This is from the sixth sermon, preached before the young king, April 12, 1549: "In my time my poor father was as diligent to teach me to shoot as to learn (me) any other thing; and so, I think, other men did their children. He taught me how to draw, how to lay my body in my bow, and not to draw with strength of arms, as other nations do, but with strength of the body. I had my bows bought me according to my age and strength; as I increased in them, so my bows were made bigger and bigger; for men shall never shoot well except they be brought up in it. It is a goodly art, a wholesome kind of exercise, and much commended in physic."] [Footnote 178: In 1246, 1376. Thierry, III. 79.] [Footnote 179: 1404-1409. The commons declared that with these revenues the king would be able to maintain 15 earls, 1500 knights, 6,200 squires, and 100 hospitals; each earl receiving annually 300 marks; each knight 100 marks, and the produce of four ploughed lands; each squire 40 marks, and the produce of two ploughed lands.] [Footnote 180: About 1362.] [Footnote 181: "Piers Ploughman's Vision and Creed," ed. T. Wright, 1856, I. p. 2, lines 21-44.] [Footnote 182: The Archdeacon of Richmond, on his tour in 1216, came to the priory of Bridlington with ninety-seven horses, twenty-one dogs, and three falcons.] [Footnote 183: "Piers Ploughman's Vision," I. p. 191, lines 6,217-6,228.] [Footnote 184: Ibid. II. Last book, p. 430, lines 14,084-14,135.] [Footnote 185: "Piers Plowman's Crede; the Plowman's Tale," first printed in 1550. There were three editions in one year, it was so manifestly Protestant.] [Footnote 186: Knighton, about 1400, wrote thus of Wyclif: "Transtulit de Latino in anglicam linguam, non angelicam. Unde per ipeum fit vulgare, et magis apertum laicis et mulieribus legere scientibus quam solet esse clericis admodum litteratis, et bene intelligentibus. Et sic evangelica margerita spargitur et a porcis conculcatur... (ita) ut laicis commune æternum quod ante fuerat clericis et ecolesiæ doctoribus talentum supernum."] [Footnote 187: Wyclif's Bible, ed. Forshall and Madden, 1850, preface to Oxford edition, p. 2.] [Footnote 188: Ibid.] [Footnote 189: In 1395.] [Footnote 190: 1401, William Sawtré, the first Lollard burned alive.] [Footnote 191: Commines, v. ch. 19 and 20: "In my opinion, of all kingdoms of the world of which I have any knowledge, where the public weal is best observed, and least violence is exercised on the people, and where no buildings are overthrown or demolished in war, England is the best; and the ruin and misfortune falls on them who wage the war.... The kingdom of England has this advantage beyond other nations, that the people and the country are not destroyed or burnt, nor the buildings demolished; and ill-fortune falls on men of war, and especially on the nobles."] [Footnote 192: See the ballads of "Chevy Chase, The Nut-Brown Maid," etc. Many of them are admirable little dramas.] CHAPTER THIRD The New Tongue