could make them, wore the
Five Wounds on a piece of stuff sewn on the arm. You would have said
that none could stand against us, so eager we were and full of faith."

"There was a song, was there not?" began one of the monks.

"Yes, father. We sang it as we went.

"Christ crucified!
For thy wounds wide
Us commons guide
Which pilgrims be!
Through God his grace
For to purchase
Old wealth and peace
Of the spiritualty!

"You could hear it up and down the lines, sung with weeping and
shouting."

He described how they came to York, and how the Mayor was forced to
admit them. They stayed there a couple of days; and Aske published his
directions for all the ejected Religious to return to their houses.

"I went to a little cell near by--I forget its name--to help some canons
to settle in again, whose friendship I had made. I had told them then
that my mind was to enter Religion once more, and they took me very
willingly. We got there at night. The roof was gone from the dormitory,
but we slept there for all that--such of us as could sleep--for I heard
one of them sobbing for joy as he lay there in his old corner under the
stars; and we sang mass in the morning, as well as we could. The priest
had an old tattered vestment that hardly hung on his shoulders; and
there was no cross but one that came from a pair of beads, and that we
hung over the altar. When I left them again, they were at their office
as before, and busy roofing the house with old timbers; for my lord
Cromwell had all the lead. And all their garden was trampled; but they
said they would do very well. The village-folk were their good friends,
and would bring them what they needed."

He described his journey to Doncaster; the furious excitement of the
villages he passed through, and the news that reached him hour after
hour as to the growing vastness of Aske's forces.

"There were thirty thousand, I heard, on the banks of the Don on one
side; for my lords Nevill and Lumley and others had ridden in with St.
Cuthbert his banner and arms, and five thousand men, besides those that
came in from all the country. And on the further side was my Lord
Shrewsbury for the King, with the Duke and his men. Master Aske had all
he could do to keep his men back from being at them. Some of the young
sparks were as terriers at a rat-hole. There was a parley held on the
bridge, for Norfolk knew well that he must gain time; and Aske sent h