill the bridal day with care.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap29"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+<br><br>
+THE MARRIAGE CEREMONY.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Children clad in white for the occasion&mdash;children, whose
+parents, as well as themselves, had been partakers of the
+bounty of Edmund Daundy&mdash;were, with their cheerful
+happy faces formed into two long rows from the mansion
+as far almost as Wolsey's house.  Each had a significant
+flower in her hand, that she might join her partner, who
+held a corresponding flower on the opposite side of the
+street when the signal was given that the bride was
+coming.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In this manner, the two nearest of the coming procession
+moved immediately forward, exclaiming, or chanting the
+short couplet&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'Tis the bridal day,<br>
+  Prepare the way,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Lead on! lead on! lead on!<br>
+  Come join our throng,<br>
+  Come sing our song,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Be merry every one.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>
+None began to sing until they joined flowers, and each
+couple, following the leader, added their voices to those
+which went before, until the whole street burst forth into
+singing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The graceful Ellen, amidst her honorable maidens,
+walked through the respectful throng, and was met by a
+party of matrons, friends, and relations, who conducted her
+to the house of Daundy, where Latimer and a great company
+of friends were ready to proceed to the church of
+St. Lawrence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All was done that could add to the gaiety and joyful
+publicity of the marriage, and according to the custom of
+the times, the poor were not forgotten, but were allowed to
+participate in the scene.  The noble parents, arm-in-arm,
+followed the bride, whilst Latimer and his young men,
+invited by Edmund Daundy, were in readiness to receive
+them at the steps of his house.  It took but a few minutes
+to exchange the riding costume for the flowing veils and
+simple white vestments of the beautiful bride and her
+maids, and then the happy pair, with their attendants,
+proceeded to the church, whither Wolsey had gone before.
+The organ Daundy had presented to St. Lawrence had
+been purchased in France, and was for its day a wonderful
+instrument.  Plaintive notes had been for some time
+issuing from its tubes, adapted to the stillness of the
+solitary occupant then kneeling at the altar, as if he
+were performing the most abstracted and spiritual devotion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The heart of that man was not to be envied.  It had
+tormented itself with such determined endurance, that
+nature was completely quelled.  But it was not in him to
+let even Ellen know that he was suffering from the sting
+of disappointment.  Nothing would have been easier than
+for Wolsey to have found an excuse for not performing the
+ceremony.  There was decided cruelty in the thing, knowing,
+as he certainly did, the state of his own heart and
+sentiments towards Ellen; but the pride of the man was
+predominant; and in a church and age when to mortify
+the body with rigorous privation was a sign of the highest
+faith, it was not remarkable that an ambitious man like
+Wolsey should act as he did.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That Wolsey was a man who could command himself,
+by a resolute effort, was manifested in this early indication
+of control; but that he did it with a bad grace, these pages
+will prove.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Self-denial is a great virtue; but morose and conceited
+self-immolation is no part of pure religion.  It is of the
+same nature as the delusion that influences the devotees of
+the East, who, with hooks in their flesh, swing themselves
+in a circle till they lose strength, reason, and life.  The
+Suttee might be as great as the learned Wolsey, and
+perform even a greater act of devotion than he did, for she
+willingly and cheerfully gives up her body to be burnt; but
+this proud man, against his reason, against his judgment,
+and in spite of himself, married the woman that he loved
+to another man, and neither wished nor prayed for her
+happiness.  Had his act been one of faith instead of
+superstition, it would have been attended with consequences far
+more productive of comfort and happiness to himself and
+others than it was.  Faith can surmount difficulties, and
+glory in so doing: but faith never places stumbling blocks
+of iniquity in the way of the soul, that it may leap over
+them and appear glorious in the sight of men.  Learning
+in that day was then confined in a great measure to
+ecclesiastical establishments, and though ignorance greatly
+prevailed among the monks and monasteries, yet men of letters
+were occasionally found among them, who were bright stars
+of their day.  If a noble was a man of letters, he was
+indeed accounted a wonder.  It was something then to
+write, but to write with any degree of purity was a singular
+accomplishment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On this account Lord De Freston and his daughter were
+highly esteemed.  Wolsey had been alive indeed to the
+interest and influence she had exercised in his favour: but
+she had not been the least aware of having caused him any
+deeper feeling than that of gratitude for her exertions.
+His conduct had become changed&mdash;very different from that
+of former days, and certainly in her eyes it was not
+improved; but she attributed this to the position to which he
+had even then been elevated.  So altered were his words
+and manners, that although he had come so far to marry
+her, and to comply with her request, she almost regretted
+that she had disturbed his learned pursuits at Magdalene.
+There he was, however, to perform the ceremony; and as
+the organ gradually increased its swelling tones, as the
+bride and bridegroom walked along the nave of the church,
+the murmur of the multitude and the steps of approaching
+feet, warned Wolsey that he must prepare himself for the
+duty he had undertaken.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He rose from his knees with the studied gesture of a
+man about to confer a great obligation, and summoning
+all the energy of his robust frame, and the pride of his
+whole heart&mdash;he appeared as immoveable and as firm as a
+commander of Roman cohorts going into battle.  Every
+person in that church, saving the bride, looked upon him
+with wonder; but she with downcast eyes had not ventured
+to look up, even to behold the countenance of the man who
+had been so much her friend and companion from her infancy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lord De Freston thought him ill, and was upon the point
+of asking the curate of St. Lawrence to take the duty, when
+the firm, strong, clear, and singularly sweet voice of Wolsey,
+gave evidence that he was not so ill as to require any
+assistance, though his face was white as marble, and his lips
+livid as death.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Just as the parent delivered up his child for ever into the
+hands of her future husband, and Wolsey received that fair
+hand to unite it with that of his friend, he was observed to
+shed a tear, which fell upon the hand he was then holding.
+The maiden lifted her eye to meet that of the priest's.
+There was agony depicted in it&mdash;intense agony, that struck
+deeply into the tender heart of Ellen, and so completely
+overpowered her, as to make her lean upon the arm of Lord
+De Freston for support.  She looked not again at Wolsey&mdash;she
+heard his voice, now softer and more subdued; and
+whilst she was united to Latimer in the bonds of matrimony,
+she became for the first moment of her life conscious that
+Thomas Wolsey might have loved her.  She felt a pang,
+not for herself, but in the thought that Wolsey might be
+suffering from disappointment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He did not give way: he performed the ceremony,
+pronounced the blessing, ended the service, and returned to
+the altar, and simply told the verger he had a vow to
+complete, so that the whole party returned without him
+to the festive scene at the house of the opulent merchant
+of Ipswich.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was observed by Latimer, De Freston, and Daundy,
+that Ellen's usual flow of spirit, and happy expression of
+countenance were disturbed, and when the anxious bridegroom
+sought by a plain question the cause of depression,
+all she could say was&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I will tell you another time, only be assured that no
+friends here have in anything made me sorrowful, and that
+it will only be a short temporary depression, and even now
+I feel revived.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+How truly good and tender are the feelings of a Christian
+heart.  This wise, virtuous, and affectionate daughter felt
+at the moment, that she, her father, and friends might have
+been too pointedly interested in young Wolsey's career; and
+have unintentionally suffered him to hope for an alliance
+which had never till that morning had a thought in her
+brain.  Her quick and sensitive spirit soon saw through
+the change of conduct which Wolsey had assumed, and
+she shuddered to think of the possibility of the sacred
+office of holy orders being taken up in the moment of
+disappointment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She was relieved in some measure by the announcement
+which arrived, that Thomas Wolsey had left town; for
+with her perceptions at such a moment, it would have been
+a source of suffering to her to have seen him at the grand
+feast which was then given in honor of her nuptials.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey had cast off his vestments, and repaired to the
+priest's gate, at the entrance from the back lane adjoining
+the churchyard.  There stood his own steed, with his
+travelling cloak and rough skinned trappings in which he
+carried his change of linen.  He was soon in his saddle&mdash;gave
+the promised angel, and taking the circuit of the town
+walls, proceeded immediately on his way to London.  He
+turned his back upon his native town, on the very day of
+its most worthy rejoicing; for, celebrated as Ipswich always
+has been for political animosities, its people in that day, as
+well as in this, were glad of any common event in which all
+parties might unite without contention.  And such was the
+moment of their universally respected fellow-townsman's
+popularity, when Lord De Freston, his daughter, and the
+bridegroom partook of the good man's hospitality.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey, however, had left the town, and at that time felt
+himself cut off from it for ever.  He had not so much as
+taken leave of his mother, nor acquainted any one with his
+intention.  He wore a face of lamentation as if he were
+going into exile, or to perform penance for his sins.  So
+severe had been this blow, and the effort he had made to
+bear it, that he would willingly have forgotten every event
+of his childhood&mdash;his mother, his kindred, and his
+connexions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He pursued his way, a lonely and disconsolate man,
+leaving cheerful faces behind him, a sight he could ill have
+borne to see, whilst the merry bells sent out their liveliest
+tones, as if to mock the heart of a man who could not
+enjoy the happiness of another.  Merry days do not last for
+ever, and marriage days are not, among the wealthy, of
+long enjoyment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As Wolsey traversed the long narrow lane, with his pack-horse
+slowly pacing up the hill, the last peal of the Ipswich
+bells fell on his proud heart, and he wept.  Man could no
+longer see him.  He had no longer to act a part before those
+who knew him.  He was overcome by the associations of
+his youth.
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'No flowers for him were strewn that day;<br>
+  No maidens graced his bridal day;<br>
+  He trode the roses in the street.<br>
+  And crushed them with indignant feet.<br>
+  Another's bliss to him was woe,<br>
+  And he sustained the deepest blow.'<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+But merrily, merrily still rang the Ipswich bells, and the
+proud priest's heart was touched.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Never was friendship more pure than that shown by Lord
+De Freston and his friends to Wolsey; but never was there
+less response to those kindly affections in the heart of man
+than in Wolsey at that moment.  All he felt, he felt for
+himself; all he had done, had been done to gratify himself;
+all he looked forward to was for himself.  His mother was
+nothing to him; his friends and townsmen nothing; Lord
+De Freston nothing; Latimer nothing; and if for Ellen he
+once felt <i>everything</i>, she now was nothing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The great man sighed&mdash;he groaned; but in another
+moment he said, 'Wolsey, be a man!  Spurn the past.
+Fulfil thy destiny, and forget that ever thou didst love.'
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap30"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XXX.
+<br><br>
+THE REVELATION.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+The marriage day had passed away as the fleeting hours of
+mortal life do, quickly, and never to return; and so it should
+be, for if the past be but a prelude to future improvement,
+few would wish it to return.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Latimer and the Lady Ellen were seated in the large
+room of the mansion purchased by Lord De Freston,
+situated in the centre of the town of Ipswich.  The present
+theatre now occupies part of the site of the mansion,
+which, with its grounds opposite and behind it, took up a
+large space, now densely populated.  One old room in the
+Tankard public house still retains a portion of its pristine
+beauty, and was then the handsomest room in that ancient
+hall.  It was here that the bride and bridegroom received
+their friends, who from all parts of the neighborhood came
+to pay them respect.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Their extensive garden then occupied the area from the
+corner of Brook Street down to the great foundation school,
+in which Wolsey had received the rudiments of his education;
+and the convent grounds contained the school which
+was under the superintendence of the Prior of St. Peter,
+who had the power of fixing the salary of the master.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was a garden containing walks for the public, and in it
+was the celebrated chapel of the Virgin, to which Ellen
+repaired after the fall of Wykes Bishop's Palace.  The
+ancient mansion overlooked that garden, and Ellen and De
+Freston were seated in the beautifully oak-pannelled room,
+conversing upon the past.  They spoke of Alice De Clinton,
+of the old palace, of the hermit of Holy Wells: and the
+reader may be sure they did not forget the memorable night
+when Latimer reached the stair of Lord De Freston's
+grounds, close under Freston Tower.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Love likes to reflect on the mercies of God, and souls
+truly happy do ever remember the past with such spirit of
+thankfulness, and makes even imminent dangers the subject
+of congratulation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Do you remember, Ellen, that you promised to tell me
+why you were momentarily cast down on the day of our
+wedding festivity?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I do, William, and I can now freely converse with you
+upon the subject.  You must have observed the young
+priest's agony when the tear fell upon my hand, which he
+joined with your own.  I then looked up at his face&mdash;and
+can I ever forget the expression?  Never!  It told me,
+William, of a truth, which seems to account to me now for
+the strange alteration of his behaviour to me, my father, his
+own relatives, and yourself.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What was that, Ellen?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Simply this, William: that Wolsey had a hope, to which
+he then bade farewell for ever, that he might have possessed
+this hand to which you were then entitled.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It may be so, Ellen.  But why then place a barrier for
+ever against all hopes of matrimonial alliance by entering
+into the church?  He always appeared to me to be destined
+for the office he holds; and yet I do remember his occasional
+depressions at Oxford were only to be alleviated by a
+reference to Freston Tower.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Was it so, Latimer?  Then I fear the poor youth had
+imbibed a preference for my society, which is indeed
+flattering to me, though so fatal to himself.  We were very
+partial to him.  He was always pleasant, though at times
+impetuous, and dictatorial in his arguments.  Can you not now
+pity him, William, if he did imagine, in the ardor of his
+literary pursuits, that I should one day be his companion?
+All things considered, he must have endured what scarcely
+any other man could have borne.  I do now see through the
+whole of his conduct.  I fear he has done violence to his
+better nature in the steps he has taken to prove to us all
+the sublimity of his faith.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I can now account for all his strange behaviour&mdash;yet, if
+he had succeeded&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What, William?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I might have been as wretched as himself.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'May my whole life prove that I estimate the sacrifice
+you would have made of self upon the altar of friendship,
+but how will Thomas Wolsey take this blow?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That remains to be seen.  He is not a man to sink under
+misfortune.  He will devote himself to great objects.  His
+learning will be a passport to greatness, and Oxford will
+afford him a fine field for the display of his talents.  He
+will be a great man in the church.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I wish he may be a good one!  His views are seemingly
+very much exalted by his priesthood, and personal pride
+has not permitted him to display either that amiability
+or generosity of opinion, in letters or in religion, which
+formerly he seemed to possess.  It would be strange if his
+great mind should be narrowed by his assumption of the
+priesthood.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It would indeed be a great misfortune; for a nobler
+nature than Wolsey's, and a more generous, frank, and
+liberal disposition scarcely ever inhabited the breast of man
+when I first introduced him at Oxford.  His manners, his
+knowledge of letters, his talents, were all open, clear,
+candid, and at the free gift and service of others.  He is now
+a priest of Rome.  He cannot forget his learning, but it is
+doubtful whether he will use it for the good of his countrymen
+or for his own ambition.  Rome, I fear, will scarcely
+let him think and act for himself, and certainly not for the
+great objects which now seem to be attracting the eyes of
+the learned in the spirit of the Reformation.  Wolsey
+might do great things; but will he?  Had he but the heart
+of Wickliffe, what might not England see him produce.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'We shall see, Latimer.  He cannot be ignorant; he may
+be bigoted and worldly-minded, but he cannot be ignorant
+of the truth.  We are to visit our dear father at Freston
+hall to-day.  How I love to see him enjoying his books
+and our company!  What a pleasure is it, William, to a
+daughter to promote the happiness of her father!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And what a pleasure to a son-in-law to know that parent
+loves him as if he were his own child.  Oh, Ellen! if there
+be a joy on this earth, it is when we please our parents and
+honor their grey hairs, and bless them for those providential
+comforts which, beneath the mercy of God, they are enabled
+to bestow upon us.  We shall visit our old haunt in the
+tower, ever fresh to me, Ellen; never out of my eyes.  I
+often dream of it, and sometimes see the lamp burning in
+your favorite room; and then I am riding on the broken
+timber in the midst of the waves, or struggling against
+the tide to gain the shore&mdash;I awake, and think, and am
+thankful!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Noon was the dinner-hour in that day, and the bride
+and bridegroom, respected as they were, could not pass
+through that busy town of Ipswich without many a blessing;
+for, great as they were, and connected with the noblest
+and wealthiest, they forgot not the poor, and were not
+themselves forgotten.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With joy did they revisit the scenes of their early
+attachment, and awaken the spirit of love among a people always
+ready to acknowledge that which was honest and lovely.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+De Freston had made good use of that time, which was
+now more solitary in one sense, but more engaging in
+another.  He had been reading with more profound
+attention the records of the olden time&mdash;the history of the
+Fathers, and the progress of that revelation through the
+instrumentality of the inspired Apostles, and those who
+lived nearest to them.  The more he read, the more he
+became convinced of the sublime doctrine of the Great
+Atonement, and the purity and holiness of that religion
+which the ancient Fathers professed.  He was forcibly
+struck by the simplicity of their canons, and the manner of
+spirit in which they sought to conduct the affairs of the
+church.  He made himself master of their doctrine, arguments,
+and lives, and observed how strictly they sought to
+establish the essentials of vital piety, founded upon the
+Scriptures, rather than the introduction of novelties and
+the development of fancies.  The more he read, the more
+earnestly did he pray that his reading might become
+beneficial to his own soul, and to that of others.  His was a
+great mind, a pious mind, with a solid, rational, and lively
+faith, which was indeed a rare thing in that day among the
+nobles of England.  There was, indeed, a spirit abroad,
+as has already been seen, inducing inquiry, questioning the
+right of the Pope to be above all Scripture and Revelation;
+and some few were even then beginning to search
+the Scriptures for themselves, that they might be enabled
+to give an answer to the important question: What
+is truth?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Among them stood Lord De Freston, foremost in the
+neighborhood of Ipswich, one of the first to institute that
+inquiry among the learned monks of Alneshborne, which
+led to the conversion of Prior John, and to the enlightenment
+of his fraternity.  It has been stated that he was very
+intimate with the learned John.  That intimacy had
+increased since the marriage of his daughter, and had been
+productive of much intercourse between the domains of the
+priory and those of De Freston.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was no surprise to Latimer or his wife, when they
+arrived at the castle, to find John of Alneshborne a guest at
+the table of their father.  It was a surprise to them, indeed,
+to find this learned monk a convert to the already greatly
+advanced wisdom of De Freston.  For a monk to entertain
+opinions having the least approximation to the universal
+spread of Divine truth, was a wonder in that day; but to
+find one, the head of a learned fraternity, remarkable for
+retirement, penance, and bodily infliction, become an
+advocate for the dissemination of the whole Word of God and
+the Truth, was indeed a marvel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+John of Alneshborne was a rare instance of humility,
+and though he was respected by all the religious houses
+with which he was connected, both in England and on the
+Continent, his views gained him many enemies, much
+persecution, his final ejection from his priory; but a happy
+rest in the mansion of his friend and patron, Lord De
+Freston, who had been instrumental in leading this learned
+man to a far more liberal view of divinity than the life of
+solitary nothingness which he spent within the cloistered
+walls of his establishment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As he had been conducive to his study of the Scriptures,
+and of the early usages of the Christian church, contrasted
+with the presumption of the Popes and their universal
+subjugation of men's consciences to dogmas, instead of
+doctrine, and all their outward prostrations, impositions,
+fooleries, idolatries, and indulgences, in the place of inward
+purification and love of God and man, so when he was
+degraded and deprived of his power, this noble lord was the
+first to open his doors, and say, 'My house is your home.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These events transpired after the period of which this
+narrative is now treating.  But the way was then preparing
+even when Ellen and her husband paid their first visit of
+any length to the hall of their youth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ha!  Prior John here!' exclaimed Latimer.  'It gives
+me great joy to see thee on this side of the water.  I
+thought I should one day see thee here and shake thee by
+the hand in our father's mansion; and here thou art.  Ellen,
+here is an old friend with a new face.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The monk started, for even then he felt it strange that
+his countenance should in the least betray the alteration of
+his heart and mind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How dost thou call my face new, my son?  Am I grown
+more grey; or are the lines of my features become more
+sharp?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No, father, no! but yet there is an alteration in thy very
+appearance&mdash;in the smile with which thou greetest us, and
+in the expression of thy countenance, which, though the
+prevailing feature be anxiety, is yet something new for thee
+to wear.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Upon my word, young man, thy perceptions are wonderfully
+sharpened by matrimony.  Thou mayst perceive in
+me what I cannot discover in myself.  Perhaps thou wilt be
+disposed to attribute this alteration of my features to the
+kind and hospitable reception of the lord of this mansion.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I may do this sincerely, father, and it is always a good
+sign when the nobles of a land call forth the lively learning
+and cheerful spirits of those who spend too many of their
+days in retirement.  I rejoice to see thee here.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And I to be here, my son; and to see thee and the fair
+prize thou hast borne away from the banks of the Orwell.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Nay, father, I have not yet left the lovely banks of this
+noble river, though I have become a resident in the town of
+Ipswich; and I shall be happy to exercise the duties of
+hospitality towards thee, as well there as in this present
+place; and I tell thee again, that I believe thine ascetic face
+will assume even there a more generous character than it
+does here.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Alas! my son, I have spent years of solitude in my
+priory, and am little accustomed to the intercourse of any
+but our own fraternity.  If long habits of privation, and
+a complete exclusion from that world in which I was once
+too great a participator in my youth; if, indeed, the heavy
+burthen of my sins, and of one great crime can be atoned
+for by years of penitential devotion to solitude, and prayer,
+and study, such as I have pursued, I may hope that I have
+some merit in depriving myself of the society of my fellow
+creatures, that I may commune with my God.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ha! my father!  And dost thou think thou hast atoned
+by these privations for thine early indulgences in sin?
+Thou and I see things in a wonderfully different light.
+To my mind, thou art seeking thine own righteousness and
+not submitting thyself to the righteousness of God.  If thou
+couldst flagellate thy flesh until thy skin was excoriated
+from the crown of thine head to the sole of thy foot; if
+thou couldst count thy beads from sunrise to sunset, and
+from night until morning every year of thy life; if thou
+couldst walk barefoot from Rome to Jerusalem, or from one
+end of the world to the other; shave thy head, wear
+sack-cloth all thy days, and never smile upon youth or life;
+thou couldst make no atonement for the very least of thy
+sins; much less for any crime which weighs heavy on thy
+conscience?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ha! my son, wouldst thou have had me go on in my
+career unto perdition?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No, father! assuredly not; but I would not have thee
+go to perdition in another way, by renouncing one sin for a
+greater.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How so, my son?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thou hast renounced society, of which thou might'st
+have been an ornament, and the opportunity of doing good
+to thy fellow-creatures, by leading them to see their errors,
+and helping them to correct their lives, by thine example;
+and hast taken upon thyself to work out thy salvation by
+thine own righteousness; or, at least, by calling that a life
+of faith which is, indeed, a life of presumption.  Pardon
+my boldness, father, but we will converse of these things
+another time, and let me tell thee it is the consciousness of
+this truth which makes thee wear a different face.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My son, thou art right, but I owe not this conviction to
+thine argument, but to his whose guest I am.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And I am his debtor for kindness which my life cannot
+repay.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have listened,' said the Lord De Freston, 'to your
+conversation; but let us not make hospitality to consist of
+words.  Come, my dearest friends, I am a debtor to you all,
+and the only way I can repay you is to place my house at
+your service.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And so make us greater debtors still.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'As long as we owe each other nothing but love, we can
+give, take, borrow, lend, exchange, and demand compound
+interest for our loan, and yet be none of us usurers, but
+friends; so let us to the banquet hall.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was in such spirit that these friends met, and, as may
+be supposed, the interchange of affection was of that kind
+which, free from bigotry and superstition, promoted
+good-will and charity, and was honorable in the sight of God
+and man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Still this very intimacy between such enlightened beings
+became a tool for working mischief, in the hands of those
+whose ignorance was only excelled by their cruelties, and,
+as we shall see, led to the sorrow of some, but to the joy of
+a great many.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap31"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+<br><br>
+THE PUNISHMENT.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey returned to Oxford resolved to think no more of
+Ipswich, the Orwell, Freston Tower, Ellen, or the scenes of
+his youth.  There was a singular reaction of life in him
+about this time, for which some of his warmest friends
+could not account.  The learned, laborious, enterprising
+scholar, became the indefatigable architect, devoting the
+energies of his great mind to the ornamenting the loftiest
+stories of his magnificent tower.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The funds of his college, assisted by contributions from
+noblemen and gentlemen connected with Oxford, and from
+all whom he could inspire with something of his own
+spirit were devoted to that building.  Both Wolsey's and
+Latimer's Tower are still standing; one still preserved in
+all its grandeur as a noble feature of Oxford; the other,
+lonely and deserted, still looks over the lovely river Orwell,
+and is the wonder of all who sail down to Harwich.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey's Tower, splendid as it was, was not without deep
+mortification to the great man.  Men who understood not
+his design abused it, and reports of his extravagance were
+set afloat.  When mentioned to the bursar, they only
+excited his contempt; for Wolsey well knew that he honored
+his college by not robbing her of funds left for the
+encouragement of learned men, and whilst he expended so
+much in raising a monument to his own magnificence, he
+did not misapply one single angel to that work which was
+legally and justly devoted to other purposes.  The fact was,
+that as the Tower was near its completion, and was seen to
+be so fair an ornament to the University, he received from
+other colleges pecuniary assistance, and never burthened
+his own with the expense.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His mind was greatly diverted by the interest he took in
+the accomplishment of this undertaking; and if any one
+was impoverished by it, it was Wolsey himself, who
+expended his utmost farthing in its completion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yet, however diverted, he was not insensible to the
+carpings of some, and the inadequacy of his private finances.
+So that when the work was done, the scaffolding taken
+down, and it stood exposed in all its elegance, like every
+other great performance of man's hand and mind, it gave
+not its author the satisfaction he anticipated, but occasioned
+him much annoyance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Few men live to see their own works admired, and it is
+well perhaps they do not, for if their only pleasure in them
+is the thought of man's admiration, and not the employment
+of their time and talents from a high sense of duty,
+which alone gives pleasure, they would be elevated and
+depressed by critical declamations to an unreasonable extent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Soon after Wolsey had built his Tower, he left the
+University to go and reside upon the living of Lymington,
+which the Marquis of Dorset had bestowed upon him for
+the care and attention he had paid to the education of his
+sons.  His fame had been by this time pretty well
+disseminated among all the nobility and gentry who valued
+literature.  The Boy Bachelor had become the great Oxford
+man; and Magdalen Tower had given him a name for taste
+and elegance which, in those days of internal disruption
+between the Houses of York and Lancaster, had been
+almost forgotten.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Wolsey left Oxford he seemed to break off from
+the accustomed restraint of scholastic discipline, which he
+had acquired during his situation as tutor and schoolmaster.
+Men were surprised to find the staid and learned priest the
+free and joyous companion in the country, the life and soul
+of the great houses throughout the counties of Somerset,
+Dorset, and Hants.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Marquis of Dorset had introduced him to the resident
+gentry around him, and he met at his hospital board
+Sir John Nafant, who became particularly attached to him.
