d Christian
creditors, pouncing on him like obscene harpies wherever he
shewed face, was a necessity for Abbot Samson.

On the morrow after his instalment, he brings in a load of money-
bonds, all duly stamped, sealed with this or the other Convent
Seal: frightful, unmanageable, a bottomless confusion of Convent
finance. There they are;--but there at least they all are; all
that shall be of them. Our Lord Abbot demands that all the
official seals in use among us be now produced and delivered to
him. Three-and-thirty seals turn up; are straightway broken,
and shall seal no more: the Abbot only, and those duly
authorised by him shall seal any bond. There are but two ways of
paying debt: increase of industry in raising income, increase of
thrift in laying it out. With iron energy, in slow but steady
undeviating perseverance, Abbot Samson sets to work in both
directions. His troubles are manifold: cunning _milites,_
unjust bailiffs, lazy sockmen, he an inexperienced Abbot;
relaxed lazy monks, not disinclined to mutiny in mass: but
continued vigilance, rigorous method, what we call 'the eye of
the master,' work wonders. The clear-beaming eyesight of Abbot
Samson, steadfast, severe, all-penetrating,--it is like _Fiat
luxe_ in that inorganic waste whirlpool; penetrates gradually to
all nooks, and of the chaos makes a _kosmos_ or ordered world!

He arranges everywhere, struggles unweariedly to arrange, and
place on some intelligible footing, the 'affairs and dues,
_res ac redditus,'_ of his dominion. The Lakenheath eels
cease to breed squabbles between human beings; the penny of
_reap-silver_ to explode into the streets the Female Chartism of
St. Edmundsbury. These and innumerable greater things.
Wheresoever Disorder may stand or lie, let it have a care; here
is the man that has declared war with it, that never will make
peace with it. Man is the Missionary of Order; he is the
servant not of the Devil and Chaos, but of God and the Universe!
Let all sluggards and cowards, remiss, false-spoken, unjust, and
otherwise diabolic persons have a care: this is a dangerous man
for them. He has a mild grave face; a thoughtful sternness, a
sorrowful pity: but there is a terrible flash of anger in him
too; lazy monks often have to murmur, _"Saevit ut lupus,_ He
rages like a wolf; was not our Dream true!" "To repress and
hold-in such sudden anger he was continually careful," and
succeeded well:--right, Samson