he occasion into rapid
decision (as is not uncommon with the Englishman), all difficulties
seemed light, and hope and courage were in every breast.

CHAPTER VIII.

Back went Hugues Maigrot, the monk, to William, and told the reply of
Harold to the Duke, in the presence of Lanfranc. William himself heard
it in gloomy silence, for Fitzosborne as yet had been wholly unsuccessful
in stirring up the Norman barons to an expedition so hazardous, in a
cause so doubtful; and though prepared for the defiance of Harold, the
Duke was not prepared with the means to enforce his threats and make good
his claim.

So great was his abstraction, that he suffered the Lombard to dismiss the
monk without a word spoken by him; and he was first startled from his
reverie by Lanfranc's pale hand on his vast shoulder, and Lanfranc's low
voice in his dreamy ear:

"Up! Hero of Europe: for thy cause is won! Up! and write with thy bold
characters, bold as if graved with the point of the sword, my credentials
to Rome. Let me depart ere the sun sets: and as I go, look on the
sinking orb, and behold the sun of the Saxon that sets evermore on
England!"

Then briefly, that ablest statesman of the age, (and forgive him, despite
our modern lights, we must; for, sincere son of the Church, he regarded
the violated oath of Harold as entailing the legitimate forfeiture of his
realm, and, ignorant of true political freedom, looked upon Church and
Learning as the only civilisers of men,) then, briefly, Lanfranc detailed
to the listening Norman the outline of the arguments by which he intended
to move the Pontifical court to the Norman side; and enlarged upon the
vast accession throughout all Europe which the solemn sanction of the
Church would bring to his strength. William's reawaking and ready
intellect soon seized upon the importance of the object pressed upon him.
He interrupted the Lombard, drew pen and parchment towards him, and wrote
rapidly. Horses were harnessed, horsemen equipped in haste, and with no
unfitting retinue Lanfranc departed on the mission, the most important in
its consequences that ever passed from potentate to pontiff. [234]
Rebraced to its purpose by Lanfranc's cheering assurances, the resolute,
indomitable soul of William now applied itself, night and day, to the
difficult task of rousing his haughty vavasours. Yet weeks passed before
he could even meet a select council composed of his own kinsmen and most
trusted lords