Character of Siward, Earl of Northumberland. From the fame.

HE

ΤΗ

Englishman, whom William the First trusted and favoured moft, was Waltheof, eldeft fon to Siward earl of Northumberland, famous for his vic

ferior to either of them in valour* But no force of magnanimity or natural courage in a nation can enable it to refift a fuperior difci pline, and a greater skill in the art of war.

Macbeth.

66

This Siward was one of the most

extraordinary men who lived in thofe times. H. of Huntington fays, he was almoft a giant in fta. ture, and had a ftrength of mind not inferior to that of his body. In the battle against Macbeth he loft his fon, and we are told, that, when he was informd of his death, he aked the meffenger, "Whether he had received the mortal wound "before or behind?" Being anfwered, that it was before," he faid; I greatly rejoice; for I "efteem no other death worthy of me, or my fon." Another writer relates, that, feling himself ready to expire from the violence of a bloody flux, he said, "It was a fhame "for a warrior, who had ineffectu"ally fought death in fo many bat"tles, to die now like a beaft," and therefore he commanded his fervants to clothe him in a complete fuit of armour, took his battle axe in his right hand, his fhield in his left, and in that inartial habit. and poftare gave up the ghoft.

This was exactly in the fpirit of the ancient Goths or Celts: and one fhould have thought that a great kingdom, the nobility of which had thefe fentiments, was in no danger of being conquered a few years afterwards, by foreign The fon of Siward, Earl Waltheof, did not degenerate from his father: nor was Hereward in VOL. X.

arms.

th. jams.

SOME monarchs, great in war, or while they are struggling with the ftorms of adverfity, fink, in tranquillity, into an effeminate and negligent indelence, which feems to unnerve all the vigour of their minds. But Henry Plantagenet was not one of thofe. Peace did not lay his virtues afleep; it only gave them a different exercise. His courage and magnanimity were then exerted in correcting the abufes of government, and bringing the ftate of the whole kingdom as near to perfection as the times would permit. How far he had gone, before, in this arduous work, the reader has feen. But a wife prince will never think of endeavouring to reform all evils at once; much lefs, fuch as are covered un der respectable names. Where he has not only faction but prejudice to contead with, he will proceed with great caution, wait for proper feafons, and be fure, by other trials, that his authority is too strong to be eafily baffled. Nay, he will be patient till he has brought the voice of the public to deciare i felf loudly in favour of the reformation he meditatrs. Henry did thus, with regard to the independency on the civil power, which, in Stephen's reign, the English clergy had arrogated to themfelves, and fill continued to

claim.

But before I enter upon this fubject, I think it will be proper to give fome account of him in thofe parts of his character, which make us acquainted with the man as well as the king. I fhall alfo delineate a short sketch of the cuftoms and manners of the nation, and endeavour to fupply whatfoever is - wanting for the information of the reader, in the civil and political ftate of the kingdom.

The perfon of Henry was mafculine and robuft, excelling rather in ftrength of limbs and dignity of afpect, than in delicate or exact proportions of beauty. Yet his features were good; and, when his mind was ferene, there was in his eyes a great fweetnefs; but, when he was angry, they feemed to fparkle with fire, and dart out flashes of lightning, fays Peter of Blois, in a defcription he gives of him to the archbishop of Palermo. This paffionate temper, which fhewed itfelf in his countenance by fuch vifible marks, was his greatest imperfection; for, upon any fudden provocation, he could not command the first motions of his rage, though at other times he poffeffed an extraordinary degree of prudence and judgment. Nevertheless this infirmity never betrayed him into furious or cruel actions; but only broke out in words or geftures: nor did his anger long continue; and, when he was cool, his difpofition and behaviour were gentle and humane. He was tenderly compaffionate to all perfons in diftrefs; and his good economy feemed to be chiefly employed in providing an ample fund for his charity and bounty. Befides what he laid our in acts of munificence occafionally done, fome of which