+He delighted to hear him discourse, and encouraged him in
+all his sallies of wit.  From Sir John he received repeated
+invitations to partake of hospitality; and, though their
+years were dissimilar, their tastes for literature and
+knowledge were alike.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey made a great impression upon this worthy knight,
+who not only conversed with him upon affairs of state, as
+then existing in England, but corresponded with him on
+foreign affairs, and was equally astonished at his
+comprehensive estimate of the resources of the kingdoms of
+Europe.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sir John did not forget to make a very handsome tribute
+offering to Wolsey, in acknowledgment of those talents
+which he displayed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To none had Wolsey revealed the early disappointment
+he had met with, which he neither then nor afterward&mdash;though
+fields of ambition and vain-glory lay in his way&mdash;could
+totally forget.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Neither cloistered walls nor lofty battlements, neither
+profound learning, nor great estates, can change a man who
+has once imbibed licentiousness of spirit, and suffered it to
+usurp the place of love in the human heart.  A man who
+does wrong, and persists in it without shame, let the wrong
+be the transgression of any moral commandment of God,
+will find a very poor excuse for his conduct, however much
+he may be devoted to learning, and to art or science.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+No robes, however white, which a man can put on, will
+cover the licentiousness of a corrupt heart.  No crown&mdash;not
+even the triple one which adorns the head of the Pope&mdash;can
+free a man from the troubles of conscience.  Better
+for him to cease to do evil, and learn to do well, than to
+bestow all his estates upon the priesthood, who may mutter
+masses for his soul, which can never be released from sin
+but by the obedience of faith.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sir Amias Pawlet, a knight whom Wolsey met one day
+at the table of the Marquis of Dorset, was a man of very
+different character to Sir John Nafant.  He saw with a
+jealous eye the ambition of this young priest, who seemed
+to delight in holding him up to the company as an ignorant
+county magistrate.  Wolsey was certainly not gifted just
+at this time with that amiability of mind and temper which
+could brook the overbearing arrogance of a man who seemed
+to think himself superior to all others in the country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the table of his patron, Wolsey scarcely refrained
+from exposing his ignorance.  He narrated a very simple
+and pithy story about a pullet who assumed all the dignity
+of the dunghill, and looked down with contempt on all
+other fowls.  He exposed the want of judgment and flippant
+manner of the pullet with such force and pointed wit,
+that Sir Amias, who perceived it to be levelled at him, was
+greatly disconcerted, and threatened Wolsey, for being a
+public slanderer, with the penalty of the law.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is certain that Wolsey's proud spirit was not humbled,
+but that he, with a little more pretension to learning, was
+not less tyrannical.  Sir Amias Pawlet cared nothing for
+him.  He was a man of principle&mdash;a plain, straightforward
+man&mdash;grave, austere, and proud.  He was not deficient in
+spirit, and a love of truth and propriety, though he was
+neither equal to Wolsey, Sir John Nafant, or the Marquis
+of Dorset, in letters or knowledge of the world.  He was
+one of those strong-minded men, attached to the good laws
+of the land he lived in, and jealous too for the dignity of
+the church to which he belonged.  He was not, at the time
+treated of, a convert to the then growing liberation of the
+souls of men from the corruptions of that superstition which
+encompassed all Christendom, but he was sensibly alive to
+the necessity of propriety in the character of the priesthood,
+and a man who was too earnest and sincere in his profession
+of religion to admit of any licentiousness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was not likely that such a man, coming in contact with
+the learned and expansive genius of the young Wolsey,
+should shine before him.  He did not, for he bent not to
+the idol of popular greatness, when he saw in him a regard
+only for things expedient, and a certain freedom of speech
+and behaviour, even in the company of the gentry of those
+counties, which ill became the Oxford divine, the tutor of
+the Marquis of Dorset's sons, and the great scholar of
+Magdalen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I like not your country squire, most noble peer,' said
+Wolsey to the Marquis: 'he is ignorant and positive, sturdy
+and absolute, and would do better for a jailer than for a
+magistrate of this county.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I like not your visitor, my lord,' said Sir Amias to the
+Marquis.  'He is much too clever and intriguing for my
+liking.  He, no doubt, would be a very convenient father
+confessor; but I should as soon think of looking for
+absolution to your lordship's bloodhound as to him.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now the Marquis was fully convinced that the priest of
+Lymington and the knight of the shire were distasteful to
+each other; but as he respected both, he kept his own
+counsel, and did not interfere with their respective
+animosities.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was no small sin in those days to speak anything
+disrespectful of the priesthood.  Rome had such authority
+over the nobility, had invented so many intrigues of priest-craft,
+and had obtained such an ascendancy over the families
+of the great, that she employed qualified spies in every
+house to subject the inmates to penances, and works of her
+own imposition, even for the slightest offences, with which
+she could have nothing to do, and which could never take
+away one single fault.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sir Amias, however, was not to be imposed upon by any
+requirements on the part of the priesthood to which they
+did not themselves submit: and in his own family he was
+strict and conscientious, and expected his priest to be the
+same.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was about this time that one of his own servants
+returned from the neighboring fair in a state of intoxication.
+The man was brought before his master, who at that
+very time was conversing with the confessor of his own
+family.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How now, knave? this is not the first time thou hast
+been in bad company; thou didst promise to avoid such men
+if I forgave thee.  Thou shall be put into the stocks, that
+all the country may know thee for a drunkard as thou art.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The half-witted man, who was sufficiently sober to
+comprehend what was said to him, and was sufficiently filled
+with sack not to be afraid of his master, looked very
+knowingly at him and the confessor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I's been in good company, master, very good; and if
+the stocks are lifted up for my legs, I hope you'll give me
+some o' the good company I ha' been in, to keep me in
+countenance there.  There's many more like me, master;
+and there's one there as good as yoursel&mdash;or your
+reverence,' bowing to the priest.  'You're very even-handed,
+master, and my good company I've been in might qualify
+even a better man than me to be a little merry.  I's only
+like my betters.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The knight looked at the priest; and the priest looked
+at the man, and both were puzzled at his words&mdash;but they
+did not speak at the moment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why you looks doubtful, both on you.  Go and see; I's
+not so drunk as not to know an owl when I sees one,
+though it might be the dusk of the evening when he flies.
+Go you with master: you'll see!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Where are we to go, and what are we to see?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Go to the Masque and Mummers&mdash;and if you don't see
+one you dare not put in the stocks, then don't put your own
+servant in; but if you dare to see him, and dare to take
+him, and dare to trap him too&mdash;why then trap me with him,
+and we'll be very good company for each other.  So, master,
+I'm your man; and when you find a poor fellow imitating
+his betters, let his betters find the same law is made for him
+as for one o' the worst like me.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sir Amias rose.  He was not a man to flinch in the
+execution of the law intrusted to him as a magistrate; and
+to his honor be it recorded, he was not an unjust man, who
+would screen the rich at the expense of the poor.  Had it
+been the Marquis of Dorset himself, he would have treated
+him exactly as he would a drunken vagabond, who had not
+a shilling to help himself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'There is too much truth in this fellow's audacity,' he
+replied, 'to let this matter pass away unnoticed.  It will be
+thrown in my teeth by every servant I have, after this, if I
+dismiss this villain and see not the company he has been
+in.  Come, I will claim your companionship.  Let us go
+undisguised and openly, that he, and all men may see what
+we do in the face of the law and our country.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sir Amias desired his servants to take the knave to the
+village stocks.  'There wait,' said he, 'my company; and
+if I find a companion in the state of intoxication he is in,
+let him be the King's son, my loyalty to his father shall
+make the law take its course, even with this fool.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So spoke Sir Amias, and his resolution was equal to his
+words.  The knight and the priest set forth, and went as
+directed to the Masque and Mummers.  He had no definite
+idea as to the issue of his proceeding; but like a brave
+soldier, strong in the fulfilment of his duty, he marched up
+to the scene of riot, taking with him such constables as he
+thought fit for the occasion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A man of less determination might have been deterred
+from going to the scene.  A man with less sense of honor
+would not have done as he did; and a man, who feared God
+and honored the King less, would have been afraid to put
+the law in execution upon a man who presumed to be of an
+order above all law, and yet chose to transgress.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Amidst a set of mummers, masks, and profligates, smugglers,
+and debauchees, who should be holding forth, with
+spirits inflated with sack, but Wolsey, the priest of
+Lymington.  Sir Amias did not parley with him in the least;
+though, in a moment, the fiery priest turned upon him all
+the gibes of the company, and in his drunken revel, held
+him up to ridicule before them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It has been said, the knight was uncourteous; but though
+he knew that man would accuse him of spite, he cared not
+for any one in the discharge of his duty.  The law is never
+stronger than when it deals equal justice to all.  Sir Amias
+felt that he could not punish his own servant for a fault
+which the leader of the parish was himself guilty of,
+without making him an example of the same punishment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He at once put the law into execution, and with such
+determined resolution, that the very company who, the
+moment before, were disposed to laugh at the knight, were
+the first to join in roars of ridicule at the priest of
+Lymington in the village stocks.  He was, indeed, laid by the heels
+by the gallant Sir Amias, a spectacle of justice such as did
+no injury even to the man who endured it, but served him
+right, not only because he ought to have known better, but
+because he did know better, and was the worst of the two.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The two drunkards were a contrast, even in their cups.
+The servant boasted of his company; and the priest railed
+against the law, the knight, the stocks, and the people, and
+threatened them all with the anathemas of Rome.  Neither
+he nor his companion were released till they were sober.
+One lost his situation as the servant of Sir Amias, and the
+other found himself so uncomfortable in the company either
+of nobles or commoners, after this affront to his dignity,
+that he resigned his living into the hands of his patron;
+and accepted the office of secretary to Sir John Nafant, who
+was then governor of Calais.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap32"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+<br><br>
+THE MONASTERIES.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+The space alloted to this work will not be wide enough to
+embrace the gradual progress of Wolsey to that greatness
+which he attained.  The object in view was to show that he
+was anything but a mean man in his birth, though had that
+been to, it would have been no disgrace, and that he was
+brought up in his youth with an early love of everything
+that was generous and praiseworthy.  It was not until his
+youthful disappointment had left him nothing but the pursuit
+of his own gratification in the fields of ambition and
+vain-glory, that Wolsey's character changed from a lover of
+truth, virtue, and humility, to become an aspiring,
+time-serving politician.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is strange that a man who had assumed the priesthood,
+at that time the vehicle of letters in some few, but of
+enormous bigotry and superstition in the mass, should bury his
+love of truth in the vast vortex of worldly ambition.  He
+left truth to shine in his native place, whilst he pursued the
+phantom of idolatry through all the labyrinths of expedient
+invention.  His love of literature he could not abandon.
+It was part and parcel of his life, which remained with him
+through all his progress, and has served to extend his fame
+through ages of darkness, even to the present time.  His
+erudition was, beyond all doubt, genuine and powerful.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He took no particular delight in encouraging individual
+instances of mental superiority, though the learned Erasmus
+speaks so flatteringly of his sumptuous entertainments to
+the stars of genius, as to make a seat at his table one of the
+things most desired in England.  From the great men of
+letters in his day, he never called forth a sentiment of
+gratitude for any encouragement he had given them.  With the
+exception of Sir Thomas More, scarcely any literary
+character received any support from him; and in him he
+supported a successor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His views comprehended the revival of the whole people
+from ignorance by the means of scholastic discipline; and
+his ideas of the diffusion of learning were connected with
+schools, seminaries, and colleges, the very architecture of
+which should speak the taste of their projector.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey had, in early life, imbibed a species of contempt
+for the monastic impositions, which retained the people in
+ignorance, but he could not become indifferent to the lustre
+of the Papacy, to which his soul aspired; no, not even for
+the sake of truth.  It was hence that the patronage of the
+literature he so much admired as the production of the
+universities and schools became confined to men who
+upheld the Papal dominion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He obtained power as legate to subdue the monasteries,
+only because he conceived that their wealth would be
+converted into a channel more conducive to the dignity and
+grandeur of Rome; and as the popedom was, in his ambitious
+eye, the very kingdom of all kingdoms of the earth,
+and he was the man to sit upon that throne, he thought
+that by entitling himself to the respect of England
+for his encouragement of learning, he should one day
+receive the distinction he coveted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was made to do much for letters, but little for the
+truth.  His persecution of the reformers will sufficiently
+prove this.  But whilst Wolsey journeyed to power, the
+friends of his youth journeyed to heaven through a straight
+and narrow path which was not suited to his ambition.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lord De Freston, Latimer, and Ellen, and a few more
+independent and eminent spirits in the neighborhood of
+Ipswich, became candidates for the crown of glory through
+the medium of persecution.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Love, truth, fidelity, wisdom, knowledge, peace, and
+joy, together with some warm friendship from kindred
+spirits of intelligence, made the years roll on, not without a
+glowing interest, hope, and persuasion, that ultimately the
+doctrines of the dawning reformation would prevail.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As Wolsey's power increased, there was a certain increase
+of learning which added much to the desired improvement
+of morals among the Romish clergy, who, at that time, were
+notorious for licentiousness, because of the ease with which
+they could both obtain and grant pardons.  The monasteries,
+though the seats of hospitality, were also the seats of
+imposition and secret vice, which became at last so glaring
+as to awaken strong minds to a sense of their shameless
+prostitution.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey, who had risen to the dignity of Cardinal, took
+advantage of the cry then rising, to sweep off the lesser
+houses, and to impose certain fines upon others for the
+benefit of his foundations of learning.  He occasioned, as
+would naturally be expected, great grief in some districts,
+where the monks were far less vicious than in others; but
+it was a strange infatuation in him, that whist he was
+pulling down with one hand the monasteries and monks, he
+should be with the other encouraging the nunneries, which
+were then attaining such wealth as to make them desired by
+the great.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+News reached Ipswich, that the great man himself,
+though so austere and severe towards the inferior clergy,
+was anything but a pattern of virtue.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have here,' said Latimer to the Lord De Freston, 'a
+singular production of Dan Lydgate's, and if our friend in
+power should catch sight of it, it might so happen that
+even Lydgate would lose his priesthood:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Alice De Clinton,<br>
+  Prioress of Winton,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Summer's for thee no more;<br>
+  The Cardinal's favor<br>
+  Has in it such savor,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Thou shalt not long deplore.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  Winter were summer known,<br>
+  Melting for such a crown,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Alice De Clinton's call:<br>
+  The proud one can change<br>
+  From her haughtiest range,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;O'er the turrets of Goldwell Hall.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  The Abbess De Winter,<br>
+  No matter the splinter,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Is fit for the priory found;<br>
+  And the Winter nuns,<br>
+  Whom nobody shuns,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Shall in Winter fires abound.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  O, who would not bend,<br>
+  To the Cardinal's friend,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Be she what she may chance to be;<br>
+  For 'tis better for her<br>
+  Such a place to prefer,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;So becoming her dignity.'<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>
+'Singular, indeed, it is.  I hear that Warham has complained
+to the King of his favorite's proceedings, and that
+Wolsey is likely to be in disgrace.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I heard as much through Wentworth, only yesterday,
+who was telling me, also, that the Cardinal had made his
+peace with the King, by protesting that the appointment of
+the Abbess of Winton was only under the hope, or at least,
+with the proviso, that the King approved it.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Did you hear the King's commands to the Cardinal?
+"See to it, Wolsey, this appointment displeases us.  We are
+not used to exalt proud ladies, who can be humble only as
+it may suit my Lord Cardinal.  Thou mayst protect thine
+own favorites, but not at the cost of the church, my lord.
+Therefore, for shame's sake, let us not have this monstrous
+fair one made the Abbess of Winton."'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ah, my Lord De Freston, this is no news then unto
+thee; but I can perchance tell thee something which, as
+yet, thou knowest not; for only as I left Ipswich did the
+messenger arrive.  The imperious Allen and his executioners
+have arrived to suppress the monasteries of Suffolk,
+and confiscate all the revenues to the crown.  A court will
+be held to-morrow at the priory of St. Peter's; and Alneshborne,
+as being one of the smaller fraternities, will be one
+of the first to suffer.  Our friend John must be apprised of
+his coming.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He will not be surprised.  Already has he received
+tidings of the suppression of the religious houses in Essex
+and Cambridgeshire, and though a vague thought had dwelt
+with him that from Wolsey's knowledge of the regularity and
+piety of his order he might be spared, more especially as
+the great man, when a little man, was a welcome student
+within the walls of his priory, yet we shall find him prepared
+to obey the Pope's legate in temporalities, and that is
+all he supposes that will be required of him.  We will visit
+him ourselves, my son.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It did not take long for De Freston's boatmen to speed
+over the waves of the Orwell to Alneshborne Priory.  Short,
+however, as was the time, they found the whole fraternity
+assembled in the hall to hear the summons already issued
+by authority of the legate.  So quickly did the Cardinal's
+emissaries proceed to the work appointed them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They arrived in time to hear the Pope's Bull read,
+authorizing the dissolution of the monasteries of Romboro,
+Felixtow, Bromehil, Bliborow, and Montjoye, and upon the
+site of the ancient foundation of St. Peter's, at Ipswich, the
+building a new seat of learning.  And for the better
+effecting of which great and godly purpose, all the revenues
+belonging to the said monasteries were to be forthwith
+entirely at the disposal of the Cardinal, and to be used by
+him in furtherance of his proposed object, to the glory of
+God and the honor of the church of Rome, etc.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+  Signed,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;CLEMENS, PAPA SEPTIMUS.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>
+The most singular extension of authority was that which
+ran thus:
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>
+'In pursuance of the powers vested in us, we the Cardinal, as
+the Pope's legate, do hereby grant unto the united brethren of
+Alneshborne, full powers of absolution from their monastic vows;
+and to be exempt from all suit or service to the Priories of
+Woodbridge, or St. Peter's, Ipswich.  That from the date hereof, and
+the delivery of a schedule of all the property belonging unto the
+said community, that society is henceforth dissolved, and the members
+are at liberty to seek their livelihood in whatever manner they
+may be able, and wheresoever they may be pleased to go, either
+within or beyond the Pope's dominions.'
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>
+How kind and considerate it was of the Pope to take
+away all their property, and give it to one man, and that
+man one whom the dispossessed remembered as a boy,
+frequently indulging in friendly conversation with them!
+How very kind it was of him, when he had deprived them
+of everything, to permit them to go about their business!
+John of Alneshborne, a fine old man, stood with his placid
+face beaming kindness upon his brethren, as Allen&mdash;Wolsey's
+commissioner&mdash;read, line by line, in a language
+they understood too well, the orders of his master.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The orbs of the fine old patriarch were dim with tears,
+which, before the last concluding 'Vale et Vade,' literally
+ran down his venerable cheeks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+However small had been the real utility of their order,
+there was a quiet, inobtrusive seclusion in their position on
+the banks of the Orwell, which every member of that
+community had for years enjoyed undisturbed.  The venerable
+fraternity had spoken together upon the probability of their
+dissolution; yet they evidently did not expect the day
+to be so near.  When it came, it found them very unwilling
+to part, and gave them great surprise and sorrow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lord De Freston and William Latimer looked with compassion.
+Each resolved to offer them present help, until they
+could find some locality or employment suited to their
+habits.  Men long accustomed to the solitude of monastic
+life, where everything is conducted in regular order of time
+and occupation, do not find themselves about to be separated
+without emotion.  They could see each other depart this
+life in their cells, with less tenderness and more resignation,
+than in the midst of life, or rather in its decline, to see each
+other take leave of home, for poverty, wretchedness, and
+uncertainty.  The aged Prior was the first to break the
+silence, and did so with words which proved him to be
+possessed of those fraternal qualities of heart, which
+had felt the command, 'Love as brethren, be pitiful, be
+courteous.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Brethren,' he said, 'our Society is this day dissolved, for
+I have no power to resist the Papal Bull; neither can I
+think of retaining the keys of the monastery a day longer
+than the time allotted us, forty-eight hours.  Yet I cannot
+give up the society of those whom I have now, for forty-four
+years, presided over, without one single word of discord
+amongst us, without deep sorrow.  I came myself from
+Britany, and, as you all know, whatever property I possessed
+was given to this monastery.  We have lived here together
+in harmony, and I had hoped we should here have ended
+our years.  I mourn to think how soon we must be scattered,
+and have our interest in each other dissolved; but ye have
+all heard the mandate.  Farewell, ye happy hours of solitude
+and devotion! farewell, sharers of our common fortune, we
+must be parted! but whither shall we go?  You, Robert
+Wolfren, where will you journey?  You, Francis Wealey,
+where will you find abode?  You, Thomas Wegg, might
+have found an asylum in Essex, but the Monastery of
+Walton is dissolved.  Alan Aleto, farewell!  Michael Milner,
+it will avail you nothing to go to Dodnesh; Lionel Foster,
+we were brothers before we came here, would we could so
+live together until we die!  But where shall we all go?
+The world is wide enough, but it is, to our long habits of
+confinement, a desolation.  If we must part, let us at least
+spend our last two days in devotion, that we may know how
+to commit ourselves to the waves of the world.  Come,
+brethren, let us all to the chapel.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was then that Lord De Freston spoke:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have known you all long years gone by.  I forget not
+your kindness to the outcast hermit of Holy Wells, nor to
+your reception of his bones among you.  Ye showed charity
+to me, also, on that pitiless night of my superstitious vow
+and vigil; but, though I see my errors in those things, the
+kindness of your fraternity shall not pass unacknowledged.
+It is but a short journey over the water to my walls.  In
+them I have room for you all: and neither shall any want,
+though he may be deprived of everything, as long as the
+Manor of Freston can support you.  Grieve not then, my
+aged friends, at the present diversion of your property.
+Ye shall enjoy the privilege of each other's society, even
+though I am not an advocate for monastic seclusion.  Every
+man should learn to live alone, that he may know how best
+to enjoy the society of his fellow-creatures.  I will go with
+you to your chapel, and consult further with you upon your
+future plans.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The fraternity were as much overcome by this generosity
+as they had been by the cruelties of their sudden
+ejection.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They repaired to their chapel, spent an hour in devotion,
+and returned to talk over their miseries, and what they
+should do.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Allen became as punctual in taking possession as he had
+been precise in his declaration of the law, and two days
+afterwards the monks of Alneshborne were located in the
+mansion of Lord De Freston.  Theirs was, however, a
+merciful lot compared with the fate of hundreds who, at this
+time, became deprived of house, home, property, and comforts,
+which some had certainly greatly abused in every way, but
+which others had conscientiously preserved.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+No men were more sensitively alive to the beauties of
+scenery than these retired Augustines.  It was curious to
+see them assembled in the fifth story of Freston Tower,
+watching the progress of vessels bringing Caen stone
+purchased with the property of their own monastery, to build
+the College of St. Peters'.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One thing, and a good one, attended the change.  The
+charity of Lord De Freston did not stop with receiving
+them into his hall, but he endeavored, and with some
+success, to cultivate their minds, and to bring them to the
+indulgence of some higher privileges than their cloistered
+seclusion had allowed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He acted the part of a good Samaritan, by pouring into
+their wounded minds an oil of such efficacy, that it led to
+the conversion of more than the Prior; and their banishment,
+as they first called it, became their freedom.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They remained there until, by degrees, they found
+employment.  One became a teacher in Wolsey's new school;
+another found a situation with the Abbots of Bury; a third
+went to Marseilles, another to Spain, another to Rome,
+until they gradually separated.  But one, Prior John, died
+at Freston.  He perfectly recovered from the infatuation of
+his early superstition, and for some time became the
+enlightened companion of the truly noble lord, who was his
+friend in the hour of need.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So perfectly cured was he of his monastic seclusion, that
+he entirely dispensed with the external trumpery of his
+order, and appeared in Ipswich and its vicinity, under the
+title of the Reformed Monk.  He was a frequent visitor to
+Latimer and his wife, in their mansion in Brook Street:
+and here he was staying when Bilney preached at
+St. George's Chapel.  Such an impression did that Reformer
+make upon this monk's mind, that Lord Wentworth, who
+had authority to quell the growing love of spiritual liberty
+then conspicuous in Suffolk, had marked John of Alneshborne,
+late of the fraternity of Augustines, as a seditious
+heretic.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is probable that, had he lived but a few years longer,
+he would have been a sharer in the martyr's trials.  He was
+already a sharer with his friends, Latimer and De Freston,
+in the onus then attached to those who professed to abhor
+the corruptions of Rome, and desired to see the Christian
+people of England emancipated from the slavery of ignorance.
+He was often heard to say, that he rejoiced even in
+the dissolution of his priory, since it had been instrumental
+in his own conversion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He died one day, as he sat reading the prophet Isaiah,
+in Freston Tower.  The old man had not complained,
+though the lord of the castle had said to him:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'John, you do not look well.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His reply was singular: 'My soul is too big for my body.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How so?' inquired De Freston.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It is grown so large since I left Alneshborne; and as I
+sit reading in this lofty turret, I seem to myself to grow
+out of myself, and to expand in love to <i>all</i> men.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The old man had scarcely said the words before his head
+fell gently on the side of his high wooden chair, and thus
+the Monk of Alneshborne sighed away his spirit.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap33"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+<br><br>
+THE REFORMERS.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+They who do not study deeply the spirit of those days,
+can form no idea of the nature of the Papal superstition,
+which could subjugate kings, princes, rulers, men of letters,
+men of judgment, men of talent, men of thought, and men
+of such comprehensive minds as those of the great Cardinal
+Wolsey.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+People should read his letters concerning the views that
+he entertained of the Popedom.  In spite of an accusation
+of prolixity, and of being a little too learned for the general
+reader, it will be as well to insert here the Cardinal's own
+letter to Gardiner concerning the Popedom, because it will
+show, even to the cursory reader, the nature of that supreme
+temporal, instead of spiritual authority, which such a man
+aimed at.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It shows that he viewed the Popedom as the father of
+princes, instead of kings and queens being the nursing
+fathers and mothers of the church; but let this letter speak
+for itself.
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+THE CARDINAL'S LETTER TO GARDINER ABOUT THE POPEDOM,
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+  'Coll. No. 99, b. B. III. c. II.<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'C. C. C. Camb.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+'MR. STEVINS,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Albeit ye shall be sufficiently with your Collegys,
+by such instructions as be given to Monk Vincent, informed of
+the King's minde and mine, concerning my advancement unto
+the dignity papelle,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Not dowtting but that for the singular devotion which ye bere
+towards the Kinge and his affaires, both generall and particular,
+and perfyte love which ye have towards me, ye will omitt nothing
+that may be <i>excogitat</i> to serve and to conduce to that purpose,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yet I thought convenient, for the more fervent expression of
+mine in that behalf, to wryte to you, as to the person whom I most
+entirely do trust.  And by whome this thing shall be most Rightly
+set forth these few wordys followyng of mine own hande.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I dowt not but ye do profoundely consider as well the state
+wherein the Church and all <i>C'tendome</i> doth stand now presently,
+as also the state of the Realme, and of the King's secret Matter,
+which if it shoulde be brought to passe, by any other Meanyes
+than by the Authority of the Church, I accounte this Prince and
+realme utterly undone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Wherefor that is expedient to have such one to be <i>Pope and
+Commyn Father to all Princes</i>, as may, can, and wold geve remedy
+to the premises.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And albeit I accompt myself much ounabill, and that shall be
+now incommodious in mine old age to be the said Commyn Father
+yet when all things be well ponderyd, and the qualitys of all the
+Cardinalls well considered, <i>absit verbum jactantiœ</i>, ther shall be
+none found that can and will sett remedy in the forsaid things, but
+only the Cardinall Ebor; whos good will and holi ys not to you
+of all men unknowne.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And were it not for the re-integration of the state of the
+Churche and See Apostolique, to the prestine dygnite, and for the
+conducinge of peace amongst C'tian princes, and especially to
+relieve this prince and realme from the calamities that the same
+be now in, all the riches or honor of the world should not cause
+me&mdash;<i>nedum aspirare sed ne consentire</i>&mdash;to accept the seid dignite,
+and altho' the same with all Commodytes were offeryed unto me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Neverthelesse, conforming myself to the necessity of the time
+and the will and pleasure of these two princes, I am content to
+appone all my witt and study, and to set forth all meanys and ways,
+<i>et bene faciam rebus C'tianitatis</i>, for the atteyning of the said
+dignite.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'For the atcheving and atteyning whereof for as muche as
+thereupon dependeth the health and wealth, not only of these two
+princes and their realms, <i>but all C'tendome</i>, nothing is to be omitted
+that may conduce to the said end and purpose.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Wherfore, Mr. Stevins, since now ye be so plainly advertised
+of my mind and intent, I shall pray you to extend, Omnes nervos
+ingenij tui, ut ista res, ad effectum perduci possit, nullis parcendo
+sumptibus, pollicitationibus sive laboribus, ita ut horum viris in
+genia, et affectiones sive ad privata sive ad publica ita accomodes
+actiones tuas.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Non deest tibi, et Collegis tuis amplissima potestas nullis terminis
+aut conditionibus limitata sive restricta, et quicquid feceris,
+scito omuia apud hunc Regem et me esse grata et rata.  Nam
+omnia, ut paucis absolvam, in tuo ingenio, et fide reposuimus.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Nihil superest aliud scribendum, nisi quod supplex orem ut
+ones actiones tuas secundet Deus optimus Maximusq; et ex corde
+vale.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ex œdibus meis West Monast. vij., Februarij.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Tuæ salutis et amplitudinis cupidissimus.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'T. Car, lis Ebor, propria Manu.'*
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+* <i>Stevin</i> (<i>i.e.</i>) Stephen Gardiner, then at Rome, called Dr. Stevens.
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>
+This letter will sufficiently show that confidence which
+the Cardinal had then in himself, when he said, that upon
+his being made Pope depended not only the health and
+wealth of princes and their realms, but all Christendom.
