THE KING AND THE BONDMEN. dcLleot similar to that which may be still heard in esone parts of the south and east of England. Some among them, however, were men of honest purpose and prudent judgment, and strove to act as advisers or leaders to the rest, and all of them were agreed in demanding their freedom. Liberty is precious, even to the humblest man; it is to liberty that we owe so many of the blessings we enjoy in England. Besides the counties which I have named, the rising had spread into Kent, Surrey, and Sussex. Wat Tyler, he who had killed the tax-gatherer, was chosen leader, and the bondmen flocked to join him in such numbers, that he was soon at the head of a hundred thousand men, armed with many sorts of weapons. Some had only sticks and staves, others carried scythe-blades, sickles, handbills, or axes, and a good number had bows and arrows, and spears, which they took by force from their owners wherever they could find them. Nothing could stop them; and thus at the same time, on each side of the Thames, a great army of villans was advancing towards London. On they went, day after day, their numbers con- tinually increasing, along the roads, across the fields, choking the narrow streets of the towns and villages through which they passed, trampling down every- thing that stood in their way. On they went, seizing food wherever they could find it, for the mighty host had to be fed every day, and many inhabitants of places in the line of march fled in terror at their approach. Whenever the multitude came in sight of a gentleman's house, a great party rushed to attack and plunder it. They dashed in doors, shattered the windows, broke open coffers and closets, to find parchments and writings, which they burnt in the court-yard, with a great pile of the costly furniture. S