in the Teutonic tongue: "God hold the, cuing," which signifies,
"May God protect you, king;" and proceeded, in the same language,
"Christ and his Holy Mother, John the Baptist, and the Apostle Peter
salute thee, and command thee strictly to prohibit throughout thy
whole dominions every kind of buying or selling on Sundays, and not
to suffer any work to be done on those days, except such as relates
to the preparation of daily food; that due attention may be paid to
the performance of the divine offices. If thou dost this, all thy
undertakings shall be successful, and thou shalt lead a happy life."
The king, in French, desired Philip de Mercros, {83} who held the
reins of his horse, to ask the rustic if he had dreamt this? and
when the soldier explained to him the king's question in English, he
replied in the same language he had before used, "Whether I have
dreamt it or not, observe what day this is (addressing himself to
the king, not to the interpreter), and unless thou shalt do so, and
quickly amend thy life, before the expiration of one year, thou
shalt hear such things concerning what thou lovest best in this
world, and shalt thereby be so much troubled, that thy disquietude
shall continue to thy life's end." The king, spurring his horse,
proceeded a little way towards the gate, when, stopping suddenly, he
ordered his attendants to call the good man back. The soldier, and
a young man named William, the only persons who remained with the
king, accordingly called him, and sought him in vain in the chapel,
and in all the inns of the city. The king, vexed that he had not
spoken more to him, waited alone a long time, while other persons
went in search of him; and when he could not be found, pursued his
journey over the bridge of Remni to Newport. The fatal prediction
came to pass within the year, as the man had threatened; for the
king's three sons, Henry, the eldest, and his brothers, Richard of
Poitou, and Geoffrey, count of Britany, in the following Lent,