+The man who could have such conceit of himself, might
+well be unable to endure the growing boldness of the
+Reformation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Though his learning was so vast, and his influence at
+home and abroad so great, never did a subject rise to
+higher splendor, and never did a great man fall more
+suddenly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+How ephemeral is the favor of princes!  Few historical
+records give any but mortifying pictures of the misfortunes
+and discomfitures of great men.  Few, either warriors or
+statesmen, but well know the reverses of public favor, and
+few poets, authors, artists, and skilful men in science, or in
+law, physic, or divinity, but have to contend with poverty
+and persecution, even in their eminence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+What a happy man is he who trusts in God, and takes all
+things as he has them, coming from Him who '<i>lifteth up
+and putteth down</i>.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the very year of the Cardinal's utmost ambition and
+presumption, when he sought to raise himself above all
+princes&mdash;in the very year of his greatest splendor and
+wealth, the same man is made to exclaim, according to his
+faithful historian and apologist, Cavendish:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Now it is come to pass that it hath pleased the King to
+take all that I have into his hands, so that I have now
+nothing to give you, for I have nothing left me but the bare
+clothes on my back.'&mdash;(Fiddes, p. 47, 5 fol. ed.)
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One instance, however, of the softening of the heart of
+this great man remains to be told, which does him honor;
+but, to be rightly understood, the reader must be referred
+to those stirring times when the Papal power, having
+reached the summit of its presumption, began to be looked
+at with the eyes of truth, and the unnatural and impious
+monstrosity of its proceedings began to be questioned
+openly by the Reformers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Poor Bilney was at this time preaching at Ipswich.  He,
+though conscious that he should meet with as little pity as
+his former friends, Thomas Ayers, who was burnt at Eccles,
+in Norfolk, and Thomas Bingay, who was four score and
+six years of age when he was burnt at Norwich, yet
+boldly attacked the blasphemous doctrines of the Church
+of Rome.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He exposed the folly of pilgrimages, the absurdity of
+miracles said to be done at Walsingham, Canterbury, and
+even in Ipswich, and hesitated not to call them the
+inventions of the devil to delude the souls of men.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The lights set up before images, he designated as meteors
+of deception, which would lead men into darkness.  He
+had been well acquainted with De Freston and Latimer,
+Notcote and Bailee, and many more in the town previous to
+his appearing among them as an advocate for their religious
+liberties.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was grown a bold man, strong in confidence of the
+rectitude of the cause he was advocating.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Intimate as he was with Hugh Latimer, the after
+celebrated martyr, cousin to William Latimer, of Ipswich, it
+was at the house of the latter, which Daundy and De
+Freston had obtained from Antony Wingfield, that Bilney,
+Arthur, John of Alneshborne, and John Bale, so often held
+learned, sound, and judicious disquisitions concerning the
+errors then so prevalent in matters of faith and duty.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of far too high a character for anything that was seditious,
+inflammatory, or even despiteful of dignities, these
+truly gifted men looked only at the truth, as laid down in
+the Revelation of God, and applying their hearts to God
+in prayer, that their understandings might be opened, they
+beheld, with light as clear as the sun in broad day, all the
+fooleries then practised to deceive; the pomposities of the
+processions to the shrines of saints, and all the tinsel
+flummery of an external parade of devotion which imposed upon
+the senses, and filled the minds of the people with fancies.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thomas, Arthur, and Bilney were cited to appear before
+the Cardinal, at the Chapter House in Westminster.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nothing could equal the rage of the friars at Ipswich
+against Bilney.  He had assembled before him a multitude
+of hearers to whom he exposed in clear and concise
+language the distinction between the duties of obedience
+to God and obedience to man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He cut them to the heart when he told them that in the
+various protestations they made to the images, and the
+offerings they made to them, they were serving senseless
+devils and not God: that though in all legal matters
+submission even unto death was a duty, yet nothing ought to
+hinder them from protesting against idolatry, in matters of
+faith and good works; and that obedience to man, when in
+direct opposition to God's commands was, however urgent
+that command, not to be complied with.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He instanced Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
+over all of whom God had power, so that they suffered no
+injury.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But if they had, if they had as the sufferers for Christianity
+been burnt to death, or been devoured by lions, their
+duty was to adhere to the truth, and yet not rebel against
+the lawfully constituted authorities of the realm.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He proved that the sins of idolatry in the palmy days of
+Babylon, were as nothing compared with those existing in
+his day.  A Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon could exclaim: 'I
+thought it good to show the signs and wonders that the
+high God hath wrought toward me.  How great are his
+signs! how mighty are his wonders, his kingdom is an
+everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to
+generation.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But in his day, people were to confess that the Pope hath
+the supreme authority, and that his mandates are above the
+commands of God; and that the Virgin Mary is an object
+of worship even in heaven; and, therefore, must be so
+upon earth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Men marvelled, indeed, at the plain, strong, and conclusive
+arguments which this enlightened man brought forward
+to prove the wickedness of that spiritual Babylon in
+which he who called himself the father of princes sat
+enthroned.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He told them that they would even in that chapel see the
+rage of the Popish priests presently displayed: and had
+enough to do to restrain the people from rebellion, when
+the Bailiff, Prior Brown, and the Dominican Friars, entered
+the congregation, seized him, and conveyed him to prison.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His affectionate appeal to them to possess their souls in
+patience, and to submit even as he did, was more touching
+than even his strong and forcible doctrine against the
+superstitions of his country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was taken to London, and there, like Peter, he showed
+at first the weakness of his flesh, and, as is well known,
+through many terrors, was induced to recant; but his after
+sufferings were infinitely greater; his conscientious soul was
+troubled to the very depths of chaotic darkness, until, as
+the heavenly-minded Cranmer afterwards did, he again
+stepped forth from his hades of death, to shine conspicuous
+in faith and martyrdom.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is not the object of these pages to show the sufferings
+of martyrs, though here and there to introduce a word of
+admiration of their constancy will not be found irrelevant
+to the subject of Freston Tower.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is said by some, that the great Cardinal was not so
+severe a bigot as Sir Thomas More, Cuthbert Tonstall,
+Nix, Bishop of Norwich, Gardiner, and others.  Severity,
+however, he did use, and issued his mandates to his
+inquisitors to search out all suspected Lutherans and
+summon them to London.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His early disciplinarian was by his order confined, though
+not for the faith, by the space of four years.  Sir Amias
+Pawlet felt the weight of his revenge, but by bending to
+the great man's vanity, he obtained his release.  The
+Cardinal, however, was much more severe than Sir Amias
+was to him.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap34"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+<br><br>
+THE ARREST.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Amongst those who were considered disaffected to the
+church, complaints were made to Nix, Bishop of Norwich,
+that Lord De Freston of Freston was a notorious heretic;
+that he fostered Bilney, Arthur, Bale, Latimer, and half the
+seditiously disposed, and spoke disrespectfully of the
+Cardinal as Legate, and accused him of depravity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is one thing to be accused of a crime, and another to
+be guilty of it.  Fear under an accusation lest the world
+should think there might be some truth or foundation for
+the report, has made many an innocent person shrink from
+defending himself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But De Freston, conscious of his loyalty, integrity, faith,
+and good intentions, received the news of his impeachment
+without any fear of consequences.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wentworth's orders were taken by the bailiffs and constables
+to seize the body of De Freston of Freston, and convey
+him without any further let or hindrance into my lord's court
+at Westminster.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All Ipswich was in a commotion at the intelligence.  The
+reformers rose and formed a formidable body to go to
+Freston.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Some talked of pulling down Bourne Bridge, by which
+the officers of attachment were to proceed, and a riot would
+have taken place but for the interference of the junior
+Mr. Daundy, who was then as influential as his father had
+previously been, and who, in this instance, displayed the
+courage and wisdom of a good man.  As it was, he could
+scarcely prevent the mob from impeding the progress of
+Wentworth to Freston Tower.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bourne Bridge, which until the year previous, had been
+but a narrow horse-bridge, had been enlarged for heavy
+carriages, and was then a stout brick and stone structure.
+The beginning of riot was only required to have it soon
+levelled with the Orwell.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Good sense, however, prevailed, and the multitude, though
+accompanying the Bailiff and messengers to arrest De Freston,
+were overruled and persuaded to keep order and submit.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was not until they were told that any rioting on their
+parts would probably prove fatal to the cause of De Freston,
+that they subsided into a settled determination to show
+their respect to that good man, by not giving way to the
+vengeance of popular excitement.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+De Freston and his friends were seated in the tower,
+conversing about the early days of the Cardinal, and calling
+to mind his youthful vivacity, his liberality of opinion, his
+love, his philanthropy, his erudition, his distinguished
+talents, and his wonderful advance to power, when Ellen
+espied the people coming in a mass along the shore, and
+with astonishment exclaimed:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'All Ipswich is coming to the tower!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The friends looked out of the bay window, and a sudden
+paleness spread over the face of the father, as he said to
+his daughter:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Depend upon it, Ellen, they are coming for me.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'For what, father?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'To take me to prison.  I can see the scarlet robe of
+authority which the Lord Wentworth wears, and I have
+known too well his marked displeasure against me, not to
+perceive that such a multitude would not be at his heels, if
+he did not come upon some obnoxious matter concerning
+the reformers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He is active and generous by nature; but of such an
+absolute and fiery disposition, that whereinsoever he
+conceives an offence, he is sure to put the law in execution
+without mercy.  Hark!  I can hear their murmurs! open
+the window!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was done, and distinctly the sound of voices, raised is
+short and gibing tones could be distinguished, and as they
+drew near,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Shame! shame to the Cardinal!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Long live his noble patron!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Success to the Reformers!  Hail to the truth!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And 'Down with persecutors!' came sweeping upon the
+wind to the ears of the terrified Ellen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Oh, my dear father! will you not fly whilst there is
+time?  Cross the waters to Fastolf's Halls.  Take ship, and
+avoid a dungeon&mdash;perhaps the stake, oh! my father!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Hush! my child, calm thyself.  Fear not, put thy trust
+in God.  Have faith in Him.  It is too late to flee, and too
+late in life for me to be afraid of death.  Hush! hush!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But a dungeon! a dungeon! four years' imprisonment
+like that of Sir Amias Pawlet!  Oh! my father, I cannot
+bear the thought of it.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I suffer, my child, nothing for myself, but only for the
+thought of thee.  But let us not judge too prematurely.
+Come, let us descend to the castle, and if they do take
+me, let them take me prepared.  Come, child, your arm.
+William, is it not best to be resigned?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Latimer's spirit was too full of agitation to reply as he
+could wish.  He felt a sudden fearfulness which made him
+think it was no easy thing to be a martyr.  He suppressed
+the bitterness of his feelings, and followed his dear friends
+to the castle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was not long before acclamations reached their ears,
+and coming from the very vicinity of the walls; and the
+commissioner, with his authority, soon entered the court.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+De Freston received them courteously; he looked at their
+credentials.  The seal of authority was upon them and he
+submitted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'As thou art thyself obedient to our authority, canst thou
+not warn thy people of disobedience?' said Wentworth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I will do what I can,' and what he said and did, proved
+sufficient; for the multitude became as patient as a child,
+and submitted to the guidance of him whom they respected.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lord De Freston had a severe struggle with his daughter
+in which she proved successful.  She determined to
+accompany her father, together with her husband, to London.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She did so, of which the next chapter will give more
+ample detail.
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'She was a daughter and a wife,<br>
+  Loving her father, and beloved through life.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap35"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+<br><br>
+THE LETTER.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Nothing but the calm wisdom of De Freston could prevent
+an outbreak.  The people of Ipswich and its vicinity
+were so attached to him, that, had not Daundy been there
+to exercise his influence and control over his fellow-townsmen,
+the Cardinal's mandate would not have been carried
+into execution without violence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But De Freston had discreet friends who offered to be
+bound with and for him, but he would hear of none so
+committing themselves.  He was content when Wentworth
+consented that his son-in-law and his lovely daughter should
+accompany him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She also accounted it an honor to be able to share her
+father's afflictions.  Her principles were of that pure and
+holy kind, they would not shrink in the hour of trial from
+filial affection.  She regarded the fifth commandment of
+God, by the grace which she received so to do, and was
+fully determined to suffer with her father, let the penalty
+be what it might.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Father and daughter were indeed Christians.  They
+knew how to suffer for the truth's sake, as will appear
+by their conversation on the evening of their arrival and
+detention at Westminster, by order of Tonstal, Bishop of
+London.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lodged in a mean apartment, ill-becoming their respectability
+in the eyes of men, it was for that daughter, by the
+power of that quiet, commanding interest which her virtuous
+carriage and external appearance claimed, to secure for her
+father better treatment than he would otherwise have
+received.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For herself, she would have written nothing to the great
+man: but when did a daughter's piety fail in behalf of a
+father, when innocence and a righteous cause demanded
+her exertion?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Where a son might have failed she succeeded, as the
+sequel will show, to Wolsey's honor and the development
+of the best feelings of his heart.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She insisted upon writing a letter to the Cardinal.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Tell the keeper of this prison,' she said, 'that I insist
+upon seeing him.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One of the creatures of Tonstal made his appearance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Is your master, the Bishop, to be seen?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My lord may be seen at proper hours, but not at this
+time.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Can you convey a letter to the Cardinal?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'From whom?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'From me, sir.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I cannot have any communication conveyed to the Cardinal
+from you father without the Bishop's previous knowledge.
+But for you, lady, as you are not in custody, I can
+send a messenger.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Can you furnish me with pen and paper?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'They shall be at your command; but will you retire into
+my private apartments for such a purpose?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I thank you for the offer; but I will write here.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I fear, if you do, I shall have to send it first to the
+Bishop of London for his inspection, as it will be issued
+direct from the prisoner's presence.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Then will I accompany you for such a period as may
+be sufficient for my purpose.  I will be soon with you again,
+dearest father.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'For what purpose, my daughter,' added De Freston,
+upon whom years had begun to make their accustomed
+ravages, 'will you write to the great man?  Let me be
+content without your making any humiliating concessions
+for me.  I am old, and in a common course of nature must
+soon depart this life.  Degrade me not, my daughter, by
+any compromise of your own dignity, for the ephemeral
+phantom of this man's dominion.  We have had proof
+enough that he thinks nothing about us, or he would not
+have forgotten, for so many years, his old friends and
+companions in Freston Tower.  Write to him not, but let all
+things proceed as if we were strangers to him.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You may safely trust your honor, my dear father, to
+my keeping.  Fear not, for one moment, that I should write
+anything derogatory to the nicest sense of Christian delicacy,
+nor that I should court even the Cardinal's smiles at the
+expense of integrity.  I will not compromise faith, truth, or
+righteousness.  But human greatness, dearest father, is
+sometimes misrepresented, and we may have wronged him&mdash;even
+the friend we knew when he was young&mdash;and may have
+attributed false motives to those actions which regard
+ourselves.  Wolsey may not really be insensible to the truth as
+we ourselves profess it, and may be ignorant of our being
+brought to London.  I cannot think the Cardinal can so far
+forget us as to neglect us in our necessity.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ah, my daughter, power and greatness are dangerous
+possessions, where the heart is hardened beyond the calls
+of nature, grace, or gratitude.  He who could revenge an
+insult, after years of daily prayer himself to be forgiven, is
+not a likely man to liberate even an old friend if he finds
+him an opponent.  Wolsey knows our sentiments.  Did he
+spare Sir Amias Pawlet?  No.  How then can we hope for
+anything but justice, one-sided justice, from the Cardinal?
+Severity and injustice will be shown to us as heretics, and
+we shall be rejected, and&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Hold, hold, dear father; I am ready to suffer with you,
+upon any matter of faith and duty; but let us not condemn
+his greatness merely because we may appear to have been
+neglected by him.  He must have had his great mind so
+fully occupied even with the King's business, that we may
+have been overlooked.  I have still some returning regard
+for the friend of my youth; and, though Latimer may not
+forgive him, I am sure he will forgive me for saying I
+forgive him.  Trust me, dear father, trust me!  Farewell
+for an hour.  Latimer is gone to seek a lodging, as he is
+not permitted to remain here.  I may, however, by the
+indulgence of the gaoler, on account of the increasing
+infirmities of your years, wait upon you.  I will write to the
+Cardinal.  There can be no hurt in it.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Go, my child, thou art confident of the innocence of
+thine intentions, and of the perfect justice of thy cause.
+I will add no more.  Go!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She retired into the gaoler's private apartments, and
+wrote her letter in simple dignity of style, according to the
+method of the day.
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+'MY LORD CARDINAL,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'This comeyth unto thee by suffrance of the gaoler
+in Cannon Street prison, unto which place, committed by thine order
+through Lord Wentworth, the commissioner for the suppression of
+heresies and heretics, my venerable father, thy former patron, is
+now thy prisoner.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I say thy prisoner, but presume it to be but nominally thine,
+and really the prisoner of the Bishop of London.  I cannot think
+that thou wouldst permit an old man, and a steadfast friend of thy
+youth, to sleep in a dungeon, whilst thou dost occupy a palace.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thou knowest well the free mynde of my father, and canst best
+judge of his state who did ever open unto thee the store-house of
+his intellect, and did keep nothing from thee, which his readyne
+and his studye could attain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I pray thee, my Lord Cardinal, remember that thy greatness
+can never better become thee than when thou dost shield from
+disdain and dyscomfort those who can no longer defend themselves.
+The aged man, now growing infirm, but only in bodye, doth well
+remember thy younger days; and I, his daughter, whom thou dydst
+once call thy friend, am unwilling to thynke thou canst forget us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Tears do alter moste men, but Christian men never lose the
+goodness of their hearts, but the rather, as their years do
+increase, they themselves do grow better-hearted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The Lord De Freston, though grey and thyn, ys not thyn
+within, for he ys stout-hearted and as warm in spirit as he ever
+was.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He would cheerfullie endure even the cold of a prison, not
+would have me wryte to thee now in any tone of complaynte; but
+nathlesse I do, for I do see an aged parent suffrynge for the want
+of better fare and lodgment; and I do not think so bad of thee as
+to beleeve that thou art so steeled against all righteousnesse, as
+to permit an ould friend to be so discomfytted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'By thy authority, we myght procure better lodgment, if thou
+wouldst gyve an orderre for our permission to seek them; gyving,
+as we would cheerfully do, our honourable word to appear at any
+hour before thee, my Lord Cardinal, or thy high Commissioner
+touching any inquiries as to our accusation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My Lord will readily forgive a daughter's anxiety for one who
+has ever been all in all to her from her infancy, and attribute thys
+appeel to filial affection, as well as to a certayne sense she has of
+Cardinal Wolsey's greatness, that he will not deny her thys very
+symple requeste, to be permyttede to convey her father to some
+better lodgment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'This favour granted, will give comfort to your humble servant,
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+  'ELLEN DE FRESTON, now<br>
+  'ELLEN LATYMER.'<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>
+This letter was handed to the Cardinal the last day he
+ever presided in Westminster Hall as Lord Chancellor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was the first day of Michaelmas Term, 1529, when he
+had put forth all his accustomed pomp to go from York
+Place to Westminster.  It was on that very day Ellen De
+Freston's letter was handed to him in Court.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Cardinal was observed to turn deadly pale, and some
+thought he had received a letter from Mistress Anne,
+conveying some more direct intimation of his downfall.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+What were the depths of his real thoughts no one
+could tell.  He wrote on a scrap of paper&mdash;'Summon
+Cavendish.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To him he gave commission to go and bring to his house
+forthwith Lord De Freston and all his retinue; and 'let
+one and all,' said he, 'be well entreated.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was observed that Wolsey gave that day such evidences
+of abstraction of mind as bordered upon aberration.  Men
+prognosticated his speedy decline, and plenty there were
+among the nobles who were glad to give him a kick, to let
+him see how truly they despised the man whom they once
+had feared.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Ellen returned to her parent's prison she narrated,
+as nearly as she could, the words she had made use of; but
+the old man, Lord De Freston, shook his head, and said&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Men forget their benefactors when ambition has brought
+them to the pinnacle of fame.  Pride likes not to remember
+it had a patron.  Good men only take pleasure in looking
+upon the past, and calling to mind the ministering
+kindnesses of any, rich or poor, whoever they might be, that
+gave them even a cup of cold water in the day of their
+necessity.  The Cardinal has too much pride.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Wait, dear father, the return of the messenger.  We can
+but then moralize upon the hardness of the human heart.
+Let us pray that God will not desert him, though he be so
+great a man.  Something whispers to my heart that we
+have wronged him.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+O! when did female pity fail to hope the best of one for
+whom it has felt even the slightest regard?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ellen had a wise heart, a kind spirit&mdash;the very soul of
+purity and love&mdash;which would not think evil until proof
+should be given of a hardened heart; and she was not
+deceived.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap36"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+<br><br>
+THE SUMMONS.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Whilst they were yet talking of the impenetrable nature
+of pride, and of all they had heard of Wolsey's
+magnificence, Cavendish arrived to conduct them all to the
+Cardinal's palace of York Place.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ellen did but look one moment's triumph before she
+checked herself for the impiety.  She said to herself, 'My
+father knows not what I do; and it is impious to triumph
+over a parent's weakness.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The thought of speech, which might injudiciously have
+come forth as it might have done from thousands&mdash;'There,
+father, who is right?' was but a momentary impression on
+her soul.  Christian delicacy rose superior to all feelings of
+triumphant boasting, and she suppressed the proud words
+which died away in her, even with the thought, before the
+pure spirit of charity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Oh, that all daughters were like her!  Where trained in
+holiest love they will ever be so.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+De Freston felt the delicacy of his dear child, who spake
+not one word of reproach to him, but looked all readiness
+to accompany him, either to the dungeons of an inquisition,
+or to the palace of a cardinal.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Circumstances reprove sometimes the best of men, or
+rather make them reprove themselves for things which they
+had too hastily decided upon.  So was it with Lord De
+Freston.  He felt he might be wrong, though he was most
+marvellously astonished at the change which he considered
+must have come over the Cardinal.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He received those gentle and generous attentions from
+Cavendish which none but he could so feelingly exercise.
+He knew how to behave wisely in prosperous or adverse
+circumstances, and how to qualify the duties of an exalted
+position with all the devotion of a servant.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was such sincerity in Cavendish and his proceedings,
+both for and with his master, as laid the foundation of
+his family greatness for ages.  In nothing was he greater
+than in speaking his master fair, when his fortunes had
+deserted him.  The servant who does his duty faithfully, is
+quite free from the sins of his master.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My lord desired me expressly,' said Cavendish, 'to
+inquire in what way he could serve you.  He insists upon
+your being his guest, and will hear of no denial.  I am
+a stranger to you, and you equally the same to me,
+as I have never chanced to hear my master mention you.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+De Freston smiled as he replied&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'In that last sentence we are not surprised.  Your
+master has been known to us from his youth; and when he
+was small in reputation, he esteemed me for my support.  I
+only marvel that, now he is a great man, he should
+remember us at all.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My master and greatness have been long familiar.  He
+is a prince in all things but a crown; yet his Cardinal's hat
+is more exalted than the King's crown, and goes before him
+to his duties.  I am quite sure he remembers you pleasantly,
+or I should not have received such special orders to conduct
+your lordship, with all ceremony, to his palace.  You, and
+all your retainers, and whomsoever you may choose to
+accompany you, are to be received at York Place.  Will you
+order all your retinue to be in readiness?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Alas, young man, you know not how few they be.  This,
+my daughter, is my only mistress, the wife of William
+Latimer.  Her husband is with her.  He was an old
+college companion of thy master's.  Dost thou think he will
+receive him?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Even as a king would!  You will yourselves be the
+witness, for my master is, of all men, the most courteous.
+Towards every one he is gentle and dignified, and has the
+singular gift of forgetting manners to no one.  I will
+answer for Master Latimer's most grateful reception.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He comes, my son, to speak for himself.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Latimer bowed to the stranger, and proceeded to explain
+to his wife that he had obtained lodgings close at hand,
+and should be able to be in constant attendance; when
+she explained that they were all to go to York Place; that
+the gentleman then before him was Wolsey's secretary, and
+sent on purpose to conduct them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He looked inexpressible things at Ellen, who assured him
+it was the fact, and that she had made up her mind to go,
+and should be glad of his company.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'"Will wonders ever cease?" my dear, has been the
+exclamation from the foundation of Babylon, and will be an
+exclamation when old England shall cease to have a Cardinal,
+and Rome a Pope; but that Thomas Wolsey should at
+length condescend to notice us after so many years!&mdash;surely
+he and his fortunes must be about to change
+together.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And if they are, Master Latimer, let me advertise thee
+that they may change for the better, even in the opinion of
+you all.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was then that surprise overcame them all, and the
+question arose: 'Will Wolsey become a Reformer?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He is a reformer of many things; and if the King's
+favor and the King's disfavor be both silent, my master
+will be a greater man than ever.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thou art a wise young man, Mr. Cavendish, and canst see
+the ticklish nature of these times; but those two "ifs" are
+like the base pillars, I fear, upon which the Colossus of Rhodes
+stood, which the earthquake precipitated into the sea.  They
+cannot bear the weight of Wolsey.  Favor falling, disfavor
+will remain, but the Cardinal cannot stand on one leg, and
+that a bad one.  A subject's head in these days, once in
+disrepute, will soon roll off his shoulders.  But come, my
+child, let us away.  Time flies, and our new acquaintance
+must be glad to dispose of us according to his instructions.
+I rejoice always.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'We are at your command, sir.'
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'So then again strange trials will increase.<br>
+  And wonders, ever new, will never cease.'<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap37"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XXXVII
+<br><br>
+THE ARRIVAL.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+It was in the evening of that memorable day when Wolsey
+had sat long in state at Westminster, and had been detained
+by causes which he was anxious, whilst he had the seals, to
+see concluded, that Cavendish conducted the prisoner, as De
+Freston really was, to York Place.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He had sent one of his master's servants to apprise
+Wolsey's chamberlain, and master of ceremonies, and household
+servants, of the expected arrival of guests of distinction;
+but who they were to be, and how many, he had not
+revealed.  He was ignorant himself; but, from his taking
+twelve of his master's men, with mules and sumpter mules,
+it, was evident he expected rather a cavalcade and procession,
+than merely to have to conduct an old man, his
+daughter, and her husband.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All Wolsey's household had been upon the '<i>qui vive</i>,'
+and were, no doubt, as great men's servants frequently are,
+disappointed at no great state arrivals, when they saw so
+small a party approaching.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They were ushered, with quiet gentleness, into the great
+reception-hall, where one of the strangest adventures&mdash;as
+unexpected as unwished-for&mdash;presented itself to view.
+There stood, full in her sight, as Ellen entered the
+Alice De Clinton, together with two female attendants
+near her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+What a picture did these females then present to view.
+Had not the description been given from ocular demonstration,
+imagination could not have depicted the surprise.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Neither Alice nor Ellen had seen each other, and heard
+but little of one another, for years.  They had been friends
+in their early days.  One, at least, had been a warm-hearted
+one.  Both had been intimate; but there stood Alice to
+receive Ellen in the Cardinal's house at York Place; and
+there entered Ellen, Lord De Freston, and Latimer into
+the presence of one who had left upon their memories a
+chilling impression of hauteur, which formerly disgusted
+them, and did not, at that moment, allow of any softening
+sensation for better impression.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of all conjunctions, of all positions in which persons are
+unexpectedly placed, the memory of rivalship, in which personal
+dislike more than any honest contention or provocation
+had been the cause of disunion, is the most difficult
+feeling to disperse.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Surprise was for the moment the expression of every
+face.  Even Ellen's confessed it, and there was nothing
+pleasurable in the meeting.  As to Alice, if an apparition
+had risen out of the earth, she could not have been more
+petrified with astonishment.  Her cold, dark eye, wide open,
+and fixed upon Ellen, told, by its intensely rivetted stare,
+that it saw too much&mdash;more than it could bear; and yet it
+dwelt with hard, cruel, inquisitive firmness on the party
+before it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Is it possible to meet a person who hates you&mdash;literally
+hates you even unto death, and makes you know it by the
+very contempt of the eye&mdash;and not to feel a shudder at the
+enormity of hatred?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here stood, confronted in the forms of female self-possession,
+the dignity of the highest worldly pride, and the
+dignity of true humility.  The one conscious of being
+introduced to the other by the very power to which alone
+that other had been known to bend.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here was Alice De Clinton, the proudest spirit that ever
+daughter of Eve possessed, and Ellen Latimer, at once the
+meekest and humblest, but, at the same time, the most
+faithful spirit, conscious of duty and love, met to confront
+each other by the order of the Cardinal, who, at the time
+he gave the invitation, was so engrossed with the affairs of
+his declining grandeur, that he forgot the opposing powers
+meeting in his mansion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Coming events cast their shadows before them.'  The
+downfall of the favorite was precipitate enough; but the
+downfall of a portion of his domestic arrangements preceded
+it.  The Cardinal had no motive in his heart but that which
+softened pride is apt to feel when it sees greatness fallen
+before it.  Wolsey saw only Lord De Freston in distress,
+and his lovely daughter, the early companion of his youthful
+day, appealing to him for help.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Through the vista of years gone by, he had never forgotten,
+though ambition had diverted his mind, the learned
+Ellen and Freston Tower; and though those years had, as
+an early dream, visited him with pleasure and with pain,
+yet they recurred to him now, in his decline, with a degree
+of softness and tenderness which positively subdued the
+grand and lofty-minded man from ambition to affection.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That can scarcely be called a subduing.  It ought to be
+named an exaltation; but the world, which judged then, as
+now, that human weakness displayed in a great man is
+worthy of condemnation, did not spare the declaration that
+the mighty Cardinal had lost his mind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was, indeed, greatly affected by the arrival of these
+early friends at such a time, and the abstruse decisions of
+the law were then most irksome.  He determined, however,
+to see all cases somehow or other decided which could be
+brought before him, and he remained a longer time than
+usual upon his judgment seat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Time enough, indeed, to let the ladies see each other, and
+become acquainted before he should return.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The haughty Alice De Clinton had grown more proud,
+more portly, more stately, since she had consented to abide
+with the Cardinal, than she was while under the roof of the
+Bishop of Norwich.  Report had stated that the Cardinal, in
+seeking to get her made Abbess of Winton Priory, had
+private motives of self-gratification therein, and the ear of
+royalty had been so whispered into, as well as advertised
+thereof loudly, that Henry's letter to the Cardinal
+upon that subject still exists, and certainly was the
+occasion of her not being appointed to that situation which
+no one was better fitted to fill than such a cold, heartless,
+stern, unnatural, and superstitious woman as Alice De
+Clinton.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+De Freston and his daughter had been infected with the
+report before they stood confronted with the lady herself;
+so that it did not add to their comfort when they saw her
+in the position of domestic hostess in York Place.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They were relieved, however, from her presence by one
+of those haughty departures, which, in her early years, she
+had shown to the guests of Goldwell.  She could not fail
+to recognise De Freston, Latimer, and Ellen; but her mind
+was made up in a moment, namely, that York Place should
+not hold her and her rival at the same time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Turning to Cavendish, she promptly asked&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Did your master know who they were he had ordered
+you to conduct hither?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He did, lady, but I did not.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How long will it be before the Cardinal returns?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I cannot tell, my lady.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Then be pleased, sir, to tell me when he does return.
