ter, for that he thought her the
fairest and best favoured, yet when he considered that it would be both
great grief and some shame also to the eldest to see her younger sister
preferred before her in marriage, he then, of a certain pity, framed his
fancy toward her and married her.'

This was indeed being good-natured and obliging, and one hopes that the
bride never guessed the reason why he had asked her to be his wife. The
young couple settled down in Bucklersbury in the City, and More
continued his studies at Lincoln's Inn and his attendance at
Westminster, for he had been elected a member of Parliament almost as
soon as he left the Charterhouse and before his marriage. Very early he
had given proof that he did not intend 'to pin his conscience to another
man's back' by refusing to vote for a large grant of money demanded by
Henry VII. as a dowry for his eldest daughter. Chiefly owing to More,
the grant was refused, and 'the king,' according to Roper, 'conceiving
great indignation towards him, could not be satisfied until he had in
some way revenged it. And for as much as he (Thomas) nothing having,
nothing could lose, his grace (the king) devised a causeless quarrel
against his father (the elder More), keeping him in the Tower till he
had made him pay a hundred pounds fine.'

No doubt it was very hard for the More family to raise the money, equal
to about 1,200 l. in our day, and Thomas's heart was hot with wrath. He
angrily spurned various attempts made to gain him over, and 'for some
time thought of leaving England and trying his fortune in other lands.'
In fact, he did pay a short visit both to the Low Countries and to
Paris, but he could not make up his mind to settle in either, and
decided that he could do better for his wife and small children by
continuing his practice at the Bar. The next year Henry VII. died, and
More hoped that a new era was beginning.

* * * * *

The household in Bucklersbury was as happy as any that could have been
found in London. Its mistress, Joan Colt, was, when she married, a
country girl, cleverer at making possets and drying herbs than at
reading books or playing on the viol. But More, who charmed everybody,
easily charmed his wife, and to please him she studied whatever books he
gave her, and worked hard at her music. But after five years she died,
leaving him with four babies, Margaret, Elizabeth, Cicely, and John, and
in a few months More saw