Page:The Chronicle of Clemendy.pdf/270



IN THE time of Jehan de Hastings, third of that name, Baron of Burgavenny, and Earl of Pembroke, there came a young knight to the town of Abergavenny, having the style of Sir Philip Meyrick of Caerwent, and being on the whole rather a pleasant young gentleman. That is to say he was of moderate height, had yellow hair and blue eyes, and a cheerful grin, of the which commodity he was very liberal. You will know what I mean when I tell you that some ladies called him an impudent fellow, whilst others had nothing to say when Sir Philip's name was mentioned, but blushed and smiled a little to themselves, as people do when they have pleasant recollections. The knight was lodged, I believe, at the Priory, where he had an uncle, an old Canon of some eighty odd years, who had begun life by enjoying it, and still persisted in this course, only he had changed his methods; for a spark of twenty and a Canonicus of eighty go to work in different ways. On this good old ecclesiastic Sir Philip is supposed to have fastened, and at the Priory he lived some while snug and at his ease, though the Cellarius hinted once or twice to the Prior that all the casks in the cellar had sprung a leak of late, and that if things went on in this style much