+Dames, show that lady to the apartments prepared for
+her, and then wait upon me.  Cavendish, remember your
+duty.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The haughty lady glided from the hall without one word
+of charity, or look of kindness, or even an intimation of
+respect for any one of the party.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Her pride, however, could injure no one but herself.
+She retired, a specimen of fallen Lucifer's dignity, whilst
+Ellen retired humbled to the dust by the exhibition of such
+an unwarrantable indignity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A few minutes' prayer restored the disturbed mind of the
+latter, and as she was fatigued and overcome by the
+circumstances which then crowded upon her, she requested
+the femme-de-chambre to let the Cardinal know that she
+was not equal to the ceremony of introduction to him till
+the morrow.  She wished to be conducted to her father's
+apartment before she retired.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It need not be stated what a sweet hour of communion
+those dear souls had, even in that place.  Oh! how calm
+is true piety: and what a disturbed, restless being is man
+without it.  The dear friends who talked of their then
+singular position, spake but little of the haughty Alice.
+The little they did speak was spoken in charity, and without
+any bitterness, saving only of regret for her sake.  They
+parted, praying for blessings upon each other.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+What a position was it for all parties!  It was the very
+climax of circumstances, and of what it was to be
+productive none could divine.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap38"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+<br><br>
+THE DEPARTURE.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Cavendish attended upon his master as the long retinue
+of state arrived on the very last day they ever formed a
+cavalcade for him as the Chancellor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Have all things been attended to, my faithful servant?'
+said Wolsey, as, dismissing his retainers, Cavendish alone
+conducted his master to his private room.  There was a
+more than common suavity in the Cardinal's manner, a
+greater unbending than he had before witnessed in him;
+a more than usual sweetness, even approaching to
+tenderness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'All is done as my lord desired; but Mistress Alice
+requested me to acquaint her with my lord's return.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ha! ha!  I forgot; yes, Cavendish, I forgot.  Well,
+it is well.  How could I forget?  Go! yes, go! the sooner
+the better.  I am as anxious to see Mistress Alice, as she
+can be to see me.  I am at leisure.  Quick, Cavendish.
+I am in my own house.  Perhaps so! may be not&mdash;or may
+be so.  Go, good Cavendish! summon the Lady Alice.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was evident that Wolsey had, in his own remembrance
+of his friends, forgotten that Alice was their enemy.  Had
+he thought of their early feud he would probably have
+devised some other plan of accommodation for his friend.
+It is a painful one to any man to entertain guests when the
+mistress of his house is set against them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These things came as things unwelcome to a great man's
+mind; but the greatest minds are frequently found to have
+to bend before female caprice.  A good man is as jealous
+of hospitality being shown to his friends, as he is fond of
+domestic happiness; and she is a poor partner who receives
+not her lord's friends with complacency.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A truly wise wife never compromises her husband's
+dignity or her own, by behaving with incivility towards her
+husband's visitors.  But when a servant assumes the position
+of a wife, and treats her master's visitors with contempt,
+it is time for her to be discharged.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Alice De Clinton occupied a superior station in the
+Cardinal's family, and did the honors of his house, where
+female interference was required, with the nicest propriety.
+She was, however, accounted a very cold, unbending person,
+though to the Cardinal himself all obsequiousness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Her very manner to others gave occasion to the invention
+of evil reports concerning her; and when a female is
+haughty, and knows not how to conduct herself with
+gentleness, the world is glad to hear unfavorable reports of
+her, and as readily believes them.  Even frailties are pitied
+where humility is not lost.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Alice entered the room where the Cardinal was reposing
+after the fatigues and anxieties of business, relaxed both in
+mind and body.  He could not fail, however, to be struck
+with the singular appearance of the lady.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She came in her riding costume.  The Cardinal marvelled,
+and well he might; but he was soon enlightened.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You look astonished, my lord, to see me prepared for
+travel; but I am come to speak my mind, and to bid you
+farewell for ever.  I little thought that I should ever be
+called upon to receive pestilent heretics in the house of
+Cardinal Wolsey; heretics, too, at this very moment under
+the ban of Tonstall, Bishop of London, summoned to appear
+before my Lord Cardinal; and to be treated forthwith as if
+they were the very best Catholics in the land.  And who are
+these, my lord's guests?  Have not I often told my lord
+that they were the greatest enemies he had?  Have I not,
+years gone by, proclaimed them to be what they are now
+brought under my lord's hands for; and are they to come
+here and to expect favor from him who is appointed by
+the head of the church to suppress and punish them?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I ever thought that my lord made advances to my
+friendship through the desire to refute and put down the
+enemies of the church.  I ever thought that the wisdom,
+talents, learning, and power with which the favored of the
+Pope was gifted, were to be exercised for the honor of the
+chief Pontiff, and for the welfare of all good Catholics in
+this land.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How is it, then, that one who has been bound by ties of
+friendship, based upon such principle, should now be called
+upon to act upon the contrary side?  Is the memory of
+private regard to be weighed in the balance with the public
+good?  And am I, who was expecting to be an Abbess of
+my lord's appointment, to be his panderer to a taste for
+heresy?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Forbid it!  O, shade of Goldwell!  O, deceased Bishop! thou
+didst confide me to the guardianship of one whom
+thou didst deem a friend to the church, and lo! that one
+turns upon his charge, and commands her to receive, as
+her friends, these heretics against Rome.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But my lord must be obtuse&mdash;my lord must be changed&mdash;my
+lord must be about to lose all his dignity, and to
+become a driveller, a poor, weak, mean-spirited man, and
+no longer the great Cardinal; the Lord Chancellor&mdash;the
+most learned Bishop, the future candidate for the Popedom,
+the great friend of Christendom.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'At all events, my lord cannot expect me to remain in his
+house under existing circumstances.  No, my lord, no; perish
+York House, before I sleep in it whilst heretics lie under the
+same roof.  Heretics, too, who once dared to insult my
+guardian, and now affront me in this house.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Oh, my Lord Cardinal, this is a blow I did not expect
+from you.  Farewell, my lord's greatness; farewell, my
+hopes of preferment in your grace's mansion.  When the
+days of heresy come, it will be remembered that the
+Cardinal of York fostered them in his own palace; but let
+it be remembered, also, that she who dwelt with him as his
+friend for twenty years, on that day took her departure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I shall return to Goldwell Hall, near the seat of my
+lord's birth, and in that very house where I first knew him,
+shall I learn to forget him, My Lord Cardinal&mdash;Farewell!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Alice De Clinton, hear me.  One word.  Nay&mdash;I insist
+upon giving you an explanation.  Care and I have of late
+been close companions.  Greatness and sorrow have been
+closeted in my soul for these many days.  Dignity and
+distress have been accompanying my lot wheresoever I have
+gone; and now, Mistress Alice, that I return home, I find
+that hospitality and heresy are to be the cause of separating
+Cardinal Wolsey and Alice De Clinton for ever.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'This is what I call a domestic consummation of my
+calamitous career.  I did not think of heresy.  I did not think
+of animosity.  I forgot your distaste, and I thought only of
+my former acquaintance with these friends when I was poor
+and they were rich; and should I desert them in distress,
+when the only opportunity I have, or ever may have, in life,
+to repay them for their early kindness to me, is to befriend
+them in the day of adversity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Shall I forget, Alice, that I am a man, because I am a
+Cardinal?  Is every feeling of gratitude to be totally extinct
+towards those who have watched over my early years, and
+helped me in my studies, and befriended me?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Oh!  Alice, if we forget those who have been kind to us
+in our youth, God will forget us when we grow old.  Read
+that letter from Ellen, and let your heart feel its simplicity
+and truth, and then say whether I ought or ought not to
+have exercised the duties of hospitality.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Alice read it.  Yes, she read it.  The tears started in her
+eyes, but they were tears of bitterness, not of love; for love
+had no share in her proud heart.  It was ready to burst with
+vexation; but without pity.  She read it&mdash;she returned it;
+and she looked as if she felt a sovereign contempt for the
+Cardinal's weakness; but she replied&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My lord, it is not usual for a judge to entertain his
+prisoner before he is honorably acquitted; and very seldom then.
+Judges seldom have innocent persons tried before them.
+They know well that they are set on high for the punishment
+of evil men, and not for the encouragement of them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My Lord Cardinal is now the judge of this heretic De
+Freston.  Can there be any doubt of his acquittal when he
+can receive him before trial, and treat him as his most
+intimate friend?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My lord has grown wonderfully tender all at once; and
+merely from this letter.  I see nothing in it but the language
+of a beggar and an impostor&mdash;who is now, through my lord's
+weakness, enjoying the beggar's joy, the glorious reward of
+imposition; lodging, food, and comfort.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'They smile at your humility, they laugh at your divinity,
+and they applaud with vociferous exclamations your charity.
+But how will my lord acquit himself before the Propaganda?
+All the house of Cardinals will cry out "Wolsey is
+a heretic."  You will acquit De Freston; you must do it for
+Ellen's sake.  Sweet letter, that can make even a Cardinal
+merciful.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I leave, my lord.  I have a friend's house to go to.  I
+shall at once to Tonstall, and when he hears that his
+prisoners are your guests, he will at least rejoice that one
+of your Grace's free servants has sought his protection.
+Farewell, my Lord Cardinal.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There are moments in a man's life, even when he is beaten
+down by his enemies, when his bold spirit is prompt to speak
+righteousness; witness Wolsey's speech to Suffolk, in reply
+to his reproach about Cardinals in England.  'If I poor
+Cardinal had not been, you would not at this present have
+had a head on your shoulders;' so witness the Cardinal's
+cool but gentle reply to Mistress Alice De Clinton.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I would rather exercise hospitality to the distressed
+than punish heretics.  The former has pleasure here, and
+the promise of reward hereafter; the latter was nothing
+but pain, and great doubt of any satisfaction hereafter.
+If, therefore, Mistress Alice, the price of thy remaining
+be the forfeit of the duties of hospitality, I would rather
+thy departure than thy residence.  Farewell.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A haughty woman cut to the quick by calm wisdom is
+such a mortified spectacle of discomfort, that it is well she
+should be hidden in darkness as soon as possible.  Her
+retirement, the more solitary the more congenial.  She may
+brood over her possessions, her hardships, her mortifications,
+her injuries, her disappointments; but she can never
+attain any happiness without a change of heart.  If that
+should come, she will be a joyful wonder to herself; if not,
+she will be a miserable wretch, and live and die unhappy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Alice De Clinton departed, leaving York Place and its
+inmates to a day of rest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Cardinal summoned Cavendish after the lady's departure;
+and to him he most graciously unburdened his mind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I shall not go out at all to-morrow, but remain entirely
+within my own walls; but summon the Bishop of London
+by authority of mine hand, to wait upon me at ten o'clock
+to-morrow.  Remember, Cavendish, that I do not wish it
+to be known, the cause why I remain at home to-morrow.
+I have old friends, dear friends, whom I have deserted for
+many years now sleeping beneath my roof.  Let the utmost
+respect be paid them; for if it were the last day of my
+grandeur, I could not devote it to a better purpose than the
+revival of friendship.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Alas, Master Cavendish, I fear my fortunes will not
+long stand.  How happy I ought to feel that they have
+stood thus long, so as to permit me to gratify the friends of
+my youth.  Mistress Alice is gone; and I know not how
+it is, I feel as if a load of care was gone along with her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thou shall sup with me this night.  My aged friend did
+well to retire.  I shall have much to talk to thee about;
+meantime prepare.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Cardinal never was so happy, or so truly great, as
+he was that evening in speaking of all the days of his youth,
+and relating anecdotes which came, as they always do come,
+with great grace from great men.
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'When great men speak, the falling pin is heard,<br>
+  But when the poor&mdash;his case must be deferred.'<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap39"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+<br><br>
+THE CHANGE.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+What a wonderful softening thing is adversity.  It may
+come in the shape of poverty; it may come in the severity
+of calamity; it may come in the loss of a friend; or it may
+come suddenly by seeming accident.  But when it does
+really come, when the poor mortal, great and powerful, is
+made to feel it&mdash;oh! how heartily does he desire the return
+of his mother's tenderness, or his father's generosity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A great man like Wolsey, a companion to one of England's
+proudest, though not her best nor her worst monarch,
+one of superior ability, as well as most absolute authority,
+was likely to feel the neglect of such a prince; and, falling
+from the favor of ambition, his great mind was softened to
+think of the friends of his youth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ambition is a bold horse; he mounts his fences well;
+he leaps over walls, gates, ditches, and hedges, and goes at a
+slashing pace over the country.  He requires to be well
+kept in hand, and not to be pushed too hard at first.  He
+must be well trained, well directed, and curbed in at first.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He is apt to be like Grey Hermit, the royal huntsman's
+old favorite, so well depicted in Grant's picture of the
+'Queen's Stag Hounds.'  Davis had enough to do to keep
+him in order for the first burst of the hunt; for he was
+'<i>wild as the wild deer</i>' and threw himself over his fences
+like a mad horse; but by dint of a master manager, he
+would sober down into a steady pace, and 'shine at the
+last when all others were in shade.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So, affliction coming upon the ambitious man, sobers him
+down to the steady realities of his work.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Cardinal had one day's respite from the cares of
+pomp and state.  He had been expecting to be called upon
+to give up the great seal, and well knew that when his
+enemies once got the advantage of him, they would not
+long rest without injuring him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He had lost his master's favor; he had loved that master.
+Yes, with all his pomp and greatness, Wolsey never was
+otherwise, or felt otherwise, than a servant.  Had he obtained
+the summit of his ambition, and been made Pope, he might
+have then assumed a very different tone with Henry.  He
+would have been removed from outward subjection; and
+his was master-mind enough to rule princes absolutely
+under the tiara of the papal glory.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was not to be.  The subject whom the King had exalted
+as his favorite was to be an example to all England,
+as Napoleon was to all the world, that power, when too
+much self-exalted, is to be humbled very low before it
+departs, or before a man departs from it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey perhaps never was greater than in his humiliation,
+when he lost the favor of the King; and Napoleon never was
+greater than when on the Rock of St. Helena.  Ambition
+was destroyed in them both.  Happy they whose only
+ambition in this life is to subdue themselves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Experience will soon teach the proudest they are unhappy,
+though they subdue kingdoms; and experience will soon
+prove that the humbler a man is, so much the more he
+makes others happy, and promotes his own comfort.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Cardinal rose at his usual hour, read his despatches,
+answered the messengers from various quarters, and
+inquired after his guests.  He sent to say that he would be
+happy to receive them in his own room at nine o'clock.
+In the meantime they had been supplied with all the
+bountiful care of hospitality, and were themselves softened,
+all of them, towards the Cardinal.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At nine o'clock the interview was to take place between
+him and those early friends, whom he had been instrumental
+in uniting by a bond which he would have been glad to
+have called his own.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is a strange sensation in hearts long estranged
+coming together again.  Even in the common intercourse
+of life, when accident causes two friends to meet, between
+whom, in early years, the pure friendship of social good-will
+had existed, how does the heart expand with the remembrance
+of incidents, events, accidents, or words wherein was
+no guile, but the simple fervor of youthful respect!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That heart which cannot so feel in love, will know no
+pleasure in the prospect of meeting its generation when it
+rises from the dust.  Oh! that ever a word or a deed should
+make the human heart unkind!  Men ought to learn to
+love one another here, that they may be happy hereafter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When years have parted friends between whom love was
+as a precious pearl, the very bond of the soul's peace, and
+a day brings them together, it is indeed a foretaste of joy
+which immortal spirits only can fully appreciate.  It is
+something like to a glorious, everlasting sunshine, when
+clouds, and tempests, and dangers, and deaths, and
+darkness, and night have passed away, and one eternal day
+smiles upon the soul in bliss.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey's heart was softened by his coming fall.  It had
+commenced; it was about to be severed from greatness; and
+no wonder that its early impressions of love, the desire of
+shining in the eyes of one whom it then accounted a marvel
+of acquirement to be admired by an enlightened mind,
+should return with vivacity into the soul divested of the
+glitter of the world.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Cardinal Wolsey had transferred his first love for Ellen to
+ambition.  He had now had twenty years' experience of the
+tortuous paths of human greatness, and had found that the
+smiles of men could never rest long upon one object; that
+to serve even a king, a man must never be exalted by him,
+but be always ready to give up all into the hands of the
+Giver.  What such a man, with such a partner for life as
+Ellen, might have been, is another question&mdash;it can but be a
+surmise.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ellen, however, was in his house, she whom he once had
+loved with a devotion even beyond the wisdom of Solomon
+to comprehend; and though another had loved her with an
+ardor perhaps more truly humble&mdash;certainly not more
+noble&mdash;yet even at that moment Wolsey felt that between
+them, though years had passed away, there was, there must
+be, an honorable estimation.  He had not felt this in the
+day of his pride; it was only when he was humbled that
+this returned to him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It returned to him too in the sweetest way it could possibly
+come&mdash;that of being a benefactor to his former benefactors.
+His hospitality, the last opportunity he ever had of
+showing it at York Place, was the most gratifying to his
+spirit; and that day of calmness intervening between his
+last presiding as Chancellor, and his resigning the office,
+was spent in the happiest society he had ever enjoyed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The hour came for the interview.  Ellen felt it&mdash;Ellen
+knew the secret of Wolsey's heart&mdash;Latimer, his friend, knew
+it also, though Wolsey had believed them ignorant of what
+he schooled himself to think was his weakness.  De Freston
+never did suppose Wolsey to have been attached to his
+daughter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was well they had all rested a night under the same
+roof previously to their interview.  It was well, also, that
+proud Alice De Clinton had departed; it was well, likewise,
+that the Cardinal's state affairs permitted him a day's calm,
+that he might be disencumbered of his consequence.  All
+things favored the interview, and the parties met with
+mutual respect, the sure forerunner to a happy conversation.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap40"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XL.
+<br><br>
+THE INTERVIEW.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+De Freston entered first, and was most graciously welcomed;
+Ellen entered next, and the Cardinal's heart beat
+with a pulsation which would require quicker counting than
+any physician could enumerate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yet the very man who had denied himself the slightest
+natural movement of affection, so many years before, when
+he gave her hand to his rival, could now seize both, and
+unite them with cordiality, in which his own soul liberally
+rejoiced.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His first words gave indication of a good heart.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I rejoice to see you both.  I am glad that years have not
+separated you, and that I have greater felicity, as a Cardinal,
+in joining your hands with my own, after the long lapse of
+years, than I had as a priest, when standing at the altar of
+St. Lawrence.  Come, my dear friends, be seated, and, if ye
+can imagine yourselves in Freston Tower, do so.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was the honest, simple, undisguised language of a
+great heart, and could not be heard without emotion.  Ellen
+and Latimer felt it, and each thought, though they did not
+say it, 'Wolsey is a great man.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+De Freston thanked Wolsey for his kindness, and for the
+reception he had given them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have done you no kindness, but I have pleased myself;
+and now, to be very candid with you, I must tell you at once
+that I must inquire into the cause of your being a prisoner
+in London.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That is soon told.  You know well, Wolsey, my sentiments
+upon religious matters.  I need hardly tell you that
+I am a Reformer&mdash;a friend to the true church&mdash;hating,
+abjuring, and detesting those dreadful doctrines of the
+Papacy, against which I conceive every lover of truth
+should struggle with uncompromising and unconquerable
+determination.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You cannot be a stranger to my love of truth.  You
+know me well, and that I have entertained Bilney, Bale, and
+others, whom I account worthy of honor; men of learned
+and enlightened minds, instruments of spreading the truth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'For these things I became distasteful to some nobles,
+and was accounted a disaffected member of the church, and
+even accused of being a heretic.  Lord Wentworth, acting
+under the orders of the Bishops of London and Norwich,
+and by your mandate, has seized my person and brought
+me hither; but I have not offended my conscience, and,
+therefore, hope to be acquitted.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have seen and known many abuses in the church,'
+replied Wolsey, 'from very early days; and had I been
+elected Pope of Rome, I should have endeavored to restore
+the Church of Rome to her ancient purity, and have raised
+her to what she truly is&mdash;the successor of St. Peter; but
+that cannot be.  I have now no hopes thereof, but I am
+still desirous of reforming many corruptions prevalent in
+that portion of the Romish Church which abides in England.
+I have punished many priests, I have issued my mandates
+against all irregularities, and will yet hope to see a great
+improvement in the church.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But, at the same time, I shall not conceal from thee that
+I do not approve of those heretical tenets which upstart
+preachers are now everywhere disseminating.  I love the
+truth, and am glad to find that yesterday thy friend Bilney
+recanted his bold heresies, and has returned to the body of
+the church a penitent.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'<i>Bilney recanted!</i>' was the involuntary exclamation of
+all.  'Bilney recanted!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes, I am informed he did penance, and stood at Paul's
+Cross weeping.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Weep he will do,' replied De Freston, 'weep he will do,
+bitterly.  That man has an honest heart.  He loves truth
+purely for truth's sake, and in a moment's fear he has
+forsaken the truth.  I am sure he will repent of this step
+more than of any he ever took in his whole life.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ellen wept.  She wept to see her father's earnest
+emotion, and she felt as if something of life and happiness
+had left her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Let not the Lady Ellen weep,' said the Cardinal.  'I
+shall not condemn thy father because he speaks boldly.
+Thou needest not be afraid; I am thy friend and his.  I
+pray thee, weep not.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Tender words from great men are apt to make tears flow
+the faster.  Ellen's mortification was extreme; for she had
+hoped the firmness of faith in this good man would not
+have been shaken by any terrors.  She sighed, but spake
+not.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was not in Wolsey to triumph over the sufferings of
+any one, and much less over those of a woman, and that
+woman one whom he loved in his youth, and for whom he
+then felt such a sincere respect that he would rather spare
+it a pang than create it one.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was sincere in his hope that, as Bilney had been so
+intimate with Lord De Freston, and had been so much
+admired by him, that, in mentioning his recantation, he
+should prevail upon him likewise to recant privately before
+Tonstall, without any further exposure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He had not succeeded, but had rather created in that
+venerable nobleman's mind an additional argument for his
+own firmness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+De Freston sighed and said&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Great minds are overcome by terrors, where little minds
+are often supported.  Bilney has been a leader, a master-spirit,
+one to whom men have looked for example as well as
+precept.  I do, therefore, grieve the more at his defalcation,
+and take it as a warning to myself, lest, in the hour of
+adversity, I should fall away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'O, my Lord Cardinal!  I loved that man as I used to do
+thyself.  I had great hopes of him.  I had formed the
+highest expectations of him, and even now I will not
+despair of him.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Nor I either; I think he will become an ornament to the
+church.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And so do I; but not to the Church of Rome.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'To what church then?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'To the church of Christ.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Is not the Church of Rome the church of Christ?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Not whilst she holds the doctrines of presumption
+instead of those of faith; not whilst she propagates
+falsehood for truth; not "whilst she loveth and maketh a lie;"
+not whilst she debases her communicants by giving them
+half a sacrament for the whole, and even makes that half
+idolatrous by her false persuasions.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'She is one of those evils under the sun which King
+Solomon saw&mdash;viz., "<i>a servant when he reigneth</i>," for she
+ought to be the servant of God; but she pretends to reign with
+a king's dominion, and cannot therefore be a true servant.
+Thou hast sought this at my tongue, Cardinal, and I am
+not ashamed thereof, neither do I ask pardon for giving
+thee a plain answer.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I can pardon thee without thine asking; but here comes
+Tonstall, and if thou wouldst return in peace to thine own
+dear Freston Tower, let me advise thee to speak more
+cautiously before him than before one who feels some
+gratitude for the past.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I can but speak to thee, my lord, as I would before my
+judge.  I will not compromise the truth for any Bishop of
+London.'
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap41"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XLI.
+<br><br>
+THE ARGUMENT.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Cuthbert Tonstall was ushered into the presence of
+the Cardinal, and it was curious to see how soon the dignitary
+of Rome assumed that position of manner and behaviour
+which even then, though declined in royal favor, Wolsey
+could not forget.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They bowed reverentially to each other.  Both were eminently
+learned men, and each had a great respect for letters.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Has Bilney submitted to the orders of the church, good
+father?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He has, my lord, and is committed unto safe custody
+in prison to wait thy fiat of detention or release.  He has
+conformed, and I have here his written recantation, delivered
+by the heretic himself into our hands.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was agony indeed to De Freston to recognise the
+handwriting of his friend, and the tears rolled down his
+face as he read, line by line, that document which told so
+sad a tale.  But the old man's prayer ascended even then
+for such a friend.  Tonstall exchanged looks of curiosity
+with the Cardinal, as to what this strong feeling could mean.
+He said&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thou oughtest rather to rejoice than weep at a heretic's
+arising from the depths of the deluge to the safe footing of
+the ark of the church.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I weep to think,' replied De Freston, 'that he has
+fallen away from grace.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It would have been a marvel to Tonstall to find such a
+man in such company&mdash;a heretic in the Cardinal's palace!
+But he had been forewarned thereof by Alice De Clinton,
+and yet could he scarcely believe his ears and eyes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'These are friends of Bilney,' replied the Cardinal,
+'and they are my friends too, to whom I am indebted for
+many things.  I would therefore intercede with thee, father,
+for thy mercy.  Spare my aged friend for his grey hairs;
+and this, his daughter, for the love I bear her; and this,
+her husband, for the friendship's sake of early college days.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But will they promise to abjure the tenets of Bilney,
+and be obedient to the discipline of the church?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I will promise for them.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What?' asked De Freston.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That they shall do nothing contrary to the authority of
+the church.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'If the church command me to worship the Virgin Mary,
+the angels, and the host of heaven, I will not do it.  If
+she says I ought to pay respect to pictures at altars, candles
+and candlesticks, saints and their statues, I will call her
+idolatrous.  If she tells me that the blood of any of her
+martyrs, male or female, will wash away my sins, I will tell
+her she lies.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'In a word, my Lord Cardinal, and my Lord Bishop, if
+you think I would recant the doctrines which Bilney has
+preached at Ipswich, or elsewhere, you are mistaken.  I
+desire to be tried even by the learned Tonstall, and before
+thyself; I will answer any question thou dost put.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is not the intention of these pages to record that long
+but interesting discussion, which then took place between
+four as learned men as could be well found in the realm at
+that day.  Pain and grief did it give all parties to see that
+no mutual bond of union could settle the dispute between
+them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Tonstall was convinced of the very superior antagonist
+he had met with in De Freston; and he was made to feel
+his lash when they talked of the destruction of those who
+professed to believe in Christ, and strove not to act up to
+that belief.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How can the Pope make laws,' said De Freston, 'to
+burn, or put to the rack, or torture, or destroy any soul
+professing Christ's religion?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Come, I will dispute the authority of the Church of
+Rome in this respect.  I will maintain her to be an engine
+of Satan if she dares to shed any blood whatsoever,
+especially the blood of believers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Show me any authority for her putting any one to death.
