“They were gathered already when I joined them on their way to York; there were nearly ten thousand of them on the road, with Aske at their head.  I have never set eyes on such a company!  There was a troop of gentlemen and their sons riding with Aske in front, all in armour; and then the rabble behind with gentlemen again to their officers.  The common folk had pikes and hooks only; and some were in leather harness, and some without; but they marched well and kept good order.  They were of all sorts:  hairy men and boys; and miners from the North.  There were monks, too, and friars, I know not how many, that went with the army to encourage them; and everywhere we went the women ran out of their homes with food and drink, and prayed God to bless us; and the bells were rung in the village churches.  We slept as we could, some in houses, some in churchyards and by the wayside, and as many of us as could get into the churches heard mass each day.  As many too as could make them, wore the Five Wounds on a piece of stuff sewn on the arm.  You would have said that none could stand against us, so eager we were and full of faith.”

“There was a song, was there not?” began one of the monks.

“Yes, father.  We sang it as we went.

   “Christ crucified! 
    For thy wounds wide
    Us commons guide
      Which pilgrims be! 
    Through God his grace
    For to purchase
    Old wealth and peace
      Of the spiritualty!

“You could hear it up and down the lines, sung with weeping and shouting.”

He described how they came to York, and how the Mayor was forced to admit them.  They stayed there a couple of days; and Aske published his directions for all the ejected Religious to return to their houses.

“I went to a little cell near by—­I forget its name—­to help some canons to settle in again, whose friendship I had made.  I had told them then that my mind was to enter Religion once more, and they took me very willingly.  We got there at night.  The roof was gone from the dormitory, but we slept there for all that—­such of us as could sleep—­for I heard one of them sobbing for joy as he lay there in his old corner under the stars; and we sang mass in the morning, as well as we could.  The priest had an old tattered vestment that hardly hung on his shoulders; and there was no cross but one that came from a pair of beads, and that we hung over the altar.  When I left them again, they were at their office as before, and busy roofing the house with old timbers; for my lord Cromwell had all the lead.  And all their garden was trampled; but they said they would do very well.  The village-folk were their good friends, and would bring them what they needed.”

He described his journey to Doncaster; the furious excitement of the villages he passed through, and the news that reached him hour after hour as to the growing vastness of Aske’s forces.