probably the last document he ever issued. It begins, "Henry, by the grace of God, king of England, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and count of Anjou, to the convent of Christ Church, Canterbury, greeting, and by God's mercy on his return to England, peace." The substance of the letter is, that the monks should take advantage of the delay in his return to reconsider their position and the things that make for peace, that they might find an easier way out of their difficulties when he should come.

The monks, delighted with their success, retired, and the king lay down to rest. It was then, probably, that the fatal schedule was brought him, which he had so unwisely demanded at Colombieres. It was drawn up in the form of a release from allegiance; all who had adhered to Richard were allowed to attach themselves henceforth to him, in renunciation of the father's right over them. He ordered the names to be read. The first on the list was that of John. The sound of the beloved name startled him at once. He leaped up from his bed, as one beside himself, and, looking round him with a quick, troubled glance, exclaimed, "Is it true that John, my very heart, the best-beloved of all my sons, for whose advancement I have brought upon me all this misery, has forsaken me?" The reader had no other answer to make than to repeat the name. Henry saw that it was on the list, and threw himself back on the couch. He turned his face to the wall, and groaned deeply. "Now," he said, "let all things go what way they may; I care no more for myself nor for the world." His heart was broken, and his death-blow struck.

He could not, however, remain at Azai. His people carried him in a litter to Chinon, where Geoffrey was waiting. for him. It was the fifth day of the fever, and, in all probability, he was delirious with the excitement of the morning. It was remembered and reported in England that after he was brought to Chinon he cursed the day on which he was born, and implored God's malison on his sons; the bish

ops and priests about him implored him to revoke the curse, but he refused. But Giraldus, bitter enemy as he was, somewhat softened by his misfortune, tells a different tale. He draws the picture of the dying king leaning on Geoffrey's shoulder, while one of his knights held his feet in his lap. Geoffrey was fanning the flies from the king's face, as he seemed to be sleeping. As they watched, the king revived and opened his eyes. He looked at Geoffrey and blessed him. "My son," he said "my dearest, for that thou hast ever striven to show toward me such faithfulness and gratitude as son could show to father, if by God's mercy I shall recover of this sickness, I will of a surety do to thee the duty of the best of fathers, and I will set thee among the greatest and mightiest men of my dominion. But if I am to die without requiting thee, may God, who is the author and rewarder of all good, reward thee, because in every fortune alike thou hast shown thyself to me so true a son." Geoffrey, of whose sincere sorrow there can be no doubt, was overwhelmed with tears; he could but reply that for was his father's health and prosperity. passed, and the king's strength visibly waned. ing at intervals, "Shame, shame on a conquered king." At last, when Geoffrey was again by his side, the poor king kept telling him how he had destined him for the see of York, or, if not York, Winchester; but now he knew that he was dying. He drew off his best gold ring, with the device of the panther, and bade him send it to his son-in-law, the king of Castile; and another very precious ring, with a sapphire of great price and virtue, he ordered to be delivered out of his treasure. Then he desired that his bed should be carried into the chapel and placed before the altar. He had strength still to say some words of confession, and received the "Communion of the Body and Blood of the Lord with devotion." And so he died, on the seventh day of the fever, on the sixth of July, the octave of the apostles Peter and Paul.

all he prayed Another day He kept cry

XV.

HOW THE GREAT CHARTER WAS WON.-PEARSON.

[Richard, the Crusader, was remarkable for his personal prowess, but lacked the essential characteristics of a great military leader. As king, he spent but a brief period in England, and cared nothing for English interests, His exploits in the East, his captivity, and the tragic circumstances of his death, have surrounded his name with a halo of romance; but he was selfish, cruel, tyrannical, vicious, a bad son, and a bad husband. During his reign the strong administrative system which his father had built up was successfully maintained by such statesmen as William Longchamp and Hubert Walter, in spite of the intrigues of his brother John.

John began his reign under favorable auspices, but the essential badness of the man soon displayed itself. He quarreled with his suzerain, the king of France, and thereby lost a large portion of his continental possessions. He quarreled with the Church, brought an interdict upon England and excommunication on himself, and then pusillanimously yielded up his kingdom, to be held as a fief from the Holy See He quarreled with his barons, and at length united nine tenths of the English people against him. It was this last quarrel which led to the signing of Magna Charta.]

