much more temper, but with an equal inflexibility of opinion, was upholding the ancient system, anticipating all sorts of mischief from the translation of the Bible, and branding the professors of the new faith with contumelious terms, that seemed to make the blood of his opponent boil in his veins, until he exhibited a visible propensity to pugilistic argument, or to the use of such missile logic as came within his reach. This "last infirmity of noble minds," the chairman had no wish to encourage, well knowing, by experience, that these flying persuasives might hit other heads than those for which they were intended, and by no means anxious that the "Mad Lutheran" should reduce the skulls of the company to the same cracked condition as his "The master saw the madness rise," and to check its explosion, struck his hand violently upon the table, ejaculating, "Silence; ye stultiloquent brawlers-we are met, like honest friends and true topers, and sheltering from the storm under the same tree, to drink the three outs-ale out of the pot-money out of the pocket-wit out of the head; which is the established order of proceeding; whereas ye have begun with the last first, which is flat rebellion against your Symposiarch, who will throw his nettle-crown into the mouth of the next culprit thus offending. Non sum vates ille, de quo loquuntur mille? Am I not your bard, your Lau

own.

* The friends of ignorance, in those days, seem to have been as much horrified at the promulgation of the Scriptures, as they are in ours at the diffusion of education; and it is recorded of one individual, that he preferred suicide to witnessing such an abomination. Speaking of one Pavier the Town Clerk of the city of London, Hall writes-" I myself heard him once saie to me, and other that wer by, swearing a great othe, that if he thought the kyng's highnes would set forth the Scripture in English, and let it be red of the people by his auc thoritie, rather than he would so long live, he would cut his own throat; but he brake promes, for as you have hard, he hanged hymself; but of what mynde and intent he so did, God judge." Chronicles, p. 896.

reate, who has sworn to preserye harmony? Where be these truant minstrels? Strike up your clarichords, virginals, clarions, shawms, organs, recorders, rebecks, and sackbuts. What! have we none to make the noisy air do trewage to our kingship? Then let the ear go starve: we will make music for the mouth, so rattle your cans, cups, and cruses, fill to the brim, bury your noses in the foam, and drink confusion to the Cardinal of St. Cecilia; the Archbishop of York; the Pope of the Legatine Court; the Bishop of Durham, Worcester, and Hereford; the Abbot of St. Alban's in commendam; and the Lord High Chancellor of England;—all of which dignities one man can see to fulfil with one eye."

Most of the party being personally hostile to Wolsey, this toast produced a rare instance of accordance among them, being drunk with only two or three dissentient voices; when the chairman, anxious to prevent a relapse into an altercation, with which he saw Dudley to be already disgusted, deelared that he would sing them a song upon Margaret his mistress, and would challenge every recreant that should afterwards refuse to drink her health in a bumper. In compliance with this promise he sang, or rather chanted, the following irregular ditty:

Merry Margaret as midsummer flower,
Gentle as falcon or hawk of the tower,

With solace and gladness,

Much mirth and no madness,

All good and no badness,

So joyously, so maidenly, so womanly,

Her demeaning, in every thing, far, far passing

What I can endite or suffice to write,

Of merry Margaret, as midsummer flower,

Gentle as falcon or hawk of the tower.

As patient and still, and as full of good-will, as fair Isiphill,

Coliander, sweet pomander, good Cassander.

Steadfast of thought, well made, well wrought; far may

be sought

Erst that ye can find so courteous, so kind,

As merry Margaret this midsummer flower,
Gentle as falcon or hawk of the tower."

The health of his "midsummer flower" was quaffed with great cordiality: but the laureate was not Orpheus enough to tame the wild beasts by whom he was surrounded. Woodville, the crazy fanatic, sounded the trumpet of attack; others of his own persuasion joined him; the sticklers for the ancient faith took up the gauntlet; and the poet, who had by this time imbibed enough of the Lambeth ale to deem it high sport to fan the flames of dissension, alternately supported both parties, until there was every appearance of a fierce and general engagement. Amid such combatants, inflamed at once with bigotry and beer, Dudley felt no disposition to enrol himself, and he accordingly withdrew to his own lodgings, resolved to decline the proffered honour of belonging to the club, and to keep himself as much aloof as possible from the disputatious sanctuarians, who, in addition to their other demerits, seemed to have an alarming propensity for thread-bare and old-fashioned garments.

