upon that concession, and upon Stephen's adoption, that he builds his claim; and yet he himself confers upon William, Stephen's son, all the territories and estates which he is to possess, while Stephen's son agrees to hold them of the Duke of Normandy, and does homage to him for the very lands in England which had been given him by his father. In his homage, however, there is a saving clause to the purport that he shall be free from feudal service to the Duke, if Henry fail in his engagements to the King; and the same is observable in regard to the oaths of the nobles to Henry, and to Stephen: the first receiving the homage of his former adversaries, with a saving of their allegiance to Stephen, and also with the intimation that the homage was only so long binding, as he should keep his engagements with the King. To Stephen, the Barons of Henry's party did homage, and swore allegiance, upon condition that he kept his engagements with the Duke; and the Clergy, shielded under the happy plea of neutrality, held out to both parties the menace of ecclesiastical censures in case of any infraction of the treaty; implying thereby the much more important threat, of employing their temporal and spiritual influence against the defaulter. This, they were not only likely, but certain to do, as by the convention they assured to themselves the confirmation of all grants and restitutions which had been made by the King to the Church. This was

in fact putting the great seal upon the treaty. But Henry took care to stipulate for some advantage to himself, beside the remote prospect of the crown after Stephen's death. He required and received proper security that the forts and castles of the kingdom should be given up to him, on the decease of the King, and that Stephen should act in all affairs of the kingdom, except the mere administration of justice, by his advice.

Henry was now King of England, in almost everything but name; and other secret articles it would seem were added to the treaty, though not published in Stephen's declaration, which increased the power of the young Duke. We cannot very well trust to the historians of that time for the wording of each article; but two of them which were speedily afterwards published under the authority of" the great council, provided that all castles built in the reign of King Stephen should be immediately demolished, and that all foreign troops should be sent out of the kingdom.

The evils committed by the mercenaries, I have already spoken of. The evils of the castles which had been built were certainly not less, for they had almost universally become dens of petty tyrants, within the walls of which every sort of horror and abomination was perpetrated. Thus, these additional articles of the treaty were amongst the most popular that it contained; and it was moreover known, that these two articles had been insisted on

by Henry. Stephen, however, though weaker than his rival in every respect, though unable to resist him. in the field, or to contend with him in the cabinet, had once again the folly to select the most unpopu lar act that he could commit, as his point of resistance against his competitor. He was easily prevailed upon, to perform neither his dangerous task of demolishing the castles, nor to take the unpleasant step of dismissing the mercenaries. Henry remonstrated, but in vain. He exposed to the parliament of Dunstable, the infraction of the treaty which had been committed by Stephen, and though that monarch scarcely thought fit to cover his evasion with a decent veil, the Duke of Normandy chose rather to submit than plunge into a new war: satisfied with having gained the great advantage of displaying himself as the champion of the popular cause, against two of the greatest nuisances of the times.

Other causes perhaps might combine with wise moderation to prevent him from resenting the conduct of Stephen. He was now anxious to return to Normandy, which province as he had expected, had been assailed by Louis during his absence from his continental dominions. The French monarch, however, had not shown any great activity, or reaped any very remarkable success. The town and castle of Vernon taken, and the destruction of a part of the town of Verneuil, comprised all the feats he had performed, if we except the fact

of his having excited some of the Nobles of Aquitaine to revolt against their new Sovereign.

No sooner did Henry arrive in Normandy, than he hastened to quell the insurrection excited by Louis in Aquitaine, nor did he find any difficulty in accomplishing that object. He shewed himself lenient and moderate to the rebels; and with the same wise policy, on his return to Normandy, he sought not to take vengeance upon Louis, but obtained from him by negociation, a restitution of all which had been captured, on the payment of a trifling sum. He left no means untried indeed to gain the good will of the French King, and found it not difficult to do so, though the favour of one so weak and unstable, was too uncertain a possession to be a very valuable acquisition.

Henry had now been married two years and a half, and Eleanor had already given an heir to his dominions. She was again pregnant, when messengers from England announced to Henry the unexpected death of Stephen. The young Sovereign, however, as if to shew his confidence in his own power, refused to rise from before the castle of a revolting Baron, which he was then besieging, even to put on the crown of England. But as soon as he had reduced his vassal to obedience, Henry hastened to Rouen, where he conferred with his mother, the Empress Matilda, who now agreed to remain in Normandy; and though she made no formal renunciation of her title to the crown, she

left her son to base his claim both upon her own rights, and upon the treaty of Winchester. This being settled, Henry and Eleanor proceeded to Barfleur, in order to embark for England; but the weather was tempestuous, the wind contrary, the knowledge of seamen in those days but small, and Henry and his wife were detained upon the coast of Normandy an entire month before they could pursue their voyage.

The state of England, during this delay, furnishes a valuable indication of the progress made by society, even amidst the horrible anarchy and confusion of Stephen's reign. No preceding King, since the Norman Conquest, had died without the most terrible excesses and outrages taking place ere his successor could ascend the throne and grasp the sceptre firmly; but between the death of Stephen and the arrival of Henry, everything remained tranquil and orderly; and we may well believe that, as evil often produces good, the turbulence, the bloodshed, the rapine, and the anarchy, which had disgraced the land for so many years, tended to make men appreciate law and justice, see the sad consequences of faithlessness and treachery, and perceive the beauty of faith, harmony, and social order.

Henry and Eleanor, with a brilliant train, landed on the coast of Hampshire, in the beginning of December, after a tempestuous voyage, in which their fleet was dispersed, and their own vessel very