eBooks Base 2000

Ah, monk! What knows a childless
religious of a mother's certainty? 'Twas not for nothing that I found
Willebald and changed the cobbles of King's Lynn for this fat country. It
is gold that brings power, and the stiffest royal neck must bend to him who
has the deep coffers. It is gold and his high hand that will set my Philip
by the side of kings. Lord Jesus, what a fortune I have made for him! There
is coined money at the goldsmiths' and in my cellars, and the ships at the
ports, and a hundred busy looms, and lands in Hainault and Artois, and fair
houses in Bruges and Ghent. Boats on the Rhine and many pack trains between
Antwerp and Venice are his, and a wealth of preciousness lies in his name
with the Italian merchants. Likewise there is this dwelling of mine, with
plenishing which few kings could buy. My sands sink in the glass, but as I
lie a-bed I hear the bustle of wains and horses in the streets, and the
talk of shipfolk, and the clatter of my serving men beneath, and I know
that daily, hourly, more riches flow hither to furnish my son's kingdom.


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