mained for him to do, but to punish the criminals, which was performed with universal severity. Many of the rebels were hanged, some had their eyes put out, and others their hands cut off. The unfortunate Waltheoff who had imprudently entered into the conspiracy, but attempted to atone for his fault by an early confession, found no mercy. He was rich, and he was an Englishman, two faults that served to aggravate his guilt; he was accordingly tried, condemned, and executed. His infamous wife did not long enjoy the fruits of her perfidy; but falling some time after under the king's displeasure, was abandoned to the world, and passed the rest of her life in contempt, remorse, and misery. Some assert, that this nobleman fell a sacrifice to the cruelty of Odo, not of William; but, however that may be, it is certain, that Waltheoff, and Fitz-Auber, a noble Norman, who was also beheaded on this occasion, were the only persons of note that were executed during the reign of William the Conqueror. Having thus re-established the peace of his government, and extinguished the last embers of rebellion with blood, William returned once more to the continent, in order to pursue Guader, who, escaping from England, had taken refuge with the count of Bretagne. Finding him, however, too powerfully protected by that prince, instead of prosecuting his vengeance, he wisely came to a treaty with the count, in which Guader was included.

1076.

William, having thus secured the peace A. D. of his dominions, now expected rest from his labours; and finding none either will ing or powerful enough to oppose him, he hoped that the end of his reign would be marked with prosperity and peace. But such is the blindness of human hope, that he found enemies where he least expected them, and such too as served to imbitter

all the latter part of his life. His last troubles were excited by his own children, from the opposing whom he could expect to reap neither glory nor gain. He had four sons, Robert, Richard, William, and Henry, besides several daughters. Robert, his eldest son, surnamed Curthose, from the shortness of his legs, was a prince who inherited all the bravery of his family and nation, but was rather bold than prudent, rather enterprising than politic. Earnest after fame, and even imparient that his father should stand in the way, he aspired at that independence to which his temper, as well as some circumstances in his situation, conspired to invite him. He had formerly been promised by his father the government of Maine, a province of France, which had submitted to William, and was also declared successor to the dukedom of Normandy. However, when he came to demand the execution of these engagements, he received an absolute denial; the king, shrewdly observing, that it was not his custom to throw off his cloaths till he went to bed. Robert openly declared his resentment, and was often heard to express his jealousy of his own surviving brothers, William and Henry, for Richard was killed, in hunting, by a stag. These, by greater assiduity, had wrought upon the credulity, and affections of the king, and consequently were the more obnoxious to Robert. A mind, therefore, so well prepared for resentment, soon found, or made a cause for an open rupture. The princes were one day in sport together, and, in the idle petulance of play, took it in their head to throw water upon their elder brother as he passed through the court, on leaving their apartment. Robert, all alive to suspicion, quickly turned this idle frolic into a studied indignity; and having these jealousies still farther inflamed by one of his favourites,

he drew his sword, and ran up stairs with an intent to take revenge. The whole castle was quickly filled with tumult, and it was not without some difficulty, that the king himself was able to appease it. But he could not allay the animosity, which, from that moment, ever after prevailed in the family. Robert, attended with several of his confederates, withdrew to Rouen, that very night, hoping to surprise the castle, but his design was defeated by the governor.

The flame being thus kindled, the popular character of the prince, and a sympathy of manners, engaged all the young nobility of Normandy and Maine, as well as of Anjou and Brittany, to espouse his quarrel; even his mother, it is said, supported him by secret remittances, and aided him in this obstinate resistance by private encouragement. This unnatural contest continued for several years to enflame the Norman state; and William was at last obliged to have recourse to England for supporting his authority against his son. Accordingly, drawing an army of Englishmen together, he led them over into Normandy, where he soon compelled Robert and his adherents to quit the field, and he was quickly reinstated in all his dominions. As for Robert, he being no longer able to resist his father, was obliged to take shelter in the castle of Gerberoy, which the king of France had provided for him, where he was shortly after besieged by his father. As the garrison was strong and conscious of guilt, they made a most gallant defence; and many were the skirmishes and duels that were fought under its walls. In one of these, accident brought the king and his son together; but being both concealed by their helmets, they attacked each other with mutual fury. A fierce and dreadful combat ensued between them, till at last the young prince wounded his father, in the

arm, and threw him from his horse. The next blow would, in all probability, have put an end to the king's life, had not he cried out for assistance. - Robert then immediately recollected his father's voice, and at once stung with a consciousness of his crime, he leapt from his horse, and raised the fallen monarch from the ground. He then prostrated himself in his presence, and craved pardon for his offences, promising, for the future, a strict adherence to his duty. The resentment harboured by the king was not so easily appeased; perhaps, his indignation at being overcome added to his anger; instead, therefore, of pardoning his son, he gave him his malediction, and departed for his own camp on Robert's horse, which the prince had assisted him to mount. However, the conduct of the son served, after some recollection, to appease the father. As soon as William was returned to Rouen, he became reconciled to Robert, and carried him with him to England, where he was successfully employed in retaliating an invasion of Malcolm king of Scotland.

A. D. William, being thus freed from foreign and domestic enemies, now began to have 1081. sufficient leisure for a more attentive application to the duties of peace. For this purpose, the Doomsday Book was compiled by his order, which contains a general survey of all the lands in the kingdom; their extent in each district; their proprietors, tenures, value, the quantity of meadow, pasture, wood, and arable land, which they contained; and in some countries, the number of tenants, cottagers, and people of all denominations, who lived upon them. This detail enabled him to regulate the taxations in such a manner, that all the inhabitants were compelled to bear their duties in proportion to their abilities.

He was no less careful of the methods of saving money, than of accumulation. He reserved a very ample revenue for the crown; and, in the general distribution of land among his followers, he kept possession of no less than fourteen hundred manors in different parts of the country. Such was his income, that it is justly said to have exceeded that of any English prince either before or since his time. No king of England was ever so opulent; none so able to support the splendor and magnificence of a court; none had so many places of trust and profit to bestow; and none, consequently, had his commands attended with such implicit obededience.

There was one pleasure to which William, as well as all the Normans and ancient Saxons, was addicted, which was hunting. To indulge this in the utmost extent, he depopulated the country of Hampshire for thirty miles, turning out the inhabitants, destroying all the villages, and making the wretched out-casts no compensation for such an injury. In the time of the Saxon kings, all noblemen without distinction had a right to hunt in the royal forests; but William appropriated all these, and published very severe laws to prohibit his subjects from encroaching on this part of his prerogative. The killing of a deer, a boar, or even an hare, was punished with the loss of the delinquent's eyes, at a time, when the killing of a man, might be atoned for by paying a moderate fine or compensation.

As the king's wealth and power were so great, it, may be easily supposed, that the riches of his ministers were in proportion. Those of his uterine brother Odo, bishop of Bayeux, were so great that he resolved to purchase the Papacy. For this purpose, taking the opportunity of William's absence, he equipped a vessel at the isle of Wight, on board of which he sent immense treasures, and prepared for his embarkation, but he was unfor