, in the midst of the group, and said--

"Now, Tremayne,--your first sermon!"

Thus bidden, Robin began his story.

"When Mr Rose and I were parted, I was sent first to the Marshalsea.
Here I abode a full year, during the which I several times saw Austin
Bernher. But afore I had been there a month, I was had up afore my Lord
of London. So soon as he saw me, he put on a very big and ruffling air,
and quoth he,--`Come hither, thou wicked heretic! what canst thou say
for thyself?'--`Nothing, my Lord,' said I, `save that though I be
sinful, yet am I no heretic,'--`Ha! sayest thou so?' quoth my Lord. `I
will soon see whether thou be an heretic or no. Tell me, dost thou hold
the very presence of Christ's body and blood to be in the sacrament of
the altar?' To whom I--`My Lord, I do believe verily, as Christ hath
said, that where two or three be gathered together in His name, there is
He in the midst of them.'--`Ho, thou crafty varlet!' quoth he, `wouldst
turn the corner after that manner? By Saint Mary her kirtle, but it
shall not serve thy turn. Tell me now, thou pestilent companion; when
the priest layeth the bread and wine upon the altar, afore the
consecration, what then is there?' Then said I,--`Bread and wine, my
Lord.'--`Well said,' quoth he. `And after the words of consecration be
spoken, what then is there?'--`Bread and wine, my Lord,' I answered
again.--`Ha!' saith he, `I thought I could catch thee, thou lither
[wicked, abandoned] heretic. Dost not then believe that after
consecration done, there in the body and blood of Christ, verily and
alone, nor any more the substance of bread and wine remaining?'--`My
Lord,' said I, `my sense doth assure me that the wine is yet wine, and
the bread, bread; mine understanding doth assure me that the body of our
Lord is a true natural human body, and cannot therefore be on an hundred
altars at one and the same time; and I am therein confirmed of Saint
Paul, which saith, that so oft as we do eat this _bread_, we do show
forth the death of the Lord.'--`Ha, thou runagate!' he roareth out;
`wilt thou quote from Scripture in English? Hast thou no Latin? I have
a whip that shall make thee speak Latin.'--`My Lord,' said I, `I can
quote from the Scripture in Latin, if that like your Lordship the
better; and likewise in Greek, the which (being the tongue wherein they
were written at the first) should be all the surer; but I, being an
Englishman born (for the which I thank Go