Now he is admitted by the monks, and goes at once to the altar of the patron-saint of the church, where he kneels and asks for a coroner. The coroner, an aged monk, comes to him and confesses him. He tells his crime, and renounces his rights in the kingdom; and then, in that dark church, he strips to his shirt and offers his clothes to the sacrist for his fee. Ragged, mud-stained clothes, torn cloak, all fall from him in a heap upon the floor of the church. Now the sacrist gives him a large cloak with a cross upon the shoulder, and, having fed him, gives him into the charge of the under-sheriff, who will next day pass him from constable to constable towards the coast, where he will be seen on board a ship, and so pass away, an exile for ever. The night is cold. The lady pulls a curtain across the window, and then, stripping herself of her chemise, she gets into bed. HENRY THE FIRST Reigned thirty-five years: 1100-1135. Born 1068. Married to Matilda of Scotland, 1100; to Adela of Louvain, 1121. THE MEN [Illustration: {A man of the time of Henry I.; two types of shoe}] The Father of Popular Literature, Gerald of Wales, says: 'It is better to be dumb than not to be understood. New times require new fashions, and so I have thrown utterly aside the old and dry methods of some authors, and aimed at adopting the fashion of speech which is actually in vogue to-day.' Vainly, perhaps, I have endeavoured to follow this precept laid down by Father Gerald, trying by slight pictures of the times to make the dry bones live, to make the clothes stir up and puff themselves into the shapes of men. It is almost a necessity that one who would describe, paint, stage, or understand the costume of this reign should know the state of England at the time. For there is in this reign a distinction without a difference in clothes; the shapes are almost identical to the shapes and patterns of the previous reigns, but everybody is a little better dressed. The mantles worn by the few in the time of William the Red are worn now by most of the nobility, fur-lined and very full. One may see on the sides of the west door of Rochester Cathedral Henry and his first wife, and notice that the mantle he wears is very full; one may see that he wears a supertunic, which is gathered round his waist. This tunic is the usual Norman tunic reaching to the knee, but now it is worn over an under-tunic which reaches to the ground in heavy folds. One may notice that the King's hair is long and elegantly twisted into pipes or ringlets, and that it hangs over his shoulders. [Illustration: A MAN OF THE TIME OF HENRY I. (1100-1135) His hair is curled in ringlets; he wears a long cloak. The shirt shows at the neck of the tunic. The small design in the corner is from a sanctuary door-knocker.] No longer is the priestly abuse of 'filthy goat' applicable, for Henry's beard is neatly trimmed and cut round his face.