The very centre of the excitement it created was in Cambridge when Tindale enrolled. Many minds hungrily devoured the work. The story of Bilney, "Little Bilney" as he was affectionately called, (captivated by the Greek Testament, a fervent disciple of the Gospel, intimidated by the terrors of the persecutor, on recantation set free, and to his honor recovering himself and courageously confessing his new faith with martyrdom before his eyes, he gave his life as a brave man should) indicated what happened to many others. To no Cambridge student of the time had the book come more opportunely and more appropriately than to the ex-Oxford student, whose classical attainments fitted him to take from it the very fullest advantage. One of Tindale's sayings amid these surroundings was, "he had perceived by experience how that it was impossible to establish the lay people in any truth unless the Scriptures were plainly laid before their eyes in the mother tongue, that they see the process, the order, and the meaning of the text: which things only", he says, "moved me to translate the New Testament." Known in both colleges as an able scholar, excelling in languages, Tindale left Cambridge and became Chaplain-Tutor in the family of Sir John Walsh in his native county. There he continued his studies, preached frequently, and met on equal terms with the Society of the shire. CHAPTER III. AT LITTLE SODBURY Churchmen and gentry were frequent guests at the hospitable board. The topics agitating men's minds were often mentioned. Sometimes the conversation waxed warm. The chaplain rarely spoke, though nothing escaped his attention. It was impossible always to forbear. A question or a reflection was at times enough to draw opposition. Indeed the relevancy and significance of his words challenged his listener. Tindale felt himself alone. He was not sure of the sympathies of his host: his hostess thought him presumptuous in holding his opinion against the company. The atmosphere was often unfriendly. In Foxe's "Acts and Monuments" we have recorded the testimony of one who probably got the facts from Tindale himself. Describing such table talk, he adds: "Wherein as those men and Master Tindale did vary in opinions and judgments, then Master Tindale would shew them on the book the places by open and manifest Scripture; the which continued for a certain season divers and sundry times, until in the continuance thereof those great beneficed doctors waxed weary and bore a secret grudge in their hearts against Master Tindale". (Demaus' "Life of Tindale" page 67.) It was in the course of a conversation of the kind that Tindale drove one of those learned men to exclaim that the Pope's laws were above all other authority; to which came Tindale's reply, impetuous and defiant: "I defy the Pope and his laws. If God spare my life, ere many years I shall cause a boy that driveth the plow shall know more of the Scriptures than thou doest." (page 86 ib.)