was overwhelmed, and thunderstruck.

William

of Ipres, not less surprised, was enabled by cunning to restrain his rage and vexation, well knowing that his mercenaries were fewer than the English in Stephen's army, and very far inferior in numbers to the two armies, should they join together, which was not at all unlikely to be the case, if the Earl's proposal were rejected by the King. Eustace was all fire and indignation to see himself thus by a word stripped of all hope of that crown which he looked upon as his hereditary right.

Stephen, however, was obliged to yield, where he had no power to resist; and the Earl of Arundel proceeded to offer the same terms to Henry, having prepared the way by secret intrigues with the English leaders in that Prince's army. Henry was as unwilling as Stephen, and as confident of success if the contest were left to the decision of arms; but he also was obliged to submit, and a conference took place between him and Stephen, with the infant stream of the Thames between them. The two princes were without attendants, so that no one can tell what passed during this interview; but the result was a short suspension of hostilities, for the purpose of negociating a peace on the basis proposed.

Eustace, however, on his part, declared that he would consent to no treaty so injurious to his interests, retired to Cambridge, gathered together a small army,

army, and supported by the Earl of Northamp

ton and some others, waged war upon his own account. Henry kept the trace with good faith; but one of the conditions most advantageous to him he took care to see executed. This stipulation was, that Stephen himself should destroy the castle of Craumers, which was accordingly done. The formal treaty of peace however was still unconcluded when the suspension of arms terminated; and the war was resumed on both parts, though with much greater advantage to Henry than to his adversary.

The young Duke of Normandy had soon an opportunity of showing himself superior to his adversary, not only in military skill, but also in moderation and justice. The Governor of Oxford and a large body of Stephen's soldiery, having made an incursion into the territories possessed by Henry, that prince put himself at the head of the troops he could most speedily collect, met the enemy, attacked and routed them, taking prisoners no less than twenty knights. The rest of the routed force was pursued to the gates of Oxford by his cavalry, under inferior officers, who then proceeded to retaliate upon Stephen, by pillaging the country far and wide. On their return, however, they were not a little surprised to find that Henry commanded every thing which had been taken as booty, to be restored as far as possible, and he added words which rapidly spread from mouth to mouth: "It is not to plunder the people, that I came into England," he said; "but to deliver them from the exactions of the great."

Nottingham and Stamford fell into Henry's hands very shortly after the recommencement of hostilities, the former being taken by storm, the latter costing only the siege of a few days; and though Stephen in return captured Ipswich castle from the Duke of Norfolk, yet the balance of success was much in favour of Henry.

In the midst of these events, Eustace, the chief obstacle to the conclusion of a peace on the terms proposed by the Earl of Arundel, was removed by death from the troublous scene into which his violent, impetuous, and daring spirit, must inevitably have brought new elements of confusion had he lived. Although those were ages of suspicion, and although poison was as common as the dagger, or the sword, in removing an obstinate enemy, I have never found the death of Eustace ascribed to any unfair means. He had commanded his men, on some occasion of offence, to pillage the lands of the Abbey of Saint Edmond's-bury, and even to cut down the ripe corn belonging to the monks. He remained under the heat of the summer sun, it would seem, to see these orders performed, and was immediately seized with a calenture, attended with violent frenzy, which ended his life in a few days. A similar fate attended his friend the Earl of Northampton, to whose instigation many of his evil actions are attributed.

The death of another great nobleman, distinguished by more than ordinary rapacity and baseness, is re

corded about the same time. This was the Earl of Chester, who was poisoned by one of his own vassals, and whose death was in some degree a relief to both parties, from each of which he had endeavoured to extort advantages in the most unworthy

manner.

Stephen's spirits sunk upon the death of Eustace. His other son, William, was in no degree fitted to fill the throne of England, or to contest the crown with Henry Plantagenet. The King was aware that such was the case, as well as the Prince himself; and all obstacles being removed from the scheme proposed by the Earl of Arundel, the Bishop of Winchester and the Archbishop of Canterbury took it up with much eagerness, supported by the great majority of the Barons of the kingdom. It is supposed that they thus acted with a view of neutralizing the power of Henry by the power of Stephen, and the power of Stephen by that of Henry; whereas had either of those two princes totally overcome his rival by force of arms, the authority so gained would have been sufficient to afford the means of punishing past offences, of resuming grants unjustly made, of revoking dangerous privileges, and doing away unreasonable immunities. Such power, men who had lived a corrupt life, and were filled with evil desires, were not likely to see placed, without reluctance, in the hands of one; and they laboured therefore effectually to bring about an agreement between Henry and Ste

any

phen. A parliament was summoned to meet at Winchester, in the end of November 1153, by writs from both princes, and there a treaty was drawn up upon terms previously arranged. But as this council was scantily attended by the lay Barons of the Empire, another parliament was called to meet Stephen and Henry at Oxford, and by it the convention agreed upon, was confirmed and ratified.

By the agreement now entered into, Henry was adopted by Stephen as his son and successor, and his heir by hereditary right. The words are extraordinary, but it is clearly proved by the whole context of the document, that Stephen merely intended to imply that the kingdom was to descend to Henry's heirs by hereditary right. For this concession on the part of the King, Henry did homage, and swore fealty to Stephen, and at the same time granted and confirmed to William, Stephen's surviving legitimate son, all the possessions which his father had enjoyed in England or France before his usurpation of the throne, and also all that William himself possessed in right of his wife, or which had been given to him by Stephen; adding to all this, several other estates of considerable value, amongst which was the honor of Pevensey.

Thus this most singular document proceeds with the most extraordinary anomalies. Henry, who appears to have been contending for the kingdom, from his birth, as his own hereditary property, now claims all rights to it by the gift of Stephen. It is