for a long defence, and also added to the fortifications of many places in Bigorre and the Agenois. The Count of Bigorre himself and the Viscount of Agen, both holding immense territories in the most defensible part of Aquitaine, were at the head of the conspiracy; while behind them. was a race of rude but active and courageous people, very different indeed from almost all the popula tions that surrounded them, and whom we trace,under many variations of the name of Basques,— as a distinct tribe, up to a very remote period of history. Inhabiting a large portion of Biscay and the mountainous parts of Aquitaine, they mingled with the Navarrese and with the more modern people of Gascony-of which district they were probably at one time in complete possessionbut kept their own language and their manners perfectly distinct from those of the Spaniards on the one hand, and the French on the other. These Basques were frequently at war with their neighbours, and were always willing to aid the revolt of any baron in their vicinity against princes whose power might one day become dangerous to themselves. Naturally fond of warfare, active and enterprising, the hostilities in which they were frequently engaged rendered the passes of the Pyrennees dangerous to travellers, while a propensity to plunder induced them not even to spare the persons and purses of the numerous pilgrims who

flocked to the shrine of St. James of Compostella. It would seem that towards this period the habit of

* All the evils which attended a traveller in those days were so great as really to render a pilgrimage an act of severe penance as well as devotion. Even an ordinary journey was then no slight undertaking; and Diceto gives a curious and almost ludicrous account of an expedition made by the Bishop of Norwich, which is worth transcribing in this place. "Johannes Norwicensis episcopus, mandato regis in Siciliam suspectissimo tempore proficiscens, sæpe variis est affectus incommodis. Nam dum Romam recto petere debuisset itinere si non in scismate perstitissent Lumbardi, pars australis qua transitus sibi relictus est in subsidium panis plurimum laborabat inedia. Pabula jumentorum vix aliquo quæstu procurabantur. Iter habens per Arverniam jacentium in plateis, et fame tumentium angebatur clamoribus. Valentiam urbem ingressus adhuc in bonâ valitudine manens, in venalibus disquirendis fidem hospitum causabatur. Ad noctes pertrahendas insomnes lectisternia pulices vendicabant. Ebredunensium fines præteriens, Jani montis declinans confinia, limites attigens Italicos, dum equis Januæ relictis se mari commisisset Tirreno, promuntoria Januensium, maritina Pysanorum, Veneris portum et Herculis, ostii Tiberini fluenta velis in altum expassis, à sinistra reliquens urbem applicuit Gagetanam. Exin pro varietate locorum vario desudans navigio, modo sagittario, modo lintre, nec tam utens velo quam remo, ducatum Apuliæ, Capuæ principatum, evexa Calabrie, cum aliqua remoratione pertransiit. Regium et Messanam urbes Pharo conterminas hinc et illinc de vicino respiciens. Ut autem maris pericula post eversionem Ili Trojanis quondam tendentibus in Italiam haut prorsus incognita non omittam, Palinuri discursus, Scyllæ scopulos, Caribdis voraginem non intrepidus evitavit. Nec enim ad momentum suo versabatur in animo quod mare multociens evertitur in momento. Proinde nusquam quies, nusquam securitas, fervor nimius navigationem dampnabat. Metuendus piratarum incursus constantissimo cuilibet incussisset timorem.

plundering the wayfaring devotees had assumed a more regular and organised form, so as to have deviated in fact into a tax, which was levied at the point of the sword, it is true, but the exaction of which was held to be a prescriptive right of the Basques and Navarrese. St. James, the

patron saint of Spain, was at this time in great favour with the English; and it was natural therefore, that to establish a free passage through the mountains should be a very great object with Henry the Second. Representations of the evils which daily occurred had been made to Richard, and as soon as he had completed the subjection of the insurgents in Poitou, he marched to the south, and spent the Christmas of 1176 at Bordeaux, with the double object of suppressing the revolt in that quarter, and compelling the people in the mountains to leave the passes open both to merchants and pilgrims.

Remigantium illæ notabiles immundicia provocabant ad nauseam. Intima præcordiorum pestilens inficiebat aer. Quid enim inter tot discrimina gentem regionis externæ dixeris incurrisse periculi, dum apud Siculos idibus Augusti tunc temporis effluentibus folium in arboribus, in vite pampinus, arundines in palustribus prorsus exaruerint. Dum divertebatur ad litus, lintres vix. viij. tantum capaces animarum advesperascente die fluctibus extrahebantur. De reficiendis ergo corporibus cura propensior sub divo discumbere multis ebdomadibus satis ægre sustinuit. Ad quiescendum vero de noctibus nunc lapis durior stramentorum repensabat mollitiem, nunc indulgentior tractus maris offerebat harenam, et sternere lectum in sabulo magistra necessitas edocebat."

It is probable that the Count of Bigorre and the Viscount of Agen never for a moment imagined that the English prince, whatever might be his intrepidity and daring, would undertake the siege of two strong cities, in a difficult country, and in the midst of a severe and inclement winter; but Richard's whole soul was animated with the thirst of military renown; apprehension of any kind he knew not, and dangers and difficulties presented themselves to his eyes but as new enterprises to be achieved, new paths to glory and to honour.

After passing Christmas-day at Bordeaux, the Prince putting himself at the head of his troops, marched to the siege of Agen; and notwithstanding the length of time which had been allowed for the insurgents to fortify themselves, so fierce and unremitting was the attack of the English prince, that within ten days after he had sat down before the walls, Richard saw himself in possession of Agen, and the hopes of the insurgents utterly blasted in that quarter. To the south-west, however, Bayonne still remained to be taken; and at that season of the year it possessed many additional defences besides the strong fortifications by which it was surrounded. Between Agen and Bayonne lay a tract difficult to be passed at any time for an army encumbered by the vast battering machines which were required in those days in order to conduct any siege to a successful termination. On the one hand, Richard had before him a road which lost itself

among the extensive sands that skirt the bay of Biscay, and in pursuing which the wheels of his carriages must soon have sunk into the shifting soil, thus preventing his further advance. On the other hand, however, he had a mountainous and difficult district to traverse, where rivers, forests, and precipices presented themselves at every step, and where heavy falls of snow are frequent throughout the winter. None of these impediments, however, stopped him on his way; but marching with a degree of rapidity truly astonishing, he was at the gates of Bayonne before the inhabitants could have heard of the fall of Agen. The resistance that he encountered was strenuous, but Bayonne met the same fate as the other cities of the insurgents. Richard attacked it with the fury and pertinacity which he had always displayed, and again the siege was terminated by the capture of the town, before ten days had elapsed after the arrival of the English prince under its walls. There is every reason to believe that the fall of Bayonne was immediately followed by the submission of the principal insurgents; and Richard, freed from all apprehensions of being attacked in his rear, or opposed on his return, marched forwards to a place then called Portas Sizaræ, on the frontiers of Spain, and attacked the strong castle of St. Peter's,*

*This was undoubtedly one of the various places called St. Pé, and I have no doubt was the small town of that name which lies a few miles to the east of St. Jean de Luz.