Canterbury, alighting from his horse, he walked barefoot towards the town, and prostrated himself before the shrine of the saint. Next day he received absolution; and, departing for London, was acquainted with the agreeable news of a victory over the Scots, obtained on the very day of his absolution.

From that time Henry's affairs began to wear a better aspect: the barons, who had revolted, or were preparing for a revolt, made instant submission; they delivered up their castles to the victor; and England, in a few weeks, was restored to perfect tranquillity. Young Henry, who was ready to embark with a large army, to second the efforts of the English insurgents, finding all disturbances quieted at home, abandoned all thoughts of the expedition.

This prince died soon after, in the twenty-sixth year of his age, of a fever, at Martel, not without the deepest remorse for his undutiful conduct towards his father.

As this prince left no posterity, Richard was become heir in his room; and he soon discovered the same ardent ambition 'that had misled his elder brother.

A Crusade having been once more projected, Richard, who had long wished to have all the glory of such an expedition to himself, and who could not bear to have even his father a partner in his victories, entered into a confederacy with the King of France, who promised to confirm him in those wishes at which he so ardently aspired. By this, Henry found himself obliged to give up all hopes of taking the cross, and compelled to enter upon a war with France and his eldest son, who were unnaturally leagued against him.

At last, however, a treaty was concluded, in which he was obliged to submit to many mortifying concessions. But still more so, when, upon demanding a list of the barons that it was stipulated he should pardon, he found his son John, his favourite child, among the number. He had long borne an infirm state of body with calm résignation; 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 on 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 thirtyfifth 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.

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ICHARD, upon his accession to the throne, was still inflamed with the desire of going upon the Crusade; and, at length, the king having got together a sufficient supply for his undertaking, having even sold his superiority over the kingdom of Scotland, 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 England and France, was the plain of Vevelay, on the borders of Burgundy, where, when Richard and Philip arrived, they found their armies amounting to a hundred thousand fighting men. the French and English princes entered into the most solemn engagements of mutual support, and determined to con

Here

duct their armies to the Holy Land by sea; they were obliged, however, 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 comThe French and English princes seemed to forget

mon cause.

their secret Philip, from

leaving Res, and to act in concert, But shortly after,

of the Duke of Burgundy.

bad state of his health, returned to France, ten thousand of his troops, under the command Richard being now left 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 greater advantage. Saladin, the most heroic of all the Saracen monarchs, was resolved to dispute their 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 in 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 with 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;

march, and placed himself upon the road with

and that all of that religion should be permitted to make their pilgrimage to Jerusalem in perfect security.

Richard, having thus concluded his expedition with more glory than advantage, 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 Austria, 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 his 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 at 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 a 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 achievements 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 anew 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, as 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 Bertram de Jourdan, an archer, from the castle, and pierced in the shoulder with an arrow. The wound was not in itself dangerous; but an unskilful surgeon endeavouring 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. I am 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 Marcade, 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.