he nor she were at all
prepared for the hubbub and uproar, which, beginning before the sun was
well above the horizon, lasted till midnight, and, indeed, into the
early hours of the next day.

It was the Bishop's first year at Wells, and therefore his first
experience of the great demonstration of the fifth of November in his
cathedral town; and neither he nor his son had been at all aware that
the only place of safety for the whole day, would be within the
battlemented walls of the palace, outside of which the tumult and
shouting gathered force hour by hour, till the supreme moment of the
bull-baiting in the market-place arrived.

The bull-baiting was stopped in 1839, but the fifth of November was for
many years later marked in Wells, by the most extravagant expressions of
Protestant zeal. Enough gunpowder was let off in the market-place to
blow up Bishop, Deans, and Canons! A huge bonfire was piled up in the
market-square, saturated with tar, of which large barrels were rolled to
the scene of the conflagration from time to time during the day, kindled
at last as the final outburst of enthusiastic hatred, which the people
of Wells thus showed of that ill-contrived plot, which was to have made
an end with one fell swoop of the sagacious King James, and his
parliament.

It always seemed a strange form for such zeal to take; for the
law-abiding folk in the little city suffered greatly during the
demonstration. The windows overlooking the market-place were boarded up
at dusk, and all business suspended in the latter part of the day. The
whole population seemed to be gathered in the market-square. Effigies of
Guy Fawkes were paraded about the streets, accompanied by those of any
persons, who had unhappily incurred public displeasure during the year;
to be consigned to the flames with shouts and execrations as soon as the
big bonfire was lighted.

A company of guests met at the Bishop's hospitable breakfast table on
this particular fifth of November, amongst whom were Mrs. Arundel, on
the Bishop's right hand, and Gratian Anson, who was levelling her shafts
at the chaplain, and declaring her delight at having been so fortunate
as to be in Wells at the time of the bull-baiting.

"You were so kind to invite us to see it, my lord," she said; "for, of
course, I mean to see it."

"My dear young lady, I am sure you must not venture forth to-day. We
must make the time pass as pleasantly as we can, within the precincts of
th