Robert Annys: Poor Priest. A Tale of the Great Uprising

Robert Annys: Poor Priest
A Tale of the Great Uprising
ANNIE NATHAN MEYER
New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 1901
All rights reserved
Copyright, 1901, By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Norwood Press J. B. Cushing & Co.—Berwick & Smith Norwood Mass. U.S.A.

Admirers of William Morris—among whom I count all his readers—will recognize the personal description of John Ball as taken from his A Dream of John Ball. They will also note that some parts of his sermon as well are from the same book. It seemed to me that certain bits of Morris's imaginative work were too fine and true to be spared in any attempt to set the blunt old poor priest before the modern reader. I have no fear of bearing off undeserved palms; for just as a few of the sayings of John Ball bear the marks of authenticity too clearly upon them to be mistaken for mine, so such as are taken from Morris are as clearly distinguished by the marks of supreme beauty and genius.
In the course of many years of close reading, it is inevitable that there should have been woven into this book some of the ideas and prepossessions of certain Church historians. Although many other writers have been exceedingly helpful and suggestive, I want especially to acknowledge my indebtedness to Renan, Kingsley, Fisher, Baldwin Brown, Gosselin, Braun, Montalembert, Vincent, and Sheppard.