the church, and then rose a dead body and went out in to the
churchyard with a white cloth on his head, and stood still there till
the mass was done. And then St. Austin went to him and demanded him
what he was, and he answered and said: I was sometime lord of this town,
and because I would not pay my tithes to my curate he accursed me, and
so I died and went to hell. And then St. Austin bade bring him to the
place where his curate was buried, and then the carrion brought him
thither to the grave, and because that all men should know that life and
death be in the power of God, St. Austin said: I command thee in the
name of God to arise, for we have need of thee, and then he arose anon,
and stood before all the people. To whom St. Austin said: Thou knowest
well that our Lord is merciful, and I demand thee, brother, if thou
knowest this man? and he said: Yea, would God that I had never known
him, for he was a withholder of his tithes, and in all his life an, evil
doer, thou knowest that our Lord is merciful, and as long as the pains
of hell endure let us also be merciful to all Christians. And then St.
Austin delivered to the curate a rod, and there the knight kneeling on
his knees was assoiled, and then he commanded him to go again to his
grave, and there to abide till the day of doom; and he entered anon into
his grave and forthwith fell to ashes and powder. And then St. Austin
said to the priest: How long hast thou lain here? and he said a hundred
and fifty years; and then he asked how it stood with him, and he said:
Well, holy father, for I am in everlasting bliss; and then said St.
Austin: Wilt thou that I pray to Almighty God that thou abide here with
us to confirm the hearts of men in very belief? And then he said: Nay,
holy father, for I am in a place of rest; and then said St. Austin: Go
in peace, and pray for me and for all holy church, and he then entered
again into his grave, and anon the body was turned to earth. Of this
sight the lord was sore afeard, and came all quaking to St. Austin and
to his curate, and demanded forgiveness of his trespass, and promised to
make amends and ever after to pay his tithes and to follow the doctrine
of St. Austin.

After this St. Austin entered into Dorsetshire, and came in to a town
whereas were wicked people who refused his doctrine and preaching
utterly and drove him out of the town, casting on him the tails of
thornbacks, or like fishes, wherefore he besought Almighty God