I0 PROLOGUE
parish, and living in the vicar's house with its garden and stone
wall round it, hard by the church, and standing at the head of
them all. As John looked at him he recalled some of his kindly
actions: no parishioner was too distant for him to visit if need
arose, and no one led a more model life than he. " If gold rust,
what shall iron do?", was his watchword, and he taught his flock
more by what he was than by anything he was able to say. All
men knew him to be their friend, and yet there was something
about him which, forbade men to be too familiar. Even his sister
regarded him with the awe born of more than one snibhing he
had administered to her, and which her conscience admitted to
be just.
By this time, however, the Creed had been said, and Sir William
had come from the altar steps to the door of the rood-screen. He
looked grave, for it was but seldom that he attempted to teach
his flock in a set discourse, rather than by short explanations of
the main points of the Faith. But the bishop was constantly
urging upon the clergy the need for more sermons, and he must
obey. As he waited, his people settled themselves down, most of
them squatting in the rushes which covered the floor, while a
few lounged against the pillars and seemed to care little tor what
was to come. When all were settled, he reminded them of earlier
sermons he had preached at intervals on the seven deadly sins,
and then turned to speak of the fourth of these, namely sloth*
Slothfulness kept men from church, and encouraged them to be
inattentive at Mass, and to put off the day of repentance till it was
too late. All this, as he said, would inevitably have to be paid for
in purgatory, unless they were truly penitent and shriven. Not
only in church, but in ordinary worldly affairs, idleness was to be
shunned, and young men and women should be made to work
and serve their masters with love and cheerfulness. Therefore,
parents must chastise naughty children, or they would grow up
idle and disobedient as were the sons of Eli, The tale of the death
of the prophet and his two sons followed, and Sir William con-
cluded his short sermon by bidding his hearers to think on Eli