They say he--" But the rest of the sentence was lost in the distance, and Cuthbert laughed silently as he plied his oars.
"Beshrew me, but they make a mighty coil anent this good Father Urban.

One would have thought they could have made shift to lay hands on him before were he so notable a miscreant.

He was not in hiding when I saw him first; he appeared to go about the city fearlessly.

Doubtless it is but some new panic on the part of the King.

God help us all now that we be ruled over by such a poor poltroon!" Cuthbert had caught the prevailing contempt for the foolish and feeble James that was shared by the nation in general, and London in particular.
They put up with him to avoid the horrors and confusion of a disputed succession and a possible repetition of the bloody strife of the Roses; but there was not one section of the community with whom he was popular: even the ecclesiastics of the Episcopal party despised whilst they flattered and upheld him.