orkshire. I took upon me to write a letter
to the former, in the name of the city, inviting him to come to London,
where I assured him of very good reception, signifying to him my own
great weight and consequence, and how much I had disposed the citizens
in his favor. Whether he received this letter or no I am not certain;
but he never gave me any answer to it.

"A little afterwards one William Fitz-Osborn, or, as he was nicknamed,
William Long-Beard, began to make a figure in the city. He was a bold
and an impudent fellow, and had raised himself to great popularity with
the rabble, by pretending to espouse their cause against the rich. I
took this man's part, and made a public oration in his favor, setting
him forth as a patriot, and one who had embarked in the cause
of liberty: for which service he did not receive me with the
acknowledgments I expected. However, as I thought I should easily gain
the ascendant over this fellow, I continued still firm on his side, till
the archbishop of Canterbury, with an armed force, put an end to his
progress: for he was seized in Bowchurch, where he had taken refuge, and
with nine of his accomplices hanged in chains.

"I escaped narrowly myself; for I was seized in the same church with the
rest, and, as I had been very considerably engaged in the enterprise,
the archbishop was inclined to make me an example; but my father's
merit, who had advanced a considerable sum to queen Eleanor towards the
king's ransom, preserved me.

"The consternation my danger had occasioned kept me some time quiet, and
I applied myself very assiduously to my trade. I invented all manner
of methods to enhance the price of fish, and made use of my utmost
endeavors to engross as much of the business as possible in my own
hands. By these means I acquired a substance which raised me to some
little consequence in the city, but far from elevating me to that degree
which I had formerly flattered myself with possessing at a time when
I was totally insignificant; for, in a trading society, money must at
least lay the foundation of all power and interest.

"But as it hath been remarked that the same ambition which sent
Alexander into Asia brings the wrestler on the green; and as this same
ambition is as incapable as quicksilver of lying still; so I, who was
possessed perhaps of a share equal to what hath fired the blood of any
of the heroes of antiquity, was no less restless and discontented
with ease and quiet.