beset a superstitious and timid mind. It is scarce necessary,
therefore, to add, that the churchmen of various descriptions had
no small influence over this easy tempered prince, though, indeed,
theirs was, at that period, an influence from which few or none
escaped, however resolute and firm of purpose in affairs of a temporal
character. We now return from this long digression, without which
what we have to relate could not perhaps have been well understood.

The King had moved with ungraceful difficulty to the cushioned chair
which, under a state or canopy, stood prepared for his accommodation,
and upon which he sank down with enjoyment, like an indolent man,
who had been for some time confined to a constrained position. When
seated, the gentle and venerable looks of the good old man showed
benevolence. The prior, who now remained standing opposite to the
royal seat, with an air of deep deference which cloaked the natural
haughtiness of his carriage, was a man betwixt forty and fifty years
of age, but every one of whose hairs still retained their natural
dark colour. Acute features and a penetrating look attested the
talents by which the venerable father had acquired his high station
in the community over which he presided; and, we may add, in the
councils of the kingdom, in whose service they were often exercised.
The chief objects which his education and habits taught him to
keep in view were the extension of the dominion and the wealth of
the church, and the suppression of heresy, both of which he endeavoured
to accomplish by all the means which his situation afforded him.
But he honoured his religion by the sincerity of his own belief,
and by the morality which guided his conduct in all ordinary
situations. The faults of the Prior Anselm, though they led him
into grievous error, and even cruelty, were perhaps rather those
of his age and profession; his virtues were his own.