Henry professed to follow this advice, but a very small portion of the property was ever devoted to the uses of the nation or the disinherited brethren, and so the numbers of beggars were daily increasing, trebling the trouble and anxiety of men like Sir Miles Paton, who were steadily trying to stem the torrent of poverty that drove men into insurrection and the wildest excesses. But the most he could do was to guard this one little corner of the land from being swept into disorder and disruption.
And yet, amid all that was discouraging, there were signs that England as a nation was on the upward path of progress. Tyndale was so far encouraged by the reception given to the various editions of the New Testament that, with the help of another translator, Miles Coverdale, he completed the translation of the whole Bible about 1535. His enemies, however, did not suffer him to live to see this given to the English people with the authority of the King, as head of the Church, for this was not printed and published until 1537, and it was some months previous to this that Tyndale was strangled at Antwerp by order of the Emperor.
He had the satisfaction of knowing that his work was done, and well done, and that able hands were ready to pass on the lamp of life he had lighted, and never again could England slip back into the darkness of ignorance in which she had been held so long.
Sir Miles Paton did not hear of the death of his old friend until the following year, for friends were chary of writing letters still, and so it was not until he took another journey to Greenwich that the story of Master Tyndale's martyrdom reached him.
Greenwich was all astir then with the news that the King had a son born to him at last. But there was a speedy end put to the rejoicings over this, for a fortnight later Queen Jane died at Wolsey's palace of Hampton Court.
But Sir Miles heard other news that, to him, was far more interesting, although the novelty had worn off for most of his friends. Now might be seen the whole Bible, printed in English, and fastened to a convenient desk in the parish church, and anyone might go and read it, or listen to it being read. The king was compelled to adopt this course as a justification of his own actions in claiming the supremacy of the Church.
He had publicly set up the authority of the Bible against that of the Pope, and he could no longer deny to his people the right to read it. And this had so quickened the desire in many to master this art of reading, that many grown men had begun to learn it, that they might read the Word of God for themselves, and their families. Now the difficulty was to obtain readers who could make the sense of this book plain to the crowd of people who daily gathered in the church to listen to the reading of God's Word.
Sir Miles could not forbear going each day to the church to read, for a short time at least, to the little throng who were always waiting round the desk for some reader to appear.
Speaking one day to his brother-in-law, of this eagerness of the crowd to hear the words of life, Master Marvin interrupted with, "Aye, they want to be amused."
"Well, if it is that, you might, with all the time you have to spare, amuse the goodies and gaffers for an hour every day."