Every kind of manifestation of this was reported, the talk in the ale-houses and at gentlemen's tables alike, words dropped in the hunting-field or over a game of cards; and the offenders were dealt with in various ways, some by a sharp rebuke or warning, others by a sudden visit of a pursuivant and his men.
Ralph made his report as usual at the end of the morning, and was on the point of leaving, when his master called him back from the door.
"A moment," he said, "I have something to say.

Sit down." When Ralph had taken the chair again that he had just left, Cromwell took up a pen, and began to play with it delicately as he talked.
"You will have noticed," he began, "how hot the feeling runs in the country, and I am sure you will also have understood why it is so.

It is not so much what has happened,--I mean in the matter of the marriage and of the friars,--but what folk fear is going to happen.

It seems to the people that security is disappearing; they do not understand that their best security lies in obedience.

And, above all, they think that matters are dangerous with regard to the Church.