he himself was so near to suppress any tumult or
rebellion. But as no ancient writer has ascribed this tyrannical purpose
to William, it scarcely seems allowable, from conjecture alone, to throw
such an imputation upon him.

But whether we are to account for that measure from the king's vanity or
from his policy, it was the immediate cause of all the calamities which
the English endured during this and the subsequent reigns, and gave rise
to those mutual jealousies and animosities between them and the Normans,
which were never appeased till a long tract of time had gradually united
the two nations, and made them one people. The inhabitants of Kent, who
had first submitted to the conqueror, were the first that attempted to
throw off the yoke; and in confederacy with Eustace, count of Boulogne,
who had also been disgusted by the Normans, they made an attempt, though
without success, on the garrison of Dover.[*] Edric the Forester,
whose possessions lay on the banks of the Severn, being provoked at
the depredations of some Norman captains in his neighborhood, formed an
alliance with Blethyn and Rowallan, two Welsh princes; and endeavored,
with their assistance, to repel force by force.[**]

[* Gul. Gemet. p. 239. Order. Vitalis, p. 508.
Anglia Sacra, vol i. p, 245.]

[** Hoveden, p 450. M. West, p 226. Sim. Dunelm.
p. 197.]

But though these open hostilities were not very considerable, the
disaffection was general among the English, who had become sensible,
though too late, of their defenceless condition, and began already to
experience those insults and injuries, which a nation must always expect
that allows itself to be reduced to that abject situation. A secret
conspiracy was entered into, to perpetrate in one day, a general
massacre of the Normans, like that which had formerly been executed upon
the Danes; and the quarrel was become so general and national, that
the vassals of Earl Coxo, having desired him to head them in an
insurrection, and finding him resolute in maintaining his fidelity to
William, put him to death as a traitor to his country.

The king, informed of these dangerous discontents, hastened over
to England; and by his presence, and the vigorous measures which he
pursued, disconcerted all the schemes of the conspirators. Such of them
as had been more violent in their mutiny, betrayed their guilt by flying
or concealing themselves; and the confiscation of their estates, while
it