ALTHOUGH John had been able to keep an army and a contingent in the field, many of his barons had remained behind in England, and those of the north especially had again put forward their plea of exemption from all service except on the marches. As it was certain from the first that the king would try, on his return, to revenge himself, and as the government of Peter des Roches, bishop of Winchester, who had succeeded Geoffrey Fitz-Petre as justiciary, was intolerably oppressive, the nobles resolved on resistance; and, within a few days after John had landed and begun to levy scutage on all who had neglected to follow him, a meeting of nobles was held at Bury St. Edmunds, under pretext of celebrating the saint's festival (November 20). The charter of Henry I. and the laws of Edward the Confessor were read aloud, and the barons swore, one by one, on the high altar, to demand the observance of these liberties from the

king, and to constrain him by arms and the withdrawal of fealty if he refused a peaceable consent. As men, however, who knew the risk of their enterprise, at a time when every fortress in England was garrisoned by royal mercenaries, they agreed to collect men and arms, and to meet after the approaching Christmas and urge their petition with an army at their back. The precaution was the more necessary as John, vaguely sensible that there was thunder in the air, and alarmed by the recall of his partisan, the legate, tried to detach the clergy from the national cause by granting them absolute liberty of election.

This remarkable charter was issued the very day after the barons' meeting at Bury St. Edmunds, and it reflects the highest credit on Stephen Langton and his followers that the enormous bribe to their feelings as churchmen, backed, as it was in many cases, by restitution of honor and estates, failed to make them forget that they were citizens. To the barons, of course, the new charter was of no interest, except as an item in John's degradation, and a declaration of war against themselves. Accordingly, as soon as John came from Worcester, where he had held his Christmas court, to London, the confederates, in unwonted military array, waited upon him, and claimed that he should perform the oath which he had sworn at Stephen Langton's bidding in Winchester, and confirm the constitution as defined by the charter of Henry I. The king feared to refuse compliance with the demand of armed men, ready for action, and begged for time, that he might think the matter over and give his answer at Easter. The barons reluctantly consented, their cause being as yet espoused only by about half of the nobility, and the primate, the bishop of Ely, and the earl-marshal, were persuaded to become sponsors for the king's good faith.

The pledge was a perilous one, for John meditated nothing less than observance of his word. He was singularly destitute of counselors and supporters, for the legate had

left the country in disgrace for maladministration, and Geoffrey Fitz-Petre and the bishop of Norwich were dead; but he took instant steps to procure the release of the earl of Salisbury, abstained for a time from any gross act of oppression, and sent commissioners to the different counties to explain his quarrel with the lords and enforce new oaths of homage on the free tenants. But he counted too much, in a time of popular excitement, on the silent, unceasing feuds between gentry and baronage. Men generally refused to take the oath with the new clause inserted, that they would support the king against "the now talked-of charter," and John was obliged to desist from the attempt. He had thought of bringing over troops from Poitou, but the tidings of disaffection alarmed him, and he hastily recalled his orders. Nothing now remained but to claim the protection of the Church, and hold his castles till the barons were wearied out, or till a royal party arose. That no precaution might be omitted, he assumed the white cross, in the hope of investing himself with the inviolable character of a crusader. But his chief trust was in Innocent. The pope had been applied to by Eustace de Vesci, as the barons' agent, in the preceding autumn, and had sternly admonished them not to disturb the course of royal justice. The cruel irony fell upon deaf ears. Both parties now sent commissioners to Rome, and Innocent unhesitatingly supported his vassal. He blamed the barons, who demanded, sword in hand, the rights they ought to have, prayed humbly and devoutly of "our dearest son in Christ, the illustrious King John," and he blamed the bishops who had sympathized with the barons. But the apostolical counsels reached England when the whole nation was in revolt.

By Easter the party of reform, numbering four earls and forty great barons, had assembled a large and well-appointed army. They halted at Brackley, in Northamptonshire, to receive the primate and earl-marshal, who came as royal commissioners to learn their demands. When these were reported