then you mil be alone.'91 Moreover, when he was exulting in his former state of prosperity, and was performing the duties of legate among you, what church, what monastery, what beneficed clergyman, what person of low station or of high, ever sent word or complaint to us about the exactions of the lord bishop of Ely, or any grievances of the churches ? All applauded him when prosperous, all murmur against him when fallen. These were friends of fortune, who took their leave together with the favour of fortune." These and many other objections made by our lord the pope could not be otherwise than of great weight and moment, as being put forward by one who has no superior, a Supreme Pontiff and a judge, and one whose will there is no one to resist. Still more, it seemed to some to make very greatly against us, that our lord the king of England, upon your return, had begged in your behalf that your legateship might be transferred to the parts of Normandy and other parts beyond sea; consequently, at the first blush it seemed likely to no one that it was the king's wish that you should hold authority in England, and the office of legate in Normandy, inasmuch as for one and the same man to hold authority in England and the office of legate in Normandy, seemed a thing neither easy nor convenient. Moreover, the intimation of the royal wish, which had been sent in your behalf to the chancellor by the king, was said to have been transmitted by the king to the seneschal of Normandy, in order that he might in Normandy enjoy the benefit of your counsel. Although we made suitable answers to these objections and the like, still the favour of our lord the pope and his predilections leaned on the other side. However, being at length forced to feel some hesitation, both at our instance as also at that of some of the cardinals whom Ave had got to favour our views, having called all the cardinals together, he required the opinion of each ; and, after our business had been discussed in many deliberations, adjourned from time to time for a long period, our lord the pope, sitting in judgment, pronounced sentence to the following effect, that is to say, to state it shortly and in a condensed form ; he absolved the chancellor from your denunciation and that of our lord the dean of Eouen, and, conversely, he publicly adjudged to be null and void the sentence which the bishop of 9 1 A quotation from Ovid :— " Dum fueris felix, multos numerabis amicos ; Tempora si fuerint nubila, solus eris."