CHARACTERS. 



279 



in 1213 he had annihilated the na- 

 val power of France, by a gallant 

 and successful battle j and in hisdis- 

 strcs in 1'215, the affections of the 

 seamen (of the Cinque Ports parti- 

 cularly) was his only refuge. He 

 even lived night and day on ship- 

 board, for fsar of being betrayed.:}: 



Nor should it be concealed that, 

 from the beginning of his reign this 

 iiiConsistt;nt prince had shewn a sin- 

 gular readiness to convert demesne- 

 towns into corporate burghs. A 

 measure inimical to all despotism. |I 



Trifling too as the merit may ap- 

 pear, we must allov/ to John the 

 honour of having been the first 

 English king who perfected the 

 coming of pure sterling money. 



Had historians no stron-jer reasons 

 to accuse this hated prince of im- 

 piety, than his pointing to a fat 

 deer, and saying, *' see how plump 

 he is ; and yet he has never heard 

 mass," we might have allowed some- 

 what for the humorous allusion to 

 the wonderful gluttony of the monks 

 in his days.^ .But he was uniform- 

 ly wicked; and laughed at every 



obhgation 



[M. Paris:] 



+ This aniiuble princes^ was stvled " Joan Make-neace ;" from her constant and 

 successful endeavour to kcci) Enslanil and Scouaad uiiiced in amity. 



Z Mad. Fiima Burgii. 



II Wi-ndover. 



« The extent of monkish gormandizing in the earlier rentuiies is almost incredible. 

 From St. Swithcn's, Winton, Henry II. nttived a formal coniplair.t against the ahbot 

 fordcprivmg his priests of ihrcc out ol thirteen disi'hcs at every incal. The monks of 

 Canic;iiury exceeded tliose of St. Swiihen They had seventeen dishes every day; 

 and each of liiesc cooked with 6pices and the most savory and rich sauce. 



[GiRALD. CAMBn.] 



The historian of Croyland-abbey speaks highly in praise of bi other Lawrence Char- 

 tres, cook ot llie society an office coiibidefcd as of the highest importance) who, 

 prompted by the lo\e of heaven ami a religious zeal, had expended a^uin equal to 400 

 modern pounds to supply the fathers with alniond-niilk on fish-days. But the glutton- 

 mass ^wliieh was celebrated iu honour of the B. V. five times in the year; carried 

 ecclesiastical luxury to the highest (.itch. 'I'he inhabitants ot every parish vied with 

 each other in filling thiir churches with meat ;;nd dunk ; and as soon as the mass 

 ended, the foast began ; the lauy wure invited to join the deigy in the good-woik ; 

 and the church became a scene of the most gross and bestial iieentiousiiejs. 'Ihe 

 monks of France were not less attached to the pleasures of the table. It was a 

 celebrated jircaeher among them, who, in a sermon, icpresenicd the plieasanls, par- 

 tridges, and ortolans, ai aJdiesiing tlicinselvcb to the elctiv and iiittcating to be 



y 4 ' eatcu 



tress, broken-hearted and unlarncnt- 

 cd, tlic tyrant breathed his last. 



A worse prince scarce ever dis- 

 graced any throne ; and the histo- 

 rian may sure save himself the odious 

 task of drav.-jng up his character, 

 by referring the reader to the an- 

 nals of his life, as son, uncle, and 

 king. ' Heil,' said a contemporary 

 writer, ' felt lierself defiled by his 

 -admission.'* He fell in the forty- 

 ninth year of his age, leaving live 

 legitimate children, Hmry (who 

 succeeded him), and Richard, earl 

 of Cornwall ; Joan, f queen of 

 Scotland ; Eleanor, countess of 

 Leicester ; and Isabella, wife of 

 Frederic H. emperor of Germany. 

 He had six natural children, whose 

 names and posterity are recorded at 

 length, by Sandford. 



The person of Jolm has not been 

 noticed by his biographers. If, in 

 the black gloom of his sullen soiil 

 there was a single spark of patriot- 

 ism, it pointed its ray towards the 

 navy. In the first vear of his reign 

 he had asserted the superiority of the 

 English flag by an ordinance ; and 



* Faedatur Johanna Gehenna. 



