Emma Leslie

“ Now, father, if we were yeomen like the Rankins and the Clarks, who have been turned off the land, do you think we should like such treatment?"
Sir Thomas sat and gazed at his son with parted lips and widely opened eyes, as though he thought he was crazed. "Is—is this the new learning I have heard you talk about?" he managed to say at last, in a sneering tone.
"It is the new light God bath given to the world through the New Testament of Erasmus," said Miles, firmly.
"Then it will turn the world upside down, and must be resisted at all costs," said his father. ”

“ Sir Miles shook his head. "There is not too much playtime if it is used wisely, and men give their whole heart to their work when it is working-time. This has been a hard lesson to teach my knaves, but they have begun to see the worth of it, and winter and summer we work in working-time, and play when the holidays come, and we are all the better for it."
"Ah! but you live in a little Utopia, while we in Greenwich have to live as the great world will let us," said Sir Harry. ”

“ Forgive me, little sister, if I hurt you, but we must do what we can to prevent further wrong, though we must learn first that it is wrong," he added.
Margery dried her eyes, and looked at her brother. "You know I will do what I can," she said, "but what can a poor witless girl like me do?"
"Only a little, perhaps, but the world is made up of little things. Now tell me about Jack," he said.
"His horse threw him while he was out hunting," said Margery. "Poor Jack! he and Lady Audrey were here only the day before, and they seemed so happy together." ”

“ So, by daybreak, the little party were in their saddles—Cicely and Margery standing in the porch to bid Miles farewell.
He found the scholarly priest bending over his books in the little turret-room, and the two friends eagerly grasped hands, and then silently looked into each other's eyes to see what change time had made in them since they last met.
"You have grown in knowledge, my friend," said Tyndale, with a closer clasp on the hand.
"Yes," said Miles, with something of a sigh.
"All growth must be through pain and disappointment of some sort," remarked Tyndale. ”

“ As the inn-keeper went on with his story of how one and another had been arrested and tortured, Sir Miles reflected with bitterness that his late master, the Cardinal, whose memory he revered, had first planted this seed. Wolsey had never ceased to teach other men, and, to the last, inculcate in his own acts, the doctrine that men only held their property at the will of the king, and that if he chose to recall it, he had a perfect right to do so. ”

“ If a man or woman is betrothed to another they can change their minds before they are married, and none can say aught against it. You understand that, Margery?"
"Oh yes, that is quite clear," said Margery.
"Well, Cicely was a novice, but she had not taken the vows of a nun; and more than that, the Cardinal Legate has absolved all novices from whatever vows they may have made, either public or secret; and so my Cicely is quite free to marry me so soon as Master Clark shall come, though it will be a poor bridal for my darling," added Miles with a sigh. ”

“ Oh, Cicely, if your thought is right, why don't the reformers teach the people to think of it in your way, and stop all this terrible suffering?"
But Lady Paton could only shake her head doubtfully. "How do I know what would be right for wise and learned men to teach? You see, Miles had set himself to create a little Utopia by the help of God, and what he could learn from His Word. And what we set ourselves to teach our poor people was to do to one another as they would have their neighbours do to them if they changed places. ”

“ She is but a novice as yet, and there is time for her to change her mind, and if she will only say she does not fully assent to take the vows required of her, my master will absolve her from all that has been done, and she will be free to leave the convent."
"Yes, as a foresworn nun, whom all men will despise," said Sir Harry, in a tone of bitterness. ”

“ Here the bulk of the people on his own property were stupidly holding to customs that were hurtful to themselves, and refusing to adopt better because they were new. Would it be the same when the New Testament was printed and scattered broadcast through the land? Or would they hold to the new light and learning when once it was given to them, as the Commons held by their rights when his master would have infringed them that May-day at Westminster? ”

“ Margery hath done as I would myself, in giving him the best chamber."
"But what of these lusty knaves, the monks?" asked his father.
"Ah! they may not be left loose like wolves among sheep. I must depart with all speed in answer to this summons," said Sir Miles; and he glanced at his wife to see what she would say to this sudden termination of their visit.
Lady Paton looked perplexed. Like her husband she had found this return to her old home and the great world very pleasant; and she was charmed and helped by the new order of preaching introduced by the Reformers. ”

“ We have this beautiful Testament of Erasmus, and we cannot be too thankful for it, but although our present Archbishop Warham, and many others, approve of it, many see in it a great danger to the Church, and what they would say or do, if it was known that anyone dared to do it into English, I cannot tell."
Miles opened his eyes in astonishment. "If it is so good for us who have learned the Greek tongue, why should it not be good for those who can only read English, but yet desire to find a rational practical religion such as the New Testament teaches?" ”

“ Sir Miles was simply amazed that his brother-in-law so readily consented to his proposal; and Walter Marvin detecting this, said,—"Why should you marvel at this? The Church of Rome and the Pope, as well as you Reformers, claim a right to the Scriptures; and surely we may try the claim of both?"
"Why, that is exactly my argument, Walter. Let the people have the Bible to read, and judge for themselves. If, after reading it fairly and thoughtfully they say, 'I like the old way best,' very well, let them hold to the Pope and priests. ”

