his Grace for mercy, to whom he answered he was ever inclined to mercy. Then for all our great offences we had but little penance; for when he might, by the rigour of his laws, have taken all our livelihoods, he was contented with one hundred thousand pounds, to be paid in five years. And though this sum may be more than we may easily bear, yet, by the rigour of his law, we should have borne the whole burden; whereupon, my brethren, I charitably exhort you to bear your parts of your livelihood and salary towards payment of this sum granted.'[1]
The ingenuity of this address deserved all praise; but the beauty of the form was insufficient to disguise the inconclusiveness of the reasoning. It confessed an offence which the hearers knew to be none; the true provocation which had led to the penalty—the unjust extortion of the High Church officials—was ignored. The crowd laughed and hooted. The clergy fiercely tightened their purse-strings, and the Bishop was heard out with hardly restrained indignation. 'My lord,' it was shortly answered by one of them, 'twenty nobles a year is but a bare living for a priest. Victual and all else is now so dear that poverty enforceth us to say nay. Besides that, my lord, we never meddled with the Cardinal's faculties. Let the bishops and abbots which have offended pay.' Loud clamour followed and shouts of applause. The Bishop's officers gave the priests high words. The priests threw back the taunts as they came;
- ↑ Hall, p. 783.
