presence of the multitudes that clothed the
natural amphitheatre around. The heights above are crowned by the ruins
of the old priory of St. Leonards, on the one side, and on the other by a
few fragments of St. Michael's chapel, whose vestiges, under a name
assigned to them through their later notoriety, as the stronghold of the
rebel Kett, yet linger as landmarks on the early pathway of national
progress and reform.

There sat the "King of Norfolk," as he was styled, and held his councils
of state under the old oak, which bore thenceforth the title of the "oak
of the Reformation;"--there morning and evening service were daily read
to the rebel forces, and the Litany and Te Deum were listened to with
solemn earnestness. There Parker, the future archbishop of Canterbury,
ventured into the midst of the rebel camp, and, under the shade of the
oak, sent forth the voice of exhortation to the discontented, but to
little effect. Enclosed lands, commons stolen from the public, and other
grievances suffered by the poor from the hands of the rich, lay at the
hearts of the people, and the prelate's errand of peace had well nigh
terminated ill, but for the power of music--the solemn Te Deum burst
forth from the voice of the rebel's chaplain, and swelled by many
"singing voices" into a loud strain of sweet harmony, fell upon the ear
of the multitude, like oil upon the raging waters, and by its sweetness
shed peace for the time on all around. In this rebellion fell the
gallant Earl of Sheffield, in his zeal to aid the efforts of the Earl of
Warwick to quell the outburst of the people's will; while beside him
figured Dudley, the hero of Kenilworth, and cruel husband of the hapless
Amy Robsart. The popular prophecy--

The country gnoffes, Hob, Dick, and Hick,
With clubs and clouted shoon,
Shall fill the vale of Duffendale
With slaughtered bodies soon--

was fulfilled, and besiegers and besieged were among the victims. That
there is no war like civil war was verified; the wounded plucked the
arrows from their wounds, that they might be sent back dripping with
their blood to the hearts of their kinsmen and foes. The watchword,
"Gentlemen ruled aforetime, a number will rule now another while,"
testified to the turning of the worm when trodden on--evidencing the
ripening germ of the same spirit that had in earlier times wrung from the
tyrant monarch a "Magna Charta," and will yet, by agencies far other than
arrow