funeral of tfj* t&ing, 165 



was about to be lowered into the grave, when a stern 

 voice forbade the interment. " Bishop," it said, " the 

 man whom you have praised was a robber. The very 

 ground on which we are standing is mine ; and this is 

 the site of my father's house. He took it from me by 

 violence to build this church upon its ruins. I reclaim 

 it as my right, and in the name of the Most High I 

 forbid you to bury him there, or to cover him with my 

 glebe." The man who spoke thus boldly, was Asseline 

 Fitz -Arthur. He had vainly sought for justice from the 

 king while living, and he loudly proclaimed the fact of 

 his injustice and oppression, before his face, when dead. 

 It seemed fearful to the bystanders, that the funeral 

 should thus be strangely hindered ; that as at first no 

 one had cared to bury him, whose pale, shrunk countenance 

 and lifeless fonn was still upheld above the grave; 

 when some at length were gathered, who thought to do 

 him honour, the most were hurried off by an alarm of 

 fire, and that at the very moment of his interment, even 

 the solemn act could not proceed in peace. Many 

 who were present well remembered the pulling down of 

 Fitz-Arthur's house, and the distress which it occasioned, 

 and the bishop being assured of the fact, gave his 

 son, sixty shillings for the grave alone, and engaged to 

 procure the full value of his land. One moment more, 

 and the corpse remained among living men; another, 

 and it disappeared in the darkness of the tomb, and 

 the remainder of the ceremony being hurried over, the 

 assembly broke up in haste. 



