unblemished, except in that single instance:
for, as to his treatment of the bishops and the Earl of Chester, it
seems very excusable by the necessity of the time; and it was the
general opinion, if he had not used that proceeding with the latter, it
would have cost him his crown. Perhaps his injustice to the Empress
might likewise admit a little extenuation. Four kings successively had
sat on the throne without any regard to lineal descent; a period beyond
the memory of most men then alive; whereby the people had lost much of
that devotion they were used to bear towards an established succession:
besides, the government of a woman was then a thing unknown, and for
that reason disliked by all who professed to hate innovations.

But the wisdom of this prince was by no means equal to the rest of his
virtues. He came to the crown upon as fair a title as his predecessor,
being elected by the general consent of the nobles, through the credit
of his brother, and his own personal merit. He had no disturbance for
some time, which he might easily have employed in settling the kingdom,
and acquiring the love of his people. He had treasure enough to raise
and pay armies, without burthening the subject. His competitor was a
woman, whose sex was the least of her infirmities, and with whom he had
already compounded for his quiet by a considerable pension: yet with all
these advantages he seldom was master of above half the kingdom at once,
and that by the force of perpetual struggling, and with frequent danger
of losing the whole. The principal difficulties he had to encounter,
appear to have been manifest consequences of several most imprudent
steps in his conduct, whereof many instances have been produced in the
history of his reign; such as, the unlimited permission of building
castles; his raising the siege of a weak place where the Empress was
shut up, and must, in a few days, have fallen into his hands; his
employing the Flemings in his wars, and favouring them above his own
subjects; and lastly, that abortive project of crowning his son, which
procured him at once the hatred and contempt of the clergy, by
discovering an inclination to violence and injustice that he durst not
pursue: whereas, it was nothing else but an effect of that hasty and
sudden disposition usually ascribed to those of his country, and in a
peculiar manner charged to this prince: for authors give it as a part of
his character, to be hot and violent in the b