an ínfirm state of body with calm resignation; he had seen his children rebel without much emotion; but when he saw that child, whose interest always lay next to his heart, among the number of those who were in rebellion against him, he could no longer contain his indignation. He broke out into expressions of the utmost despair; cursed the day in which he had received his miserable being; and bestowed on his ungrateful children a malediction, which he never after could be prevailed upon to retract. The more his heart was disposed for friendship and affection, the more he resented this barbarous return; and now, not having one corner in his heart where he could look for comfort, or fly for refuge from his conflicting passions, he lost all his former vivacity. A lingering fever, caused by a broken heart, soon after terminated his life and his miseries. He died at the castle of Chinon, near Saumur, in the fifty-eighth year of his age, and the thirty-fifth of his reign; in the course of which he displayed all the abilities of a politician, all the sagacity of a legislator, and all the magnanimity of a hero.

CHAP. IX.

RICHARD I. SURNAMED COEUR DE LION.

A. D. 1189-1199.

ICHARD, upon his accession to the throne, was still

of going upon crusade,

having got together a sufficient supply for his undertaking; having even sold his superiority over the kingdom of Scot land, which had been acquired in the last reign, for a moderate sum, he set out for the Holy Land, whither he was impelled by repeated messages from the king of France who was ready to embark in the same enterprise.

The first place of rendezvous for the two armies of Eng land and France was the plain of Vezelay, on the borders of Burgundy, where, when Richard and Philip arrived, they found their armies amounting to an hundred thousand fighting men. Here the French prince and the English entered into the most solemn engagement of mutual support; but having determined to conduct their armies to the Holy Land by sea, they were obliged by stress of weather, to take shelter in Messina, the capital of Sicily, where they were detained during the whole winter. Richard took up his quarters in the suburbs, and possessed himself of a small fort, which commanded the harbour. Philip quartered his troops in

the town, and lived upon good terms with the Sicilian king. Many were the mistrusts and the mutual reconciliations between these two monarchs, which were very probably inflamed by the Sicilian king's endeavours. At length, however, having settled all controversies, they set sail for the Holy Land, where the French arrived long before the English.

Upon the arrival of the English army in Palestine, however, fortune was seen to declare more openly in favour of the common cause. The French and English princes seemed to forget their secret jealousies, and to act in concert. But shortly after, Philip, from the bad state of his health, returned to France, leaving Richard ten thousand of his troops under the command of the duke of Burgundy. Richard, being now left sole conductor of the war, went on from victory to victory. The christian adventurers under his command determined to besiege the renowned city of Ascalon, in order to prepare the way for attacking Jerusalem with the greater advantage. Saladin, the most heroic of all the Saracen monarchs, was resolved to dispute their march, and placed himself upon the road with an army of three hundred thousand men. This was a day equal to Richard's wishes, this an enemy worthy his highest ambition. The English crusaders were victorious. Richard, when the wings of his army were defeated, led on the main body in person, and restored the battle. The Saracens fled in the utmost confusion; and no less than forty thousand of their number perished on the field of battle. Ascalon soon surrendered after this victory; other cities of less note followed the example, and Richard was at last able to advance within sight of Jerusalem, the object of his long and ardent expectations. But just at this glorious juncture his ambition was to suffer a total overthrow upon reviewing his forces, and considering his abilities to prosecute the siege, he found that his army was so wasted with famine, fatigue, and even victory, that they were neither able nor willing to second the views of their commander. It appeared, therefore, absolutely necessary to come to an accommodation with Saladin; and a truce for three years was accordingly concluded; in which it was agreed, that the sea-port towns of Palestine should remain in the hands of the Christians; and that all of that religion should be permitted to make their pilgrimage to Jerusalem in perfect security.

Having thus concluded this expedition with more glory than advantage, Richard began to think of returning home: but being obliged to take the road through Germany, in the habit of a pilgrim, he was arrested by Leopold duke of Aus- +

tria, who commanded him to be imprisoned, and loaded with shackles, to the disgrace of honour and humanity. The emperor soon after required the prisoner to be delivered up to him, and stipulated a large sum of money to the duke, as a reward for this service. Thus the king of England, who had long filled the world with his fame, was basely thrown into a dungeon, and loaded with irons, by those who expected to reap a sordid advantage from his misfortunes. It was a long time before his subjects in England knew what was become of their beloved monarch. So little intercourse was there between different nations of that time, that this discovery is said by some to have been made by a poor French minstrel, who playing upon his harp near the fortress in which Richard was confined, a tune which he knew that unhappy monarch was fond of, he was answered by the king from within, who with his harp played the same tune; and thus discovered the place of his confinement.

However, the English, at length, prevailed upon this barbarous monarch, who now saw that he could no longer detain his prisoner, to listen to terms of accommodation. A ransom was agreed upon, which amounted to an hundred and fifty thousand marks, or about three hundred thousand pounds of our money; upon the payment of which Richard was once more restored to his expecting subjects.

