When we think of the great mass of people of Mediæval London, when we think of their laborious and industrious days, the precarious nature of their lives, the perils which attended them, far greater to our thinking than those of the present day—dangers ever present, of fire, famine, plague, pestilence, and war, we are moved to inquire into the ideas and beliefs which controlled the minds of this apparently inarticulate mass. There were ideas on religion, on superstitions, on manners and customs, on war, and on government. As regards their religion, there was no doubt, or question, or hesitation whatever, as to the one leading doctrine which influenced them. They were all, of course, absolutely certain that after death came either the pains of purgatory or the torments of hell. How could there be either doubt or question, when they could see depicted on the walls of the churches the Day of Judgment with the devils receiving souls and hurling them into the flames? They could see the souls themselves plunged to the neck in yellow flames, in torments unspeakable and endless, with bodies unconsumed and indestructible: the golden Heavens, the saints sitting with crowns upon their heads and harps in their hands. On these points there could be no doubt. Since every man, as the priests told them, was continually committing all kinds of sin, both carnal and venial, there was no chance for any one to escape except through the pains of purgatory. These, of course, could be procured as a substitute for the other place by the kind offices of the Church. For this reason, and among the great mass of the people for no other reason, not because the Church cultivated morality and honesty, peace and mercy and righteousness, but simply and solely in order to secure purgatory which, at least, however terrible, did offer a termination after many years: with this object in view, and with no other, the rich men built their churches, founded chantries, masses, almshouses, paid pilgrimages, gave rich presents to the Church, and built colleges for the priests. [Illustration: TORMENTS OF HELL From twelfth-century MS. executed at Convent of Hohemburg. MS. destroyed in the fire of Strasburg Library, 1870.]