As they went out of the church, many expressed approval. The archbishop was grave, and did not say a word; but Hepburn, a proud, violent, and domineering man, whose shameless connexions, says Bayle,[138] were known to everybody, thought that Alesius meant to point him out and to excite his superiors against him, and he resolved to take vengeance on him. His fears were not unfounded. The discourse of Alesius had impressed the best men among the canons, and these, convinced of the necessity of putting an end to public scandals, joined together, and decided to carry to the king a complaint against the prior. Hepburn was immediately informed of their purpose, and, being constitutionally more fit for a soldier than for a canon, he took some armed men and entered suddenly into the hall in which the conference was held, to the great astonishment of the assembly. ‘Seize that man!’ said he to his men-at-arms, pointing to Alesius. The young canon begged the prior to keep his temper; but at these words the proud Hepburn, no longer master of himself, drew his sword, advanced towards Alesius, and was going to attack him, when two canons thrust themselves in front of their chief, and turned the blow aside.[139] The impetuous prelate, however, was not pacified, and, calling his men to his aid, he followed up Alesius, in order to strike him. The latter, in confusion and terror, finding himself within an inch of death, fell at the prior’s feet, and implored him not to shed innocent blood. Hepburn, to show his contempt for him, would not honor him so much as to pierce him with his sword, but gave him several kicks, and this with such force that the poor canon fainted away, and lay stretched on the floor before his enemy.[140] When he came to himself, the fierce prior ordered the soldiers to take him to prison, as well as the other canons; and they were all cast into a foul and unwholesome dungeon.