dangered his throne, and even monarchy itself. He is thus described in a contemporary satire': Wintoniensis armiger Præsidet ad Scaccarium, Ad computandum impiger Piger ad Evangelium, Regis revolvens rotulum; Sic Lucam lucrum superat, Marco marcam præponderat Et libræ librum subjicit. The Winchester Bishop-Knight At th' Exchequer sits paramount, Tho' nimble the money to count: He looks more to lucre than Luke, The inherent caprice of the King's "waxen heart "2 in favour or hatred, evinced a natural incapacity for governing. The only fixed point in his character seems to have been his devotion, if it can be so called; in his movements, either in England or on the continent, he never failed to visit all the churches and shrines of mouldering relics within reach, and not content with three public masses a day, he attended others in private, practising religious ceremonies as diligently and with as little self-discipline of conduct as any man of his times3. The anomaly of a governor without either the talent of governing or of selecting others fit to do so, is a heavy affliction upon a nation; the obedience of a willing people requires to be met by the affectionate care and wisdom of a Sovereign, especially when no system of popular control has been devised. Imbecile virtue upon a throne, as affording scope to the evil passions of others, often weighs as grievously upon a people as the daring crimes of ambitious tyranny. Dante, nearly the contemporary of Henry III., puts him into his Purgatory as a man of simple life, singing psalms 1 Polit. Songs, p. 10. 2 "Cor cereum regis."-M. Par. 3 Louis IX. advised Henry III. to hear more sermons, and fewer masses, but he replied, that he preferred to hear of his friend more seldom, and to see him the oftener. Chr. Triveti.-See Archæol. Journal, 1860, p. 316, the same anecdote fully reported from Add. MSS. Br. Mus. 4573, p. 57; it occurred in 1259, and in explanation of K. Henry having been delayed by his attendance on masses in his way from meeting the French king in due time for Parliament. among flowers and odours in a narrow valley, typical of his contracted views. "Vedete il Re della semplice vita "Seder là solo, Arrigo d'Inghilterra."-PURG. vii. 130. But, perhaps, the judgment of later times would pass a sterner sentence on the cause of so much misery and confusion. Peter de Roches would not allow that there were any peers in England as in France, and considered all the barons therefore liable to his jurisdiction. He encouraged the King in such a distrust of his own nobles, that all the English were dismissed in 1233, and their offices and the command of the royal castles committed to foreigners, 200 of whom came over on his invitation. The King was in vain warned that, to avoid the shipwreck of his kingdom, he must shun stones and rocks, in allusion to the names of Pierre de Roches; his preference for foreigners unhappily continued to prevail long after the disgrace and death of the first suggester. Among the aliens thus promoted was the well-known legate Pandulf, who, on his return to Rome, after his memorable scenes with King John, had taken priest's orders and was raised to the bishopric of Norwich'. This advancement of a man, who had for three days ostentatiously withheld the crown from the King of England, must have been peculiarly distasteful to loyal feeling. After being employed confidentially in the King's service, and procuring from Rome the unusual grant of the firstfruits of his diocese for himself and his successors in the see, he died, greatly enriched, in Dec. 1226. Among other foreigners who shared the rises and falls of De Roches, were Peter de Rivaulx, the treasurer, and Robert de Passilewe, his underling. The latter is, indeed, sometimes 1 He writes as Bishop Elect from Chichester, in May, 1220, reporting an unsuccessful mission in Wales, to H. de Burgh (Rymer), but was not consecrated until 1222. designated "as a degenerate Englishman'," and at any rate was a crafty courtier, who recommended himself by his contrivances to extort money for his master. As a means of receiving increased wealth, he became a priest, and though his election to the see of Chichester (in 1244) was successfully resisted, large benefices in Durham and Ely, as well as the archdeaconry of Lewes, were conferred upon him. The great rival of de Roches was Hubert de Burgh3, one of the few nobles of unshaken loyalty to King John, for whom he firmly defended Dover against all the assaults of Prince Louis. Shakspeare has made his name familiar and odious to us, representing him as taunted by the Earl of Norfolk with "Out, dunghill! dar'st thou brave a nobleman?" (K. John, IV. 2.) His father had, however, been high in office and favour with Henry II. Hubert was so much esteemed, that, besides obtaining the earldom of Kent, he was made Justiciary of England for life in 1228, and though of a violent disposition and surrounded by many enemies at court, especially de Roches, there seems no reason to doubt his good faith and loyalty. The King, however, reproached him with personal insult as a traitor, and he was made to feel all the bitterness of serving a fickle prince, who alternately caressed and persecuted him in his old age, until, after surrendering part of his estates, he died in 1243, in comparative neglect. It speaks well for him, that in the depth of his adversity, when the furious King was urging others to take his life, he met with two pleasing instances of sympathy: when dragged out of Brentwood Chapel by soldiers, in 1232, a blacksmith refused to put fetters upon "him who had fought so well against the French, and who had preserved England from "Degener Anglicus."