of a peace, so frequently and openly supporting his most dangerous enemy, thought it the best way to divert Lewis from kindling a fire against him abroad, by forcing him to extinguish one at home he therefore entered into the bowels of France, ravaging and laying waste all before him: and quickly grew so formidable, that the French king, to purchase a peace, was forced to promise never more to assist or favour the earl of Flanders: however, as it fell out, this article proved to be wholly needless; for the young earl soon after gave battle to Thierrie, and put his whole army to the rout; but pursuing his victory, he received a wound in his wrist, which, by the unskilfulness of a surgeon, cost him his life. This one slight inconsiderable accident did, in all probability, put a stop to very great events; for, if that young prince had survived his victory, it is hardly to be doubted but through the justness of his cause, the reputation of his valour, and the assistance of the king of France, he would in a little time have recovered Normandy, and perhaps his father's liberty, which were the two designs he had in agitation; nor could he well have missed the crown of England after the king's death, who was now in his decline, when he had so fair a title, and no competitor in view but a woman and an infant. 1129. Upon the king's return from Normandy, a great council of the clergy was held at London, for the punishing of priests who lived in concubinage, which was the great grievance of the church in those ages, and had been condemned by several canons. This assembly thinking to take a more effectual course against that abomination, as it was called, decreed severe penalties upon those who should be guilty of breaking it, entreating the king to see the law put in execution; which he very readily undertook, but performed otherwise than was expected, eluding the force of the law by an evasion to his own advantage; for, exacting fines of the delinquent priests, he suffered them to keep their concubines without farther disturbance; a very unaccountable step in so wise a body for their own concernments, as the clergy of those times is looked upon to have been; and although perhaps the fact be not worth recording, it may serve as a lesson to all assemblies, never to trust the execution of a law in the hands of those, who will find it more to their interests to see it broken than observed. 1132. The empress Maude was now happily delivered of a son, who was afterward king of England by the name of Henry the Second; and the king calling a parliament, had the oath of fealty repeated by the nobles and clergy to her and her issue; which, in the compass of three years, they all broke or forgot. 1134. I think it may deserve a place in this history to mention the last scene of duke Robert's life; who, either through the poorness or greatness of spirit, having outlived the loss of his honour, his dominions, his liberty, his eyesight, and his only son, was at last forced to sink under the load of eighty years, and must be allowed for the greatest example either of insensibility, or contempt of earthly things, that ever appeared in a sovereign, or private person. He was a prince hardly equalled by any in his time for valour, conduct, and courtesy: but his ruin began from the easiness of his nature, which whoever knew how to manage, were sure to be refused nothing they could ask. By such profusion he was reduced to those unhappy expedients of remitting his rights for a pension, of pawning his towns, and multiplying taxes, which brought him into hatred and contempt with his subjects; neither do I think any virtue so little commendable in a sovereign, as that of liberality where it exceeds what his ordinary revenues can supply; where it passes those bounds, his subjects must all be oppressed to show his bounty to a few flatterers, or he must sell his towns, or basely renounce his rights, by becoming pensioner to some powerful prince in the neighbourhood; all which we have lived to see performed by a late monarch in our own time and country. 1135. Since the reduction of Normandy to the king's obedience, he found it necessary for his affairs to spend in that duchy some part of his time almost every year; and a little before the death of Robert he made his last voyage there. It was observable in this prince, that having some years past very narrowly escaped shipwreck in his passage from Normandy into England, the sense of his danger had made very deep impressions on his mind; which he discovered by a great reformation in his life, by redressing several grievances, and doing many acts of piety; and to show the steadiness of his resolutions, he kept them to the last, making a progress through most parts of Normandy, treating his subjects in all places with great familiarity and kindness, granting their petitions, easing their taxes, and, in a word, giving all possible marks of a religious, wise, and gracious prince. Returning to St Denys le Forment from his progress a little indisposed, he there fell into a fever, upon a surfeit of lamprey, which in a few days. ended his life. His body was conveyed to Eng land, and buried at Reading in the abbey-church himself had founded. It is hard to affirm any thing peculiar of this prince's character; those authors who have attempted it mentioning very little but what was common to him with thousands of other men; neither have they recorded any of those personal circumstances or passages, which only can discover such qualities of the mind as most distinguish one man from another. These defects may perhaps appear in the stories of many succeeding kings; which makes me hope I shall not be altogether blamed for sometimes disappointing the reader in a point wherein I could wish to be the most exact. As to his person, he is described to be of middle stature; his body strong-set and fleshy; his hair black; his eyes large; his countenance amiable, and very pleasant, especially when he was merry. He was temperate in meat and drink, and a hater of effeminacy; a vice or folly much complained of in his time, especially that circumstance of long artificial hair, which he forbad upon severe penalties. His three principal virtues were prudence, valour, and eloquence. These were counterbalanced by three great vices; avarice, cruelty, and lust; of which the first is proved by the frequency of his taxes; the second, by his treatment of duke Robert; and the last, was notorious. But the proof of his virtues does not depend on single instances, manifesting themselves through the whole course of a long reign, which was hardly attended by any misfortune that prudence, justice, or valour could prevent. He came to the crown at a ripe age, when he had passed thirty years; having learned, in his private life, to struggle with hardships, whereof he had his share, from the caprici ousness and injustice of both his brothers; and by observing their failures, he had learned to avoid them in himself; being steady and uniform in his whole conduct, which were qualities they both seemed chiefly to want. This likewise made him so very tenacious as he was observed to be in his love and hatred. He was a strict observer of justice, which he seems never to have violated, but in that particular case, which political casuists are pleased to dispense with, where the dispute is **** In that he t about a crown. Considering him as a private man, he was perhaps the most accomplished person of his age; having a facetious wit, cultivated by learning, and advanced with a great share of natural eloquence, which was his peculiar talent: and it was no doubt the sense he had of this last perfection in himself, that put him so often upon calling together the great councils of the nation, where natural oratory is of most figure as well as use. THE REIGN OF STEPHEN. THE veneration which people are supposed naturally to pay to a right line, and a lawful title in their kings, must be upheld by a long uninterrupted succession, otherwise it quickly loses opinion, upon which the strength of it, although not the justice, is entirely founded: and where breaches have been already made in the lineal descent, there + Here the sentence breaks off short, and is left unfinished. |