N CHAP. VII. STEPH E N. O fooner was the king known to be dead, than Stephen, fon of Adela, the king's fifter, and the count of Blois, confcious of his own power and influence, refolved to fecure to himself the poffeflion of what he fo long defired. He immediately haftened from Normandy, and arriving at London, was immediately faluted king by all the lower ranks of people. Being thus fecured of the people, his next step was to gain over the clergy; and, for that purpose, his brother, the bishop of Winchester, exerted all his influence among them, with good fuccefs. Thus was Stephen made king, by one of thofe fpeedy revolutions which ever mark the barbarity of a state in which they are cuftomary. The first acts of an ufurper are always popular. Stephen, in order to fecure his tottering throne, paffed a charter, granting feveral privileges to the different orders of the ftate. To the nobility, a permiffion to hunt in their own forefts; to the clergy, a fpeedy filling of all vacant benefices; and to the people, a ref toration of the laws of Edward the Confeffor. To fix himself still more fecurely, he took poffeffion of the royal treasures at Winchester, and had his title ratified by the pope with a part of the money. It was not long, however, that Matilda delayed afferting her claim to the crown. She landed upon the coaft of Suffex, affifted by Robert, earl of Gloucefter, natural fon to the late king. The whole of Matilda's retinue, upon this occafion, amounted to no more than an hundred and forty knights, who immediately took poffeffion of Arundel caftle; but the nature of her claims foon encreased the number of her partizans partizans, and her forces every day feemed to gain ground upon thofe of her antagonist. Mean time Stephen, being affured of her arrival, flew to besiege Arundel, where fhe had taken refuge, and where the was protected by the queen dowager, who fecretly favoured her pretenfions. This fortress was too feeble to promife a long defence; and would have been foon taken, had it not been reprefented to the king, that, as it was a castle belonging to the queen dowager, it would be an infringement on the refpect due to her to attempt taking it by force. There was a spirit of generofity mixed with the rudeness of the times, that unaccountably prevailed in many tranfactions; Stęphen permitted Matilda to come forth in fafety, and had her conveyed with fecurity to Bristol, another fortrefs equally ftrong with that from whence he permitted her to retire. It would be tedious to relate the various skirmishes on either fide, in pursuance of their refpective pretenfions; it will fuffice to fay, that Matilda's forces encreafed every day, while her antagonist seemed every hour to become weaker, and a victory gained by the queen threw Stephen from the throne, and exalted Matilda in his room. Matilda was crowned at Winchester with all imaginable felemnity. Matilda, however, was unfit for government. She affected to treat the nobility with a degree of difdain, to which they had long been unaccustomed; fo that the fickle nation once more began to pity their depofed king, and to repent the steps they had taken in her favour. The bishop of Winchester was not remifs in fomenting thefe difcontents; and when he found the people ripe for a tumult, detached a party of his friends and vaffals to block up the city of London, where the queen then refided. At the fame time, measures were taken to inftigate the Londoners to a revolt, and to feize her perfon. Matilda having timely notice of this confpiracy, fled to Winchester, whither whither the bifhop, ftill her fecret enemy, followed her, watching an opportunity to ruin her caufe. His party was foon fufficiently ftrong to bid the queen open defiance; and to befiege her in the very place where the firft received his benediction. There the continued for fome time, but the town being preffed by famine, fhe was obliged to efcape, while her brother, the earl of Gloucester, endeavouring to follow, was taken prifoner, and exchanged for Stephen, who ftill continued a captive. Thus a fudden revolution once more took place; Matilda was depofed, and - obliged to feek for fafety in Oxford. Stephen was again recognized as king, and taken from his dungeon to be placed on the throne! But he was now to enter the lifts with a new oppofer, who was every day coming to maturity, and growing more formidable. This was Henry, the fon of Matilda, who had now reached his fixteenth year; and gave the greatest hopes of being one day a valiant leader, and a confummate politician. With the wishes of the people in his favour, young Henry was refolved to reclaim his hereditary kingdom; and to difpute once more Stephen's ufurped pretenfions, and accordingly made an invafion on England, where he was immediately joined by almost all the barons of the kingdom. In the mean time Stephen, alarmed at the power and popularity of his young rival, tried every method to anticipate the purpofe of his invafion; but finding it impoffible to turn the torrent, he was obliged to have recourfe to treaty. It was, therefore, agreed by all parties, that Stephen should reign during his life; and that justice should be administered in his name. That Henry fhould, on Stephen's death, fucceed to the kingdom; and William, Stephen's fon, fhould inherit Boulogne and his patrimonial estate. After all the barons had fworn to this treaty, which filled the whole kingdon with joy, Henry evacuated England: England; and Stephen returned to the peaceable enjoyment of his throne. His reign, however, was foon after terminated by his death, which happened about a year after the treaty, at Canterbury, where he was interred. 3 HE first act of Henry's government gave the Tpeople and happy omen of his future wife ad thi niftration. Confcious of his power, he began to correct thofe abuses, and to resume thofe privileges, which had been extorted from the weakness or the credulity of his predeceffors. He immediately dif miffed all thofe mercenary foldiers who committed infinite diforders in the nation. He resumed many of those benefactions which had been made to churches and monafteries in the former reigns. He gave charters to feveral towns, by which the citizens claimed their freedom and privileges, independent of any fuperior but himself. These charters were the groundwork of English liberty. The ftruggles which had before this time been, whether the king or the barons, or the clergy, fhould be defpotic over the people, now began to affume a new afpect; and a fourth order, namely, that of the more opulent of the people, began to claim a fhare in adminiftration. Thus was the feudal government at firft impaired; and liberty began to be more equally diffused throughout the nation. Henry being thus become the most powerful prince of his age, the undifputed monarch of England, poffeffed of more than a third of France, and having humbled the barons that would circumfcribe his power, he might naturally be expected to reign with very very little oppofition for the future. But it happened otherwise. He found the fevereft mortifications from a quarter where he leaft expected refiftance. The famous Thomas a Becket, the first man of English extraction, who had fince the Norman conqueft, rifen to any share of power, was the fon of a citizen of London. Having received his early education in the schools of that metropolis, he refided fome time at Paris; and on his return became clerk in the fheriff's office. From that humble flation he rofe through the gradations of office, until at last he was made archbishop of Canterbury, a dignity second only to that of the king. No fooner was he fixed in this high station, which rendered him for life the fecond perfon in the kingdom, than he endeavoured to retrieve the character of fanctity, which his former levities might have appeared to oppofe. He was in his perfon the most mortified man that could be feen. He wore fackcloth next his fkin. He changed it so seldom, that it was filled with dirt and vermin. His ufual diet was bread, his drink water; which he rendered further unpalatable, by the mixture of unfavoury herbs. His back was mangled with frequent difcipline. He every day washed on his knees the feet of thirteen beggars. Thus pretending to fanctity, he set up for being a defender of the privileges of the clergy, which had for a long time become enormous, and which it was Henry's aim to abridge. An opportunity foon offered, that gave him a popular pretext for beginning his intended reformation. A man in holy orders had debauched the daughter of a gentleman in Worcestershire; and then murdered the father, to prevent the effects of his refentment. The atrocioufnefs of the crime produced a fpirit of indignation among the people; and the king infifted that the affaffin fhould be tried by |