were the greateft we read of in our hiftory, he affigned the tenth part of the provifions of his houfhold, to be conftantly given in daily alms to the poor. His treafures were ever open to all men of merit; but he was particularly liberal in his prefents to ftrangers, who came to vifit his court; as many did from all the nations in Europe, drawn by his fame, which was every where high and illuftrious. Giraldus Cambrenfis, a writer of confi derable note in those days, fpeaks of him with fome degree of cenfure on this account; as if his hav-. ing been fo lavish to foreigners was a detriment to his fervants and domeftic attendants, who were better entitled to his gifts. But very lit tle regard is due to that author in what he fays against Henry, towards whom he was foured, not only by his prejudices as an ecclefiaftic, but by having been difappointed in his hopes of promotion to the fee of St. David's, which I fhall have occafion to fay more of hereafter. His malignity appears very ftrong in this inftance; for furely that prince deferved no blame, but rather much commendation, for this part of his conduct. A generous hofpitality is not the leaft of royal virtues. It does honour to a nation, and is attended with many political benefits: for guests, who have been obliged by favours conferred upon them in a foreign court, return home the partizans and friends of that court, and often ferve it more fefully than its own minifters. Nor can there be a more fhameful weakness in a king, than the allowing his courtiers to confider his wealth as a part of their property. Henry was too wife to encourage fuch a

notion.

notion. He did not fuffer thofe about him to confine either his purfe or his ear to themselves. As his own judgment directed the courfe of his bounty, fo his affability extended itfelf even to the meaneft of his fubjects: infomuch that his minifters must have found it a very difficult matter to conceal from him any truth, which it was ufeful for him to know. But, though his ears were always open to information or complaint, his heart was fhut againft calumny nor did any good fervant, through the whole courfe of his long reign, fuffer any lofs of favour or credit, by the fecret whifpers of malice, or the vain and groundless clamour of popular rumours. He was fo conftant in his friendfhips, and chofe his minifters with fuch difcretion, that not one of those whom he principally trufted was ever dif. graced; except only Becket, who rather quitted, than loft, the place he had gained in his heart. The perfons who are moft fteady in their attachments are generally moft apt to retain their averfions: and I find it obferved in the character of this prince, that whom he once hated he could hardly be perfuaded to admit any more to a fhare of his favour; but it does not appear that he ever hated without a fufficient caufe. With what a generous clemency he pardoned rebellions, and other offences committed against himfelf, fome remarkable inftances have already been given, and more will occur in the latter parts of this hiftory: but there is one which it is proper to take notice of here, as it will not fall in with the feries of events related in the following books.

Some gentlemen of his court be

ing accufed, in his prefence, of having, at the fuggeftion of the bifhop of Worcester, talked of him indecently and to his dishonour, they did not deny the words which were laid to their charge, but alledged that they were fpoken when their minds were heated and difordered with wine. On this apology, he difmiffed them all without any punishment, and retained no unkindnefs towards them or the bishop: an admirable proof of true magnanimity, and fuch as is found in few princes! for even the best are fometimes more angry at any liberty taken with their persons, than at an act of high treafon againft their crown. But Henry's good-nature got the better of his pride; and he was fo wife as to know that his character would gain more by this moderation, than it could fuffer by any injurious afperfions. Nor would he encourage the bafenefs and malignity of informers, who endeavour to recommend themfelves to the favour of a prince, by bringing to his ear the unweighed expreffions of men in their hours of freedom: a practice as pernicious to the quiet of the fovereign as to the fecurity of the fubject. Henry's behaviour on this occafion effectually delivered his court from that peft, and rendered the air of it pure and healthful to liberty.

Of the piety of this prince we have a remarkable teftimony from William Fitz-Stephen, a contemporary writer of Becket's life. He tells us, that the king would fometimes watch with the monks of Merton-abbey three nights before Eafter: and that, after the evening fervice on Good Friday, he was accustomed to fpend the reC 2

mainder

mainder of the night, till the hour of nine, when the fervice of Eafter eve begins, in walking on foot, and muffled up in a cowl, with only one companion, to vifit all the poor churches in the neighbour. hood, and perform his devotions in them. The ferious fenfe of religion, which thefe practices feem to indicate, however tinctured with a degree of innocent fuperftition, deferves great praife; and more efpecially in a monarch, who with fo much fpirit opposed the encroachments of the church on the temporal rights of the ftate.

No gentleman of that age excelled him in politenefs, or had a more becoming and agreeable manner of converfing with all who approached him. His wit was very lively, but neither petulant nor ill natured: fo that it made him no enemies, nor ever let down the dignity of his character. He had alfo the advantage of a wonderful memory, and a great flow of natural eloquence; which happy endowments he improved by a continual application to learning. For he was not content (as princes ufually are) with the rudiments acquired in his childhood; but conftantly employed a great part of his leifure in fecret ftudy, or in affemblies of clergymen, with whom he delighted to reafon and hear their opinions, on points of literature and fcience. His daily fchool (fays Peter of Blois) was the converfa. tion of the most learned men, and a kind of academical difcuffion of queftions.

