“Seductorem nominant S. atque fallacem,
Facta sed examinant probantque veracem.”
[(41)] For the Londoners at Lewes let us take the account of an enemy. Thomas Wykes [148] tells us how the Earl set out, “glorians in virtute sua congregata baronum multitudine copiosa, Londoniensium innumerabili agmine circumcinctus, quia legitur stultorum infinitus est numerus.” Presently we read how the “Londoniensium innumera multitudo, bellorum ignara,” were put to flight by the Lord Edward very much after the manner of Prince Rupert.
[(42)] On the religious reverence paid to Earl Waltheof, see Norman Conquest, ii. 602. I have there referred to the office of Thomas of Lancaster, which will be found in Political Songs, 268. Some of the pieces are what we should think most daring parodies of parts of the Church Service, but we may be sure that what was intended was reverence and not irreverence. There is another parody of the same kind in honour of Earl Thomas, a little earlier back in the volume, p. 258. It was a matter of course that Thomas of Lancaster should be likened to Thomas of Canterbury.
“Gaude, Thoma, ducum decus, lucerna Lancastriæ,
Qui per necem imitaris Thomam Cantuariæ;
Cujus caput conculcatur pacem ob ecclesiæ,
Atque tuum detruncatur causa pacis Angliæ.”
[(43)] Let us take a Latin, a French, and an English specimen of the poems in which Simon’s death was lamented and his intercession implored.
“Salve, Symon Montis Fortis,