The death of Richard furnishes another example of the danger of yielding to irascible passions. If this prince had listened to the dictates of reason, instead of abandoning himself to the impulse of anger-if he had manifested in this, as in other instances, a placable, rather than a revengeful temper-he might have avoided the fatal arrow which terminated his life and reign. Anger is a species of madness, that impels its victim to rush forward without deliberation or fear, even though his way may lie among tremendous precipices, which threaten him at every step with instant death. So manifest is it," that he who "ruleth his spirit, is better than he that taketh a city."

ESSAY IV.

The Reign of King JOHN, (surnamed Lackland.)

A. D. 1199-1216.

Ir the principle of hereditary succession had been fully established in England at this period, the crown would have descended to Arthur, duke of Brittany, who was the son of Geoffrey, an elder brother of prince John. But as the right of progeniture had not been inviolably regarded, and as the last testament of Richard directed that his brother should succeed him; that prince, though he had rendered himself extremely unpopular by his conduct towards the late king, found little difficulty in securing to himself the British crown. The greater part of the French provinces, however, adhering more firmly to the regulations of the feudal system, declared for prince Arthur. Normandy alone recognised the title of John, who was inaugurated at Rouen on the 25th of April, 1199, and crowned king of England at Westminster on the 27th of the following month.

Philip king of France, who had formerly been the

ally and evil counsellor of prince John, now manifested a disposition to support the claims of the duke of Brittany. This led to a war with France, which was suspended for a short time through the powerful mediation of the pope, but again renewed with increased vigour, in consequence of the imprudent conduct of the English king, who never failed to make himself enemies. The French monarch seemed resolved on securing to prince Arthur, if not the kingdom of England, to which he had an undoubted title, yet, at least, the continental provinces attached to that But his design was frustrated by the capture of the young prince whose cause he had so zealously espoused, and of whom no certain intelligence was afterwards received. It is but too probable, that he was murdered in prison by the express command, if not, (as some histo-, rians affirm,) by the hands of his unnatural uncle. The cruel treatment of the princess Eleonora, commonly called the maid of Brittany, whom the king brought with him to England and doomed to perpetual imprisonment, renders the secret murder of her brother almost certain, though the circumstances of his death were never developed.

crown.

These cruel proceedings, added to his former acts of injustice made the king an object of universal execration. All his foreign provinces were successively wrested from him, and fell, almost without resistance, into the hands of Philip; whilst John remained indolently at home, extorting money from his subjects under various pretences, and repaying them by acts of cruelty and oppression. The progress of the French army, in occupying one after another of his tributary provinces, seemed rather to amuse than mortify this misguided sovereign. "Let them proceed," said he to his courtiers, " I shall regain hereafter in one day, what it costs them many years to win." This indolence of character exposed him no less to the contempt of his enemies, than his capricious and tyrannical conduct had subjected him to the hatred of his subjects. The barons were ripe for revolt throughout the kingdom, and the inferior orders of society fully prepared to join their standard.

Nothing was now necessary to complete the ruin : of this ill-advised and unprincipled monarch, but that.

he should embroil himself with his clergy. So long as he retained the friendship of the pope, and consequently the allegiance of the ecclesiastical orders, he was in possession of an engine of mighty force, which might be brought to bear with effect, either on his foreign enemies, or his rebellious subjects. The king of France had only been prevented from following up his conquests with the invasion of England, by his reluctance to incur the displeasure of the Roman see: and such was the dread of those ecclesiastical censures, which the church of Rome was wont to fulminate in that age, that the barons were for a time deterred from throwing off their allegiance, by the mere apprehension of these thunders. Nothing could therefore be more impolitic, than the determination of John to commence a conflict with the court of Rome.