-M. Par. 2 M. Par. In 1233 the King appointed Ralph de Neville, Bishop of Chichester, to hold the King's seal for life, and to be Chancellor of England and Ireland. Rymer, 1. 208. R. de Passilewe's election was annulled. Chancellor Neville rose and fell with Hubert de Burgh. Passilewe died in 1252. His arms were "Bendy or, and azure, on a quarter argent, a leopard passant, guardant, gules."Roll of Arms. 3 "De Burgh" arg. on fess sable 3 bezants. aliens;" and when the King was compelled by the indignant clergy to replace him in the Sanctuary', and was there starving him by a blockade, his former chaplain, Luke, the Archbishop of Dublin, offered himself as a substitute with the most earnest entreaties and tears2. Stephen de Segrave3, an alien patronised by De Roches, who had obtained the grant of many castles and lands, while his knighthood was yet recent, for he had been a priest, succeeded De Burgh as Justiciary. [July, 1232.] "Judgement (says the indignant chronicler1) was then entrusted to the unjust, the laws to outlaws, peace to the turbulent, and justice to wrongdoers." He became not only obnoxious to the barons, but went through the same vicissitudes of royal favour and disgrace as his predecessor, dying, in 1251, concealed in the Abbey of Leicester, where he had taken refuge. It would appear that the King had proposed to himself perpetual continence, and was much disturbed by the remonstrances of his council calling on him to marry for reasons of state. Five unsuccessful treaties for his marriage with different princesses had been proposed, and in one instance so far advanced that the Pope's dispensation was required to annul his previous betrothal to Joanna, afterwards Queen of Castile, when he was at length, at the age of 29, in January, 1236, married to the beautiful Eleanor, one of the four queenly daughters of Raymond, Count of Provence. Used to the superior refinement of arts and manners of her own country, herself highly accomplished and a 1 Those who took refuge in a sanctuary were obliged by law to swear before the coroner that they would go out of the kingdom, and not return without leave. They were to go to some port assigned for their embarkation, carrying a cross to prove that they were under the protection of the Church, and to embark within two tides, unless the winds were contrary, in which case they were obliged to walk into the sea up to their knees daily, as a token of their readiness. The protection ceased in forty days, unless they returned to the sanctuary. In later times they were marked by the coroner with A (abjured) on the ball of the right thumb.-Grose. 2 M. Par.-Luke died 1255, after a blindness of many years. 3 66 Vir flexibilis, de clerico factus miles."-M. Par. 4 Wendover, Vol. iv. p. 255. poet'; it was by sending specimens of her talent in this respect, that she introduced herself to the notice of the English Court. The young Princess was brought over by her uncle, William, Count of Champagne, an artful man, who soon acquired great influence over the King, and from this time all patronage was in the hands of the Queen's relations and adherents. The Pope had given him the bishopric of Valence, in order to secure his military talents in the war against the Emperor, and King Henry was so bent on making him Bishop of Winchester, that he would probably have succeeded, had not the news of his death, by poison, at Viterbo, in 1239, prevented the scheme. The King's grief at his loss was so outrageous, that he tore his clothes, cast them into the fire, and with loud groans shut himself up in total seclusion2. The Queen's influence prevailed in welcoming others of her own family with grants of wealth and offices of dignity, to the disgust of the neglected English. "Thoro the Quene was so muche Frenss folc ibrougt Peter of Savoy, another uncle, was raised to the chief place at the council, and received grants of the vast domain of Richmond', in Yorkshire, soon after his arrival in 1241. In 1 Arms in S. aisle of Westminster Abbey, "Or, 4 pallets gules." Sandford's General Hist. p. 57, are two seals of Queen Eleanor of Provence. Some MS. poems of hers are still extant at Turin.-See Strickland's Queens. 2 M. Par. 3 Through the Queen was so many French folk brought, that Englishmen were reckoned as right nought, and the King let them have their will, so that each was as a King, and they took poor men's goods, and paid nothing. 4 Peter de Savoy received Richmond 1241, allowing John, son of Peter, Earl of Brittany, who had resigned it 1237, a pension of 2000 marcs. On the marriage of John, Earl of Brittany, in 1259, with Beatrice, daughter of Henry III., Richmond was claimed by him, and finally surrendered to him, July 1268, by Peter de Savoy, who accepted the Honor of Hestings in its place. By patent 126., the |