brand of covetousness, which is called the root of all evils, and which is most especially shown in this—that no one can transact any business in the Roman court, except at the expense of vast sums of money, and large presents. But since the poverty of the Romans is the cause of this scandal and infamy, her natural children ought to relieve the wants of their mother, " because/' said the letters, " unless we were to receive presents from you, and from other good and honourable men, we should be in want of the very necessaries of life, which would be a circumstance altogether unsuited to the Roman dignity. Accordingly, with a view to the complete eradication of this scandal, we, by the advice of our brethren, the cardinals of the holy Roman church, have provided a certain form, to which, if ye will agree, ye will be able to deliver your mother from scandal, and to obtain justice in the Roman court without a display of presents. And the form which we have provided is this : In the first place, we demand that two prebends be given to us from each cathedral church, one from the portion of the bishop, the other from that of the chapter, and in like manner, in the case of convents, where the abbot and the brotherhood have two distinct shares, we require as much as belongs to one monk, after an equal apportionment of the property of the brethren has been made from the convent, and an equal share from the abbot." These propositions then having been made in this manner, Master Otho, on the part of the lord pope, tried to persuade the prelates to consent to them, dwelling much on the aforesaid inconveniences, which are mentioned in that letter. Bat the bishops and prelates of the churches hearing these things, retired aside to confer together, and after they had deliberated for some time on these proposals, they agreed to deliver their answer by the mouth of Master John, archdeacon of Bedford, as their spokesman, who accordingly came into the presence of Master Otho, and replied in these words :— "My lord! the things which you propose do especially affect the king of England, and generally, too, they affect all the patrons of churches throughout the kingdom, archbishops and their suffragans, and a countless number of prelates of England. As, therefore, the king is absent through sickness, and as the archbishops, some of the bishops, and other prelates of churches, are absent, we have no power and no light to reply to you in their absence." And after this had