Innocent III. then filled the papal chair; a pontiff of distinguished talents and boundless ambition, who carried the pretentions of the church, over which he presided, farther than even the haughtiest of his predecessors. A dispute arose between the suffragan bishops and the Augustine monks, relative to the right of appointment to the see of Canterbury, which Innocent decided by appropriating that right to himself, and consecrating a priest, who then happened to be at Rome, to that high office. King John took the side of the bishops, and refused to acknowledge Stephen Langton, whom the pope had elevated to that dignity. Not content with this refusal, he wrote a vehement letter to Rome, threatening to break off all communion with the holy see, unless the injury were speedily repaired. Innocent at first replied in a mild and conciliatory tone; but soon perceiving the irresolution and cowardice of the sovereign with whom he was contending, assumed a haughtier air, and adopted more decisive measures. He laid the whole kingdom under an interdict, which was published by the bishops of Ely, Worcester, and London, 23d March, A. D. 1208. In consequence of this formidable sentence, all the churches were shut up, public worship ceased, and all orders of the clergy were forbidden to exercise their function. After the interdict had continued two years, Innocent proceeded farther, and pronounced a sentence of excommunication

against the king, which freed all his subjects from their oaths of allegiance, and authorized all christian princes to invade his dominions. The execution of this sentence of deposition was especially committed to the king of France, who eagerly embraced the opportunity of seizing a crown which he had long coveted. Fired with this expectation, he employed all his resources in equipping a fleet and army of sufficient magnitude to ensure success, intending to embark for England without delay.

But the pope did not really intend that Philip should obtain possession of the English crown. Perceiving that king John was sufficiently intimidated by the hostile preparations of the French king, he despatched Pandulph as his legate, with full powers to negotiate with the excommunicated monarch. The legate represented so forcibly the perilous circumstances in which the king was placed-the number and strength of the invading armythe disaffection of his own subjects-and the certain loss of his crown, if he persisted in the controversy-that he prevailed on him to submit implicitly to the papal mandate. Having obtained this pledge, the legate required that king John should become a vassal of the holy see; and that in token of such vassalage, he should resign his crown into the hands of the legate, and agree to hold the kingdoms of England and Ireland, by permission of the Roman pontiff, paying for the former an annualtribute of 700 marks, and 300 for the latter. This disgraceful treaty having been solemnly ratified, the legate appointed a day, on which the degraded monarch was to do homage for his crown to this haughty ecclesiastic, in the presence of all his barons, nobles, and chief ministers of state. Having fulfilled his legantine commission so successfully, Pandulph returned to Italy, and passing through France in his way thither, prohibited the sovereign of that kingdom from proceeding in his enterprise a prohibition with which that ambitious monarch most reluctantly complied.

This papal controversy had terminated so disgracefully, that the English barons were resolved no longer to sustain the yoke of so contemptible a prince. They determined to take up arms, in order to obtain those privileges, which

they hoped to extort from the fears, rather than the justice of the sovereign. The king, according to his usual practice, at first rejected their demands with an imperious air, but soon afterwards assented to them in their fullest extent. At a celebrated conference between king John and his barons, held in a large meadow between Windsor and Staines, called Runnimede, the famous charter of liberties, (which has since been emphatically called, Magna Charta,) was extorted from this weak and contemptible monarch. Its articles were partly borrowed from the laws of king Edward the Confessor, and partly from the charter of Henry I., which had been enlarged and confirmed by his grandson Henry II. Though many of its regulations related to the feudal customs of that age, and the encroachments of the clergy, they are interspersed with others that were and still continue to be of the utmost importance. On that memorable day, a basis was laid which has stood the test of ages, and on which the glorious superstructure of the British constitution has been subsequently reared.

But king John had no intention of binding himself in chains of parchment. He resolved to embrace the earliest opportunity of shaking off the yoke, which his barons had imposed, and, for this purpose, hired an army of foreigners, whom he intended to remunerate from the confiscated estates of his rebellious subjects. Taught by fatal experience, how formidable was the opposition, and how powerful the protection of the papal court, John was anxious to engage the pontiff on his side. Copies of the charters signed at Runnimede were despatched to Rome, accompanied with a letter of accusations and complaints against his refractory barons. Innocent espoused with warmth the cause of his vassal, condemned the charters, absolved the king from his oath to maintain them, and excommunicated the nobles, who had taken up arms against their prince. Strengthened by these powerful auxiliaries, the king now took the field, and ravaged with unrelenting cruelty those provinces which had harboured the insurgent chiefs. The barons were compelled to retire before the royal army, and abandon their castles and estates to the ravages of foreign legions. In this extremity they had