“ Miles listened patiently enough while another old friend expressed his views in the same way; but at last he said, "You may have heard from my father that we did not see eye to eye in these matters."
"Aye, aye, we heard all about that pretty little quarrel, but you are old enough to know better now—to know that the old way of dealing with the land is not profitable; and being one addicted to the new learning, which is just now so fashionable, you surely will not keep to the old way of managing the land." ”

“ It is not fitting that you who are Sir Miles Paton now should have no wedding feast."
"Better be without the feast than without the bride," said Miles. "I cannot feel that Cicely is safe for a moment out of my sight until we are married; for if she could be taken back to the convent I might not be able to rescue her again, and that is why I want you to keep her close in your rooms, and never leave her for a moment until Master Clark comes and the wedding is over. ”

“ So Lady Audrey was careful how she answered him, for he was of good birth like herself, and she could not tell him that in championing the cause of the poor he was speaking for those to whom he himself belonged, as she would have liked to do. So she set about it in a more gentle manner, conceding all that he said about the cunning and hypocrisy of the monks and friars.
"Then why should we not warn the poor against falling victims to their guile?" asked Tyndale, quickly. "The rich can protect themselves better against the extortion of these foxes than the poor and ignorant can. ”

“ This being so, was it not the duty of those who had been enlightened to do what they could to extend its influence, so that men like his father, who were too old to learn a new language, or Rankin, who would never have time to do so, might yet be able to learn these all-important truths, which, if carried out, would make life for all mankind a fairer, sweeter, holier thing than men had ever dreamed it could be? ”

“ Miles, full of his Utopian dream, tried to explain to these young men the advantage of having a house firmly and compactly built, how the peasants would suffer less from cold and ague if the water did not drip off the walls on to the beds. It was a sufficient argument that the little hovels—that were not much more than magnified bee-hives—were good enough for their fathers, and ought to be good enough for them; and if they might only repair some of the cottages in the village, and bring the old people to live there, they would be thankful and content. ”

“ See you now, Lady Audrey, we have a picture at Sodbury Hall of a fox preaching in a friar's hood and gown, but whoever believes that a fox ever mounted a pulpit steps? Yet we say the picture is a true one, because we know that many of the friars and monks are as cunning and hypocritical as a fox. So with this command to pluck out the eye and cut off the hand; it but teaches that if some sin is as dear to us, and as close to us, aye, and as useful to us as a right hand or a right eye, still they must be given up if we are to enter the kingdom of heaven. ”

“ Having assented to this proposal, the men then asked Miles what was to be done when they had learned to build better houses.
"I will employ you to put up substantial barns and farm-houses, where mud cottages stood before," answered Miles, quite expecting to see a smile of gratification brighten the gaunt faces.
But a look of sullen obstinacy gradually stole over the countenance of each, and one of them slowly muttered, "What served our fathers is good enough for us. We want no houses of timber and stone; we be Englishmen, and like our own fashions." ”

“ It had run its course, and Greeks and Trojans were looking up their friends who had fallen in the fray. Several of them lay here in the barber's tent, some with broken heads and various wounds and bruises about their bodies, but one poor Greek it seemed had broken his leg in falling.
"And all over this fellow Erasmus, who is no Englishman either," said one.
"Aye, but he's worth fighting for," said the young Greek who had been carried in by the pedlar; "if you could but read the Greek New Testament of Erasmus, my masters, you would say a new light had dawned for the world." ”

“ Miles, and many greater men than he, saw with dismay that what they had hoped would be a gradual enlightening of the people from the new learning, would now be a bone of contention and bitterness over which all the angry passions of men would rage and roar. ”

“ Mistress Marvin divined something of what was in her sister's mind, for she said, "Before we left Greenwich, Walter promised father that he would be guided entirely by what Miles said; and if he thought it would be his duty now to read the Bible without any disputation, he would give that up for baby's sake. Will you tell Miles this?"
"Yes, dear sister; and as he has proved in his own case that the Word of God is in itself sufficient to lead a man to the truth, and out of the errors of Rome, I think that ought to be sufficient." ”

“ That is how it must be at last, Lady Audrey, if ever the Bible is to have any power in this our England; for it is the only way it can get into the hands of the people."
Lady Audrey soon found that this was the dream of Master Tyndale's life,—to bring the new learning, that had wrought such changes at the universities, down to the comprehension of the common people. ”

“ As he spoke, the monk watched Miles closely.
"I have nought to do with that, nor have you, Master Miles. It is your duty to obey your father, and not consider questions of State,—how the nation is to be fed."
"Nay, but I may consider how I am myself to be fed by-and-bye, I trow. Of what use is a goodly store of wool if there is no corn to make bread?"
"Corn can be bought in the Low Countries, whither we send our wool; but that is not the question we have to consider, but the signing these parchments for Master Morpeth, who is in haste to take possession." ”