own words.
"When the work was finished, not wishing to hide his candle under a
bushel, but wishing to place it in a candlestick, so that it might
give light, he resolved to read it before a vast audience at Oxford,
where scholars in England chiefly flourished and excelled in
scholarship. And as there were three divisions in the work, and each
division occupied a day, the readings lasted three successive days. On
the first day, he received and entertained at his lodgings all the
poor people of the town; on the second, all the doctors of the
different faculties and their best students; and on the third, the
rest of the students and the chief men of the town. It was a costly
and noble act; and neither present nor past time can furnish any
record of such a solemnity having ever taken place in England."

In 1188 he accompanied the Archbishop of Canterbury in his tour
through Wales to preach the Third Crusade. With this we shall deal
later.

He was abroad with Henry II. at the time of the old king's death, and
has left a valuable account of his later years in the book "On the
Instruction of Princes." His connection with the Court gave him
opportunities for studying the great characters of the time at close
quarters, and we have from his pen graphic sketches of many of them.
Take this description of Henry II.: "He had a reddish complexion,
rather dark, and a large round head. His eyes were gray, bloodshot,
and flashed in anger. He had a fiery face; his voice was shaky; he had
a deep chest, and long muscular arms, his great round head hanging
somewhat forward. He had an enormous belly--though not from gross
feeding. Indeed he was temperate in all things, for a prince. To keep
down his corpulency, he took immoderate exercise. Even in times of
peace he took no rest--hunting furiously all day, and on his return
home in the evening seldom sitting down either before or after supper;
for in spite of his own fatigue, he would weary out the Court by being
constantly on his legs."

The whole is very interesting and full of life. It occurs in the
"Conquest of Ireland," and is quoted in several of his other works.
Gerald's favourite author was Gerald of Barry, Archdeacon of Brecon.

The next important episode in his life was the struggle for St.
David's (1198-1203). It was really a fight for the independence of the
Welsh Church from England and its direct dependence on the Pope.
Gerald was elected bishop by the canons of St. David's