of the mandates, was so altered in his whole body that a man would hardly have known him. Rancour made deep furrows in his forehead, his flaming eyes glistened, paleness discoloured the rosy complexion of his face, and I know what would have become of the chancellor, if in that hour of fury he had fallen as an apple into his hands while frantically raging. His indignation increased so much in his stifled breast, that it could not he kept from bursting out at least in part. "This son," said he, "of perdition, the worst of the evil ones, who first borrowed from the pleasantry of the French, and introduced among the English, the preposterous practice of kneeling, would not harass me, as you perceive, if I had not refused to learn the new craft offered to me!" He would fain have said more, whether true or false, but recalling his presence of mind, and repressing his rage, "If I have spoken amiss," said he, "O archbishop, I ask pardon." After these frivolous expressions, they applied themselves to the weighty matters. They consulted about the demands of the chancellor; and the counsel of the archbishop, that there should be a meeting of them both, was agreed to, about the middle of the day. The day was fixed for the fifth of the calends of August; the place without Winchester. The chancellor allowed what they had settled to stand, and, having broken up the siege, returned to London.
Sect. 41. The earl, however, fearing his craftiness, brought thither four thousand Welsh, that, if the chancellor should endeavour to take him during the truce, they, being placed in ambush close beside the conference, might thwart his endeavours by a sally. Moreover, he commanded that it should be summoned, and required that every one of his men, and others, his adherents, should he prepared to go to battle, should attend him at the place and on the day of the engagement, so that as the interview between himself and the lord of the whole land had been undertaken, at least he might escape alive, if he, who was more than a king, though less in his eyes, should transgress against the law, or should not consent to an arrangement. The chancellor, however, on the other hand, commanded that one-third of the soldiery, with all the arms of all England, should proceed to Winchester by the day appointed; moreover, at the expense of the king's revenue he also hired some Welsh, that if it should come to a contest
