SIR THOMAS MORE AND HIS DAUGHTER.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIX, Issue 22, 27 February 1891, Page 19

SIR THOMAS MORE AND HIS DAUGHTER.

(From the Aye Maria,.) The devotion of Margaret More to her father, Sir Thomas, forms one of tbe most touching stories in history. There wera in the family three Margarets (called Meg after tbe quaint fashion of tbe time)— Margaret More herself, Margaret, daughter of her stepmother, and an orphan named Margaret, who had been adopted. Margaret More became the wife of William Roper, a young lawyer, whose love for ber fttber rivalled her own. It must have been a merry house, the one at Chelsea, in whose garden bluff King Henry walked with his arm about his Chancellor ; with its plena* nt lawn sloping down to the Thames, and with the children and grandchildren busy with their work and games. The greatest men in the kingdom loved to go tbere at regular interval*, and drink in the wisdom of tbe kindly man who so gently rnled that household. There Erasamus, the erudite and eccentric Dutchman, was fond of staying, discussing every subject under tbe snn with Sir Thomas. Tbe household were all talking together one day and tellinsr whom they would wish to be. " I," said Erasmus, "if not mytelf. would be a country gentleman, neither too rich nor too poor, beloved by my sovereign, idolised by my family, and respected even by my enemies. I would have a store of learning and a merry heart." " Why, then you would be father I " exclaimed Meg. And Erasmus laughed and said he sorely would, Tbe merry heart was to have sad trials. There came a coolness between the King and bis Lord Chancellor, who would not approve his sovereign's infamous divorce and remarriage. The story baa been often told. One pretext after another was trumped up, and Sir Thomas— Lori Chancellor no longer, for he had long before that resigned his honours— was cist into prison. There was but one way out of that cruel place for those who defied Henry VIII., and Sir Thomas knew it. But be never lost heart. He was tried at the great Westminster Hall, found guilty, and sent to the Tower to wait his execution. As he passed along Margaret broke through the crowd of soldiers and threw her arms about his neck. "O my father I Omy father i" was all she could say. He kissed her and blessed her, bidding her submit to God 'B will ; and even tbe guards wept with sympathy. The night before his death be wrote her a little letter with apiece of charcoal, telling ber how glad be was that she had braved the guards. Her devotion did not end with bis death. It was the custom at tint tim<> to place the beads of those who suffered death by command 0: Ihe King upon some high place, that the populace might jeer at them, betides taking warning. The head cf the saintly Sir Tbomas was affixed to a pole on London Bridge ; and tne serene face, which in life looked so calmly down upon his fellow-meD, was in death mocked at by Henry's bruttl followers, Margaret endured this as long as she could ; then, with a poor servant whom her father had befriended, she went in a boat one dark night, and received the precious bra i in her aproa, as the faithful man lifted it from the horrible pole and let it fall. Tbis is not a pleas mt incident, and people have grown so refined that they shudder as they listen to it ; but the brave deed of Sir Thomas More's daughter will live ;n nistory, with many another of which the world was not worthy. Tbe sacred head was embalm 'd, and was never far away from the intrepid heroine ; and when she diet it was laid beside her in her coffin in St. Dunstan'd Church in Canterbury. As far Sir Tbomas, Holy Church has called him Blessed, and further honours will doubtless be his iv time. So it whs the relic of a saint as well as martyr that Margaret's love and braveiy raved from further desecration.