278 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1794. 



Character of king John, from the 

 same. 



THE party of Jo!m bf'ng now 

 the stroii;;est, he indulged his 

 favourite pasuion, revenge, to such 

 excess, tliat he drove the barons to 

 the desperate rcsokitioii of applying 

 to Philip cf France, for his son 

 Lewis, (in rightof his wife Blanche, 

 grand-daughter to Henry H.) to be 



their kin 



g- 



In 



consequence, the 



Dauphin, embracing their invita- 

 tion, soon landed in Kent, and was 

 joined by many noblemen and their 

 armed dependents. He took Ro- 

 chester-castle with ease, and was 

 actually received in London vvitlt 

 transport. The friends and soldiers 

 of John began to abandon him ; and 

 the French prince miglit have crush- 

 ed this royal viper with ease, had 



he not made a rash vow not to ad- 

 vance before he had reduced Dover- 

 car.tle. While he strove for this in * 

 vain ; the Enghsh barons by this 

 delay hud time to reflect on the ills 

 their country might sustain from a 

 foreign lord ; and even to entertain 

 such \ suspicions of Lewis's inte- 

 grity, that they determined to quit 

 his party and (under restrictions) to 

 restore the abhorred John. But 

 that equally wicked and unfortunate 

 priiice was doomed to receive no 

 benefit from their good intentions. 

 A flood had swept away his money, 

 his provisions, and even his regalia, 

 as he marched along the % sands of 

 Lincolnshire : no consciousness of 

 rectitude, no magnanimity, was at 

 hand to support him under this ca- 

 lamity ; with difficulty he reached 

 Newark-castle ; and || in that for- 



earlicr Norman reigns, viz. Severe fints on persons ' for making; foolish speeches, re- 

 turning foolish answers, for having short memories," &c. [Madox ; Hist. Exch.] 



This tax may not be unprofitable in more modern days. 



* It is probable, that the first standing military force in Britain was that garrison in 

 Dover-castle, which by resisting the arms of the Dauphin saved the kingdom of Eng- 

 land from a foreign dynasty. For Cas Camden quotes from an ancient historian) " Sir 

 Hubert de Burgo i,vvhen made const .ble of the castle) considering that it v/as not for 

 the safety of the fortress to have new guards every month, procured by the assent of the 

 king, and of all that held of the castle, that every tenarn for one month's guard should 

 send his ten shillings, out of which, certain persons elected and sworn (both of horse 

 and foot") should receive pay for guarding the castle." [Br<i iannia.] 



" Alas (said tlie king of France, en liearing how ill the besiegers had sped) if my 

 jon has not gained Dover-castle, he has gained no footing in England !" 



f Suspicions which, from the succeeding tenor of Lewis's blameless life, we may 

 conclude to have been groundless. He v/as charged with a design to execute the Eng- 

 lish batons as traitors to their kiijg, so soon ?.s by their help he should be confirmed on 

 his new throne. Yet the French writers sjieak doubtfully ot this business. 



\ John had so strons; an attachment to Lynn, in Norfolk, that he had given it a 

 charter, and had girded the first mayor with his own sword, a relique still preserved in 

 that town. He kept also there his crown and other regalia ; and it was in attempting 

 to remove these to a stronger fortress that he met v. .;ii the last m sfortune. 



[M. Paris. Camden.] 



II The story of Johil'i being poisoned by a monk at Swineshcad -abbey, is of a late 

 date, and neserves no credit. In some respects, this inconsistent prince had befriended 

 the church ; he had actually built many monasteries ; and indeed in ISO years, which 

 elapsed between the deaths of Harold and of John, no less than 550 religious houses 

 were founded in England, which composed above five parts in seven of the whoje 

 number of those which Henry VIII. afterwards dissolved at the reformation. So 

 desirous were the most despotic of the Norman princes and theix barons of expiating 

 their sins, at the cost of their ill-fated and oppressed vassals. [ANDkaSoM J 



