ry for preserving order in the lines of princes, for obviating
the evils of civil discord and of usurpation, and for begetting
moderation in that species of government, by giving security to the
ruling sovereign. These innovations arose from the feudal law; which,
first introducing the right of primogeniture, made such a distinction
between the families of he elder and younger brothers, that the son
of the former was thought entitled to succeed to his grandfather,
preferably to his uncles, though nearer allied to the deceased monarch.
But though this progress of ideas was natural, it was gradual. In
the age of which we treat, the practice of representation was indeed
introduced, but not thoroughly established; and the minds of men
fluctuated between opposite principles. Richard, when he entered on the
holy war, declared his nephew Arthur, duke of Brittany, his successor;
and by a formal deed he set aside, in his favor, the title of his
brother John, who was younger than Godfrey, the father of that
prince.[*]

[* Hoveden, p. 677.]

But John so little acquiesced in that destination that when he gained
the ascendant in the English ministry by expelling Longchamp, the
chancellor and great justiciary, he engaged all the English barons to
swear that they would maintain his right of succession; and Richard, on
his return, took no steps towards restoring or securing the order which
he had at first established. He was even careful, by his last will, to
declare his brother John heir to all his dominions; whether, that he now
thought Arthur, who was only twelve years of age, incapable of asserting
his claim against John's faction, or was influenced by Eleanor, the
queen mother, who hated Constantia, mother of the young duke, and who
dreaded the credit which that princess would naturally acquire if her
son should mount the throne. The authority of a testament was great in
that age, even where the succession of a kingdom was concerned; and John
had reason to hope, that this title, joined to his plausible right
in other respects, would insure him the succession. But the idea of
representation seems to have made, at this time, greater progress in
France than in England; the barons of the transmarine provinces Anjou,
Maine, and Touraine, immediately declared in favor of Arthur's title,
and applied for assistance to the French monarch as their superior lord.
Philip, who desired only an occasion to embarrass John, and dismember
hi