162 THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF MICHAEL SCOT 



fortable account to the Judge of the world at 

 the last day,' so he had written to Clement, 'if 

 I pretend to teach those who cannot understand 

 me ? The revenues suffice for two Bishops, if 

 we are content with a competency, and are 

 not prodigal of the patrimony of Christ. It is 

 better to lessen the charge and increase the 

 number of labourers in the Lord's Vineyard.' In 

 some such terms must Michael Scot too have 

 declined Cashel. His case, as well as that of 

 Dunkeld, is enough to show that ecclesiastical 

 corruption, though widespread, was not, even in 

 those days, universal. May no Cervantes of the 

 Church ever arise in Scotland to laugh such 

 sacred chivalry away ! 



The disappointment he nevertheless felt on this 

 occasion may probably have encouraged Scot in 

 his attachment to the court and to his new duties 

 there as astrologer and physician, in which, as we 

 have seen, he rose to such acknowledged eminence. 

 Frederick did not, however, lose sight of his pur- 

 pose to procure him preferment. The first appli- 

 cation to Canterbury having met with no re- 

 sponse it was renewed four years later in 1227, by 

 Gregory ix., who in that year succeeded Honorius 

 in the Chair of St. Peter. This new Pontiff was 

 destined to become the Emperor's most bitter and 

 relentless foe, but as yet he remained on good 

 terms with Frederick and inclined to show him 

 favour. He seems to have made no difficulty in 

 taking up the case of Michael Scot, and even 

 added on his own account a eulogy meant to 

 forward the scholar's claim ; representing him as 

 a distinguished student, not only in Latin letters, 



