King Edward II. was not jubilant over the appointment of a friend of Roger Mortimer to this important position, and, failing to persuade Adam to decline the bishopric, he appealed to the Pope, begging him to cancel the appointment, but with no more success. The fortunes of the Bishop of Hereford became identified with the Queen, whom he joined on her return from France with her eldest son. It was at Hereford that this youth, then fourteen years of age, was appointed guardian of the kingdom under the direction of his mother. The King, who had sought refuge in Wales, was captured at Neath Abbey, and the great seal taken from him by Bishop Adam Orleton, while the Chancellor, Hugh Despenser, was conveyed to Hereford, where he was crowned with nettles and dressed in a shirt upon which was written passages from Psalm lii. beginning, "Why boastest thou thyself, thou tyrant: that thou canst do mischief." Amid the howlings of a great multitude who mocked his name by shrieking "Hue!" he was finally hanged on a gallows 50 feet high and then quartered. Among the prisoners were two wearing holy orders, and these the Bishop of Hereford claimed as his perquisite. [Illustration: A GARGOYLE IN THE CLOISTERS. DRAWN BY A. HUGH FISHER.] A GARGOYLE IN THE CLOISTERS. DRAWN BY A. HUGH FISHER. Bishop Adam, wary, unscrupulous, but at the same time vigorous and of unusual ability, played a great part in politics to the end of the wretched King’s life. Some historians still believe that he recommended the murder; he certainly supported the deposition in Parliament, and went to Kenilworth as one of the commissioners to force the King’s resignation. If thus interested in secular politics, he was no less watchful and vigilant in the affairs of his bishopric and the cathedral.