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often in stormy times a place of refuge, into which the 

 peasants drove their cattle and were secure, and while the 

 storm of war raged furiously without, there was safety and 

 abundance within. But it was not always so, and St. Albans 

 was sacked more than once. The infuriated followers of 

 Wat Tyler set fire to the papers and written records of the 

 abbey, and in after times it was exposed to all the horrors 

 of civil war, when the rival houses of York and Lancaster 

 battled close beside its walls, and beneath the floor of our 

 Lady's chapel rest the remains of many who fought and 

 fell in those murderous conflicts. Showers and warm 

 sunbeams contribute their aid ofttimes to repair the 

 ravages which war has made in the aspect of nature. 

 The trodden fields were again covered with corn; dwell- 

 ings which had been set on fire, were speedily rebuilt, 

 and all went on as before. Tributes of corn, and wine, 

 and oil, were brought into the abbey, and the poor 

 and destitute received their daily doles. But men had 

 not yet learned that war and misery are synonymous. 

 The second battle of St. Albans, at which the forces of 

 Queen Margaret were, for a brief space, triumphant, was 

 deeply felt within the abbey. Wounded men, borne by 

 their companions from the fray, were continually brought, 

 in ; and when the battle ceased, it was fearful to hear the 

 continual tolling of the bell, sounding daily from morn- 

 ing till night, while the dead were being interred ; if 

 holding rank among the living, within the precincts of the 

 monastery, if otherwise, in an adjoining field. * The hus- 

 * History of St. Albans. 



