They struggled for a century, but
they struggled against property and they were beat. As long
as the monks existed, the people, when aggrieved, had property
on their side. And now 'tis all over," said the stranger;
"and travellers come and stare at these ruins, and think
themselves very wise to moralize over time. They are the
children of violence, not of time. It is war that created
these ruins, civil war, of all our civil wars the most
inhuman, for it was waged with the unresisting. The
monasteries were taken by storm, they were sacked, gutted,
battered with warlike instruments, blown up with gunpowder;
you may see the marks of the blast against the new tower here.
Never was such a plunder. The whole face of the country for a
century was that of a land recently invaded by a ruthless
enemy; it was worse than the Norman conquest; nor has England
ever lost this character of ravage. I don't know whether the
union workhouses will remove it. They are building something
for the people at last. After an experiment of three
centuries, your gaols being full, and your treadmills losing
something of their virtue, you have given us a substitute for
the monasteries."
"You lament the old faith," said Egremont, in a tone of
respect.
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