him to understand they were
wont annually to receive for his behoof, from the Hundred of
Risebridge and the bailiffs thereof, a sum of five shillings, which
sum was now unjustly held back;" and he alleged farther that his
predecessors had been infeft, at the Conquest, in the lands of Alfric
son of Wisgar, who was Lord of that Hundred, as may be read in
Domesday Book by all persons.--The Abbot, reflecting for a moment,
without stirring from his place, made answer: "A wonderful deficit, my
Lord Earl, this that thou mentionest! King Edward gave to St. Edmund
that entire Hundred, and confirmed the same with his Charter; nor is
there any mention there of those five shillings. It will behove thee
to say, for what service, or on what ground, thou exactest those five
shillings." Whereupon the Earl, consulting with his followers,
replied, That he had to carry the Banner of St. Edmund in war-time,
and for this duty the five shillings were his. To which the Abbot:
"Certainly, it seems inglorious, if so great a man, Earl of Clare no
less, receive so small a gift for such a service. To the Abbot of St.
Edmund's it is no unbearable burden to give five shillings. But Roger
Earl Bigot holds himself duly seised, and asserts that he by such
seisin has the office of carrying St. Edmund's Banner; and he did
carry it when the Earl of Leicester and his Flemings were beaten at
Fornham. Then again Thomas de Mendham says that the right is his. When
you have made out with one another, that this right is thine, come
then and claim the five shillings, and I will promptly pay them!"
Whereupon the Earl said, He would speak with Earl Roger his relative;
and so the matter _cepit dilationem_,' and lies undecided to the end
of the world. Abbot Samson answers by word or act, in this or the like
pregnant manner, having justice on his side, innumerable persons:
Pope's Legates, King's Viscounts, Canterbury Archbishops, Cellarers,
_Sochemanni_;--and leaves many a solecism extinguished.

On the whole, however, it is and remains sore work. 'One time, during
my chaplaincy, I ventured to say to him: "_Domine_, I heard thee, this
night after matins, wakeful, and sighing deeply, _valde suspirantem_,
contrary to thy usual wont." He answered: "No wonder. Thou, son
Jocelin, sharest in my good things, in food and drink, in riding and
suchlike; but thou little thinkest concerning the management of House
and Family, the various and arduous businesses of the Pastoral Car