crimes is an in the land � a hunted wolf whose life any man may take at any time command that robber to depart i will not depart said no cried the king no by the lord said upon that the king arose from his seat and making passionately at the robber and seizing him by his long hair tried to throw him down but the robber had a dagger underneath his cloak and in the the king to death that done he set his back against the wall and fought so desperately that although he was soon cut to pieces by the king s armed men and the wall and pavement were with his blood yet it was not before he had killed and wounded many of them you may imagine what rough lives the kings of those times led when one of them could struggle half drunk with a public robber in his own dining hall and be in presence of the company who ate and drank with him then succeeded the boy king who was weak and sickly in body but of a strong mind and his armies fought the the and or the sea kings as they were and the six b y kin s called and beat them for the time and in nine years died and passed away then came the boy king � fifteen years of age but the real king who had the real power was a named � a clever priest a little mad and not a little proud and cruel was then of abbey whither the body of king the magnificent was carried to be buried while yet a boy he had got out of his bed one night being then in a fever and walked about church while it was under repair and because he did not tumble off some that were there and break his neck it was reported that he had been shown over the building by an angel he had also a harp that was said to play of itself � which it very likely did as which are played by the wind and are understood now always do for these wonders he had been once by his enemies who were jealous of his favor with the late king as a and had been bound hand and foot and thrown into a marsh but he got out again somehow to cause a great deal of trouble yet the priests of those days were generally the only scholars they were learned in many things having to make their own and on grounds that were granted to them by the crown it was necessary that they should be good farmers and good or their lands would have been too poor to support them f ff the of the where they prayed and for the comfort of the where they ate and a a child s history of england drank it was necessary that there should be good good good painters among them for their greater safety in sickness and accident living alone by themselves in solitary places it was necessary that they should study tho virtues of plants and and should know how to dress cuts burns and and how to set broken limbs accordingly they taught themselves and one another a great of variety useful arts and became in medicine and and when they wanted the aid of any little piece of machinery which would be simple enough now but was then to impose a trick upon the poor they knew very well how to make it and did make it many a time and often i have no doubt of abbey was one of the most sagacious of these he was an ingenious smith and worked at a in his little cell this cell was made too short to admit of his lying at full length when he went to as if that did any good to any body � and he used to tell the most extraordinary lies about and spirits who he said came there to him for instance he related that one day when he was at work the devil looked in at the little window and tried to tempt him to lead a life of idle pleasure whereupon having his in the fire red hot he seized the devil by the nose and put him to such pain that his were heard for miles and miles some people are inclined to think this nonsense a part of s madness for his head never quite recovered the fever but i think not i observe that it in s and the six boy the ignorant people to him a holy man and that it made him very powerful which was exactly what he always wanted on the day of the of the handsome it was remarked by odd of who was a by birth that the king quietly left the feast while all the company were there much displeased sent his friend to seek him finding him in the company of his beautiful young wife el her mother a good and virtuous lady not only abused them but dragged the young king back into the hall by force some think did this because the young king s fair wife was his own cousin and the objected to people marrying their own cousins but i believe he did it because he was an imperious audacious ill priest who having loved a yoimg lady himself before he became a sour hated all love now and every thing belonging to it the young king was quite old enough to feel this insult had been in the last reign and he soon charged with having taken some of the last king s money the fled to very narrowly escaping some who were sent to put out his eyes as you will wish they had when you read what follows and his abbey was given to priests who were 