_But on the morow, at brode daylight,_ _The fadir ros, and, for they shulden here_ _What that he dide in a boistous manere,_ _Unto his chest, which thre lokkes hadde,_ _He went, and therat wrethed he ful sadde,_ _And whan it was opened and unshit,_ _The bagged gold bi the merchaunt hym lent_ _He hath untied, and streight forth with it_ _Unto his beddis feete gone is and went,_ _What doth thanne this sel man and prudent_ _But out the gold on a tapit hath shot,_ _That in the bagges left ther no grot._ --MS. Harl. 372, fol. 88, v^o. Robbers, or plunderers in time of war, when breaking into a house, always made direct for the chamber. Among the letters of the Paston family, is a paper by a retainer of sir John Fastolf, who had a house in Southwark, giving an account of his sufferings during the attack upon London by Jack Cade and the commons of Kent in 1450, in which he tells how “the captain (Cade) sent certain of his meny to my chamber in your rents, and there broke up my chest, and took away one obligation of mine that was due unto me of 36_l._ by a priest of Paul’s and one other obligation of one Knight of 10_l._, and my purse with five rings of gold, and 17_s._ 6_d._ of gold and silver; and one harness (_suit of armour_) complete of the touch of Milan; and one gown of fine perse blue, furred with martens; and two gowns, one furred with bogey (_budge_), and one other lined with frieze.” One of John Paston’s correspondents, writing from London on the 28th of October, 1455, gives the following still more pertinent account of the robbing of a man’s house:--“Also there is great variance between the earl of Devonshire and the lord Bonvile, as hath been many day, and much debate is like to grow thereby; for on Thursday at night last past, the earl of Devonshire’s son and heir came, with sixty men of arms, to Radford’s place in Devonshire, which (Radford) was of counsel with my lord Bonvile; and they set a house on fire at Radford’s gate, and cried and made a noise as though they had been sorry for the fire; and by thet cause Radford’s men set open the gates and yede (_went_) out to see the fire; and forthwith the earl’s son aforesaid entered into the place, and entreated Radford to come down of his chamber to speak with them, promising him that he should no bodily harm have; upon which promise he came down, and spoke with the said earl’s son. In the mean time his meny (_retinue_) rob his chamber, and rifled his hutches, and trussed such as they could get together, and carried it away on his own horses.” As soon as this was done, Radford, who was an eminent lawyer residing at Poghill, near Kyrton, and now aged, was led forth and brutally murdered. In the stories and novels of the middle ages, the favoured lover who has been admitted secretly into the chamber of his mistress is often concealed in the hutch or chest. [Illustration: _No. 262. A Lady in Bed._]