I believe I would relent before the year was up, and get them out if I could. I know I couldn't. All through his book Henry exhibits his familiarity with the intentions of God, and with the reasons for his intentions. Worms were generally used in those days for the slaying of particularly wicked people. This has gone out, now, but in old times it was a favorite.
Some authorities think it was an ichthyosaurus, but there is much doubt.
Sometimes I am half persuaded that he is only a guesser, and not a good one. The divine wisdom must surely be of the better quality than he makes it out to be. Five hundred years before Henry's time some forecasts of the Lord's purposes were furnished by a pope, who perceived, by certain perfectly trustworthy signs furnished by the Deity for the information of His familiars, that the end of the world was . . . That was thirteen hundred years ago. This is really no improvement on the work of the Roman augurs.