invoke the saints as a friar would naturally have done again and
again.

Now, the author does not for a moment deny that Martin must have
shared in the common belief of his time; but such things were not
of the essence of his teaching, only the accidental accompaniments
thereof. The prominent feature of the preaching of the early
Franciscans was, as was that of St. Paul, Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. And in a book intended primarily for young readers of
the Church of England, it is perhaps allowable to suppress features
which would perplex youthful minds before they have the power of
discriminating between the chaff and the wheat; while it is not
thereby intended to deny that they really existed. The objectionable
side of the teaching of the medieval Church of England has been
dwelt upon with such little charity, by certain Protestant writers,
that their youthful readers might be led to think that the religion
of their forefathers was but a mass of superstition, devoid of all
spiritual life, and therefore the author feels that it is better
to dwell upon the points of agreement between the fathers and the
children, than to gloat over "corruptions."

In writing the chapters which describe medieval Oxford, the author
had the advantage of an ancient map, and of certain interesting
records of the thirteenth century, so that the picture of
scholastic life and of the conflicts of "north and south," etc. is
not simply imaginary portraiture. The earliest houses of education
in Oxford were doubtless the religious houses, beginning with the
Priory of Saint Frideswide, but schools appear to have speedily
followed, whose alumni lodged in such hostels as we have described
in "Le Oriole." The hall, so called (we are not answerable for the
non-elision of the vowel) was subsequently granted by Queen Eleanor
to one James de Hispania, from whom it was purchased for the new
college founded by Adam de Brom, and took the name of Oriel
College.

Two other points in this family history may invite remark. It may
be objected that the Old Man of the Mountain is too atrocious for
belief. The author can only reply that he is not original; he met
the old man and all his doings long ago, in an almost forgotten
chronicle of the crusades, especially he noted the perversion of
boyish intellect to crime and cruelty.

Lastly, in these days of incredulity, the supernatural element in
the story of Sir Roger of Walderne may appear forced or unreal.