will bring you down to the tombs of your predecessors in yon Cathedral. But surely not now! The captain shall not die when the battle is won, nor the pilot be suddenly removed when the vessel reacheth port. It cannot be that we should now have to cry, My Father, my Father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof!"

"Nevertheless, my son," said the Primate, "rest assured that so, and no otherwise, will it be. Art thou content, therefore, with the place to which I have preferred thee, or not?"

"In good sooth," replied Warel, "I know not how to thank your Fatherliness as I ought for so far agracing me. But I pray you, suffer me not to leave your Holiness; let me still hold the station I have held, and more content shall I be than with any wealth or honour."

"So be it," answered the Archbishop: "attend us thou shalt while we live, if thou art content to take that office when we are gone."

"But," said Warel, "GOD hath hitherto preserved your Paternity through many fears and dangers; and will He not be thy Shield and Buckler still ?"

"Of a surety He will, my son. But remember how blessed Bernard of Clairvaux expoundeth that text, teaching that as the buckler is broad in its upper end, thereby protecting the heart and other vital members from harm, but slopeth off towards its inferior portion, thereby leaving the feet to the enemy; so God promiseth to protect from all danger

the most noble part of man, which is his spirit: from earthly mishaps to preserve him, He promiseth not."

And the Archbishop's feelings that night might well be summed up in the Compline Hymn, Adsis, Superne SPIRITUS:

Come, O Thou Father of the poor,

Blest PARACI.ETE, below;

And from the abundance of Thy store,
Thy promised gift bestow.

Now that the day's created beam
Hath faded into night,

Still let Thy glories o'er us stream,

O Uncreated Light!

Come to our spirits, Heavenly Guest,

And bid their labours cease;
And in the sorrows of the breast
Mingle Thy perfect Peace!

Give us, O Fount of Grace, to fight,
Though foes stand thick around;
Fighting, to conquer in Thy Might,
And conquering, to be crown'd!

Praise to the FATHER, as is meet,
Praise to the Only SON;
Praise to the Holy PARACLETE,
The Blessed THREE in ONE!

CHAPTER VII.

It was about eleven o'clock on the following morning, that, as the Archbishop was sitting in conversation with some of his Clergy and certain of the monks of S. Augustine's, word was brought him that four Knights were anxious to speak with him. And on being ushered into his presence, the four conspirators, unarmed, but with looks of the deadliest hatred, took their seats without salutation or

reverence.

"My son," said Thomas of Canterbury, after a pause, addressing himself to Sir William de Tracy, "if thou and thy friends, whom we know not by name, yet welcome them as befitteth a Bishop, will so far honour our poor table as this day to dine with us, we shall hold ourselves much agraced by your company."

"Know us, or not know us, Sir Archbishop," said Fitz-Urse, " we know thee, and that for an old

and pestilent traitor; a rebel unto the King, and a breaker of the laws, odious to GOD, and hateful to all good men with whom we will neither eat nor drink; nor yet would we speak, but that we have a message unto thee from the King, which we must perforce deliver."

"And which we advise thee with all humility," added Brito, "to receive: for thy intolerable pride, however much it might win on the rabble at Fretvile, weigheth nothing at all with us."

"Wherefore," said the former, "we do thee to wit that if thou wilt receive in good part our message, well; if not, thou wilt make this world too hot for thee."

"In sooth, my Lord of Canterbury," observed De Tracy, "these Knights do, though in somewhat rough manner, speak the truth. Our message is briefly this: the King willeth that you retire whence you came, beyond the seas; inasmuch as he can no longer govern in London, while so haughty a priest reigneth at Canterbury."

"He demandeth also, that you forthwith absolve the Bishops whom in your rage you excommunicated," said Fitz-Urse.

"And he commandeth your immediate answer by us," added Brito,

"Hear me my sons," said the Primate calmly, while some of the Clergy left the apartment, and the rest, excepting Warel, crowded together as if to protect each other: "Hear me ! by God's Grace,

none shall see me crossing the seas again; none shall separate between me and my Church any more. If any seeketh me, here let him come to find me: for I shall not fly. The Bishops whom ye speak of, not by us were they excommunicated, but by the Roman See; nor by us shall they be restored, save after due satisfaction given, which hath not as yet been done. Moreover, if any other do, after their example, presume to violate the law of GOD, or the Canons of Holy Church, we will execute the same punishment on them; of which ye may rest well

assured."

"You will do it then, Sir Archbishop," cried Fitz-Urse, "at your own peril: for deem not that the King will allow so great an insult to pass unrevenged. And for our own parts, we will be very willing executioners of whatever he shall order herein."

"I doubt not that ye will, my sons," returned the Prelate. "And know this, that more willing ye cannot be to inflict, than I to endure martyrdom. Seek to terrify others: in the name of the LORD I will meet you foot to foot."

The porter, who had been a witness of this scene, now went out to the priests and monks who were assembled in the hall.

"An ye come not back the faster," he said, "there will be blood shed in this quarrel. These Knights be prepared for any iniquity."

Some of them, ashamed of deserting their Primate