glory, Richard exhausted the resources of his kingdom, in preparations to join the Christian host in Palestine ; and joining Philip of France he set out with an army of a hundred thousand men. His great valour raised him to the command of the whole forces of the crusaders; and he carried on a warfare more glorious than useful, with Saladin, the renowned Saracen monarch, whom he at length defeated in the great battle of Ascalon. His army, however, was too much exhausted to be able to prosecute the victory, and a three years' truce with Saladin enabled Richard to return to his kingdom, the distracted state of which required his presence.

On his way home, in travelling through Germany, he was seized by the Archduke of Austria, with whom he had quarrelled in Palestine, and thrown into prison, where he was so long closely confined, that his subjects remained in total ignorance of his fate. His discovery is said to have been effected by one Blondel, a minstrel, who had been attached to his service, who after wandering over many lands in search of his master, at last found out the place of his captivity by hearing him repeat, with his harp, a favourite air played by the minstrel outside the walls of his prison. Richard was now ransomed by his English subjects, and returned to his dominions after an absence of four years, fifteen months of which he had spent in a dungeon.

The remainder of Richard's reign was spent in a war with France, which was terminated only by his death. Having laid siege to the castle of a baron of Limosin,

The truce was for three years, three months, three weeks, three days, and three hours, a number supposed, in that ignorant age, to possess some magical virtues.

who had found a treasure upon his estate, Richard claimed it, as sovereign of Guienne. Here he was wounded in the shoulder, by an arrow, from a cross-bow. The wound mortified, through unskilful treatment, and he died in a few days, on the 6th of April, 1199 :

"And left the name at which the world grew pale,

To point a moral, or adorn a tale."

It was during the crusades that the custom of using coats of arms was first introduced into Europe. The knights, cased up in armour, had no way to make themselves known and distinguished in battle, but by the devices on their shields; and these were gradually adopted by their posterity and families, who were proud of the pious and military enterprises of their ancestors.

In this reign the City of London began to assume a new form with respect to its government; to have a mayor, and to be divided into several corporations or societies, now termed companies.

VII.

CHARACTER OF JOHN.

THIS prince was tall in person, of a good shape, and agreeable countenance. His disposition is strongly delineated in the transactions of his reign. He was slothful, shallow, proud, and imperious; cruel, treacherous, cowardly, and inconstant; abject in adversity, and overbearing in success; hated by his subjects, over whom

he tyrannized to the utmost of his power; detested by the clergy, whom he oppressed with exactions, and despised by all the neighbouring princes of Europe.

Though he might have passed through life without incurring such a load of odium and contempt, had not his reign been perplexed by the turbulence of the barons, the rapaciousness of the Pope, and the ambition of such a monarch as Philip Augustus, his character would never have exempted him from the scorn of his people. However, it must be acknowledged, that his reign was not altogether barren of laudable transactions. He regulated the form of the civil government of the City of London, and several other places in the kingdom he was the first who coined sterling money; introduced the laws of England into Ireland, and granted to the Cinque-ports those privileges of which they are still possessed.

HISTORICAL EVENTS.

MAGNA CHARTA.-The barons of England, fired with indignation at the meanness and cowardice of John, in submitting to the dictation of the Pope and his nuncio ; and oppressed by the heavy taxes with which he loaded them, had recourse to arms, and demanded a re-establishment of the laws of Edward the Confessor, and a renewal of the charter of Henry the First, which being refused by the King, they chose Robert Fitz-Walter for their general, marched to London, and besieged him in the Tower. The king complied when he could no longer resist, and agreed to meet the barons in a meadow between Windsor and Staines, called Runnymead, a place before used for councils, and for public debates.

This meeting took place on the 15th June, 1215; John being unable to obtain supplies from his people, and finding himself too weak to withstand their demands, granted what they desired. This was the origin of that famous charter of liberties, called Magna Charta, which he was obliged to sign, and also the charter of the liberties of the forest, documents that have since been esteemed the foundations of English liberty.

Although the principal object of the Great Charter was to secure the rights of the higher orders of the State, yet those of the lower or great body of the people were not disregarded; and the attainment of this great object was hailed with lively satisfaction by all classes of society.

The faithless king, however, though compelled to sign the Charter, had no intention of observing it. He retired to the Isle of Wight, where he employed himself privately in raising a body of foreign troops, and in procuring a bull, or decree, from the Pope, annulling the charter. He then suddenly attacked the barons, who were wholly unprepared, and committed the most horrid cruelties on them and their dependants. Upon this the barons applied for assistance to the King of France, and offered the crown to his son Louis. This prince accordingly invaded England with a powerful army, and entered London, the citizens doing homage to him as their sovereign. His conduct, however, excited the suspicions of the English nobles as to his intentions towards them. Many of them returned to John, who was once more at the head of a considerable army. But as he was marching from Lynn, in Norfolk, into Lincolnshire, the rear of his army was overtaken by the tide, and all his carriages, treasures, and bag

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gage, were swept away. He himself escaped with difficulty, and arrived at Swinstead Abbey, where grief and agitation threw him into a fever. He was removed to Newark, and died on the 19th of October, 1216, in the fiftieth year of his age, and eighteenth of his reign. Some writers say that he was poisoned by a monk.

VIII.

CHARACTER OF HENRY THE THIRD.

THE most striking feature in Henry's character is, his incapacity for government, which rendered him as much a prisoner in the hands of his own ministers and favourites, as when detained a captive in the hands of his enemies. From this cause, rather than from insincerity or treachery, arose his negligence in observing his promises; since he was too easily induced, for the sake of present convenience, to sacrifice the lasting advantages arising from the trust and confidence of his people. He was a prince of very mean talents; irresolute and arbitrary; destitute of economy or courage. Yet he merited praise for his aversion to cruelty; for he contented himself with punishing the rebels in their effects, when he might have taken their lives. He was prodigal to excess, and therefore always in necessity. Notwithstanding the great sums he levied from his subjects, and though his wants were extremely pressing, he could not help squandering away his money upon worthless. favourites, without considering the difficulty he always