Page:A History and Defence of Magna Charta.djvu/149

Rh continued in arms for three years after. And though they were forced to fly from place to place, and live as they could; yet they ſeemed to be the conquerors. For their anſwer to the legate’s meſſage to them in the iſle of Ely, ſhews them to be men of great wiſdom, integrity, and conſtancy; and their demands likewiſe are like themſelves. For they require the legate “to reſtore the council of the whole realm, which he had irreverently ejected out of the realm, the biſhops of Wincheſter, London, and Chicheſter, men of great counſel and prudence, for want of whom the nation ſunk. They require him to admoniſh the King to remove aliens from his council, by whom the land is held in captivity. That their lands may be reſtored them without redemption at ſeven years purchaſe, which was lately allowed them at Coventry. That the proviſions of Oxford be kept. That hoſtages be delivered them into the iſle of Ely, and they to hold that place peaceably, for five years; while they ſhall ſee how the King performs his promiſes.” And, after, this, they reckon up ſeveral grievances, as the collation of benefices upon ſtrangers which are for the livelihood and maintenance of natives only, &c. All which