With his intimate friends he lived in the most gracious and eafy familiarity, particularly with Becket, to whofe houfe and table he would frequently come uninvited

and unexpected. After they had

But

finished their ferious affairs, they "played together," fays a writer of Becket's life, "like two boys "of the fame age." The king's good humour feems, indeed, to have heen fometimes "too playful, in "the eye of the public." the notions of decorum were not in thofe times fo high and rigid as now; nor could the military life, then led by our monarchs, be rendered confiftent with all that pride of royal ftate, which the forms of a fettled court are thought to require. Indeed any king may fafely and amiably diveft himfelf of his majefty, in hours of recrea. tion, if he knows how to keep it up, on proper occafions; and if thofe companions, whom he chufes to unbend himself with, are neither fo mean, nor fo vicious, as by their intimacy to difhonour and leffen his character. Henry fported with his chancellor, and with the nobility of his court: but it does not ap pear that he ever contaminated himself with the low fociety of buffoons, or any of thofe who find accefs to the leifure hours of princes, by miniftering to their vices, or foothing their follies.

His favourite diverfion was hunting; in which he followed the cultoms of his ancestors, and more especially of the Normans, who took a pride in this exercife, as indicating a manly temper of mid, and forming the body to the toils and hardships of war. We are told by his preceptor, Peter of Blois, that when he was not reading, or at council, he had always in his hands a fword, or a hunting fpear, or a bow and arrows. The hunting fpear was used againft wild boars, which were then in our fo

refts,

refts, and adding greatly to the danger, added alfo to the honour of this recreation. Henry rofe by break of day, purfued the chace till evening with unabated ardour, and when he came home, though all his fervants were tired with following him, he would not fit down; but was always on his feet, except athis meals, which he ufually made very fhort. Even while he was confulting on bufinefs with his minifters, he ftood, or walked. Thus he kept down a difpofition to corpulency, which would have other

his diet plain, and in his drefs he affected the utmoft fimplicity, difliking all ornaments, which might encumber him and hinder his exercife, or fhew an effeminate regard to his perfon. Yet this did not proceed from inattention to women. He was but too fenfible of the power of their attractions, and too defirous to please them, even to the end of his life.

Character of the Empress Matilda.. From the fame.

ferved the alacrity of youth to old age. From the continual habit of exercife he was fo indefatigable, that he would perform in one day (if occafion required it) a journey of three or four to an ordinary traveller; by which expedition he often came unexpectedly upon his enemies, difconcerted the meafures that were taken against him, and crufted the first motions to rebellion or fedition, even in the most diftant parts of all the feveral ftates that were under his government. The frequent progreffes he made about England have already been mentioned. They were very beneficial to his people; the execu tion of the laws, the good order of cities, the improvement of agri. culture, manufactures, and trade, being thus under his own immediate infpection. He was the foul of his kingdom, pervading every part of it, and animating the whole with his active vivacity. Nor were his cares for the public interrupted by luxury,or the powers of his mind difordered or enfeebled by excefs. He was conftantly fober, and often abftemious both in eating and drinking. His table was frugal,

in fuppreffing this revolt, he received an account of the death of his mother Matilda, the greatest lady that Europe had ever feen, emprefs of Germany by her first marriage, countefs of Anjou, Touraine, and Maine by her fecond, and, by the will of her father confirming her claim from hereditary right, duchefs of Normandy and queen of England. Yet fhe was more truly great in the latter part of her life, when fhe acted only as a fubject under the reign of her fon, than at the time when the beheld king Stephen her prifoner, and England at her feet. The violence of her temper and pride, inflamed by fuccefs, had then dishonoured her character, and made her appear, to her friends, as well as to her enemies, unworthy of the dominion to which fhe was exalted: but from the inftructions of adverfity, age, and reflection, the learned the virtues fhe moft wanted, moderation and mild nefs. Thefe, joined to the elevation and vigour of her mind, wherein the had always furpaffed her fex, enabled her to be

come a moft ufeful counfellor and

minifter to her fon, in the affairs of C 3

hi,