At first Elfric hesitated when
the meat was placed before him, but he withered, in his weakness, before
the mocking smile of Edwy, and the sarcasm which played upon the lips of
the rest of the company, who perceived his hesitation. So he yielded,
and, shaking off all restraint, ate heartily.
Dish followed dish, and the wine cup circulated with great freedom.
Excited as he was, Elfric could but remark the loose tone of the
conversation. Subjects were freely discussed which had never found
admittance either in the palace of King Edred or at Aescendune, and
which, indeed, caused him to look up with surprise, remembering in whose
presence he sat.
But, as is often the case in an age where opinion is severely repressed
in its outward expression, and amongst those compelled against their
will to observe silence on such subjects on ordinary occasions, all
restraint seemed abandoned at the table of Ethelgiva. It was not that
the language was coarse, but whether the conversation turned upon the
restraints of the clergy, or the court, or upon the fashionable
frivolities of the day--for there were frivolities and fashions even
in that primitive age--there was a freedom of expression bordering
upon profanity or licentiousness.
Edred was mocked as an old babbler; Dunstan was sometimes a fool,
sometimes a hypocrite, sometimes even a sorcerer, although this was said
sneeringly; the clergy were divided into fools and knaves; the claims of
the Church--that is of Christianity--derided, and the principle
freely avowed--"Enjoy life while you can, for you know not what may
come after.
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