On the following morning, Pierre brought him the goods and chattles which had been left at his temporary apartments by the Strand Bridge, together with an earnest offer of her further services from the benevolent lady.

66

Why, how now, Pierre?" said Dudley, as he observed him in an expression of unaccustomed seriousness, which sate as grotesquely upon his features, as if a buffoon were to attempt a rueful aspect while looking through a comic mask. "Art thou down-hearted to be safe in sanctuary, thou who couldst sing a song when thou wert up to the chin in Arthur's slough?”

"Eh, dame! monsieur," replied Pierre-çe n'etoit que moi alors-it was only myself then; and we Frenchmen, nous autres François, we don't mind these things. But monsieur is an Englishman; they cannot bear reverses; they hang or drown themselves where we should only sing a song; it makes one triste even to see them in trouble: cord is cheap, the river is very near, and if any thing were to happen to monsieur

Here he shrugged up his shoulders and his eyebrows, expanded his hands, drew in his breath with a shuddering hiss, and stood in an attitude of profound horror, until his master exclaimed with a burst of laughter-"Was I such a poltroon, then, in fighting against your countrymen in France, that I should hang or drown myself the moment I get into trouble in London?"

"But the English," said Pierre, still shaking his head distrustingly, "fight against all the world much better than against themselves."

"Perhaps so; but I promise you, my good Pierre, that I am neither going to pop my head into a noose, nor under water. On the contrary, it is my intention to be more than usually gay, and to laugh the more heartily, the more fortune frowns upon me.

"Aha! c'est tout autre chose,' "" exclaimed Pierre, suddenly resuming his comic looks, and clapping his hands, "Bon! bon! Eh Palsangue Pierrot, boutte bas ton chagrin. Morbleu! we will be as merry as crickets now we have fallen into misfortunes."

song,

Snapping his fingers, and recommencing his he skipped and danced out of the room, returning presently after with the breakfast, which he held at arm's length, with his head up in the air, while he shouted with prodigious energy and emphasis"Colin mangeant des artichaux;" and during the remainder of the day continued to play the

changes upon his different ditties, giving an intermission to his tongue only when he occasionally exercised his heels.

Being now settled, with some degree of comfort, in his new lodgings, which commanded a view of the river, Dudley wrote to Sir John at the Tower, apologizing for the momentary arrest to which he had been exposed by the identity of their names, and requesting that he would call upon him in the sanctuary, and advise with him how he might best disabuse the Cardinal of the prejudices he had conceived against him. For several days he received no answer, but at length the following reply was put into his hands:

"These from the Tower, where it jumps well with my humour to remain as master of the armoury, but where my friend, Jack Dudley, warns me it might be passing perilous to be impounded as the prisoner of Sir William Kingston, the lieutenant. Lookee, coz, thou hast cozened me once, by suffering me to be arrested for thee and carried before the lords of the Star-chamber, even in the very crisis of a French ragout, of whose surpassing merits I had obtained little better than olfactory evidence. A pitiful parting, not from thee, but the ragout; but let that pass.-Harkee, coz, we have now cozened one another for the last time; and henceforward we are neither kith nor kin. Slid, did I not tell thee, that if my dearest friend got into jeopardy or a gaol, I should stay at home, and keep company with Jack Dudley? Thou art now in both, and wouldst thou have me give myself the lie in the very teeth? My good master and patron, the lord cardinal, whose unheard speech thou wert dotterel enough not to laud, stands, as I am well apprised, under the cold look of our bluff King, which threatens to disgrace and banish him: and though I owe him my post, and all I possess, I make myself a stranger to his presence, by advice of my friend Jack Dudley, un