Nothing could exceed the joy of the English upon seeing their monarch return, after all his atchievements and sufferings. He made his entry into London in triumph, and such was the profusion of wealth shewn by the citizens, that the German lords, who attended him, were heard to say, that if the emperor had known of their affluence he would not so easily have parted with their king. He soon after ordered himself to be crowned a-new at Winchester. He convoked a general council at Nottingham, at which he confiscated all his brother John's possessions, who had basely endeavoured to prolong his captivity, and gone over to the king of France. with that intent. However, he pardoned him soon after, with this generous remark, “I wish I could as easily forget my brother's offence, as he will my pardon."

Richard's death was occasioned by a singular accident: A vassal of the crown had taken possession of a treasure, which was found by one of his peasants in digging a field in France; and to secure the remainder, he sent a part of it to the king, Richard, as superior lord, sensible that he had a right to the whole, insisted on its being sent him; and, upon refusal, attacked the castle of Chalus, where he understood this treasure had been deposited. On the fourth day of the siege, us

he was riding round the place to observe where the assault might be given with the fairest probability of success, he was aimed at by one Betram de Gourdon, an archer, from the castle, and pierced in the shoulder with an arrow. The wound was not in itself dangerous: but an unskilful surgeon endea vouring to disengage the arrow from the flesh, so rankled the wound that it mortified, and brought on fatal symptoms. Richard, when he found his end approaching, made a will, in which he bequeathed the kingdom, with all his treasure, to his brother John, except a fourth part, which he distributed among his servants. He ordered also, that the archer who had shot him, should be brought into his presence, and demanded what injury he had done him that he should take away his life? The prisoner answered with deliberate intrepidity: "You killed, with your own hands, my father, and my two brothers, and you intended to have hanged me. now in your power, and my torments may give you revenge; but I will endure them with pleasure, since it is my consolation, that I have rid the world of a tyrant." Richard, struck with this answer, ordered the soldier to be presented with one hundred shillings, and set at liberty; but Marcadée, the general who commanded under him, like a true ruffian, ordered him to be flayed alive, and then hanged. Richard died in the tenth year of his reign, and the forty-second of his age, leaving only one natural son, called Philip, behind him.

I am

J

CHAP. X.

JOHN

A. D. 1199-1216.

OHN was no sooner seated on the throne than he hastened to secure the provinces on the continent, which had revolted to young Arthur, his nephew and rightful heir to the crown. His pride and cruelty were alike the detestation of his subjects; and the murder of prince Arthur in prison, by his own hands, served to render him completely odious in their eyes. They dreaded his character, but could not contemn his power. An event, however, took place, which shew ed he might be offended, if not without resentment, at least with impunity. It was the fate of this vicious prince to make those the enemies of himself whom he wanted abilities to make the enemies of each other. The clergy had for some time acted as a community independent of the crown, and

had their elections of each other generally confirmed by the pope, to whom alone they acknowledged obedience. However, the election of archbishops had for some time been a continual subject of dispute between the suffragan bishops and the Augustine monks, and both had precedents to cofirm their pretensions. John sided with the bishops, and sent two knights of his train, who were fit instruments for such a prince, to expel the monks from their convent, and to take possession of their revenues. The pope was not displeased at these divisions, and instead of electing either of the persons appointed by the contending parties, he nominated Stephen Langton, as archbishop of Canterbury. John, however, refusing to admit the man of the pope's choosing, the kingdom was put under an interdict. This instrument of terror in the hands of the see of Rome was calculated to strike the senses in the highest degree, and to operate upon the superstitious minds of the people. By it a stop was immediately put to divine service, and to the administration of all the sacra ments but baptism. The church doors were shut, the statues of the saints were laid on the ground; the dead were refused Christian burial, and were thrown into ditches and on the highways, without the usual rites or any funeral solemnity.

No situation could be more deplorable than that of John upon this occasion. Furious at his indignities, jealous of his subjects, and apprehending an enemy in every face, it is said, that he shut himself up a whole night in the castle of Nottingham, and suffered none to approach his person. But what was his consternation, when he found that the pope had actually given away his kingdom to the monarch of France, and that the prince of that country was preparing an army to take possession of his crown.

John, who, unsettled and apprehensive, scarcely knew where to turn, was still able to make an expiring effort to receive the enemy. All hated as he was, the natural enmity between the French and the English, the name of king, which he still retained, and some remaining power, put him at the head of sixty thousand men, a sufficient number, indeed, but not to be relied on, and with these he advanced to Dover. Europe now regarded the important preparations on both sides with impatience; and the decisive blow was soon expected, in which the church was to triumph, or to be overthrown. But neither Philip nor John had ability equal to the pontiff, by whom they were actuated; he appeared on this ccasion, too refined a politician for either. He only intended to make use of Philip's power to intimidate his refractory son, not to destroy him. He intimated, therefore, to John, b