year he bare his crown as oft as he was in England. At Easter he bare it in Winchester; at Pentecost in Westminster; at midwinter in Gloucester. And there were with him all the great men over all England, archbishops and suffragan bishops, abbots and earls, thanes and knights. So was he also a very rigid and cruel man, so that no one durst do anything against his will. He had earls in his bonds, who had acted against his will; bishops he cast from their bishoprics, and abbots from their abbaies, and thanes into prison, and at last he spared not his own brother, named Odo. . . . Among other things, is not to be forgotten the good peace that he made in this land; so that a man who in himself was, aught might go over his realm with his bosom full of gold unhurt. Nor durst any man slay another man, had he done ever so great evil to the other. He reigned over England, and by his sagacity so thoroughly surveyed it, that there was not a hide of land within England that he knew not who had it, and what it was worth, and afterwards set it in his writ. Certainly in his time men had great hardship and very many injuries. Castles he caused to be made, and poor men to be greatly oppressed. The King was very rigid, and took from his subjects many a mark of gold, and more hundred pounds of silver, which he took by right and with great unright from his people, for little need. He had fallen into covetousness, and altogether loved greediness.

He

planted a great preserve for deer, and he laid down laws therewith, that whosoever should slay hart or hind should be blinded. He forbade the harts and also the boars to be killed. As greatly did he love the tall deer as if he were their father. He also ordained concerning the hares that they should go free. His great men bewailed it, and the poor men murmured thereat; but he was so obdurate that he recked not of the hatred of them all; but they must closely follow the King's will, if they would live or have land or property, or even his peace. Alas! that any man should be so proud, and raise himself up, and account himself above all men! May the Almighty God show mercy to his soul, and grant him forgiveness of his sins! These things we have written concerning him, both good and evil, that good men may imitate their goodness, and wholly flee from the evil, and go in the way that leads us to the kingdom of heaven.'

21

WILLIAM 'RUFUS.'

THE sons of a Founder, if more favoured generally than he was in the starting-part of their career, are also exposed to some disadvantages. If their position has been to a great extent made for them, it by no means follows that the task of retaining it will be an easy one; and the comparison with their predecessor will in most cases be disadvantageously invidious to their abilities. If it takes three generations to make a gentleman, it certainly takes quite as long to render a sovereignty assured. Rarely, too, is genius hereditary in an immediately succeeding generation, and even where it is at all equal in amount, it is usually very dissimilar in character; the result being that contemporaries miss the sort of ability to which they have been accustomed more than they appreciate that which they have newly acquired. And the circumstances of the case forbid that the conditions under which the character and disposition of the Founder were formed or modified should be the same with his successor, even were that character and disposition originally cast in the same mould. Thus it may be

possible that had the positions of the father and son been reversed, the character which developed itself in each might have been reversed also. In the instance before us, this could scarcely have been the case, but there was nevertheless a strong family likeness between the Conqueror and his second surviving son, William. This is partially admitted, even by those (and in the case of William Rufus there is no friendly exception) who decry him in every other respect. There was something of the same greatness of stamp -magnanimity, they phrased it-and of the same kingly self-reliance which eminently characterised the First William. On one occasion, while besieging his brother Henry in Mont St. Michel, being unhorsed by the bursting of the girths of his saddle, he exposed himself to great personal danger in securing it; and when his knights jested with him on the inadequacy of the motive, 'By the holy face of Lucca,' he replied, one must be able to defend one's own! It would be shameful to lose it as long as one could defend it. The Bretons would have bragged prettily with my saddle!' In another encounter he was unhorsed by a soldier, who was preparing to strike him, when William exclaimed, 'Stop, rascal! I am the King of England!' The soldiers, overawed, raised him from the ground, and brought him another horse. Which of you,' he cried, 'struck me down?' A soldier stood forward, and said, 'It was I: I took you for a knight, not for the King.' To which

William rejoined, 'By the holy face of Lucca, thou shalt henceforth be mine, and, entered on my roll, shalt receive the recompense of praiseworthy bravery.'

When Hélie of Maine fell into his hands, William said to him jestingly, 'I have you, master!' To which Hélie haughtily replied, 'You have taken me by chance; if I could escape, I know what I would do.' At this, William, seizing Hélie, exclaimed passionately, 'You scoundrel! and what would you do? Begone, depart, fly! I give you leave to do whatever you can; and by the holy face of Lucca, if you should conquer me, I will ask no return for this favour.' 'Nor,' continues William, the Monk of Malmesbury, did he falsify his word, but immediately suffered him to escape, rather admiring than following the fugitive.' Hélie was not disarmed by the magnanimity of the King. He raised fresh forces, and pressed hard the siege of the city of Mans. William was in England, engaged in hunting when the news reached him. Unprepared as he was,' says William of Malmesbury, 'he turned his horse instantly, and shaped his journey to the sea. When his nobles reminded him that it would be necessary to call out his troops, and put them in array, "I shall see,” said he, "who will follow me. Do you think that I shall not have people enough? If I know the temper of the young men of my kingdom, they will even brave shipwreck to come to me.' In this manner he arrived, almost unattended, at the sea-coast. The sky

6

وو