The Curse Upon Mitre Square — page 48: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

40 THE CURSE UPON MITRE SQUARE. delivered to the king, all the ghastly particulars of the murder and suicide would be made known to the people of the city. The Prior and monks now ~ found it impossible to hold out longer, and gave up the splendid time-honoured church and monastic buildings to the king, under a trifling pretext which Audley had invented and forced upon them. It is but fair to Henry VIII. and Cromwell to mention that they were ignorant of Audley’s in- famous plot, and had no notion that it was owing to his action that the crimes had taken place. The monastery was suppressed, the monks turned out, and somewhat later Audley was placed in possession of the building. The poor Prior’s troubles were even now not yet over. A letter of his is extant in waich he complains that no portion of the seven hundred pounds a year promised to him after the suppression had been received ; but how he provided _ for himself and the monks is not known. Audley attempted to sell the buildings, but was not able to do so, and at last he ruthlessly destroyed the magnificent architectural pile; and, with the exception of a few arches, left no trace of the church and monastic institution of Holy Trinity, Aldgate. Both during the process of destruction and many years after that event, no one, unless obliged, would approach the spot where the high altar and chancel ofthe church had once existed. It was rumoured that every night, between the hour of twelve and one, a dark young man appeared in the garb of a monk and always pointed to a spot, and uttered cComicbooks.co