+Did even the Apostles put Ananias and Sapphira to death?
+They saw that God would visit the wicked, and they told
+the wicked that it would be so; but they left the visitation
+for the Almighty's hand, in whose power alone is the life
+of every living thing.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Wouldst thou, then,' replied Tonstall, 'have the
+murderer live?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No: an apostle says, "If I have done anything worthy
+of death, I refuse not to die."  The sword of justice is
+borne by the civil, not the ecclesiastical power; and if an
+offender against human and divine laws will not hear the
+voice of the preacher calling him to repentance, if neither
+private nor public rebuke will convince him of his danger,
+all the authority of the church cannot go beyond his
+rejection from their companionship or fellowship.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'They must then leave him to the mercies of the civil
+law, or criminal jurisprudence of the country he lives in,
+and God will do with him as he sees best.  I deny the
+power of Rome justly to punish any man whatsoever with
+death, where his life is one of faith, though that faith may
+be exercised to overthrow all the superstitions of Rome.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Then the church errs in punishing heretics?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'With persecution unto death she does; and she will
+have to answer for all the murders she has thus
+unrighteously, violently, passionately, and horribly committed.
+If she were to condemn me, I would protest against her
+power to the last, and though I might rejoice in suffering,
+I should sorrow for thee, Bishop Tonstall, to be my
+executioner.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was in this strain, with the purest Protestant feeling,
+and yet with such pious consideration for those bigoted
+followers of the Pope, that De Freston combatted the
+arguments of Tonstall, and made him shudder at his own
+position.  Whether it was that the Cardinal interceded,
+countermanded, over-ruled, or prevailed with the Bishop,
+perhaps all these things, or whether Cuthbert Tonstall was
+himself confounded at the boldness and soundness of the
+head and heart of De Freston, it is certain that he
+proceeded no further with the prosecution of De Freston, as a
+heretic, but left York Place with a heart stricken at the
+very thought of the cruelties which he had in some measure
+been accessory to, in the supposed defence of his church.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'We will leave off our polemical divinity,' said Wolsey,
+'and if you will spend one day of quiet hospitality with
+me, we will talk over Ipswich and early associations, and
+leave these heart-burnings for other thoughts.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Well said was this by the Cardinal.  It was like a spark
+of glory striking light into his soul.  Oh, would that every
+member of his high and mighty, pompous church could
+have seen the joy which then diffused itself over the
+Cardinal's features.
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  ''Twas for a day, a day of such pure bliss<br>
+  As friendship nurtures in a world like this:<br>
+  Few such are found midst sorrows to prevail;<br>
+  If one such visit thee, O! give it hail.'<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap42"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XLII.
+<br><br>
+ENJOYMENT.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Unalloyed enjoyment is a thing unknown in this world;
+even for one whole day.  Perhaps the sorrows which all
+experience for half, if not the whole, of that period, may
+make the few minutes of happiness the sweeter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Happiness is not, it cannot be, found in any sensual
+pleasure, in any one pursuit in which the laws of humanity,
+nature, and of God are violated.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Perfect enjoyment must be divested of all fear; there
+must be no pang before or after it&mdash;that is, the pang, if any,
+must have passed away, and that which the heart is about to
+participate in, must not be productive of one single regret.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey, De Freston, Ellen, and Latimer, had all endured
+the severity of sorrow in finding themselves placed in that
+species of opposition upon vital questions, upon dangerous
+topics, upon then growing dissensions which were stirring
+in the land.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey was lord of the house in which his guests were,
+not trembling, but bold before him.  They also, on the
+other hand, were conscious that he was to be the judge of
+De Freston; and in the judgment of him was involved the
+happiness of the others.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These parties had suffered much pain.  Honest they all
+might be; but the man of power and authority had at
+least this superiority, that he was at once the arbiter and
+the host.  He was in the position of friendship, cordiality,
+hospitality, generosity, and of judgment; and they, though
+his guests, were at the same time his prisoners.  But who
+were they, and at what time were they there?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey was about to be shorn of his fancied nobility,
+and to lose the eye of favor.  He was too much of a
+politician not to know what he had to expect; and he was
+really and truly a man of too great a mind to murmur at
+the fickleness of the King's favor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lift up a beggar from the dunghill, set him among
+princes, and if he is not gifted with that wisdom which
+knows who exalts and who puts down, he will neither
+know how to bear elevation or degradation.  He is like
+an actor, who, having enjoyed years of successful flattery, is
+astonished at his own decline, and knows not how to bear
+the coolness of disappointment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Happy the man whom nothing but the world to come
+can exalt; who preserves humility under all circumstances,
+and doing his duty nobly, retires into nothingness, conscious
+that he is nobody.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A great man this, indeed.  He is like that great philosopher,
+who, after a life of calculations, such as laid bare
+to the world the right movements of the heavenly bodies,
+declared that to himself he appeared no more than a child
+playing with a cup and ball, or blowing soap-bubbles with
+a tobacco pipe.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This is a species of intellectual innocency which very few
+men attain.  Half the world, knowing little, are apt to grow
+proud of the knowledge of that little, and have such
+conceit thereof as to imagine the world must think them
+wonders; but the really wise man is wonderful only to
+himself in his knowledge of his own marvellous ignorance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey was a great man, as all the world proclaimed;
+but very few who saw him knew anything of the real
+greatness of his private character.  Men in after-ages made
+him the theme of fallen pride, and descanted upon his
+origin as if he rose from the butcher's shambles by
+impudence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There are some impudent men who do succeed in
+thrusting themselves into places for which they have no
+pretensions in the shape of mental qualification whatsoever;
+and these men are generally the greatest boasters and
+vaunters of their own selves; but they usually die
+unnoticed, or are looked upon with contempt by men of their
+own calibre.  What must men of superior intellect think
+of them?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey was no such mortal.  He gave that day convincing
+proof of his being not only bred a gentleman, but
+of his having preserved the spirit of one through all the
+plenitude of his power, even to the moment of its decay.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey was the first to propose such terms of peace to
+his visitors, as nothing but a heartless bigot could refuse.
+It was no compromise of principle, it was no admission of
+infidelity, it was no sop, to induce a departure from that
+which De Freston held dear as his life, neither was it any
+Jesuitical casuistry or show of lenity to discover the
+weakness of an adversary that he might attack him when he was
+asleep.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+No.  It was Wolsey's greatness, certainly induced by his
+circumstances, which made him cast down the glove of
+philanthropy, or the olive branch of peace, instead of that
+of defiance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is said that the honesty of love must conquer even the
+proudest heart.  It will conquer everything but the heart
+devoured by the love of money; and that heart death alone,
+and then only by violent constraint, can subdue.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Let us have one day's friendship,' said Wolsey.  'I give
+up all points of dispute.  Let us have no divisions; let us
+be friends.  To-morrow, ye shall go free; free to return
+whence ye came, to the banks of the Orwell, to my native
+place; and if I could but step back thirty years, and forget
+all the interval, I would kiss again the waters of my
+childhood, and dive into the waves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But come, my dear companions of my youth.  Pomp
+and I must, for a few hours, part company.  Forget me as a
+Cardinal; look not on me as a judge.  See me as I am,
+plain Thomas Wolsey, son of your old friend, nephew to
+your relative, and cousin to yourselves; but more than all
+this, your truly humble servant, Archbishop of York.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'If you will not receive me in this light, tell me, only tell
+me, how you will accept me, and I am yours.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Had it been bigotry, prejudice, or fanaticism that dwelt
+in De Freston's soul, he would have looked upon this
+language as merely a temptation to allure him into a snare,
+and have at once set his face as a flint, against the offer of
+hospitality.  He would have looked upon it as a
+contamination.  He would have felt all the prejudices of pride
+against it, and have steeled his soul with rudeness to cut
+short the proposition of love.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+De Freston was no bigot, but a true Christian.  He
+acknowledged the claim which Wolsey had upon his
+friendship, and at once graciously accepted his offer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I came here to be judged, expecting to be condemned by
+the very man whom I once knew as my friend.  But I am
+neither judged nor condemned.  I am neither put upon my
+trial nor acquitted, but am as though I had come into the
+house of an acquaintance; and why should I be so inhuman
+as to think of an enemy?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I accept your proffered hospitality for us all; and as far
+as in me lies, I will endeavor to enjoy it with that
+thankfulness which I am persuaded I ought to feel.  Ellen, my
+daughter, what say you to this turn of the wind in our
+favor?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Say, my dear father! say?&mdash;that I am proud of my
+early friend!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Never in life, before or after, did Wolsey feel his soul
+expand as it did at that moment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was a moment of love in the soul of a man whose
+whole career had been devoted to ambition.  The big tear
+started in his full eye, and actually rolled down his cheek
+and fell upon his scarlet vest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Oh! that the tear of love could fall upon the scarlet vests
+of all Cardinals, and that they could see themselves as they
+are, but men of the same flesh, the same blood, the same
+bone, the same dust as the poorest Protestant in these
+realms!  Till then, the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh,
+and the pride of life will prevail in the dominion of the
+Papacy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Latimer, give me your hand,' said Wolsey.  'I have not
+behaved to you as I ought, and years of neglect cannot be
+atoned for in a moment.  Your hand, William, reminds me
+of my youth.  I cannot forget my university.  Proud days
+we enjoyed together.  Days of anticipated triumph.  Ah!
+Latimer, yours was an unexpected triumph; mine a
+long-anticipated hope, extinguished by yourself, but now blessed
+in seeing you happy.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Great man!  Greater infinitely than the world knew!
+Could Cavendish have revealed this, the world would truly
+have sympathised with a man who, though raised to an
+eminence higher than that which any subject ever yet stood
+upon, was hurled down therefrom at the moment when his
+whole soul was full of pity and philanthropy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ellen could not see the emotion of her early friend
+at such a time without a look of compassion, in which the
+generous and honest Latimer most fully shared.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It is best for us all to retire awhile,' she said, 'that we
+may be each composed for the harmony of a happy hour.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It is well said, my friends: after our unusual excitement,
+it will do us all good.  My chamberlain will conduct you.'
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap43"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XLIII.
+<br><br>
+HOSPITALITY.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+The Cardinal alone&mdash;left alone to himself&mdash;bethought him
+of his coming fall.  He sent for Cavendish, and ordered
+every preparation for quiet hospitality.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I want no state to-day.  Let all my serving-men take
+holiday, let as many as please visit their friends in the city;
+and hark ye, Cavendish! let my state-visitors, who come to
+pry into my decline, and to partake of what good fare a
+Cardinal's table may afford them, be told that I am
+indisposed to-day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am indisposed, indeed, to receive any strangers, or any
+ministers of state this day.  My few early friends it is worth
+your while, my good secretary, to cultivate, for they have
+hearts of hospitality; and when greatness and I are
+separated, you may find them no mean substitute for your
+master.  I would have you, therefore, at my table, none
+other; and as this is a day with which the world, the
+political or public world in which I am concerned, can have
+nothing to do, so let it be unrecorded among the
+transactions of my career, which you have undertaken to set
+down.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Cavendish himself started at this; for, though his master
+knew that he kept account of all the events of his life, and
+employed himself in making memoranda of what happened
+in the course of his secretaryship, he rather desired to
+record that day, above all others, as one in which his master
+shone with the most conspicuous splendor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What would my lord have me say of this day?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Simply that I kept at home all the day.  I have little
+stomach for the company of princes, Cavendish, but I shall
+be glad of thine.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ah!  Mr. Secretary, the King has taken what he gave
+me, and he is welcome to it, for it is his own; and in my
+hands it has suffered no injury.  My gold and silver is kept
+clean, and is fit for a king's table.  But I have many things
+for thee to do, my worthy secretary, before we meet at
+our mid-day meal.  You have made out a true inventory of
+all in my house?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Of everything, my master.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Good, then, make a true copy thereof.  I give thee the
+things thou didst ask for, the handsome gold box in which
+the seals of my office are preserved; enter it not into the
+inventory.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I give thee, also, Henry the Seventh's purse, which he
+gave to his poor almoner; and if all he gave with it had not
+long been handed over to his son, thou, Cavendish, shouldst
+have had it with its store.  Note it not, but let it be a
+bauble preserved for the Royal Giver's sake.  Henry
+VIII. will not leave me any memorial of himself but the
+remembrance of my long service.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But tell me, Cavendish, didst thou ever see easier,
+gentler, or more graceful dignity in woman, than in the
+person of that lady now a guest in our house?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I never did, my lord: I thought so when I saw her, long
+before your arrival, nay, when she supported her father in
+Canon Street Prison.  She is a gem of inestimable value.
+A princess in right of herself, at the same time that she is a
+servant to her husband.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'On my word, Mr. Secretary, if the ladies knew what a
+discerner thou wert of true feminine dignity, they would
+perhaps strive to comport themselves with great carefulness
+before so nice a critic.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'They would, therefore, assuredly fail, my lord; for when
+females try so much, or make so great an effort to appear
+what they ought to be in our eyes, it is a sign that they
+attempt to be what they really are not.  The Lady Latimer has
+no such finesse about her.  She is all she seems to be,
+and tries not for a moment to assume to be thought anything
+of.  Her carriage is simplicity, the bearing of innocency;
+and in my eye she is handsomer, far handsomer, than
+Anne Boleyn.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Hush! this is treason as well as flattery in my house,
+and if reported, might disgrace thee.  Thou art not yet
+sufficiently noble game for royal arrows to be shot at.  Time,
+however, may come, when aim may be taken at thyself.  A
+nobler quarry is at present in view.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But I am glad, still, that this dear lady has attractions
+even for thy younger eye.  Thou shall hear her converse,
+Cavendish; I heard it when I was your age, when it resembled
+the notes of a golden-strung lyre, and my young heart
+could respond to its song.  Alas! alas!  I am now like a
+broken harp, without one chord of love and harmony!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Say not so, my lord; I have ever found you sweetness
+and gentleness personified.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Go, Cavendish, prepare thyself.  We meet at noon.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At noon they all met.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The banquet-hall was spread with taste.  No lords, no
+squires, no gentlemen-ushers, no display of courtly greatness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wolsey received his friends without any attempt to
+overwhelm them with magnificence.  His condescension alone
+was overwhelming, for even De Freston could not be
+insensible to the delicacy shown upon this occasion, when the
+man at whose table nobles were accustomed to learn politeness,
+was himself so polite as to dispense with all display of
+nobility, that De Freston might be duly honored.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Cavendish alone participated in the unaffected pleasure
+of these friends.  It was a banquet of love, a revival of days
+gone by.  The Cardinal, his master, shone in a new light as
+the conqueror of himself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The subject of conversation turned upon chivalry, the
+deeds and exploits of the tournament, the banners of the
+nobility, the arms, quarters, crests of the distinguished of
+the past and the existing day; and Wolsey said&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I was once a gallant knight, Ellen De Freston was my
+mistress, and a savage mastiff my opponent; I had an ox
+shin-bone for my weapon, and a good courage, steady hand,
+and a righteous cause of action.  Did I, or did I not, acquit
+myself valiantly?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No knight could ever do better execution.  Did not the
+lady bestow her guerdon?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He was too proud to claim it, father,' replied Ellen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Then he will claim it now, fair lady; and in the presence
+of thy husband, too; and he himself shall not deny thee
+the honor of the grant.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All looked astonishment; Ellen alone smiled, for she
+knew the courteous propriety of that delicate hospitality
+which could not ask a thing it would be unbecoming a lady's
+love to grant.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I grant it thee, Wolsey, and with gratitude, for I can
+never forget the gallantry of that day, nor do I fail to
+acknowledge the compliment in this.  Name it, and I will
+assuredly grant it.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thou seest my coat-of-arms: my crest is now a Cardinal's
+hat; but, with thy permission, a naked arm, (for I was never
+a mail-clad warrior) a naked arm, bearing a shin-bone, shall
+surmount that hat in commemoration of our mention of the
+event in thy presence in York Place.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I cannot fail to grant it; but promise me this, that over
+the portal of my favorite tower, I may place thine arms so
+surmounted, in the hope that thou wilt honor yet again our
+Freston Tower.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Cardinal sighed.  His nature could not but be
+grateful, nor his spirit otherwise than courteous.  He felt the
+compliment and replied&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I fear the latter cannot be; I must go where the King
+orders me, for I am his servant; but believe me, Lady, once
+to see the Tower again, and to feel as I now do, would be a
+happiness, I fear, too great for Cardinal Wolsey.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ipswich is in my heart: I received the rudiments of
+education there, and its refinements in the company of thee
+and of thy father.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My friend Latimer knows well that the strong shin-bone
+was in my view all the days of his residence at Oxford, and
+only when I returned from the ceremony of thy marriage,
+did I drop it into the river from Magdalen Bridge.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The memory, however, of thy kindness shall not be lost;
+I will send thee a nobly-sculptured coat-of-arms to be placed
+over the gateway of Freston Castle.  Nay, lady, I have one
+nearly completed for my college at St. Peter's.  It shall
+even precede thee on thy way homeward, and I will soon
+forward the additional appendage to surmount the Cardinal's
+hat.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These things led to all the local points of memory&mdash;in
+which the Cardinal showed a gratitude of heart to which,
+for years, he had been thought to be a stranger&mdash;his
+inquiries after friends, his naming many who had been kind to
+him, the very boys whom he remembered at school.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This led to a long discussion about his college, the
+suppression of the monasteries, the death of John of
+Alneshborne, and last, not least, his hours at Freston Tower.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Upon this theme he seemed to dwell with all the fervor
+of imagination which he possessed in his youth; and, would
+time have permitted, he would have talked of Latimer's
+Tower and Magdalen until morning.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But his old friend, Latimer, observed that the spirit of
+sorrow seemed to steal over his brow; and, from excessive
+vivacity, a sober but delicate mournfulness came upon him.
+His voice, though always soft, became gradually painful, and
+one of those early visitations, to which his great mind was
+subject, oppressed him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nothing can be more infectious than melancholy, especially
+when exhibited in a great man; and though Wolsey
+endeavored to shake it off, it so completely subdued him,
+that he became silent, thoughtful, and abstracted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Latimer and Cavendish knew his mood; but De Freston
+and Ellen, whose hearts were touched to pity, felt the
+change.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My dear friends,' said the Cardinal,' I have enjoyed your
+society, but I must say farewell.  I feel an oppression&mdash;a
+swimming of the brain&mdash;a dizziness to which I am subject,
+and I must retire.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'O, Wolsey!' said De Freston, 'let me thank you for
+this hospitality.  I am not insensible to your kindness.
+Proud should I be to see you again in Suffolk.  Let me hope
+you will visit your college and me.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I thank you, good nobleman.  My college there, unless
+the royal Henry shall regard it, will, I fear, be neglected.
+Your proffered hospitality I do not think I shall tax; but
+my friend Cavendish, if ever you should have the opportunity
+of paying him any attention, I shall greet it as in
+memory of myself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I will forward you on your way to-morrow; and
+when, a few months hence, you hear of the Cardinal and his
+altered fortunes, bespeak him kindly for old friendship's
+sake.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I can see a host of enemies arising, backed by the
+King, like his huntsman and hounds in pursuit of a poor
+stricken hart.  Cavendish, do the duties of hospitality
+for me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Dear friends, farewell!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With dignity and gentleness combined, the great Wolsey
+pressed respectfully the hand of Ellen, and cordially those
+of De Freston and Latimer, and left them to think of him,
+and to mourn over his fate.
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'Twas the last day of meeting, and they part&mdash;<br>
+  Reader, thou hast some gentleness of heart&mdash;<br>
+  Forgive poor Ellen if she wept alone,<br>
+  To see his altered mien, his altered tone,<br>
+  We love our early days, our friends of youth,<br>
+  When all seems loveliness and joy of truth.<br>
+  So let us love, in sorrow and in shade,<br>
+  For love is lasting and will never fade.'<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap44"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XLIV.
+<br><br>
+THE FALL
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+When great men fall, the world is sure to talk of it for a
+long time.  Ages after ages remember the prostrate and
+over-grown tree, whilst hundreds and thousands of minor
+bulk may lie upon the earth, and no one think anything
+more about them.  The sapling may be snapt in the gale,
+but the oak&mdash;the majestic oak&mdash;is not thrown down without
+a tempest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nor was the great Cardinal overthrown without a revolution
+in the conduct and affairs of that prince and kingdom
+which he had so faithfully served.  Even the clergy of the
+realm felt their portion of degradation in the loss of that
+representative, who, notwithstanding his extravagance, had
+certainly their temporal interest at heart.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Could Wolsey have returned with De Freston, an independent
+man, or dependent upon that early friendship which
+had no political or selfish interest in his career, he might
+have enjoyed the spirit of his youth upon the banks of the
+Orwell; and, had the enlightened Ellen been as she was in
+his early ambitious days of distinction, the incentive would
+have outweighed all the terrors of a king's frown, and he
+would have become a great man in his retirement.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But he went to York.  There he shone as the friend of
+his clergy in a more subdued, but far more pleasant light.
+He was treated everywhere with courtesy, and had not
+jealously, animosity, and inveterate hatred been exercised
+to turn the King's mind against him, he would have become
+a far greater man than he had ever before been; for he
+might have learnt contentment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Ellen returns to her mansion in Brook Street; and
+De Freston is restored to his ancient castle.  Friends from
+far came to meet them, as they returned, and to congratulate
+them upon the successful issue of that fiery trial.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Few escaped the inquisitorial court, which then sat upon
+heretics, as the reformers were called; and if they escaped
+without any falling away, or retraction of the position of
+truth which they held, their escape was attended with a
+triumph among the people, almost as great as if they had
+suffered martyrdom.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bilney was never happy when he escaped from the first
+trial of his faith, until the spirit, the conscientious spirit of
+truth returned to him again, and told him it was better to
+suffer for the truth's sake, than to live in the favor and
+indulgences of sinful Rome.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lord De Freston was happy, because he had compromised
+nothing, consented to no abjuration of his vows, and came
+home as he went up, a faithful Protestant.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was great rejoicing at Ipswich, where, at that time,
+his trial was looked upon as a persecution; and every one
+who had imbibed anything of the growing love for truth,
+felt that his return was a species of victory obtained in
+righteousness.  It had the desired effect of strengthening
+De Freston in his views of the truth, and afforded a forcible
+lesson to some then wavering in their minds, concerning the
+fearful consequences of embracing the truth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The very return of De Freston caused Bilney's sorrow to
+be the greater, and this noble friend was one who deeply
+lamented with him his departure from the convictions of his
+soul for the mere sorrows of the world.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Better, far better, is it to stand firm, or die in a righteous
+cause, boldly confronting the king of terrors, with faith,
+than to deny, for the fancied sake of peace, the real
+convictions of truth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+De Freston had the strength and privilege to condole
+with Bilney upon his lapse, and grace to fortify his mind with
+the love of that Word, in which he afterwards sealed his
+triumph by martyrdom.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was not to be expected that the return of De Freston,
+and his now public profession of the doctrines of the
+reformers, should be the entrance upon a life of worldly
+tranquillity.  He was a marked man, a man against whom
+bigoted tongues wagged loud and long; and, as he was a
+learned man, and a fearless one as well, as far as regarded
+any temporal punishment for his faith, he hesitated not to
+set all the priests of Rome at defiance, and to dispute with
+any one of them concerning the doctrines of the reformation.
+His son-in-law, Latimer, was equally zealous in the
+defence of the truth, and exposed himself to all the fury
+of the times in which he lived.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'We must not shrink, Ellen,' he exclaimed, 'in our high
+position; we must still do our endeavors to shelter those
+poor clergymen in this town who stand up for the truth,
+and as long as my house can be the shelter for the
+persecuted, I feel happy, and I trust my dear Ellen does the
+same.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That she does, William, notwithstanding all the accusations
+she receives of deserting the Romish Church in which
+she was first brought up.  You need not be afraid, my
+husband, after such an example as our dear father afforded
+us, when summoned to the conference in London, that I
+should shrink.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I saw then, and loved his dignified and truthful
+demeanor, in the presence of those whom weaker minds
+would have feared.  But I like not his living alone at
+Freston Castle.  He grows old, and though his dear grey
+locks are a crown of glory to him, and his eye is not yet
+dim, nor his intellect abated in its wonted energies, bodily
+infirmities bend his gentle head, and he requires, I think,
+our constant residence with him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I cannot bear the idea of such a father being without
+our company.  We may be useful here in promoting every
+good cause, but nature in the aged requires attention, and
+to whom can he look for love, piety, and respect, if not to
+his children?  I propose, Latimer, that we leave our present
+residence, and if our father is willing, that we go to
+Freston.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was so agreed, and the faithful couple returned to
+dwell with Lord De Freston, who, though he had never
+asked it, was delighted at the mutual proposition of his
+children, to make abode with him in his old days.  For a
+short time did the joys of their former years dwell with
+them, and a peaceful state marked the latter life of this
+excellent man, Lord De Freston.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Again the dear tower, the haunt of their youth, and
+Latimer's own project, became the place of their reading
+and converse; and hence issued many of those awakening
+epistles of the times which led to the enlightenment of not
+a few of the strenuous reformers of Ipswich and Bury.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The press of Master Antony Skolloker, and that of
+Master John Owen, showed up the monks of Bury, all the
+fooleries of the priests of Rome, and all the mal-practices
+and arbitrary doings of the diocese of Norwich.  John
+Bale, the friend of Latimer, here wrote his 'Catalogus,
+Scriptorum Illustrium Britaniæ,' which he afterwards
+published at Ipswich.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was in the month of December, 1530, when the log
+was burning on the old hall-fire, and the venerable De
+Freston was seated between his lovely daughter and Latimer,
+that a conversation arose concerning their friend the
+Cardinal.  They were speaking of his greatness; of his
+altered condition, his residence and usefulness at York;
+when the warder's bell rang, and a young man was
+announced as desirous to see Lord De Freston.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was welcomed into the hall, accoutred according to
+the times, in immense riding boots, long spurs, and stout
+leathern jerkin.  The stranger bowed respectfully to the
+party, and looked up, as if he thought they would have
+recognised his features and guessed his communication;
+for he was, in the fashion of that day, dressed with a
+mourning scarf; and if these did not speak for him, the
+sober, grave, and mournful manner of his speech awoke in
+Ellen the first suspicion of his message, and then a
+recognition of his face, for she exclaimed&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thou art the bearer of ill-tidings of thy master.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Alas, lady!  I am, indeed&mdash;my master is no more.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Is Wolsey dead, good Master Cavendish?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He is dead, good Lord De Freston, and he often said to
+me, that I should find in thee a good man and true; a
+friend with whom I might awhile assuage that grief which
+now afflicts me.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And so thou shall; but take thy jerkin off.  Good
+Latimer, attend for me on Master Cavendish, and bring
+him presently unto us again.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Cavendish and Latimer retired, and when Lord De
+Freston looked at Ellen, she was weeping.  The old man
+was touched, and spake most gently of him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'We must not weep, my daughter, for the dead.  Let us
+rather rejoice that all the agonies of his life are over.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'In that I may, perhaps I do, rejoice, but we must heal
+more of his latter days to make me feel as hopeful for his
+future happiness as I could wish.  He was a youth of
+promise, father; a wise, a discerning youth.  I cannot
+forget the early devotion of his life to our society, when he
+appeared to possess a freedom which was then bidding fair
+to be untrammelled by superstition.  I think of him then,
+dear father, and I wonder if this spirit of his youth revived
+in him during his last days.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'We shall hear more of this anon.  I loved his youth;
+I loved his learning too, my child.  I admire many of his
+arts; but I fear he was unmerciful towards those who
+differed with him.  But let us hear what Master Cavendish
+says.  We must all depart.  You must lose your father,
+too.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This changed the current of Ellen's thoughts, and she
+wept no more, but spoke cheerfully to her parent&mdash;making
+a generous effort to divert any gloominess from
+his mind.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap45"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XLV.
