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.

"These things done," said the King, "and the lands I have mentioned
secured by my gift to this monastery, you are of opinion, father, that
I stand as much in the good graces of our Holy Mother Church as to term
myself her dutiful son?"

"Surely, my liege," said the prior; "would to God that all her children
brought to the efficacious sacrament of confession as deep a sense of
their errors, and as much will to make amends for them. But I speak
these comforting words, my liege, not to Robert King of Scotland, but
only to my humble and devout penitent, Robert Stuart of Carrick."

"You surprise me, father," answered the King: "I have little check on my