as sent to seize my Lady of Kent and her childre, that were then
in Arundel Castle. But the officers, there coming, told her the dread
tidings, whereat she fell down all in swoon, and ere the eve was born
the Lord John her son, and baptised, poor babe, in such haste in the
Barefooted Friars' Church, that his young brother and sister, no more
than babes themselves, were forced to stand sponsors for him with the
Prior of the Predicants [Note 11]. Howbeit he lived to grow to man's
estate, yea, longer than the Lord Edmund his brother, and died Earl of
Kent a matter of eight years gone.

The Castle of Arundel, and the lands, that had been given to my Lord of
Kent when my Lord of Arundel was execute, were granted to Queen Isabel
shortly after his 'heading. I think they were given as sop to keep him
true to the Queen: not that he was man to be bought, but very like she
thought all men were. Dear heart, what strange gear are we human
creatures! I marvel at times whether the angels write us down greater
knaves or fools.

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Note 1. The crystallised juice of the aspen. Earl John of Hereford
seems to have been a valetudinarian.

Note 2. Close Roll, 1 Edward the Third, Part One. The exact wording of
the coronation oath is of some importance, since it has sometimes been
stated that our sovereigns have sworn to maintain religion precisely as
it existed in the days of Edward the Confessor. The examination of the
oath shows that they promised no such thing. They engaged only to keep
and defend to the people, clerical and lay, the laws, customs, rights,
and liberties granted by their predecessors, and by Edward more
especially. "To his power" means "to the best of his power."

Note 3. Then not an unusual way of saying "the King of Spain's
dominions."

Note 4. In my former volume, _In All Time of our Tribulation_, I
committed the mistake of repeating the popular error that the Queen took
immediate vengeance, by banishment, on the murderers of her husband. It
was only Gournay and Ocle who were directly charged with the murder: the
others who had a share in it were merely indicted for treason. Gournay
was Constable of Bristol in December, 1328; and the warrant for his
apprehension was not issued until December 3, 1330--after the fall of
Mortimer, when Edward the Third, not his mother, was actually the ruler.

Note 5. By this phrase was meant the