+<br><br>
+THE COURTIER.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+'But here comes the faithful Cavendish; he will tell us
+more of the real state of our dear friend's mind, and how
+he took the king's displeasure.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That faithful servant, who admired and loved his master
+and attended him diligently, and did his business as his
+secretary so faithfully that Wolsey would gladly have
+preferred him before a better master, entered the hall with
+Latimer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He had changed his riding costume for one adapted to
+the age when the luxurious warmth of sofas, cushions, and
+couches was unknown, and, in general, a high-backed,
+elaborately-carved chair, with good, firm, oaken seat, was
+the ornamental place of the guest before the cheerful blaze
+of the English fire.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One of Daundy's bloodhounds lay at De Freston's feet,
+smooth with velvet ears, long and shining, not so pendent
+as those of the old slot hound; but equally tinged with
+that black rim so indicative of the true breed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was a dog of most grave countenance, and except
+when put upon the scent, or at play with Ellen's young
+staghound, exhibited about as much animation as Van
+Amburg's lions when their master was not near them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He opened his huge eyes as Cavendish seated himself
+and looked at him as if a courtier was a strange animal in
+De Freston's hall.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Be seated, my young friend; a cup of posset after your
+ride will do you good.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was brought, and as exercise in that day in the shape
+of a journey was a much more difficult and stirring thing
+than it is now, when a man can breakfast in London from
+Ipswich and dine again at the same place he started from
+without using his legs or his horse's legs for a hundred
+yards, it was so much the more relished, and gave the
+generous Cavendish comfort.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have been five days journeying from the court.  I
+have been many, many more journeying from the North,
+and glad am I, after some weeks of anxiety, to find myself
+a tenant of this hospitable hall.  My gracious master used
+frequently to tell me I should enjoy the beauties of your
+pleasant scenery.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Not exactly at this time of the year, Master Cavendish,
+unless you are particularly partial to wild fowl shooting; but
+you shall want for nothing which we can give you to make
+you welcome.  How fared your master in his latter end?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Alas! not so well as I could have wished.  His latter
+hours were greatly disturbed by the king's suspicions of his
+fraudulent dealing with regard to fifteen hundred
+pounds! which sum my master had borrowed of divers persons to
+pay us, his poor servants.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How did that disturb him?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He took it deeply to heart, that, having given up all
+he possessed, whatsoever had come to him from his position
+in the realm, that the King should show so little favor to
+him as to demand of him that which he had borrowed from
+private individuals.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Alas, poor Wolsey!' exclaimed De Freston, 'what is
+the favor of a prince worth?  He gives thee honors and
+wealth, and takes them from thee, and robs thee in thy
+poverty.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Hush! my Lord De Freston.  I am now the King's
+servant!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am no traitor to the king, nor do I wish to speak
+treasonable, but truthful words to thee, Master Cavendish.
+Thy royal master seems to have been much too hard upon
+thy spiritual master.  Deny it if thou canst.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I deny it not; for I heard that honest man say to Sir
+William Kingston: "Oh, good Lord! how much doth it
+grieve me, that the king should think in me any such
+deceit wherein I should deceive him of any one penny
+that I have.  Rather than I would, Master Kingston,
+embezzle, or deceive him of one penny, I would it were
+moulten and put in my mouth.  This money that you
+demand of me, I assure you that it is none of mine,
+for I borrowed it of divers of my friends to bury me, and
+to bestow among my servants, who have taken great pains
+about me like true and faithful servants."'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I cannot help thinking that thy royal master showed
+more avarice than love in this matter.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Alas!  I think so too, in honest truth, my lord; for
+though, when I told the king how earnestly my master
+blessed him, yet did he seem more anxious about his
+money than his blessing.  But kings must not be judged
+like other men.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Not in their generation, Master Cavendish; but posterity
+will not spare a bad man, though he be a king.  Your
+poor master found but little reward for his services to his
+Majesty, or to his country.  He had better not have been
+ambitious of vain glory.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Alas!  my master's memorable words will sound on many
+ears as proverbial of every minister of temporal power, who
+thinks he may exalt himself by infidelity to God, if he be
+but eminent for his loyalty.  I am sure my master was a
+most loyal subject&mdash;a most obedient subject.  He hated
+rebellion in any shape.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But hold!' said Latimer, 'his ambition destroyed his
+principles, and he became a mere time-serving minister of
+the State, when he ought to have been, with his holy vows,
+the free servant of the living God.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It is true, Master Latimer, it is too true, and hence his
+dying conviction&mdash;common to all ambitious servants who
+seek to reign by their master's favor&mdash;for my master
+exclaimed to Sir William Kingston: "If I had served God as
+diligently as I have done the King, he would not have
+given me over in my grey hairs.  But this is the just reward
+that I must receive for my diligent pains and study that I
+have had to do him service, not regarding my service to
+God, but only to satisfy his pleasure."'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It is a lesson to us all,' said Ellen, 'and thou, Master
+Cavendish, wilt remember it, and I trust wilt save thy
+conscience in this respect, not putting too high a value on thy
+new station.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I thank thee, lady.  It is good for me to come into this
+country that I may be admonished by such a kind lecturer
+against the precipice down which my master fell so rapidly.
+I thank thee, lady, honestly.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Nay, thou art welcome, Mr. Courtier, and I trust we
+shall see thee better rooted in thy faith than courtiers
+generally are, who accommodate their opinions so nicely to
+their master's will, that they have no conscience but for
+their master's pleasures.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Good again! indeed thou art good in thy advice; but
+thou must not expect to make me an heretic!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was tender ground to touch upon, at such a moment,
+and in a first visit too.  Ellen had lain too long under the
+ban of being called and cursed as a heretic, to mind what
+kings or courtiers might say or do.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Her faith was fixed, pure, simple-minded, solid, and steady,
+and no man could make her waver any more in her faith
+than they could in her principles of life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They conversed long on their favorite topic&mdash;the Cardinal
+and his fortunes, his boyhood and his youth&mdash;and Cavendish
+was then enlightened upon many points which he
+might most fairly have revealed, and would have done, but
+for fear of his royal master.
+</p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  'Tempora mutanta, et nos mutamur in illis.'<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>
+We are not, in the nineteenth century, afraid to speak
+truth upon any subject, and equally scorn the imputation of
+rebellion in so doing, as we do the idea of vapid popularity,
+merely for the sake of bread.  We do not now-a-days
+worship great men for the sake of what we can get out of
+them; for there is little to be had, even by the humblest,
+since patronage, and learning, and talent, and literature, are
+all brought now to Mammon's hammer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He is a bold man who speaks the truth, and he is but a
+coward, be he whom he will, who is afraid to do so.  The man
+who loves another, is afraid of no man, for he can do injury
+to no one, and is ready to lay down his life for his brother.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such was Lord De Freston, such was William Latimer,
+and such was Ellen, as the sequel will show, in the end of
+this tale of Freston Tower.
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>
+'Alice De Clinton,' said Cavendish, 'lives somewhere in
+this part of Suffolk.  Have you seen her?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Is it likely, Master Cavendish, after our interview at
+York Place?  She does live at her ancestral residence,
+Goldwell Hall; but she looks down with utter contempt upon
+us heretics, and I verily believe would burn us all, house,
+home, and Bible, provided only she could immortalise her
+pride.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Oh, Mistress Latimer! surely thou art uncharitable in
+thy judgment.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'If thou art not perverted in thine own, thou wilt thyself
+soon perceive it.  We will direct thee to her dwelling, and
+leave thee to the candor of thine own mind.  If thou dost
+pronounce her more humbled in her present dwelling than
+when she abode in thy master's palace, then say that we are
+bigots, and Alice De Clinton is liberal.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The visit was projected for the morrow.  Meanwhile,
+with hearts of pity, Latimer and Ellen sincerely mourned
+over the death of Cardinal Wolsey.
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  They mourn'd to think a man should die<br>
+  In sorrow for his loyalty;<br>
+  But more they mourned the fall of friend,<br>
+  Deserted in his latter end;<br>
+  They felt correction 'neath the rod,<br>
+  And thus were true to man and God.'<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap46"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XLVI.
+<br><br>
+GOLDWELL HALL.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Goldwell Hall, Caldwell Hall, or, as it was afterwards
+designated on account of the frigidity of its stern and
+haughty bigot, Mistress Alice De Clinton, Cold Hall, was a
+spacious building, and stood upon an imposing eminence at
+the eastern boundary of Ipswich, being held by the Bishop
+of Norwich, as guardian of his niece, and afterwards
+appropriated to religious purposes by its proud possessor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was there that, in the times of the persecution of the
+Protestants in Suffolk, many of those furious zealots who
+sat in conclave upon the Reformers used to meet and
+deliberate upon the best method of putting an end to the
+growing errors of enlightenment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Alice De Clinton had, like many haughty favorites,
+learned to hate the unfortunate Wolsey, when she found
+herself no longer supported in the dignity of her imperial
+influence in his house.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Alice retired from the splendor of Wolsey's court,
+carried with her the keenest hatred of the Reformers, on
+the very account of Ellen's reception at York Place; but
+when she came to Goldwell Hall&mdash;when she found that
+Latimer, Ellen, and Lord De Freston, were the most popular
+friends of the heretics, and lived in Ipswich, beloved by
+thousands&mdash;it was said that even her cold, stern, and
+immoveable nature was roused to rage, and she exclaimed&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The fire shall burn them or me!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Strange language for a high-born dame; but in those
+days, as in these, unsubdued tempers, fed by superstition,
+will be guilty of any cruelties, and yet call them
+virtues.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Alice was a compound of hatred, such a character as can
+scarcely be seen now-a-days; she would have pricked the
+dead tongue of Ellen with a savage joy, could she have had
+it plucked out and laid before her whilst she had a bodkin
+in her hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She fed hatred in her own bosom very willingly, and the
+insidious priests of Rome found her hall so cold to anything
+like love, that they could induce her to believe and
+almost to do anything they bade her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Rome was an idol in her heart, because it suited the
+pride of her nature.  The religion of Rome, which was
+corrupted so as to exalt the Virgin Mary into being styled
+the Queen of Heaven, was easily adapted to make a proud
+woman believe she was a sort of queen upon earth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The elevation it gave to female influence in the affairs of
+the church&mdash;the pretended excellence which it attributed to
+female devotion, when carried to external self-denials,
+instead of inward humility&mdash;all tended to puff up the owner
+of Goldwell Hall, and make her conceive that she had
+more influence in the church than the bishop, and much
+more dignity than if she had gone to Winton.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She was closeted with Father Mortimer Duncan and
+Thomas Pountenay, priests of St. John the Baptist, in
+which chapelry stood the domain of Goldwell, and talking
+to them about the then unsettled state of affairs in the
+church; and something may be gathered very instructive
+from their conversation, as showing the kind of intrigue
+then going on under the garb of devotion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Can nothing be done, father, against these pestilent
+heretics?  Has the church lost all her power, because these
+infatuated people have returned from their impeachment
+without conviction, through the leniency of your proud
+townsman, Wolsey?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why, though belonging to Ipswich, and associated with
+his youth, should he have been so weak as to spare the
+strong arm of Rome, when he could have crushed this
+monster in the person of De Freston?  He has verily done
+more to root disaffection in his native town, by this poor
+weakness of his heart, than if he had boldly delivered that
+heretic to the flames.  But can nothing be done?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'We have been praying in our chapel, lady, beside
+those ever-burning candles, which thou hast so graciously
+presented to our Lady, and, as we looked upon the seven
+flames, we saw them divide; yes, lady, the burning flames
+of thy candles all appeared to be divided; and all on a
+sudden one half was, by an unseen hand, extinguished.
+We communed deeply upon this subject; we wondered
+what it could import, the more especially as we both
+perceived in the seven flames two illuminated letters,
+A. and E., just as brother Pountenay has here depicted them;
+what can it import?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Which was extinguished&mdash;which half&mdash;which letter,
+father?' exclaimed the proud lady, with a degree of
+agitation which rendered her whole frame tremulous.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It was the letter E.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Now our lady be praised for that!' exclaimed the marble
+Alice.  'I can perceive its importance!  It is sufficient
+confirmation for me!  It will do, good father&mdash;it will do!
+It is a sign&mdash;yes it is a sign to me from heaven!  It shall
+come to pass!  I have long thought upon it.  It has been
+upon my mind; and this wonder, which you both have
+witnessed in my candles, shall assuredly be before long
+revealed.  Was it in both the candles?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It was.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Were both halves extinguished at each side of the
+altar at the same time?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'At the same moment, lady.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Good! it is as I conjectured!  O, Father Duncan, how
+wonderful are the manifestations given to the faithful!
+I can see its import.  I know it well!  It is a good omen
+for the Church of Rome, and it is well I understand it.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thou art a wonderful prophetess, lady, we are but
+instruments; but if thou art enlightened from the burning
+of thine own sacred candles, we hope it imports only
+good to thee.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Good to me! yes, yes! good to me!  It is always good
+to me to be employed in the service of Rome.  Hark! the
+warder's bell announces a stranger.  Go! fathers and friends
+Duncan and Pountenay; go! ye must require refreshment
+after your long matin devotion.  Go into the refectory and
+partake of what thou wilt.  My stranger's bell has answered
+to the porter's, so that I expect not a known
+friend&mdash;therefore retire.'
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>
+'It will answer, brother Duncan, it will answer!  She
+will do it!  The end justifies the means, and if it be but for
+the good of our fraternity, no matter though a foolish
+woman doth it.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But had we not better prompt her somehow, to let it be
+on a stormy night?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Leave that to me.  I can introduce it.  True, a night of
+thunder and lightning would be a very plausible suggestion;
+and it would be a good subject for us to descant upon the
+vengeance of Heaven against the heretics&mdash;leave it to
+me!'
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap47"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XLVII.
+<br><br>
+PRIDE.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Alice, full of A. and E., received the humble Master
+Cavendish in even a more cold and distant manner than he
+had ever seen her put on before.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thy master is dead?  I know it!  Dost thou come to
+claim ought of me?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No, lady, I want nothing; I did but think, knowing
+thy former interest in my poor lord, and my close attachment
+to his person, that some little information of his latter
+end might be acceptable to the Lady Alice, from her
+humble servant.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Another time it might have been.  I have only one
+question to ask of thee: was he shriven by a priest before
+he died?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He was, by Doctor Palmes.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Then I ask no more.  He died a Catholic.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He did, lady; and recommended his royal master
+to look well after these heretics and heresies so
+prevalent.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Then why did he not order Lord De Freston to be burnt!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Even Cavendish, with all his knowledge of her character,
+little expected this; but when he afterwards heard
+her speak of those hospitable friends, and all connected
+with them, as if she would joy to see them tortured upon
+the rack, flayed alive, or burnt at the stake, his blood chilled
+within him, and he truly thought within himself: 'This is
+Cold Hall indeed!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I ask no questions,' she added, 'of thy master's fortunes.
+The great Cardinal died before he departed for York.  He
+died as soon as I left him.  His was but a pitiful struggle
+afterwards.  Had he been as firm to Rome as I would have
+had him, he might now have been his master's lord.  But
+vengeance yet awaits the enemies of Rome, and weak
+instruments may be used for their overthrow.  Are you a
+staunch friend to the Pope?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was a leading question to Cavendish, who, at that
+time, neither wished to be thought a heretic by denying the
+Supremacy of the Pope, nor to be disloyal to his new master
+by denying his supremacy in the visible church in matters
+purely temporal.  But he knew well that the Papacy must
+have the jurisdiction of temporalities as well as spiritualities
+in the church, and that Alice held the foreign pontiff
+to be her supreme idol.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He had a difficult question to answer, but one which his
+tact alone could elude, so as not to create bitter
+animadversion against him.  He therefore replied&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The Pope, lady, has so many staunch advocates like
+thyself, that the friendship of such insignificant beings as I
+am could redound but little to his greatness.  Thou, lady,
+art, I am sure, his warm friend, and thine influence in this
+neighborhood must be paramount.  Has the Pope lost any
+power hereabouts?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'If he has it shall be restored to him.  The great patron
+of the divine arts, the illustrious advocate of public singers,
+the glorious supporter of divine architecture, the magnificent
+exhibitor of all that is great, noble, praiseworthy, and
+splendid in the worship of the Virgin, the angels, and the
+saints, shall not want a friend in me, though hereabouts
+there may want an example of fire and faggot to exterminate
+his enemies.  Where is thine abode in these parts,
+Master Cavendish?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am but a traveller, a visitor, a mere bearer of a
+message to my lord's friend.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And what was it, Master Secretary, what was it?  Ha! did
+the little man want anything from Alice De Clinton?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Cavendish marvelled indeed at the hauteur of this
+quondam subservient mistress of the Cardinal, his master;
+and within his soul, faithful as it was to a kind-hearted
+individual who was ever gracious to him, it revolted at
+the contumacy with which she, the exalted lady of Wolsey's
+notice, now dared to treat his memory.  His memory of
+his master rose triumphant, and his remembrance, too, of
+the estimation in which Ellen was held by him came with
+lively impression to his mind, and he could not help punishing
+the haughty Alice with a declaration which he little
+expected she would so quickly resent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With gratitude in his heart, a far more active agent
+at that moment than political prudence or cautious wisdom,
+he replied&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am upon a visit to Lord De Freston, the Lady Ellen,
+and Latimer.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The haughty lady looked as if she would annihilate him
+with one fierce glance of her serpent eye.  She rose without
+forgetting for a moment that she was treating a stranger, or
+a former friend, in her own house.  She rose stately, coolly,
+slowly, erected her head just as a serpent of the most
+stupendous kind might do previous to her all determined rush
+upon her victim, and something more than a hiss from her
+forked tongue issued from her throat:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Then how darest thou to tread the threshold of Goldwell
+Hall?  Knowest thou not that between the daughters
+of Rome and those of the Devil there can be no alliance? and
+darest thou to contaminate with thy polluted feet the
+hall of the faithful, after having been an inmate of the tomb
+of an heretic?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Perish, traitor, perish!&mdash;back, go back to Freston
+Tower!  Look thence upon the birth-place of thy master;
+but know thou that ere another year shall sweep over the
+heads of those whom now thou dost call thine host, hostess,
+and friend, their power shall perish if they be not
+themselves departed.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The very words, gesture, and cold-blooded determination of
+the impenetrable marble then before him, had an effect of
+creating a chill upon his whole frame; and he felt how truly
+his friends on the opposite bank of the Orwell had described
+the being who then stood before him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was so astonished at her whole bearing, that he made
+no attempt to retire; and had not Alice, with inconceivable
+scorn, pointed to the door, and without any kind of respect
+bade a servant show him the way out, he would have
+remained even longer spell-bound by the very extravagant
+and extraordinary manner of the speech of Alice De Clinton.
+He departed, however, with much less pleasant sensations
+than those with which he had entered; and as he looked
+back upon that solitary mansion, he exclaimed in a distich,
+which afterwards, years afterwards, changed the name of
+the place,
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'Goldwell is cold, and colder far than all<br>
+  This living corpse, a tenant of Cold Hall.'<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>
+He returned to his cheerful friends at Freston, to narrate
+the adventure of his reception.  They were not surprised at
+his declaration,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That never in the face of woman did he see so
+cold-blooded a feature as that of Alice De Clinton.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Little did any of them at that time suspect the plot
+hatching against their peace.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was determined that the usual festivities of Christmas
+should be observed by De Freston as his ancestors had done
+before him; and Cavendish was invited to see the tenantry
+of the hospitable lord do justice to the long beloved and
+venerated old man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Latimer had declined living in the mansion of Humphrey
+Wingfield in Brook Street, Ipswich; and was looked upon
+as the future owner of Freston Castle and all its wide
+spread domain.  He richly merited respect, and was as
+happy in the acknowledgment of every friend of De Freston
+and his daughter, as Albert, Prince of Great Britain,
+is at this moment in the hearts of Victoria's loyal subjects.
+But none are without enemies.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Alice had managed to hire Wingfield House as her town
+residence, and strange did people think the difference between
+the lively possessor who left it, and the stern occupier
+who occasionally, with rigid cold pomp, occupied the state
+apartments.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was said, however, that she intended to move into the
+town at Christmas, and to leave <i>Cold Hall</i> (as it is called
+to this day); and consequently she had wood conveyed
+from her own groves to the yards of the mansion, and made
+every preparation to have at least the rooms well warmed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Alice had a burning within which few knew anything
+of, except her father confessor, Duncan, and those priests of
+Rome who worked upon her fanatic disposition.  This was
+inflamed against all heretics, even to detest their abodes,
+and she had secretly resolved that the flame of Ellen&mdash;the
+E. of her consecrated candles&mdash;should be put out.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+How this was done may be better narrated in another
+chapter.  This is sufficient to show how weak minds may
+be acted upon to do deeds, under the imagination of
+devotion, which are abhorrent to all truth, and such as pure
+religion would revolt at.
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'Oh who can tell what prejudice may call<br>
+  Devotion, when the devil doth enthral?'<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap48"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XLVIII.
+<br><br>
+THE PLOT.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Father Duncan sat in the eastern window of Goldwell
+Hall, on the eve of Christmas, in earnest conversation with
+the Lady Alice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It would be a pious offering to the shrine of the Virgin,
+if, lady, these heretics could but receive a shock on the day
+of the nativity.  It would carry along with it such a
+conviction of vengeance from on high, that all the pious in
+Ipswich would be moved to prayer, and all the heretics
+affrighted might see and know that the Papal hierarchy are
+supported by miraculous interference.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What thou dost imagine, relative to that extinction of
+the flame of E. in thy votive candles, must be given thee;
+for the application is so apposite, that nothing but
+supernatural suggestion could possibly have presented it to
+thy mind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thy devotions, Lady Alice are so intense, thy supplications
+to the Virgin Mary so earnest, that she compels the
+powers of the heavens to listen to her voice, and to grant
+thee thy request.  The enemies of Rome must be
+extinguished.  It is impossible that two flames should shine
+together with such opposite lights as heresy and faith; and
+that which we saw extinguished is, as thou dost premise, a
+sure presage of the establishment and extinction of those
+very powers which, in the persons of Alice and Ellen,
+represent the A. and E. in the flames, or Apostolic and
+Erroneous, a sure presage I say, most noble lady, of the
+extinction of Error, and establishment of the Apostolic
+See.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ellen Latimer, the daughter of Lord De Freston, is the
+most subtle enemy of the Church of Rome.  Her power
+must be extinguished in Ipswich; and what so effectual as
+the destruction of her mansion, and that of her ignoble
+and heretical father on the same night?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It is well conceived, Lady Alice, and thou hast been
+quick, indeed, in the application of thy means.  Those
+means are put into thine hand, thou needest not to be afraid,
+they will assuredly succeed; and we shall see a blaze both
+far and near which cannot fail to be convincing.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Oh, may they convince the impious enemies of Rome
+that they cannot prosper!  I have well assured Abdil Foley
+of his reward.  He has engaged to fire the wainscot in
+those unfrequented apartments of the castle of De Freston,
+which, ever since the death of Lady De Freston, have
+been closed, and are only occasionally visited by the lord
+himself.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Abdil gains access thereto from the servant's apartments,
+and as he has been engaged in some repairs in that part of
+the building, he has conveyed thereto a quantity of shavings,
+and inserted them behind the panels, so that the slightest
+influence of fire will spread beyond the possibility of its
+being extinguished.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Abdil will be among the merry-makers at the hall, and
+will seize his opportunity, just as he is about to leave for his
+own house, to go up into his son's room for his cloak.  It
+will be at twelve o'clock.  He will escape, and we must
+provide for him should he be suspected.  None have any
+suspicions at the present time.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Abdil is now in my hall, and only awaits thy promised
+absolution to convince you that he is a good Catholic, ready
+to do the bidding of any of the priests of Rome.  Shall I
+send him unto thee, Father Duncan?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Do, my daughter.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Abdil Foley was one of those weak men, but strong,
+resolute devotees, who pinned his faith entirely to the
+word of the priest, so as to take everything he told him to
+do as a message from heaven.  He had been taught to
+think Lord De Freston and his daughter had changed their
+profession of true religion for the false one.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He had been one among others who, though a tenant of
+the lord of Freston, had not been disturbed from his
+occupation, although the minds of many around him had changed
+through the very wise and able exposition of the learned
+noble who often instructed his tenantry.  He had not been
+dispossessed because he retained his attachment to Rome.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Having occasion frequently to visit Ipswich as a carpenter
+of considerable skill, he had been noticed by the
+priesthood for his bending his will to their suggestions,
+and the infatuated man had, as many before and after have
+done, allowed himself to be made the tool of the hierarchy
+to do things diametrically opposed to the Word of God.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He had found himself completely under the hand of the
+lady of Cold Hall, and had been so piously inspired with
+her spirit, that he had promised, as a religious act of faith,
+to set fire to his master's premises.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Father Duncan understood the character of the man the
+moment he saw him, and adapted his mode of address
+accordingly, as the profound fool entered the apartment,
+bowing to the very earth, as if he was entering into the
+presence of the Pope himself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Abdil, my son, thou art welcome to our presence.  Come
+hither, that I may lay my hands upon thee, and give thee
+absolution.  Thy resolution to serve the church of thy
+fathers is nobly taken, and the destruction of heretics is a
+duty which every true son of Rome must feel to be a
+privilege, as he is therein made an instrument of vengeance
+upon the ungodly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The pious lady of this mansion has informed me, that
+thou dost desire to have absolution from all sin in the act
+thou art about to perform against that pestilent heretic,
+Lord De Freston.  We give it thee freely and absolutely,
+and do not only assure thee of perfect pardon for all thy
+past sins, but for this act thou shall have free grace and
+exculpation for all sins thou mayest commit for twelve
+months to come.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Therefore, my son, kneel down, that we may bless thee
+and strengthen thy hands by the taking of them between
+our own, as an assurance of their being clean from all
+iniquity.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Abdil Foley knelt with the most profound submission,
+closed the palms of his hands as if they were two boards
+glued together, and inserted them with reverence between
+the opening palms of Father Duncan.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+No wonder that he should be elevated by the imposition.
+The terms were such as the greatest villain who had any
+faith in Rome might conscientiously accept, and proceed, as
+Abdil did, to put in practice the most diabolical act under
+the pretence of doing God's service.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He returned to Freston seven times more infatuated and
+diabolical than he had ever before been.  The poor fellow
+was of a naturally kind-hearted, easy temper, but was weak,
+ignorant, and easily imposed upon; just such as the priests
+of that day sought for to do the work they dared not
+themselves perform.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Everything was arranged, but too successfully, for the
+destruction of Lord De Freston's castle, and the late
+residence of Ellen, his daughter, in the centre of Ipswich, so
+long belonging to the Wingfields.  Abdil had been made
+instrumental in the latter as well as the former, under the
+pretence of being employed about some repairs; so that he
+was in the plot, and sworn to secrecy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We shall see, however, that if vengeance inflicted by
+man is suffered to prevail for a moment, it recoils upon
+the head of the perpetrator, even when he is seeking the
+ruin of the innocent.  How awful were the intrigues of
+those days!  Truth requires no intrigue, certainly no
+violence, to defend it.  It is so calm and exalted above
+passion, that it scorns alike to put in force absolute cruelty,
+as it does absolute condemnation or acquittal.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap49"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XLIX.
+<br><br>
+THE FOOL.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Christmas Day of that memorable year in which Cardinal
+Wolsey died, came with its usual festivities; which in
+every house were exercised in a greater or less degree,
+according to their means.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In De Freston's domain, it had ever been a day of the
+gathering of his tenantry into the great hall, when the
+bringing in the great log, the boar's head, and the largest buck
+which could be shot, as hereditary customs, were observed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Upon the present occasion, it was, if possible, a more
+than common festivity, particularly on account of the
+great age of the proprietor, whose birthday was on Christmas
+Day, and he had now attained the great age of
+eighty-eight years.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The old Baron was as fine a specimen of an Englishman
+as ever walked into his hall.  He retained the fire of his
+eye on that very day with the vigor of a man whose
+intellect was less impaired than his body.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was a memorable Christmas Day for every one connected
+with the house of Freston&mdash;memorable, as will be
+seen, for its festive character; memorable for its local events,
+and for the destruction of the two most stately mansions
+which at that period graced the banks of the Orwell.  But
+though it was a day of rejoicing to many, it was, as it ever
+will be, a day of woe to some.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All were happy in and around the hospitable mansion.
