57 8 ENG I 
{hot him fhould be brought into lits-prefence, when he 
demanded “ what injury lie had done him, that he fhould 
take away his life ?” The prifoner anfwered with deli¬ 
berate intrepidity : “ You killed with your own hands 
my fatlier and my two brothers ; and you intended to 
have hanged me. I am now in your power, and my tor¬ 
ments may give you revenge ; but I will endure them 
with pleafure, fince it is my confolation that I have rid 
the world of a tyrant.” Richard, {truck with this an- 
fwer, ordered the foldier to be preferred with one hun¬ 
dred {hillings, and fet at liberty ; but Marcade, the king’s 
general, ordered him to be flayed alive, and then hanged. 
Richard died, April 6, 1x99, in the tenth year of his 
reign, and the forty-fecond of his age, leaving one natu¬ 
ral fon, named Philip. 
The molt (hining part of this prince’s character was his 
military talents ; no man ever in that romantic age car¬ 
ried courage and intrepidity to a greater height; and this 
quality gained him the appellation of the lion-hearted 
caur de lion.. He paflionately loved glory ; and, as his 
conduct in the field was not inferior to his valour, he 
feems to have poffeffed every talent necelfary for acquir¬ 
ing it : his refentmenls alfo were high, his pride uncon¬ 
querable, and his fubjefts, as well as his neighbours, had 
therefore reafon to apprehend, from the continuance of 
his reign, a perpetual fcene of blood and violence. Of 
an impetuous and vehement fpirit, he was diftinguHhed 
by all the good, as well as the bad, qualities which are 
incident to .that charafiter. He was open, frank, generous, 
fincere, and brave ; he was revengeful, domineering, am¬ 
bitious, haughty,arid cruel; and was thus better calculated 
to dazzle men by the glare of his enterprifes, than either to 
promote their happinefs, or his own grandeur, by a found 
and well-regulated policy. As military talents make great 
impreflion on the people, he feems to have been much 
beloved by his Englifh I'ubjeiSts; and he is remarked to 
have been the firft reigning prince over Normandy who 
bore a fincere affection and regard for them. He puffed, 
however, only four months of his reign in that kingdom: 
the croifade employed him near three years : he was de¬ 
tained about four months in captivity ; the reft of his 
reign was {'pent either in war, or preparations for war, 
againft: France: and he was fo pleafed with the fame 
which he had acquired in the eaft, that he feemed deter¬ 
mined, notwithftanding all his part: misfortunes, to have 
further exhaufted his kingdom, and to have expofed him- 
felf to new hazards, by conducting another croifide againft 
the infidels. In his perfon he was tall, ftrong, ftraight, and 
well proportioned. His arms were remarkably long; his 
eyes blue, and full of vivacity ; his hair was of a yellowifh 
colour; his countenance fair and comely, and his air nra- 
jeflic. He was endowed with good natural underftanding; 
his penetration was uncommon; he polfeiTed a fund of man¬ 
ly eloquence ; his converfalion was fpirited ; and he was 
much admired for liis talents of repartee. He was interred 
at Fonteverard, in the fame monaftery with his brother 
Henry. 
John, who had nothing to fear from a difputed fuccef- 
fion, immediately afeended the Britifh throne. The king 
of France, who was the only monarch that could aflift 
the pretendons of a rival, had long declared for John’s 
title ; and, during the life of his brother, had given him 
the mod flattering proofs of dneerity and friendlhip. But 
it was other wife now Richard was no more. Philip be¬ 
gan to drew that his former friendFnips were calculated 
not to ferve John, but to harrafs England ; not to diftri- 
bute jufiiee, but to augment his own power. There was 
an old claimant of the crown, whom indeed Richard had 
declared heir to the throne; but who was afterwards fet 
adde, at the inftance of the dowager-queen. This was 
Arthur, the ion of 1 1 is brother Geoffrey, a youth who, 
though but twelve years of age, pronxifed to be deferving 
of the imperial dignity. Philip, who anxioufly defired 
to embar-rufs John, relol.ved to fecond this young prince’s 
claim ; and feyeral of the continental barons then declar¬ 
ed in favour of Arthur. 
