ger; for I had not now of a long space breathed the free air of heaven, and not seldom the day would pass, and none come to bring me food, so that I began to sink under that most rigorous confinement. I remember, moreover, how it was at this time told, that the like sickness and death had befallen several Carthusian monks of London, who were shut up in Newgate prison for resisting the king; whose fate was not thought to be cruelty in the visiters of their house, but the righteous judgment of God. And hereupon was I exceeding sad, yet possessed I nought which might console me save my books, which were yet left unto me in my narrow cell, and specially the learned Wiclif's New Testament in English, which had been given unto me by the dear departed Lady Bride Plantagenent.-I had already glanced over that most ancient tome, though rather from reverent attachment unto the memory of the beloved donor, than from any desire to acquaint me with the book itself; but at this time, in the sad and weary leisure of captivity, I set me to read it through with more diligence, to while away the desolate waste of my melancholy hours. And now was come the season of my spiritual deliverance; for, like Saul journeying unto Damask, the light from Heaven suddenly shone about me, and showed me how vain had been my former life, and much of my present faith. I beheld gradually, yet with great amaze, the wondrous superstition into which our church had sunken, by praying unto saints and angels instead of unto Christ the only mediator; and I now noted the wide difference betwixt the lives of the holy evange lists and apostles, and those led by many of the monks and brethren with whom I had been wont to company. Now could I fervently join in that most Christian desire and prayer of the beatified Lady Bride, that all England should have the rule of faith in the common speech, that men might be led to read and ponder the same for themselves; and now did I rejoice over the dawning fulfilment of her dying prophecy in the reformation of our corrupt clergy, and the spread of the translated word against all opposition, which showed it of a truth to be a divine thing, against which no weapon that was turned could prosper. For the English Testaments of late set forth in Flanders, by William Tindal and John Frith, had spread wondrously through the realm; and albeit Cuthbert Tonstall, the bishop of London, had seized upon all copies whereon he could lay his hands, and burned them with foul contumely at Powle's cross, yet was not the incorruptible seed of the word to be destroyed by fire, but the truth, as in the apostles' days, grew mightily: and other and larger translations of the whole Scriptures followed, until at length the realm was made glad by divers English Bibles, printed by the command of the king himself. I had, until this time, taken little note of these things, because the hour was not come when mine eyes should be opened; for, since the Lady Bride's death, life seemed unto me a dreary waste, wherein there was nought but sorrow and unceasing disappointment. But now, as the truth dawned upon my mind, and I thankfully prayed over the increasing brightness, I felt a holy joy fill my soul in the midst of all my sorrows, like unto that which made Powle and Silas worship and sing praises unto God in their prison at midnight. And even upon this spiritual liberation, came my temporal freedom; for the king's visiters did at length sell the site of Walsingham Abbey, with its churchyard, orchards, and gardens, unto one Thomas Sydney for £90. This was done in November, 1539, whereupon they left our ruined house, albeit I was still immured within my cell; where, indeed, it is like that I should have died, had it not been for a wondrous and all unlookedfor Providence. I have already recounted that when Henry came unto Walsingham, the abbey was not perfectly edified, and, therefore, certain masons and builders were long employed thereon; the oversight of whom was assigned unto me, because of my former knowledge and practice of their art. The chief of these was one Master Bartholomew Stonehewer, of Norwich, a most skilful and ancient person, whom I had known at Westminster, what time I aided father Austin of Ely in building Henry Tudor's chapel there, wherefrom he did still keep me in lively remembrance and favour. It so chanced, that he was engaged by the new possessor of the destroyed abbey, to build him a fair manor-house on the site thereof, with the stones of the ruins; and, learning of mine imprisonment, he did at length contrive mine escape in the night, in the habit of one of his own workmen, with much hazard unto himself; spreading abroad the report, that in taking down one of the cells, they had found the remains of my lifeless body. CHAPTER XII. THE CLOSE AND MORAL OF AN OLD MAN'S Having now my journey done, Just at the setting of the sun; Here I have found a chamber fit, God and good friends be thank'd for it! -No! I would not live again The morning hours of life; HERRICK The slave of hope and fear; hardly taught. The wisdom by experience All cause for full content. The future, it is now the cheerful noon, When the dark night descends, SOUTHEY. I WEEN that full little is now remaining to be said of my poor history, for it skills not here to repeat the straits whereunto I was reduced, when I was thus drifted forth again upon the stormy sea of the wide world, or the loneliness of heart which I felt therein. The few dear friends whom I had once known or might have claimed, were either long since dispersed or dead; and had all fallen around me, and left me desolate and destitute, like a rock when the tide hath left it dry and bare, or as the Autumn blast that shaketh the tree and scattereth the leaves therereof, whilst the trunk standeth naked and alone amidst all the tempests of the coming winter. Howbeit, even in my most forlorn estate, was my mind more hopeful and tranquil, than it had been whilst the Holy Scriptures and the pure simplicity of a Christian life were unknown to me; and especially did I draw this consolation from the early decease of my friends, that I had so many ties less unto earth, and so many more allurements unto heaven, those supporters being taken from me that I might put my trust in God only. Yet had Master Stonehewer given unto me somewhat more than liberty, for knowing mine acquaintance with his own art, he commended me unto one of the same craft for entertainment; and I did once more practise it in lowly and cautious disguise, to baffle the purposes of those who would have sought my life. The payment of my daily toil, mean as it was, provided me with bread; the blessed hope of Christ was in mine heart, and more I sought not: yet did I sometimes. sorrow for the unquiet state of the church of this realm, for the fickle and boisterous rule and the fierce persecutions of Henry, touching the Christian faith, and for the hapless lot of the many brethren expelled from the late dissolved monasteries who could neither dig nor beg; but for my |