+Cavendish saw such a body of happy Suffolk yeomen
+meeting at the foot of Freston Tower, that he declared, if
+ever his fortunes enabled him to do so, he would become
+a Suffolk man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From far and near all were assembled, and Ellen, more
+than usually happy and active, was here, there, and
+everywhere among her parent's tenants, interchanging,
+exchanging, and changing hands, words, and deeds, as became a
+lady of her distinction and qualities of head and heart.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+What a pity that ever a cloud should have arisen to
+change the sunny smiles and cheerful welcomes of that
+happy Christmas Day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It often happens in terrestrial things that at the very
+moment of our utmost felicity, when the cup of social
+enjoyment is at its highest point, touching the very lips of
+him who is ready to taste the draught, then an unforeseen
+blow prostrates, in a moment, all the excitement, pleasure,
+and enjoyment of that mortal delight in which we had been
+engaged.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This may be very beneficial to us all; but it is at the time
+confessedly severe, and it is only calm reflection, gradual
+wisdom, and gently sustained grace that lifts the broken-hearted
+to the calmer wisdom of acquiescence in the wisdom
+of the wise Disposer of all things.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Stoicism may harden a man's heart to such a degree, that
+his philosophical mind may become indifferent to almost
+everything; and a species of fatalism may usurp all tenderness,
+nature, affection, and every quality of enjoyment with
+which God has gifted our souls and bodies.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But stoicism, thank God, is not the Christian's creed, who
+looks to the law and the testimony, and the love of God for all
+his creatures, but most of all for man, for whom God has
+himself made a sacrifice, such as angels who are not partakers
+thereof can scarcely describe; such as souls, lost and
+found, can, indeed, only appreciate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Oh, let me be the poorest fly of the sunbeam, thankful
+for the warmth of heavenly rays which expand my wings,
+rather than the chilly tenant of the gloomy, tomb-like
+monastery, which can only be made warm by artificial means,
+and then gives neither confidence nor comfort to the heart.
+One ray of love is worth twenty thousand torches, though
+they might cast a glare of light upon a murky night.  One
+ray of love, of the daylight from on high, shall put into
+darkness all the candles of the altars of superstition, though
+they may burn with national devotion through the largest
+empires of the world.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So the heaviness of a sudden blow coming unexpectedly
+upon a Christian may cast him down for a night, but not for
+ever.  God feels for him who can feel for others, and will
+lift him up from his fall, and restore him to the light.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These may be comforting words to some and foreboding
+ones to others, and they who read this narrative may be
+trembling on the breath of suspense, knowing what is
+coming in the course of the description, and may imagine
+this work is to end in the dismal sorrow of some dreadful
+catastrophe.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+An unhappy, a designedly mischievous, and wicked act did
+transpire; but he whom it was meant to injure never knew
+the enemy that caused it; and, as we shall presently see,
+she whom it was hoped might be consumed, or overwhelmed
+with the terror of the conflagration, was so engrossed with a
+nobler, deeper, and more heartfelt grief, that even the
+destruction of all her houses would have been a cypher
+compared with it.  The blow which divine wisdom gives
+carries along with it its own cure, it is to be healed by the
+word of wisdom; but the blow which enemies give us, wound
+only themselves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Christmas festivities of the park of De Freston were
+observed out of doors and in with all the usual demonstrations
+of temporal rejoicing.  The landlord's presents were
+made on this day to his tenants.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+New stuff gowns to good wives, new suits of liveries to
+all retainers, new swords to the defenders of the castle, new
+books to the learned, new hats, shoes, coats, jerkins,
+stockings, caps, woollens, and all the variety of household
+comforts, to the cottagers and peasantry of the domain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All were invited to the baronial mansion, where the yule
+log burnt upon the open hearth, and such a blaze ascended,
+as lighted up every portion of the great hall without the aid
+of lamps.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lord De Freston, with his faithful bloodhounds at his
+heels, and his loving daughter by his side, stood again,
+though for the last time, in the hall of his ancestors, a
+cheerful spectator of his tenantry and people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The old man most devoutly blessed the fare which a
+bountiful Providence had supplied, and heartily wished all
+he saw to be good and happy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was not the fashion in that day to have riotous cheering
+in the company of the ladies, but vivid respect was not
+the less visible on every countenance as the party walked
+around the well-spread board, attentive to the wants of
+individuals as if they felt they were their own children.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Abdil Foley,' said the Lady Ellen, as she happened to
+look him in the face, 'you do not seem happy to-day; has
+any misfortune come upon you or your family?  I have
+observed you eating nothing, and you wear dejection in
+your countenance.  Come Abdil, if you have any grief at
+heart, let your mistress share it with you.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Abdil could give no answer; he was not a man of strong
+mind, or insensible to natural kindness, nor was he able
+to conceal the uncomfortable state of his heart, in the midst
+of the enjoyment, the festive mirth, he saw around him.
+He was a weak man, and a wicked one as well, as far as
+perpetrating a deed in prospective intention could make him
+wicked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His position, at that moment, was by no means an enviable
+one.  Conscious of the action he was fully determined
+to perform, and sworn to the most inviolate secrecy upon
+the occasion, nothing but the terrors of imposition could
+keep him silent, or resolute in his undertaking.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He had hoped to have managed to conceal, in the bustle
+of the festivities, his wicked designs, even from the torment
+of his own heart; but the excited spirit could not do
+otherwise than think of his absorbing action, which he was to
+perpetrate; and, until he had done it, the very hours, the
+very faces, the very dishes, the very exercises, all appeared
+to him insipid.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He could not rest; others laughed at the various oddities
+of the accomplished Reuben Styles, the buffoon of the day:
+but he, if he smiled, was so insensible to anything like
+merriment, that he looked as if he condemned whilst he
+permitted the frolic of the jester.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He answered not the Lady Ellen, but hung down his
+head in dogged silence, until she called Reuben Styles to
+her, and, with an air of pleasantry, said&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Reuben, look at Abdil Foley, and tell me what is the
+matter with him.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With vast pomposity and affected knowledge, Reuben
+sprang forward, seized the hand and beard of the patient,
+and at once exclaimed: 'Verily, lady, he hath a devil to
+contend with.  He is a black one too&mdash;a fiery one also&mdash;and
+I would not be in the same house with him to-night for all
+the world!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In another moment the fool fell prostrate on the floor,
+and struck his head, in falling, so forcibly against the column
+of the balcony which surrounded the hall, that he was
+stunned to stupefaction and sick, and was forced to be
+carried out of the merry company into the air.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lord De Freston was angry, and justly accused Abdil of
+great cruelty to the tolerated and flattered buffoon, whose
+lot it was seldom to meet with such treatment, as all men
+took what he said with good-nature.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thou hast been severe, Abdil: my daughter will not
+readily forgive thee for this!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I don't care if she don't,' was the uncourteous reply.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why didst thou do it?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Because the fellow took me by the beard, and told me I
+had a devil.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Of which thou hast given abundant proof in thy devilish
+deed, in nearly knocking out his brains.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Then his brains should be in their proper place.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was a general dissatisfaction at the conduct of Abdil
+Foley, both towards the courteous Lady Ellen and her
+father, and many were the rebuffs which this unhappy man
+received upon that merry Christmas Day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He took all these things as many infatuated people do&mdash;as
+sufferings for conscience' sake&mdash;a strange species of
+self-deception which a deluded creature, in every age, has called
+a conscientious suffering.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nothing else, however, than the impious persuasion, and
+the false oath he had taken to destroy De Freston's mansion,
+could have worked upon his temper and disposition, so as
+literally to make him an object of disaffection in the hall of
+his master.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That good man, though he did not approve the behaviour of
+the mechanic, had he been indeed of a despotic disposition,
+would have banished him from his associates on that festive
+occasion, and not have borne with his surliness, and certainly
+not have begged of others to do the same.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He and his daughter left the hall to see after their poor
+man of wit, who was carried into the air, and was reviving
+from the blow he had received.  There was a wonderful
+elasticity of character about Reuben Styles.  He was not a
+privileged mischief-maker, and, though full of fun, he very
+seldom said anything to wound the feelings of any one.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yet he was attached to Lord De Freston and Ellen, and
+he felt that Abdil's surliness, sullenness, and downcast
+manner at such a time, must result from ill-humor of mind
+or body.  He looked at him therefore earnestly, to see if
+some bodily ailment might not afflict him; but, discovering
+no symptom for the skill of the leech, he easily concluded
+the man must have some ill-will rancoring in his heart,
+which prevented his enjoying the Christmas Day as others did.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Lord De Freston inquired good-humoredly after
+him, saying: 'Reuben, Reuben! you have had a hard hit
+to-day.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The man replied, 'And so will you, good lord, before night.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How so, Reuben?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Because when a man strikes master's fool, I'm sure it is
+not anything but hatred of his master which makes him hit
+so hard.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He can have no cause to hate me, Reuben; I never
+injured him.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'So much the worse fellow he.  He did not hate me.  A
+few days ago I could say anything to him; but I suspect
+I spoke truth to him, good master, and the devil hates
+truth; he hath therefore a devil within him which knocked
+me down, and I wish that may be the worst mischief in him
+to-day.  I feel better, good master, ready to return.  I must
+join the sports within the hall.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So the poor fellow came in again; but was observed to be
+very much shaken, and not so lively as he had been.
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'Yet there rejoiced he many eyes,&mdash;<br>
+  To see the fool still looking wise;<br>
+  And well it was that he could see<br>
+  With such a stunn'd capacity;<br>
+  And yet he saw, with open eyes,&mdash;<br>
+  Enough to give them all surprise.'<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap50"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER L.
+<br><br>
+CHRISTMAS DAY.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+In the midst of the festivities of Christmas, when the
+various out-door rustic frolics, such as breaking the
+stoutest stick, sliding the farthest on a piece of ice,
+snowballing, tracking the hider, and building up the snow man
+to be shot at, had passed away, and the song and the dance
+within the mansion were beginning to soften all hearts,
+a beggar was announced by the porter, as desirous of
+partaking of the crumbs of the lord's table.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Make way for the traveller!' was the immediate order
+of De Freston; 'let the weary-footed man walk in.  Go,
+several of you, and assist him hither.  We shall enjoy
+ourselves the more, the more free the hospitality we
+offer.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+An old man, with grey, straight, silken locks, came in,
+supported by others, almost perished from cold; and with
+shivering limbs and weeping eyes, he was placed near the
+crackling fire.  He sat down, or was rather assisted to be
+seated, when, opening his eyes, the first thing he fixed them
+upon was the now animated face of De Freston's bloodhound.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That animal had become on a sudden wide awake, and
+his full, piercing, lion-like eye, was no longer dull, heavy,
+and torpid.  The dog's whole frame became animated, and
+he growled with a most discontented grumble at the
+attention shown to the beggar.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The man was, as most well-initiated beggars are, well
+versed in words, both of complaint, entreaty, thankfulness,
+and murmuring, and knew how to adapt his speech to the
+company he was in.  The very instant, however, that he
+spoke in such a plaintive interceding way, Saracen, the
+bloodhound, gave such a deep-toned, dissatisfied bark, that,
+had a lion roared in the hall, the people could not have
+been more effectually startled.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It had the effect of turning all eyes upon the beggar, who
+assuredly was more disturbed at the confronting stare of the
+bloodhound, than at the scrutiny of any of the company
+before him.  His was no dissembled terror at the dog, for
+he evidently betrayed such a fear of him, both in word and
+deed, that the Lord De Freston was compelled either to
+remove the beggar from the dog, or the dog from the
+beggar.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The latter appeared the most hospitable step, and the one
+most satisfactory to the beggar, who smiled when he saw
+his dreaded enemy led off to his kennel.  That enemy,
+however, could not be taken away without giving such an
+indication of his displeasure as, but for the interference of
+De Freston, would probably have been of the most serious
+consequence; for, as the two keepers came to lead him
+away, before they had fairly secured them, he flew at the
+beggar, and rolled him off his seat in a moment, and then
+looked at his master as if for instructions to destroy
+him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+De Freston struck the dog, who gave such a piteous howl,
+as pierced the very extreme recesses of the castle, and so
+touched the heart of Ellen that she flew to soothe her
+favorite, and succeeded.  She, in fact, led him away from
+the victim of his rage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There were many in that hall who looked upon the
+circumstance as ominous of calamity, though the Lord De
+Freston, despising all such old wives' fables, was above any
+superstitions of the kind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The fool, however, though not superstitious, saw something
+abhorrent in the beggar, and resolved to keep his
+eye upon him; for he said to himself: 'There are many
+strangers here to-night; why did not the bloodhound tackle
+them?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the festivities went on; the drum, and flute, and
+bagpipe did their parts, and groups of merry dancers whirled
+their partners through the strange hop of the age, much
+resembling the dance of sailors on board a man-of-war.  The
+more stately set dance of the nobility was not imitated by
+the people, and in these Christmas frolics no mask was
+allowed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As the dance went on, the old beggar revived from his
+warmth, and fixed his eyes upon Abdil Foley, and somehow
+contrived to let him see that he claimed his attention.  He
+thought he was unobserved, but the watchful fool had kept
+him in his eye, and now felt convinced that there was more
+than one demon in the room.  Abdil contrived gradually
+to draw up to the fire-place, and the beggar dropped his
+staff.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Pick it up, young man,' said he; and as he gave it him
+he said&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Father Duncan is here.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The guilty Abdil looked at the beggar narrowly, and saw
+in a moment, beneath the disguise, the ever watchful priest
+of St. John the Baptist, Father Confessor to Alice De
+Clinton, and the craftiest Jesuit who ever set foot into the
+diocese of Norwich.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Go and join in the dance, Abdil; shake off thy
+melancholy; I will set thee free.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Abdil went; he suddenly shook off his melancholy&mdash;for
+he was bid to do so, and by a priest&mdash;so that he became, if
+not in reality, yet apparently, an altered man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The fool observed it, and kept his watch the more closely
+upon him, as his altered behaviour seemed to him entirely
+owing to the beggar's speech.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lord De Freston, in his attentions to his people, had for a
+time forgotten the attack upon the beggar by his bloodhound,
+and now, seeing the old man interested in the dance,
+he walked towards his seat, and entered into conversation
+with him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I hope thou hast recovered from the terror which my
+savage hound occasioned.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thanks to thee, I feel myself better.  He is a faithful
+dog.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He is, indeed; and singular in him, he never attempts to
+attack any one who is not a stranger&mdash;quite a stranger to
+this country.  He has never smelt thy foot before.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am a stranger from Lancashire, and poor enough; but
+I have a vow upon me to visit Latimer's Tower on the
+Christmas Day after Cardinal Wolsey's death.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ha! how knewest thou that the Tower was ever Latimer's
+Tower.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That is easily explained.  Though I am a beggar, a
+pilgrim, a wanderer from a far country, yet I was a monk
+at York, who had to do penance for my sin, and the penance
+laid upon me was that, from the moment that the death of
+Cardinal Wolsey, Archbishop of York, should take place,
+be it whensoever it might, or I be wheresoever I might be,
+I should start barefoot for the birth-place of Wolsey, and
+there remain until Christmas Day next succeeding, and that
+upon that day I should visit a certain tower, designated,
+by the Cardinal himself, Latimer's Tower, and affix in the
+window of the fifth story this illuminated cross.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That I was to ask permission of thyself so to do the one
+hour before midnight.  I have scarcely had time to walk
+the distance, as you see me, noble lord; but humbly crave
+it, as the completion of my vow, to perform the task.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Folly though I think all such vows to be, both in those
+who exact and those who perform them, I cannot forget that
+the time was when I myself, like thee, thought it part of a
+good Catholic's devotion to impose such vain works of
+penance upon myself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I pity thee sincerely, stranger, but will aid thee effectually
+in thy task, though I wish most heartily that thou mayest
+be enlightened to see thine error.'  The pilgrim crossed
+himself devoutly.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap51"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER LI.
+<br><br>
+THE INCENDIARY.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+The dance continued merrily and cheerily, and every one
+enjoyed the Christmas cheer; till at last the castle horn
+blew, and friends who lived near parted with good humor
+from those who were to remain the night.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Friends,' said De Freston, 'farewell!  Our love go with
+you.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Little did any who departed think they were the last
+words they should ever hear from the lips of that generous
+nobleman.  The bustle of departure had scarcely been over
+before Ellen and Latimer, Cavendish and other friends, were
+surprised to hear Lord De Freston give an order such as
+they never had heard upon such an occasion before:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Torches for the Tower!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Torches for the Tower, father!' exclaimed Ellen; 'what! on
+this night?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes, my daughter, it is but fitting that we should have
+due regard to the prejudices of strangers:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Torches for the Tower!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And, Ellen, wrap thyself well up in thy wintry woollen
+mantle, and accompany me thereto.  This stranger has a
+vow upon him which we must see performed.  It is one
+enjoined by thine early friend, Thomas Wolsey.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was sufficient for Ellen, but Cavendish, his gentleman
+usher, house secretary, and most humble servant, said&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Who is the stranger? what is the vow?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You may inquire of him anything you will.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Old man,' said Cavendish, 'what is thy name?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My name is Duncan.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Monk of York, who, on a celebrated Palm Sunday, on
+which we all went in procession to our Lady's Chapel, didst
+conduct thyself disorderly, licentiously, and insultingly to
+my Lord Cardinal, and wast ordered to be confined for the
+lifetime of my master?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am he&mdash;the same&mdash;and was then to perform the vow
+which thy master named, and which, now he is dead, I am
+come to fulfil.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I do not remember that part of thy sentence.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'This was imposed upon me at the suggestion of our
+Superior, the venerable D'Annerat.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It is well&mdash;it is well&mdash;my poor master is dead, and the
+Superior might have obtained this penance from my master
+without my knowledge, and it is not unlike him.  Hast thou
+no proof thereof?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'This,' said the cunning Duncan, 'this,' and he showed
+him a glass cross, with the arms of the Cardinal in the
+centre, and the whole capable of illumination by a
+phosphoric matter, with which it had been washed inside.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Cavendish asked him so many questions of York, of its
+monastery, cathedral, neighborhood, palace, castle, and
+people, that he became convinced he was at York during
+the time of his master's presence therein.  He gave, therefore,
+implicit credence to the man's words, and intimated to
+Lord De Freston that he could vouch for the truth of the
+man's statement.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Torches were brought, two men appointed to attend the
+aged devotee, and to assist his steps, whilst Lord De
+Freston, Ellen, and Latimer, with Cavendish, prepared to
+walk through the snow, which had then fallen deep, to the
+porch of Freston Tower.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Old Saracen howled most piteously as the torches passed
+over the drawbridge, and neither the orders for silence, nor
+the cheerful call of De Freston, could make him cease his
+piteous moan, as if he were baying the torches which were
+accompanying his master to his tomb, instead of the light,
+airy, lofty, cheerful abode of his hours of meditation,
+recreation, and study.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was a very unusual thing for his master to proceed by
+torchlight without his favorite bloodhound, and it might be
+the being left chained at the castle door at such a time
+that created Saracen's discomfiture.  But his anger at the
+beggar was sufficient cause for De Freston to decline his
+services that night.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The attendants were ordered to accompany their lord, but
+the fool would not go.  He had other game in view, for,
+having seen significant but secret glances pass between
+Abdil Foley and the beggar, he resolved to watch the former,
+whom he heard say&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I must hasten to my son's room for my cloak.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His young son was one of the undergrooms, who slept in
+the furthest attic, adjoining the unfrequented apartments of
+the castle.  Reuben Styles was suspicious.  The moment he
+heard his speech he bolted off, and took the nearest passage
+to the back staircase, leaving Abdil to pursue his way
+through the crowd; one detaining him to congratulate him
+upon his recovery; another joking him about the fool;
+another about his possession of a demon, until Reuben had
+fairly secreted himself beneath one of the groom's beds,
+before the wretched Abdil came with his lantern into the
+room.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He came, and alone; but breathing hard, and yet
+listening.  His cloak lay upon the bed, and its folds were
+hanging down even before the face of Reuben Styles; so
+that he was in some trepidation lest his old foe should catch
+him alone, and give him an additional punishment for his
+curiosity.  He was surprised the cloak did not move,
+especially as he knew that Abdil would not like to go across
+the park alone at night, and friends were fast departing
+from the hospitable roof.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last he heard him sigh, and speak&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Come, I must be quick!  Away, ye fiends of darkness;
+torment me not!  Now, then, for the Faith.  I am glad,
+however, my lord and lady are not in the house.  No
+matter, if I am revenged upon the fool.  I should like to
+see him burning upon one of the turrets.  Now, Father
+Duncan, thou wilt say I did it well.  I must not forget my
+cloak upon my return.  Ha! ha! ye heretics! ye will soon
+see a blaze!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Those were fearful words for the fool to hear, who began
+to think that he was found out, and that he was to be taken
+wrapped up in the woollen covering of the bed, and to be
+burnt on the top of the turret, which was only a few
+winding steps from the place where he then lay.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was relieved, however, by hearing the bolts of the
+door leading to the unfrequented apartments undone, and
+then the lock turn from its hold, and its old rusty hinges
+grate upon the pivots, and Abdil Foley depart, closing the
+door again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Whatever is the villain at!' thought Reuben.  'Whatever
+it is, he shall have it all to himself, for I will take good
+care he shall keep in those apartments all night.  He crept
+from his hiding-place, bolted the door, and finding that the
+great key was in the lock, he turned that also, and fled
+down stairs again to the hall, determined to give an alarm to
+all the house, by saying there was a ghost in the
+unfrequented part of the house.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He did so, for he went into the very midst of the domestics,
+and told them all to go and listen, what a strange noise
+there was.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And, indeed, there was soon heard a strange noise: such
+a thundering row at the doors, and such a crackling of
+wood, that the poor creatures shivered with terror, and the
+fool himself became horrified.
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'There is a demon in the house,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;There is a ghost I'm sure;<br>
+  What strange, unearthly, hideous rows!<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Who can these woes endure?'<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap52"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER LII.
+<br><br>
+THE CONFLAGRATION.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Poor old Saracen continued his lamentable howl, nor could
+the warder silence him.  De Freston himself, as he entered
+the porch of the Tower, said to his daughter&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I lament leaving Saracen behind us, but we must guard
+this stranger.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Dear father, why do you brave the chill air to-night?
+I do not like your coming.  We could surely have shown
+the stranger to the spot, and have seen him perform his
+devotions without your running the risk of cold.  Pray,
+dear father, keep your cloak close around you.  The chill
+air blows keenly across the Orwell, and this is a night only
+for the young, whose blood can be kept in circulation by
+exercise.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thanks, my dearest child.  I shall take no hurt.  I have
+a twofold duty in this visit to the Tower.  I shall see the
+arms of Wolsey in your favorite window, and that will be a
+pleasing memento of a once-learned but too ambitious man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The poor disguised monk, old and infirm, will also see
+that we have a very scientific room, and I intend to speak a
+few words of truth to him appropriate to this occasion.
+Moreover, after all our festivities to-night, I cannot tell you
+why, but I have feeling, a desire, a sort of indescribable
+wish, to look upon the tranquil seat of my fathers, from the
+turret, though it be only by our torches and the stars.
+There is tranquillity in the thought after the agitations of
+the hall.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I will say no more, dear father, but I am sorry that the
+night is so cold.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Your heart is warm, dear child; proceed with the
+torches.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They entered the Tower.  The deceitful monk knelt down
+upon the stone floor, crossed himself devoutly, and followed
+the torch-bearers through the various rooms to the fifth
+story.  He came to the window.  Again he knelt down,
+took from his bosom the cross, which in another moment,
+after kissing repeatedly, he affixed to the centre of the
+window.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then taking his flask, which hung from his side, he
+pretended to take the first draught of wine which he had
+been allowed to touch since the moment of his making the
+vow until its completion.  He laid the carved horn upon the
+table, and again seemed lost in prayer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Deceitful villain, at that moment he was making a double
+signal for the destruction of two of the most magnificent
+houses in town and country which the banks of the river
+Orwell owned.  But they were the seats of heretics, men
+adverse to the malignities, views, corruptions, lies, and
+impositions of the Papal power, and though very learned,
+very charitable, very wise, opulent, and humble, yet hostile
+to the hierarchy of Rome, and therefore to be tormented,
+persecuted, and driven from the land.  The illuminated cross
+shone conspicuous enough to lighten the room.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Let us leave the pious pilgrim to his own meditations
+and ascend to the turret, my child, for a few minutes.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They ascended; they leaned upon the summit; but in a
+moment De Freston felt a chill come over him, and he
+said&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ellen, I feel dizzy, my child; support me, Latimer.'&mdash;&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He fell into the arms of his son-in-law and Cavendish,
+who placed him upon the stone steps of the turret.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ellen, fetch the monk's flask of wine!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She descended.  There knelt the dissembling devotee.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Father, I must take thy flask.  My parent is suddenly
+taken ill.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She waited not for his reply, nor did she see his smile.
+But ran hastily up again with the flask, concluding that the
+man would follow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He had done his work.  He descended slowly, passed
+through the yet ignorant torch-bearers, made his genuflections
+and crosses, and gave his blessing solemnly to the
+men, and desired them to kneel and pray in silence until
+he walked three times round the outside of the Tower.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The villain was soon gone, soon struck into the shades of
+Freston, sought the shore, and, with sturdy steps, bade
+defiance to pursuit.  A cry, a lamentable cry, was soon
+heard, and all rushed from the lowest room into the air.
+The whole castle was on fire.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shrieks issued from the distance, and above their
+heads the lamentations of one voice was heard from
+the lofty tower.  The men were in agony, between the
+hastening to the castle and the call from above.  Six ran
+toward the mansion; two, with fearful agony, ascended the
+Tower.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ellen was so completely engrossed with her parent's
+state, that she cast not her glance over the battlements,
+but upon the leads, where her father's serene face was
+looking up as if his eyes would pierce the skies.  She
+put the flask to his lips; she poured the wine into his
+mouth&mdash;he drank.  For a moment he seemed to revive; he
+felt for his daughter's hands, he placed them in Latimer's,
+he kissed them; he was speechless; he looked up, and with
+a gentle smile upon his lips, he breathed his last.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was at that moment the cry from the castle reached
+their ears; but had it been a volcanic eruption it would
+not have attracted the rivetted, deep rivetted devotion of
+the affectionate beings who then knelt at the dead De
+Freston's feet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Cavendish alone, in an agony of horror, exclaimed&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The castle is on fire!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nor had these words, nor the sudden spectacle, power to turn
+the souls of the true mourners from a greater object of their
+sorrow.  The castle was on fire, and more, Cavendish beheld
+over the waters in the far distance, a blaze of light illumining
+the sky, and heard the distant bells of the town of Ipswich
+sounding their alarm to arouse the country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was a spectacle so appalling, that what with the woe
+around and near him, even he, who had seen more sorrows
+than his years could have been supposed to have known,
+was completely unnerved.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Latimer, recovering, bore his Ellen into the room beneath,
+where servants came screaming in wild dismay to her
+increased but solemn sorrowing.  Latimer ordered De
+Freston's servants to remove their master's body into the
+astronomical room, and torches to be there lighted
+immediately.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was no occasion for ordering furniture, for the
+assembling people had been some time bringing across to the
+Tower whatever goods and chattels could be saved from
+the conflagration.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Reuben Styles alone seemed to retain wisdom for
+ordering anything.  He knew Abdil was the perpetrator,
+and he kept his eye upon that wing of the house, and soon
+saw the desperate fellow in wild and mad despair climbing
+over the roof, and descending by the spouts from one
+parapet to another.  He had cut his leg severely with some
+broken glass, and even in the fire, the villain might be seen
+with bloody clothes trying to escape, and he did descend.
+So much broken up with the woe were the people, that
+those who saw him pitied him, and called to him to show
+him how to escape, none knowing, save the poor fool, that
+he was the cause of the catastrophe.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hundreds were employed in breaking the ice and
+throwing water.  Numbers kept arriving, but all&mdash;all in
+vain.  Reuben Styles seemed to assume a sudden
+command&mdash;men obeyed him.  It was he who let the bloodhound
+loose.  It was he who, when the ruin was complete, which
+it was by two o'clock that dreadful night&mdash;it was he who
+exclaimed, when he heard that his master was dead, and
+the rest of his family safe&mdash;it was he who exclaimed to
+the people&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Let us pursue the incendiary.  I know who he is.  Dead
+or alive let us bring him to Freston Tower.  Follow me
+the stoutest of you all.  Follow me as many as dare.  Bring
+Saracen along with you!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The blood-hound was not long before he was on the scent
+for the blood of Abdil Foley had dropped upon the snow
+across the moat, and when Reuben took up a portion with
+the snow, and rubbed it on the nose of Saracen, and tracked
+him on the slot, the brave dog, with one lift of his head, and
+a solemn, deep-toned note of recognition, pursued the villain,
+who, conscience-smitten, fled from the terror of his
+deeds.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap53"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER LIII.
+<br><br>
+THE PURSUIT.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+But when did the wicked escape?  So will a man's sins
+follow him, and find him out at last, be they what they may.
