“He may be out to-morrow,” said John. “And if not so, the Devil is not yet shut up, nor shall be till the angel be sent with the great chain to bind him.”
“Nay, Jack! the wise doctors say that was done under Constantine the Emperor, and we have enjoyed the same ever sithence,” answered he.
“Do they so?” replied John, somewhat drily. “We be enjoying it now, trow?—But the thousand years be over, and he is let out again. And if he were ever shut up, methinks all the little devils were left free scope. Nay, dear friend! before the Kingdom, the King. The holy Jerusalem must first come down from Heaven; and then ‘there shall be no more pain, neither sorrow, nor crying.’”
When the two were alone, John said to his wife—“Isoult, who thinkest thou is the chief witness against my Lord of Somerset, and he that showed this his supposed plot to the King and Council?”
“Tell me, Jack,” said she. “I cannot guess.” He said, “Sir Thomas Palmer, sometime of Calais.”
“God forgive that man!” cried Isoult, growing paler. “He did my dear master (Lord Lisle) to death,—will he do my Lord of Somerset also?”
“‘Ye shall be hated of all men for My name’s sake.’ They that are so shall have their names written in Heaven.” Avery spoke solemnly, and said no more.
Note 1. Crowns were coined with either a rose or a sun on the obverse; and were distinguished accordingly.
Note 2. 872 (Machyn’s Diary, page 8); 938 (News Letter, Harl. Ms. 353, folio 107).