aithful son of the Church of Rome,
promoting and securing, with all his strength, the guarantees of her
liberty".

Now, what we wish to know is, how in the world can a man be "the most
faithful son of the Church of Rome," so rooted in his loyalty to her
that "his allegiance is known to the whole world," and yet not be a
Roman Catholic? The Bishops then add that "they go down upon their
knees" to beseech the Pope's favour for the Archbishop, and in doing
so declare that they are "the most humble sons of your Holiness and of
the Roman Church".

Then Archbishop Chicheley follows up their letter, by writing one
himself, in which he says: "Most Blessed Father, kissing most
devotedly the ground beneath your feet, with all promptitude of
service and obedience, and whatsoever a most humble creature can do
towards his lord and master" (_i.e._, domino et creatori--literally
"creator," in the sense that the Pope had made or "created" him
archbishop) and so forth. Then he goes on to explain that "Long before
now, were it not for the perils of the journey and the infirmities of
my old age, I would have made my way, Most Blessed Father, to your
feet, and have accepted most obediently whatsoever your Holiness would
have decided" (see Wilkins, vol. iii. pp. 471 and 486). Surely, no
Archbishop or Bishop could use language of such profound reverence
and of such perfect loyalty and obedience, unless he recognised the
Pope as the true representative of Christ upon earth, invested with
His divine authority ("To Thee do I give the keys of the Kingdom of
Heaven"). There is a whole world of difference between such men and
the Anglican Prelates of to-day who take the oath of homage to the
King, and say: "I do hereby declare that your Majesty is the only
supreme governor of this your realm, in spiritual and ecclesiastical
things, as well as temporal".

CHAPTER IV.

KING EDWARD AND THE POPE.

In a previous chapter, we promised to tell of a famous letter written
by one of our greatest kings to the Pope of his day. Let us then
introduce this interesting historical incident without further
preamble or delay.

The King of whom we are about to speak is King Edward III., who
reigned over this land for more than fifty years, that is to say, from
1327 to 1377. The historian Hume tells us that, in general estimation,
his reign was not only one of the longest, but that it was considered
also "one of the most glorious that occurs in the ann