+And whoever has sinned against love, whoever has injured
+a neighbor, whoever has been vindictive, cruel, unfeeling,
+or revengeful, the bloodhound of his own conscience will
+pursue him, and superstition, under the garb of religion,
+can never more shield him beneath her altars.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Abdil fled to his home.  His wife, his sons, his neighbors
+were all gone to lend a hand, if possible, to quench his fiery
+work.  He had been seen.  He must be known.  He must
+be taken.  He could not stay there.  What must he do?
+The very solitude of his cottage, and the distant noise of
+the people, all conspired against him, and the wretched man
+exclaimed&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'O Father Duncan!  O Lady Alice! now&mdash;now&mdash;now
+give me absolution.  I must fly to you.  You must hide
+me in the sanctuary of your church.  You must console
+me, or my fiery brain will burn more furiously than De
+Freston's Hall.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The wretched man rested not a moment, save to drink
+one bitter draught of liquor which he had in his house, and
+then fled for Goldwell, or Cold Hall.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He had a long start&mdash;an hour's start and more of his
+pursuers.  Ten young men, with undaunted courage, firm
+hands and feet, led on by Reuben Styles, and the noble
+bloodhound of De Freston, followed on the track.  So still
+was the night, that Saracen's deep note could be heard for a
+long while by the mournful listeners at the castle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The brave dog arrived at the door of the infatuated
+carpenter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He is right,' exclaimed Reuben, 'he is right, my bold
+companions, Abdil Foley is the man.  He is the wretch.
+Find him, good Saracen, find him, boy!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In vain they searched the house.  They had well nigh
+been left in the lurch, for Saracen had again tracked that
+now well-known foot from the house, and was making his
+way towards the lodge.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thither they followed with fresh excitement, as the bold
+dog gave but little further tongue, but seemed to settle down
+into a certain steady pace of pursuit.  It was a longer and a
+stronger chase than they expected, but the spirit of Reuben
+was above fatigue, and he exclaimed at the lodge:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Now, boys, go no further, you who cannot endure a long
+run; for my belief is, the town' (then four miles off) 'is our
+destination.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Never huntsman had a braver field to follow him.  Never
+hound less came to check.  As they entered upon the strand
+they found the snow was less, and the scent more new and
+powerful, and consequently the fierce delight of Saracen
+was more lively.  His head was higher up, as if he
+expected to see his victim, or else the scent of the man more
+recently impregnated the very air with his demoniacal
+stench.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A bloodhound is not swift, but he is very sure, very
+untired, always persevering; and though his gallop is slow,
+comparatively speaking, it is inexpressibly grand.  So is
+vengeance in following the guilty.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On! on! on!  Forward! forward! forward! and forward
+went the party, and at every step they took they could see
+the heavens brighter and brighter, until the light from
+behind, where De Freston's castle was blazing, and the
+lights before them illumining the whole town, might fairly
+be said to act almost like sunshine.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They approached the town, but Saracen halted not.
+Though foot-marks crossed, commingled, and became a
+regular path; on, on, on he kept, nor paused, nor spake,
+but every now and then dashed his rudder-like tail from side
+to side to steer him safely to the wind.  But now came
+the proof of his sagacity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Abdil had been ferried over the ford.  In dashed the dog,
+and, as soon as could be, followed the hunt.  Up St. Peter's
+Street, past the Cardinal's College, through Silence
+Street, Wolsey's house in St. Nicholas, past Wolsey's
+Shambles in the market.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On, over the Butcher's Hill, through St. Lawrence, past
+the Magdalene Hospital, the Pest House, St. Margaret's,
+St. Helen's: and now the bloodhound opes his mouth; and
+keeps his jaws working as if he was actually eating the
+scent.  Hundreds joined the cry.  'Pursue the incendiary!
+Pursue the incendiary!' were the exclamations: and half
+the town appeared on fire, from the mighty glare of the
+noble house in Brook Street.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the gates of Goldwell Hall, Saracen came to a check.
+He actually seized the handle of the porter's bell, and bit it
+as if it were the hand of the incendiary.  That hand had
+been but a few minutes on and off the handle; and the rage
+of the bloodhound might now be seen in contrast with his
+previous steadiness.  He gnawed at the threshold.  His
+deep-toned voice must have echoed in the hearts of the
+guilty souls within; but no one answered the multitude.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That multitude, in pursuit of a then exciting and
+righteous cause, tried all they could to obtain a peaceable
+entry.  They were sternly denied, though they heard voices
+in the Lodge.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Force was resorted to, and at last an entrance gained;
+but here all track was lost, for the fugitives had been drawn
+up into a lofty room, and thence conveyed into a secret
+cavern which led to the little chapel of St. John the Baptist;
+but the Lady Alice, with an hauteur and cold dignity,
+confronted and confounded the pursuers, by her calm denial,
+coolness, and composure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They could search no further; for that day Abdil and
+Father Duncan had both escaped, and Saracen returned
+with his brave huntsmen and field to Freston Tower.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The castle was gone&mdash;it was a ruin.  The Tower alone
+remained, and its sorrowful inmates were, for a season,
+inconsolable.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Friends came from Ipswich, the lodges and cottages were
+full of the Hall dependants, and the death of De Freston
+on Christmas Day, on the summit of Freston Tower, was
+the conversation of thousands until the very name became
+extinct.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+William Latimer and the Lady Ellen lived two years in
+Ipswich, in the house of Edmund Daundy; Freston Tower
+became a noted place; Alice de Clinton, soon forgotten.  The
+united couple, who loved each other through all their trials,
+retired into Worcestershire.  William Latimer became a
+firm Protestant, the estates of De Freston were disposed of
+and the faithful Saracen went with his mistress to their
+Midland Counties home.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Cold Hall is now but a farm-house, as many of the old
+baronial mansions of past ages have become.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap54"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER LIV.
+<br><br>
+THE LAST VISIT TO THE TOWER.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Latimer and Ellen visited the scene of their early attachment
+but once after their long and happy sojourn in
+Gloucestershire; and, singular enough, that once was to convey
+to a distant relative, of the name of Goodynge, the estate
+of Freston, for which he had, with earnest solicitation and
+very liberal offers, made repeated application.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ralphe Goodynge, or Gooding, one of the oldest inhabitants
+of Ipswich, distantly connected with the family of De
+Freston on the female side, soon after the purchase of
+Freston, represented the borough of Ipswich, in conjunction
+with John Sparrowe.  It was owing to his liberality that
+the Tower itself remained one of the pleasantest features of
+the Orwell, and the place of happy resort for many a
+wedding party.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In his day it became a sort of privilege for the townsmen
+of Ipswich to take a marriage trip to Freston Tower.  Its
+pleasant distance from the town, the lovely park in which
+it then stood, and the still memorable record of the Lady
+Ellen, and her faithful Latimer, made 'Latimer's Tower,' a
+bye-word for conjugal felicity.  The wonder is, that it should
+ever have lost this celebrity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whether it was that, in the lapse of years, the park
+became arable land, and lost the traces of hereditary
+grandeur, or that other possessors succeeded, who did not
+encourage this right of the free burgesses, and their espousals,
+the old distich was forgotten which said:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'No burgess on his wedding-day,<br>
+  Which falls in whitethorn merry May,<br>
+  Shall happy be in house or bower,<br>
+  Who does not visit Freston Tower.'<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>
+For many years, a venerable old couple of the name of
+Sage, who had been attached to the family of the Latimers,
+resided in the lower compartment of the Tower, and with
+the assistance of their two daughters kept the rooms in
+such order, that it was said:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'The Sages differ in their ages,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But all our hearts with love engage;<br>
+  We pay the Sages marriage wages,<br>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;That we in age may be like Sage.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>
+It was to the house of this old couple, that Latimer and
+Ellen went after they had conveyed the estate to
+Mr. Ralphe Goodynge, and paid their last visit to the tower
+of love.  Memory, fresh, clear, and hallowed, can never
+forget the spot where the enjoyment of that sweet thought, the
+making another happy, was first imbibed.  Whatever cares
+may arise, whatever troubles may have come upon us, and
+however much the realities of this dull world, and its daily
+ploddings, may have made us creatures of circumstances, we
+still remember, with a holiness never to be effaced, the spot
+of our first love.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Let stoics say what they will, or mortals without natural
+affection break every trace of love, every honest man, who
+had a heart of natural affection in his youth, cannot fail to
+recal, with satisfaction, the remembrance of that spot where
+he first became betrothed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The soldier may have to visit foreign countries; the
+ambassador, foreign courts; the lawyer, courts of law; the
+trader, foreign ports; even the Missionary, foreign stations;
+the Bishop, distant sees; no man, let him be called to
+whatever employment he may, and be compelled therein to
+forsake the scenes of his early youth, can fail sometimes to
+remember the associations of that day, when he first
+ventured even to think of that partner, with whom he may have
+afterwards passed the meridian of life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Everything tends to sanctify the spot.  The very duties
+of life, in which his daily occupations may have engrossed
+his time, are often broken in upon by the remembrance
+thereof.  The more mental those duties may have been,
+either in law, physic, or divinity, the keener or clearer will
+be the reflection or vision of the past.  None but those
+whose hearts are completely given up to the idolatry of
+money, can forget the place of friendship,
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'Where bold and brave, and modest, pure, and bland,<br>
+  He sought love's friendship both with heart and hand.'<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>
+Let his calling be ever so high and sacred, there is no sin
+in looking back upon that spot and those thoughts of days
+gone by, though he may well know that he can never enjoy
+them again.  He may even feel thankful that he never
+can.  He may never even desire so to do, and yet never
+undervalue the heavenly permission which then sanctioned
+his betrothment, and witnessed his espousals.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If the dear place be gone from him; if others possess it;
+if fathers, mothers, brothers, and friends, who smiled upon
+our days of love, and shared their freedom with us, be all
+departed&mdash;can we forget them?  No! memory is vivid in
+love.  But are there no sorrows commingled therewith? no
+remembrances of mortal heart-burnings, affronts, failings,
+differences, wants of temper, accusations, or disputations?
+Smooth must have flowed the channel of life, if nothing
+of this kind can be remembered.  But if they can, and the
+God of mercy has softened the heart with tears of repentance
+for those past, unruly, or discordant intruders, let not
+the honest lover repine or despair, that he cannot alter the
+past.  His love is true, though the very earth may banish
+him from the spot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But what sensations crept over Latimer and the Lady
+Ellen as they stood at the foot of the Tower, for the last
+time!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Philosophers maintain, dearest husband, that we ought
+not to encourage any of those sensations which touch upon
+the melancholy moments of the past.  They would have us
+shake off the memory of anything in which we have once
+delighted; but they appear to me to think there is no
+pleasure at all in reflection.  Now, though sorrow may
+sadden the present moment, there is a species of unalloyed
+pleasure in the remembrance of those days, and in revisiting
+those scenes where we once imbibed the happiness of
+conversation with those we loved.  What say you, dearest
+husband?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Say, my love, that no hours can be sweeter than those
+so employed, saving, shall I say, those of which we speak;
+but would not that be ungrateful?  We cannot go back
+again except in thought; we cannot retread the steps we
+have trodden years ago with the same objects we then had
+in view; but that is no reason why we should encourage
+bitterness in our souls, unless we have some bitter accusations
+of conscience to afflict us.  I do not remember even
+the building of this Tower with any regret.  Here it stands;
+the object of its erection was one of regard, dearest Ellen,
+for thyself; but if thou art not more esteemed by me than
+the Tower, or the domain around it, then should I deeply
+regret, perhaps, the surrender of our right and title to the
+estate.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I thank thee, dearest&mdash;I thank thee; and yet thou canst
+not quite feel as I may do the vivid recollections of a
+father's love.  I think of him who loved me with a tenderness
+which seemed to be the deeper because of my mother's
+early loss.  Ah!  Latimer, he was as a father and a mother
+unto me!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But he can be no longer such, dearest Ellen, and neither
+art thou so situated as to require it.  The wind was tempered
+to the shorn lamb.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And so is it now; and I do not complain.  I do but
+think; and, as we learn to part with childish trifles without
+regret as we grow in years, so, dearest husband, must we
+learn to part with things to which our affections become
+more attached, inasmuch as they are more powerful objects
+of attraction.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes, Ellen, and the more submissively to the Divine
+will we school our hearts in the course of our journey, the
+less those pangs of parting afflict us, and the sweeter are
+our hopes of rest.  The mansion itself, which held its lord,
+is gone; the Tower alone remains.  It has lasted until thy
+father's generation and name are gone, and, in the lapse
+of a few years more, even the memory of ourselves, and
+of all we have seen and known here, must pass away.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But thou hast not forgotten the stipulation that, as long
+as the Tower can stand, it shall be preserved.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No, our friend Ralphe Goodynge has guaranteed that
+thou shalt have full right and title, as long as he holds the
+estate, to a resident, rent-free therein, whomsoever thou
+mayst appoint, and that he will pay a certain monthly dole
+unto any person or persons inhabiting the spot, to keep the
+rooms and furniture in cleanly order for thyself or for thy
+friends, during the term of thy natural life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He binds himself, moreover, to keep the said Tower an
+repair during his possession of the estate, and that as long
+as the name of Latimer can be remembered in Ipswich, it
+shall be designated "<i>Latimer's Tower</i>."  So you see, dearest,
+we shall still have a name and a possession on the banks of
+the Orwell.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why this should be such a pleasure to me, thou msyest
+easily guess.  Not that we shall often revisit this spot, yet
+when we speak thereof, the thought of having friends to
+whom our early days were known, and the father and
+mother of our faithful servant still resident herein, will be
+pleasant to us, though we may be away from them.  Does
+Ralphe Goodynge bind his successors?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No, not beyond the possession of his right and title to
+the estate; and this I think but fair.  He has no objection,
+as a relative, to make this spot a pleasant place of
+remembrance both for friendship and affection's sake; but he will
+not undertake to bind upon others that which he conceives
+only to concern himself.  I do not think this unreasonable.
+It is not, Ellen, as if it were a place of public resort, or a
+place dedicated to any special purpose, either to religion or
+to the administration of justice, or even to public entertainment.
+It was built for thee, and unless in future generations
+it could be devoted to similar purposes, and that is not
+likely, for it is not his intention to rebuild the mansion, I see
+no reason why he should be expected to preserve it.  There
+will not be another Ellen De Freston to inhabit it.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whether this was gratifying or not to Ellen, she did not
+reply, but, with a sigh, she leaned upon her husband's arm,
+as they entered the Tower.  There are feelings, sensations,
+ideas, thoughts, and reflections, which cannot be spoken,
+and perhaps are never less able to be uttered than when we
+feel perfectly conscious that we have, even near to us as
+life, a being who can fully appreciate all we might express.
+A sigh, if it could be defined, would speak perhaps an
+eloquence as yet unknown.
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  There is a spirit speaking in a sigh<br>
+  Which words convey not unto human ears.<br>
+  That which it is not, mortal tongues may speak:<br>
+  That which it is, no words were ever found<br>
+  To give its meaning to the list'ning world.<br>
+  The world!&mdash;oh no! the world would never hear<br>
+  The sigh of pure affection in the soul,<br>
+  Contrition's sigh, or aspiration's sound,<br>
+  The wish for things unseen, though not unfelt<br>
+  The thought of being perfect, or of hope<br>
+  Of gaining that perfection which delights<br>
+  In joyful innocence, of bliss untold&mdash;<br>
+  I speak not of the sigh of deep regret<br>
+  For sins innumerable&mdash;groans, indeed!<br>
+  Unutterable groans those sighs become.<br>
+  And well become the guilty hearts of men;<br>
+  And if sincere, the Comforter will come<br>
+  With holy calmness to the troubled soul,<br>
+  And give it peace.  There is a sigh for bliss&mdash;<br>
+  Yes, seraph's blissfulness&mdash;to speak with those<br>
+  With whom we held communion on earth,<br>
+  On things of Heaven&mdash;can that sigh be told?<br>
+  No, 'tis the thought of immaterial light,<br>
+  Brighter than sun's most fervid-glowing ray,<br>
+  In clearest atmosphere of brilliant day.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>
+We may suppose such a sigh to have escaped the heart at
+Ellen, as she entered the Tower, where she had spent so
+many happy hours with her affectionate father.  It was
+Latimer's care to improve even those moments of meditation
+with the language of truth, and his masculine mind then
+showed itself well worthy of the admiration Ellen had given
+it.  Never perhaps did she feel or own him to be her lord
+and master so powerfully as during the short converse they
+had in the favorite room of their favorite Tower.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To strengthen the human mind with words of pious
+resignation; to point to the wisdom displayed for human
+reformation and human happiness, was then the duty, and
+the pleasure, and the comfort of a humble, honest-hearted
+husband.  Perhaps some would sigh to hear that conversation;
+perhaps it might instruct and improve many a human
+heart.  Let only the effects be told.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Latimer and Ellen descended the steps of the Tower even
+happier than they ascended; for whilst, like many a faithful
+couple in this world, descending into the vale of years,
+conscious of ten thousand blessings which they received, for
+which they can only be thankful, even whilst they own
+themselves unworthy thereof, so their calm spirits ascend
+higher as their years descend.  So did Latimer and Ellen
+proceed on their way to the cottage.  At that cottage
+they learnt a lesson such as they never forgot, which
+made even this visit to the Tower memorable to their last
+days.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap55"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER LV.
+<br><br>
+THE LAST EVENT.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+The last event generally finishes a long series of virtues,
+blessings, providences, crosses, afflictions, or crimes; and if
+the last event which can happen to poor mortality be the
+best, the life must have been one of such tribulation that
+the event which is to terminate it can only be a submissive
+and a happy one.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The last chapter of many a hook may afford us pleasure
+or pain according to the spirit of the foregone narrative.
+Some think an entertaining book terminates well with a
+marriage; and most novels, which feed the passions or
+entertain the fancy, do so terminate.  In such case, they
+begin with the anticipation of the event, and the only novelty
+is, the varied way in which the thing is wrought up, so as to
+bring about the sure termination.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is a taste for style of composition&mdash;for variety of
+incidents&mdash;for the parts of speech, and for the sentimentality
+of a work, which may be very gratifying, but the impressions
+upon the whole are evanescent.  The acme of writing
+is to improve the heart with such solid good sense as shall
+make the things written of not easily forgotten.  Hence,
+things true to nature are awakening and striking: whilst
+things, however marvellous, which are unnatural, being
+worked up too highly, clog the appetite, and vitiate, if they
+do not totally destroy, the palate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Plain matter-of-fact things are, therefore, more startling a
+great deal than the representations of the most vivid fancy
+or imagination.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There stand the venerable old Tower by the Orwell's side
+in the midst of the trees, grown old, and grey, and useless.
+There it stands as it stood centuries ago; but it may not
+stand many more.  It may stand a long time after the hand
+which writes the record of these events may be unable to pen
+a line&mdash;but it will not stand a hundred thousandth nor a
+million of a million parts of the time, compared with the
+endurance of the spirit which dictates these pages, be they
+for good or for evil.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the old Tower shall have fallen, these pages will
+serve to show that it once existed: but it does exist at
+this time, and any man may see it who will, and
+trace its aptitude to the scenes, and the events herein
+described.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The happy couple who had left their horses in the care of
+one of the old tenants of the Hall farm, now walked
+towards the village church, which at that time stood on the
+verge of the western side of the park palings.  Indeed, the
+knoll upon which the building had been raised, was given
+by the Lord De Freston, as his offering to the memory of
+St. Peter, and was subject to the Priory of that name in
+Ipswich, which had to furnish a priest to discharge the
+duties thereof.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Their faithful domestic, who lived with them at the time
+they married, and who was with Ellen in the Tower on the
+memorable night of St. Ivan's funeral, had married and
+settled with her sailor husband at the Bourne Ford, at that
+time the Pilot's Home, close by Bourne Bridge.  She had
+lost her husband in the second year of her marriage, and
+through the kindness of the Lady Latimer, had been
+received into her house in Gloucestershire.  She had also
+journeyed with them into Suffolk, and was upon a visit to
+her parents, Joseph and Ann Sage, who had at that time a
+cottage near the church.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was Joseph's occupation to fell timber for repairs, and
+to see that the boundaries of the estate were well fenced in,
+and, especially the park and church palings, in good repair.
+The old man was full of grief at the news brought him by
+his daughter, that the Lady Ellen was about to convey the
+estates of her father into the hands of the Goodynge family,
+not from any distaste to the purchasers, but because the
+names of De Freston and Latimer were so pleasant to the
+daily associations of the good old man, that he had flattered
+himself he should live to serve one of their name and
+descent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was agreeably surprised when informed, by Ellen, of
+the reservation of the Tower for his residence, and of the
+monthly sum to be paid, whensoever he should choose to give
+up the labors of his life to his son, and retire with his two
+daughters to the Tower.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was whilst Latimer and Ellen were seated in the old
+man's neat kitchen, parlor, hall, or keeping-room, and had
+just made his heart beat for joy at these tidings, that a
+miserable object of human beggary tapped at the door, and
+asked if old Joseph Sage lived there.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Joseph himself went out to see him, and not wishing his
+noble visitors to be disturbed by such a person, he closed the
+door after him, and stood erect before the beggar.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A pale, thin, haggard, miserable-looking creature, without
+shoes, or woollen hose, with tattered rags, and torn skin,
+with a countenance, the lines of agony, more than of age,
+seemed to have shrivelled into deformity, stood before
+him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What want you with me?' asked the old woodman.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Pity!' replied the beggar.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'In what shape: in money, food, or raiment?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'In neither.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'In what, then?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'In a coffin.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Old Sage started, for in verity there appeared more truth
+in the man's application for this thing, than in the hundreds
+of petitions which beggars usually made.  It made the old
+man feel conscious, likewise, that there was something more
+earnest in this beggar's petition, than if he had sought alms
+at his hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is not often that a man asks for his own coffin, even if
+he be too poor to purchase one.  The very novelty of the
+thing made the hearer say, and that without any unfeeling
+intention, 'You must come into the shop, to my son,' and he
+walked with him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Scarcely could the beggar totter to the little out-house
+where the son, who was soon to be the successor of Joseph
+Sage, was at work.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have a singular customer here, my son; a beggar
+applying to me for his coffin.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Send him away, father, he is only an impostor,' replied
+the son.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am no impostor, young man,' replied the beggar.
+'Only just let me rest on your bench, and I will soon
+convince you thereof.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The beggar entered, but, unable to lift himself to sit upon
+the bench, he staggered, and fell upon a heap of shavings
+and chips which lay under the casement of the shop.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It seemed, indeed, that he would want a coffin, for
+exhausted nature had well nigh extinguished the lamp of
+life, as the wretched man uttered a groan of distress which
+no impostor could have imitated.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was not a loud one; it was not a plaintive, whining,
+acquired, dissembling one.  It was a real faint utterance of
+the spirit of the wretched actually in the distress of death.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Run, my son, and ask thy mother for a little of her help;
+and bring hither my cloak and a good woollen blanket; then
+to thy neighbor Benns, whose skill as a leech may be of
+service.  The man shakes with cold; but hush, my son,
+disturb not the Lady Latimer.  Be quick.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His son was off in an instant, and the good old mother,
+with her bottle of cordial and blanket, soon obeyed the
+dictates of charity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The beggar was grateful.  He revived.  He looked at
+old Sage, and said&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Do you not know me?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I know you both.  Ah! father!&mdash;ah! mother!&mdash;ah! my
+friends!&mdash;ah! my village!  'Tis here! here&mdash;here&mdash;I was
+born, and here I die.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And who are you?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Who?  Do you not really know me?  I am glad you do
+not.  I am glad you do not.  If you did, you would set
+these shavings on fire, and burn me to death; but I should
+not be dead.  No, I should not be dead; but burn, burn,
+burn, for ever!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Poor man, he is mad.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No, mother, I am not mad&mdash;I wish I was mad!  I wish
+I could be mad!  I wish that my madness could quench
+my grief, mother.  If I were mad, I should not have come
+here.  No, I am not mad!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Who art thou, my son?  And what is the matter with
+thee?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Hush! mother.  I will tell thee who I am, but do not
+whisper it in the village.  Let me die first.  Oh! when
+shall I die? when? when? when?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But who are you?  Shall I send for our priest to shrive
+you?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Mother, I have been shriven many times.  I have been
+absolved over and over&mdash;over and over&mdash;for my sins.  I have
+had hours of penance, fasting, and prayer, from morning to
+night.  I have been shut up in the shrine of St. Peter for
+a month.  Priests have prayed with me, talked to me, even
+extolled me, mother, and told me all my sins were pardoned
+but if they were, they would not surely burn me as they
+now do.  Oh! how they scorch&mdash;how they glare upon me
+now, more fiercely than ever!  Oh! mother, give me a
+little water.  Throw some on my face, my hands, my feet.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'There, there, my poor soul! do not despair! do not
+despair!  Come, come, be pacified.  But who art thou?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The poor man looked wildly round, and, just at that;
+moment, Latimer and Ellen, who had heard something of
+the event, came to see if they could not, like ministering
+angels, give comfort to the sick.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The instant the beggar saw them, he rose half up from
+his bed of shavings, lifted up his hands, and gave such a
+wild, piercing, agonising shriek, as made every heart quail
+before him.  After the shriek succeeded a long stare&mdash;a
+wild, yet fixed eye was rivetted upon the face of Ellen, and
+then, as they all stood motionless with astonishment, then
+succeeded that which never, till that very moment, gave the
+wretched soul of the man relief.  It was a tear.  It was soon
+followed by another, another, and another; a stream
+succeeded, and, as it flowed on, the head fell back, and the
+dying man was exhausted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The scene did not destroy the courage or disturb the
+spirit of Latimer.  He knelt down; he beckoned them all
+to do the same.  His Ellen knelt with him, and his quiet
+prayer was uttered with such truly humble, placid, and
+composed voice, that the pacified spirit of the dying man seemed
+lightened up with comfort.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He turned his eyes up toward them, and, with an imploring
+look, such as showed the depth of the earnestness
+of his repentance, he said&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Forgive poor Abdil Foley!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In one moment all the mystery was solved.  Here lay
+the wretched, dying man, who, worked upon by superstition,
+bigotry, and malevolence, had destroyed the noble
+mansion of De Freston, fled to the remorseless Alice De
+Clinton, and her dark and treacherous flatterers, who had
+sent him from monastery to monastery throughout the
+kingdom, with every species of invention and applause, bribe
+and threat, intimidation and imposition; but who could
+never obliterate the memory of his guilt, nor satisfy his
+soul for the injury he had done to his best friends and
+supporters.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+How true is it, that no severities of outward discipline
+can wash out the stains of guilt within.  He who
+wickedly designs the injury of his benefactor, be he
+prompted by whom he will, or under whatever promises,
+or workings of flattery, or delusion, he may either imagine
+to be lawful, or be taught that it is so, will find that
+his wicked spirit can have no rest.  Repentance must
+bring him to the confession which no sophistry whatsoever
+can lull.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was Latimer's and Ellen's duty now to teach him that
+forgiveness belonged not to them; though they, as far as
+they could, forgave him freely for the cruelty he had shown
+towards them.  Nor did they lose the opportunity of
+pointing out to him the depth of that sin of which he had
+been guilty, nor the folly of seeking to make his own
+atonement.  They acted the part of the good Samaritan towards
+him, and though the time of his existence was short, they
+had the satisfaction of finding that the miserable man
+received consolation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He died shortly after their interview, and was buried in
+Freston churchyard, where the record of the incendiary,
+his flight, remorse, repentance, and death, formed the
+subject of many a conversation with old Joseph Sage and his
+friends in Freston Tower.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Latimer and Ellen returned into Gloucestershire, where
+they lived beloved, courted, and caressed by many friends,
+who valued their literary attainments.  With the modesty
+of true greatness, they sought retirement, and were happy
+in the even tenor of their latter days.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They had endured afflictions, they had seen greatness, and
+popularity, and ambition, and vain-glory, brought down to
+sorrow and death.  They lived to see pride overthrown in
+high places, and many in the midst of the fatness of plenty
+rendered unhappy.  They had suffered their portion of
+persecution, and had borne themselves with uncommon wisdom
+through the trial.  They were not called upon to suffer
+more.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Freston Tower passed from the hands of the Goodynges
+to the Wrights, then to the Thurstons, Tarvers, Formereaws,
+and others.  It is now in the possession of Archdeacon
+Berners, of Wolverstone Park, on the banks of the Orwell.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br></p>
+
+<p class="capcenter">
+<a id="img-303"></a>
+<br>
+<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-303.jpg" alt="Chapter LV headpiece">
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br></p>
+
+<p class="t4">
+BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD.
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br><br></p>
+
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76999 ***</div>
+</body>
+
+</html>
+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for book #76999
+(https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76999)