i A N D; 
John after being put in pofiefllon of the Englifh throne, 
loft no time in regulating his intereft on the continent; 
and his firft care was to recover the revolted provinces 
from young Arthur, his nephew. The war, therefore, 
between John and Philip Auguftus, wasrenewed with all 
its former animofity. At length however a treaty put 
an end to thofe contefts which only ferved to thin man¬ 
kind ; and it was haftened by a circumftance peculiarly 
favourable. Arthur, together with Conftaivtia his mo¬ 
ther, miflrufting the defigns of the king of France, who 
only iiiiended to betray them, came and threw themfelves 
on the mercy of John, and reftored to him the provinces 
which continued in their intereft. Thus, after a fliort 
conteft, John faw himfelf undifputed monarch of all the 
dominions which were annexed to the Englifh throne. 
But he very foon loft all his power and pre-eminence by 
his folly and imprudence. His firft unpardonable condudl 
was his marriage with Ifabella daughter of the count of 
Angoulenre, while' his queen was yet alive ; and what 
{fill increafed the adulterous connection, while Ifabella 
belonged to another hufband, the count of Marche, who 
ardently loved her. This open violation of the rights of 
civilized fociety, produced an infurredtion ; to reprefs 
which, John was obliged to have recourfe to his Englifh 
fubjedts for afiiftance, by whofe means the confederacy 
was foon broken ; and he imagined from his prefent fuc- 
cefs, that he might in future commit every fpecies of 
violence with impunity. But an event yet remaihed to 
render John more hateful to his fubjedts, and defervedly 
abhorred by all good and virtuous men. Young Arthur, 
who, with his brother, had religned themfelves to the 
king’s protection, foon perceived their error, and found 
that nothing honourable was to be expedted from a prince 
of his abandoned charadter ; they therefore fled front 
Mans, where he detained them, and once more took re¬ 
fuge with the king of France. They were received by 
Philip with every mark of diftindtion ; and young Ar¬ 
thur’s interefts were vigoroufly fupported. One town 
after another fubnritted to his authority ; and his arms 
feemed every where attended with fuccefs. But his un- 
reafonable ardour foon put an end to his hopes and his 
claims. Being of an enterprifing difpofition, he had laid 
fiege to a fortrefs, with a very {mall force, in which the 
dowager-queen was protected. John, therefore, falling 
upon the rear of his little army before they were aware 
of his approach, the young prince was taken prifoner, 
together with the moft confiderable of the revolted ba¬ 
rons. The greater part of the prifoners were lent over 
to England; but the young prince was {hut up in the 
caftle of Falaife. John, thus finding his nephew at his 
mercy, began to meditate upon meafures which would 
moft effectually remove his future apprehenfions. No 
other expedient fuggefted itfelf, but what is foremoft in 
the mind of tyrants; namely, the young prince’s death. 
The king therefore hired one aftaffin after another, who 
engaged to difpatch him ; but the cruelty of their hearts 
relented, and eacli ruffian returned without accomplifb- 
ing the murder. John, thus finding that all his emifla- 
ries had'mere compunction than himfelf, refolved, with 
his own hands, to execute the bloody deed ; and, for that 
purpofe, ordered prince Arthur to be removed to the 
caftle of Rouen, the capital of Normandy, fituated on the 
Seine. John came in a boat to the place at midnight, 
and ordered the young prince to be brought before him ; 
who, fufpedting that his death was meditated, threw him¬ 
felf in tire moft fuppliant manner upon his knees before 
his uncle, and implored for mercy. But his youth, his 
affinity, his merits, were all difregarded : the unfeeling 
tyrant made no reply, but (tabbed (rim in cool blood with 
his own hand ; and, fattening a ft one to the dead body, 
threw it into tire Seine! 
All men were (truck with horror and deteftation of the 
perpetrator of this cruel deed; and, as John had in his 
hands Eleanor, the lifter to Arthur, the people of Bre¬ 
tagne chofe for their fovereign Alice, the younger daugh¬ 
ter of Conftantia by a fecond marriage. They folieited 
2 the 
