484 ItOGER OF WEN'DOVER. [A.D . V227. them ; at the same time making large promises if they would receive him in good faith. Of the death of Falcasius, and the presage of that event. In this same year Falcasius, who had been banished from England, when on his return there, after arranging matters at the court of Rome, closed his wicked life at St. Cyr. This iniquitous robber, Falcasius, had, during his lifetime, cruelly pillaged the town of St. Alban's, slain some of the inhabitants, made prisoners of others, and had extorted a large sum of money from the abbat as well as from the town, to save the monastery, convent, and town'from being burned by him ; soon after this he happened to go to St. Alban's again, to have an interview with Fandulph bishop of Norwich ; the latter, on seeing him, in the hearing of the abbat himself and many others, asked him if he had in any way offended St. Alban. On Falcasius replying that he had not, the bishop added, " I asked you the question, because one night lately, whilst sleeping on my couch, I in a dream saw myself in the church of St. Alban's, standing before the great altar, and, on turning round after paying my devotions, I saw you standing in the monk's choir, and on iooking upwards I saw a large heavy stone fall from the tower on your head with such force, that your head and your whole body were crushed, and you disappeared suddenly as though you had sunk into the ground. Wherefore I advise you, if you have given the least offence to the martyr, to make proper amends to him and his followers, before the stone does fall on your head." Rut afterwards, that wretch when he asked pardon of the abbat and monks for his offences, expressly declared that he would not restore any of the property he had carried off; therefore it was evident that such an atonement as that was of no effect; for '"the sin is not forgiven unless the stolen property is restored." He also felt the fall of the stone * on his head, • Paris amplifies this passage as follows :— " Again when the ahbat complained of the lake, which he had formed at I.uiton, to lus great injury and loss, because the water, which would fall on his crops in the coming autumn would be all drawn away from them, this wicked Falcasius replied that he was sorry he had not waited nil ail his corn was stored in the barns, so that the water, when it overflowed, might have destroyed it all. lie did indeed feel the stone descend on his head when, alter having beheld his brother and friends hung at Bedford a short time afterwards, he himself went forth into exile a poor man, and now closed his lite by a miserable