very eminent nose;' his head almost bald, its
auburn remnants of hair, and the copious ruddy beard, getting
slightly streaked with grey. This is Brother Samson; a man
worth looking at.

He is from Norfolk, as the nickname indicates; from Tottington
in Norfolk, as we guess; the son of poor parents there. He has
told me, Jocelin, for I loved him much, That once in his ninth
year he had an alarming dream;--as indeed we are all somewhat
given to dreaming here. Little Samson, lying uneasily in his
crib at Tottington, dreamed that he saw the Arch Enemy in person,
just alighted in front of some grand building, with outspread
bat-wings, and stretching forth detestable clawed hands to grip
him, little Samson, and fly off with him: whereupon the little
dreamer shrieked desperate to St. Edmund for help, shrieked and
again shrieked; and St. Edmund, a reverend heavenly figure, did
come,--and indeed poor little Samson's mother, awakened by his
shrieking, did come; and the Devil and the Dream both fled away
fruitless. On the morrow, his mother, pondering such an awful
dream, thought it were good to take him over to St. Edmund's own
Shrine, and pray with him there. See, said little Samson at
sight of the Abbey-Gate; see, mother, this is the building I
dreamed of! His poor mother dedicated him to St. Edmund,--left
him there with prayers and tears: what better could she do? The
exposition of the dream, Brother Samson used to say, was this:
_Diabolus_ with outspread bat-wings shadowed forth the pleasures
of this world, _voluptates hujus saeculi,_ which were about to
snatch and fly away with me, had not St. Edmund flung his arms
round me, that is to say, made me a monk of his. A monk,
accordingly, Brother Samson is; and here to this day where his
mother left him. A learned man, of devout grave nature; has
studied at Paris, has taught in the Town Schools here, and done
much else; can preach in three languages, and, like Dr. Caius,
'has had losses' in his time. A thoughtful, firm-standing man;
much loved by some, not loved by all; his clear eyes flashing
into you, in an almost inconvenient way!

Abbot Hugo, as we said, has his own difficulties with him; Abbot
Hugo had him in prison once, to teach him what authority was, and
how to dread the fire in future. For Brother Samson, in the time
of the Antipopes, had been sent to Rome on business; and,
returning successful, was too late,--the business had all misgone
i