folks poured in in boats on the Meuse,
the Merse, the Rhine, and the Linge, coming from the Isle of
Beverlandt and Isselmond, and from all quarters in the Bailiwick
of Dort; Arminians and Gomarists, with the friends of John
Barneveldt and of Hugh Grote. And before my Lords the Bishops,
Simon of Gloucester, who was a Bishop in those parts, disputed
with Vorstius and Leoline the Monk, and many texts of Scripture
were bandied to and fro; and when this was done, and many
propositions made, and it waxed towards twelve of the clock, my
Lords the Bishops prepared to set them down to a fair repast, in
which was great store of good things--and among the rest a
roasted peacock, having in lieu of a tail the arms and banners
of the Archbishop, which was a goodly sight to all who favoured
the Church--and then the Archbishop would say a grace, as was
seemly to do, he being a very holy man; but ere he had finished,
a great mob of townspeople and folks from the country, who were
gathered under the windows, cried out _Bread! bread!_ for there
was a great famine, and wheat had risen to three times the
ordinary price of the _sleich_; and when they had done crying
_Bread! bread!_ they called out _No Bishops!_ and began to cast
up stones at the windows. Whereat my Lords the Bishops were in a
great fright, and cast their dinner out of the window to appease
the mob, and so the men of that town were well pleased, and did
devour the meats with a great appetite; and then you might have
seen my Lords standing with empty plates, and looking wistfully
at each other, till Simon of Gloucester, he who disputed with
Leoline the Monk, stood up among them and said, _Good my Lords,
is it your pleasure to stand here fasting, and that those who
count lower in the Church than you do should feast and fluster?
Let us order to us the dinner of the Deans and Canons which is
making ready for them in the chamber below._ And this speech of
Simon of Gloucester pleased the Bishops much; and so they sent
for the host, one William of Ypres, and told him it was for the
public good, and he, much fearing the Bishops, brought them the
dinner of the Deans and Canons; and so the Deans and Canons went
away without dinner, and were pelted by the men of the town,
because they had not put any meat out of the windows like the
Bishops;