Page:History of england froude.djvu/597

1525. preaching before the University, when the Bishop of Ely came into the church, being curious to hear him. He paused till the Bishop was seated; and when he recommenced, he changed his subject, and drew an ideal picture of a prelate as a prelate ought to be; the features of which, though he did not say so, were strikingly unlike those of his auditor. The Bishop complained to Wolsey, who sent for Latimer, and inquired what he had said. Latimer repeated the substance of his sermon; and other conversation then followed, which showed Wolsey very clearly the nature of the person with whom he was speaking. No eye saw more rapidly than the Cardinal's the difference between a true man and an impostor; and he replied to the Bishop of Ely's accusations by granting the offender a license to preach in any church in England. 'If the Bishop of Ely cannot abide such doctrine as you have here repeated,' he said, 'you shall preach it to his beard, let him say what he will.'

Thus fortified, Latimer pursued his way, careless of the University authorities, and probably defiant of them. He was still orthodox in points of theoretic belief. His mind was practical rather than speculative, and he was slow in arriving at conclusions which had no immediate bearing upon action. No charge could be fastened upon him, definitely criminal; and he was too strong to be crushed by that compendious tyranny which treated as an act of heresy the exposure of imposture or delinquency.