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departed from Lynn, which for its fidelity he had distinguished with many marks of favour, and directed his route to Lincolnshire. His road lay along the shore, which was overflowed at high-water; but not being apprized of this, or being ignorant of the tide of the place, he lost all his carriages, treasure, and baggage, by their influx. He him. self escaped with the greatest difficulty, and arrived at the abbey of Swinstead, where his grief for the loss he had sustained, and the distracted state of his affairs, threw him into a fever, which soon appeared to be fatal. Next day being unable to ride on horseback, he was carried in a litter to the castle of Seaford, and from thence removed to Newark, where, after having made his will, he died in the fifty-first year of his age, and the eighteenth of his reign.

This monster's character is too strongly marked, in every transaction of his life, to leave the smallest necessity for disentangling it from the ordinary occurrences of his reign. It was destructive to the people and ruinous to himself. He left two legiti mate sons behind him; Henry, who succeeded him on the throne, and was now nine years of age; Richard, who was about seven. He left also three daughters; Jane, married to Alexander, king of the Scots; Eleanor, married to the earl of Pembroke.; and Isabella, married to the emperor Frederic II. His illegitimate children were numerous, but unnoted.

THE

CHAPTER III.

HENRY III..

HE English being now happily rid of a ty rant, who threatened the kingdom with destruction, had still his rival to fear, who only aim

ed at gaining the crown to make it subservient to that of France. The partiality of Lewis on every occasion was the more disgusting, as it was the less concealed. The diffidence which he constantly discovered of the fidelity of the barons, encreased that jealousy which was so natural for them to entertain on the present occasion. An accident happened which rendered him still more disagreeable to his new subjects. The government of the castle of Hertford becoming vacant, it was claimed as of right by Robert Fitzwalter, a nobleman who had been extremely active in his service but his claim was rejected. It was now, therefore, apparent, that the English would be excluded from every trust under the French government; and that foreigners were to engross all the favour of their new sovereign. Nor was theexcommunication denounced against Lewis by the pope entirely without its effect. In fact the people were easily persuaded to to consider a cause as impious and profane, for which they had already entertained an unsurmountable aversion.

In this disposition of the people the claims of any native, with even the smallest pretensions to favour, would have had a most probable chance of succeeding. A claim was accordingly made. in favour of young Henry, the son of the late king, who was now but nine years of age. The Year of Pembroke, a nobleman of great worth and valour, who had faithfully adhered to John in all the fluctuations of his fortune, was at the time of that prince's death, marshal of England, and consequently at the head of an army. This nobleman determined to support the declining interests of the young prince, and had him solemnly 'crowned by the bishops of Winchester and Bath, at Gloucester. In order also to enlarge and con

firm his own authority upon the present occasion, a general council of the barons was summoned at Bristol, where the earl was chosen guardian to the king, and protector of the kingdom. His first act was highly pleasing to the people, and reconciled them to the interests of the young prince. He made young Henry grant a new charter of liberties, which contained but very few exceptions from that already extorted from his predecessor. To this was added also a charter ascertaining the jurisdiction, and the boundaries of the royal forests, which from thence was called the Charta Foresta. By this it was enacted, that all the forests which had been inclosed since the reign of Henry the second, should be again restored to the people, and new perambulations made for that purpose. Offences on the forests were no longer declared to be capital, but punishable by gentler laws; and all the proprietors of land were granted a power of cutting and using their own. wood at pleasure. To these measures, which gave universal satisfaction, Pembroke took care to add his more active endeavours against the enemy. He wrote letters, in the king's name, to all the malecontent barons, assuring them of his resolution to govern them by their own charters and represented the danger which they incurred by their adherence to a French monarch, who only wanted to oppress them. These assurances were attended with the desired effect. The party in the interest of Lewis began to lose ground every day, by the desertion of some of its most powerful leaders. The earls of Salisbury, Arundel, and Warenne, together with William Marshall, eldest son of the protector, came over to the young king; and all the rest of the barons appeared desirous of an opportunity of following their example.

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The protector was so much strengthened by these accessions, that he took the field; but the French army appearing, he was obliged to retire. The count de Perche, who commanded for Lewis, was so elated with his superiority, that he marched to Lincoln; and being admitted into the town, began to attack the castle, which he soon reduced to extremity. The protector, now finding that a decisive blow was to be struck, summoned all his forces from every quarter, in order to relieve a place of so much importance; and he, in turn, appeared so much superior to the French, that they shut themselves up within the city, and resolved to take shelter behind the walls. But the garrison of the castle having received a strong reinforcement, made a vigorous sally upon the besiegers, while the English army assaulted them. from without; and scaling the walls, entered the city sword in hand. Lincoln was delivered over to be pillaged; the French army was totally routed, the commander-in-chief was killed, and several of the rest made prisoners of war. This misfor

tune of the French was but the forerunner of another. Their fleet, which was bringing over reinforcements, both of men and money, was attacked by the English, under the command of Philip d'Albiney, and was repulsed with considerable loss. D'Albiney is said to have practised a stratagem againt them, to which he owed his victory. Having got the wind of the French, he ordered his men to throw quick lime in the faces of the enemy, which blinding them, they were disabled from further defence. These repeated losses, served at length, to give peace to the kingdom. Lewis finding his cause every day declining, and that it was at last grown wholly desperate, began to be anxious for the safety of his person, and was glad to submit to any conditions favourVOL. I. L

able to his retreat.

He concluded a peace with the protector, in which he agreed to leave the kingdom; and in which he exacted, in return, an indemnity for all his adherents. Thus ended a civil war, which had for some time drenched the kingdom in blood; and in which not only its constitution, but all its happiness seemed irretricvable. The death of John, and the abdication of Lewis, were circumstances that could hardly be expected, even by the most sanguine well-wishers of their country. The one was brought about by accident, and the other by the prudence and intrepidity of the earl of Pembroke, the protector, who himself did not leng survive his success.

A. D. The young king was of a character the very opposite of his father; as he

1216.

grew up to man's estate; he was found to be gentle, merciful, and humane; he appeared easy and good natured to his dependents; but no way formidable to his enemies. Without activity or vigour, he was unfit to conduct in war; without distrust or suspicion, he was imposed upon in time of peace. A king of such beneficent and meek qualifications, was very little fitted to hold the reins of a kingdom, such as England was at that time, where every order was aspiring to independence, and endeavouring to plunie themselves with the spoils of the prerogative. The protector was succeeded in his office by Peter, bishop of Winchester, and Hubert de Burgh, high justiciary; but no authority in the governors could controul a people, who had long been used to civil discord, and caught every slight occasion to magnify small offences into public grievances. The nobles were now, in effect, the tyrants of the people; for having almost totally destroyed the power of the crown, and being encouraged by the weakness of a minority, they considered

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