At the "Sign of the Golden Fleece"

by Emma Leslie

It was the best he could do, and all he could do at present; and having settled this matter, temporarily at least, he took the casket to Margery's room, that he might examine its contents in peace.

The documents it contained were much more clear and explicit than he expected to find them; and some of the so-called leases that granted lands to the Prior and brethren of the holy house of Saint Margaret were signed by his own father. Indeed, it seemed that each ancestor in turn had been mulcted of some portion of their estate—the Paton lands thus growing smaller with each generation, while the property of the Saint increased in proportion. Masses and absolutions seemed to have been the price paid for these so-called leases.

But in reading them; and noting the dates, Sir Miles found that in no single case was there an absolute gift of the land, and that most of these leases had fallen in, although the land had in no instance been given up to its original owners; so that, as the old Prior said, it was just that all but a very small portion of this monastery land should revert to the Paton family, and not become the property of the King, or Master Cromwell, his Vicar-General.

Now, the question was, would the Vicar-General and the Commission be disposed to do him justice in this matter? Sir Miles scarcely thought this was likely, still, it was worth trying; and he resolved to ask Father John to make a fair copy of these documents, and also of the statement made at the Prior's dictation; and these, with a letter from himself, he resolved to get placed before Cromwell with as little delay as possible.

He found that the young priest was more than willing to do his part in this matter, for he was very grateful for the asylum given to himself and his old master, and that Sir Miles would order that his funeral should be conducted with the same ceremony as if he had still been at the head of the community. For all the monks had been requested to stay and take part in the ceremony, whatever their future movements might be.

But before the old Prior was buried, a messenger was despatched to Greenwich with a letter to Sir Harry Guildford, placing in his hands the documents copied by the young priest, and asking him to seek a favourable opportunity of laying them before the Vicar-General, who was also my Lord Privy Seal, and held other offices under the King, so that he was now almost as powerful a statesman as Wolsey had been in the height of his power.

Having despatched his letter, and assured Margery and Cicely that he did not expect anything would come of it, he took up the task of ordering his enlarged household. He found, to his great astonishment, that the young priest had found a New Testament in the library of the monastery. It was a translation by Erasmus into Latin, and there was no doubt that the words of life had taken root in the heart of the young man, so that to him the expulsion from the monastery had come as a release from bondage. Miles wondered how many secret disciples there were scattered up and down the country in these hot-beds of ignorance, superstition, and corruption.

But many or few, there were many who had been brought up under the conditions that ruled in these so-called religious houses, and for these some provision ought to be made. And so he resolved that, if his petition was granted, and the old Paton lands again came into his possession, he would portion them out as farms among the monks who were willing to work, and would settle upon them as tenants. They should be let at a small rental, that might be paid in kind for the first year at least; but nothing was to be given. Sir Miles set his face like a flint against the old system of beggary in any shape or form; and one of the first things he asked the young priest to do, was to write, in clear, bold English letters, the injunction: "If a man will not work, neither shall he eat," and this was securely fastened up over the entrance-hall, that all who came to his door might know the rule of his household; and the servants were always ready to assure the new comers that Sir Miles enforced this rule, as well as having it written that all might read it.

A few of the monks, who had done the greater part of the farm work at the monastery, were not at all averse to taking service under Sir Miles and his steward, while others, who thought it was beneath the dignity of a monk to earn his own living, did not stay long after the funeral of the Prior. They were bent upon going to London, to see if something in the way of a pension could not be obtained from the King, that they might end their days in the idleness in which they had lived for so many years.

Sir Miles was not sorry to see these depart; and having taken care that plenty of bread and bacon were put into their wallets, he saw them set out with something like a sigh of relief, though he could not help wondering how long it would be before some of them were back again.