THE BATH ROAD 



27 



A sirloin was produced and the king " laid on," much 

 marked of the Abbot, who had as much appetite as a 

 peahen. When the roast had almost disappeared before 

 the royal onslaught, the churchman could contain 

 himself no longer. 



" Well fare thy heart," he exclaimed to the supposed 

 man-at-arms, " for here in a cup of sack I remember 

 thy master. I would give a hundred pounds on condition 

 that I could feed as lustily on beef as you do. Alas ! 

 my weak and queasie stomach will hardly digest the 



a> 



Henry the Eighth and the Abbot of Reading. 

 " I -would give £100 could I feed so lustily on beef as you do. 



wing of a small rabbit or chicken." How cruel a case 

 of dyspepsia in the Middle Ages ! I recommend it to 

 the notice of the faculty, as a proof that there is nothing 

 new under the sun, not even in this " new disease that 

 is stealing upon us all." Meanwhile the king pledged 

 his host and departed. Some weeks after, the Abbot 

 was committed to the Tower and fed for a short space 

 on bread and water — a novel treatment for loss of 

 appetite which threw the pious patient into the most 

 horrid dejection, " yet not so empty was his body of 

 food as his mind was filled with fears as to how he had 



