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1531.] both prior and monks were unwilling to meddle with the matter. They submitted, however, 'from the obedience which they owed unto their lord;' and they had soon reason to approve the correctness of the Archbishop's judgment. Booking, selected no doubt from previous knowledge of his qualities, was a man devoted to his order, and not over- scrupulous as to the means by which he furthered the interests of it. With instinctive perception he discovered material in Elizabeth Barton too rich to be permitted to waste itself in a country village. Perhaps he partially himself believed in her, but he was more anxious to ensure the belief of others, and he therefore set himself to assist her inspiration towards more effective utterance. Conversing with her in her intervals of quiet, he discovered that she was wholly ignorant, and unprovided with any stock of mental or imaginative furniture; and that consequently her prophecies were without body, and too indefinite to be theologically available. This defect he remedied by instructing her in the Catholic legends, and by acquainting her with the revelations of St Brigitt and St Catherine of Sienna. In these women she found an enlarged reflection of herself; the details of their visions enriched her imagery; and being provided with these fair examples, she was able to shape herself into fuller resemblance with the traditionary model of the saints.

As she became more proficient, Father Booking