etc.]

The king of France had fallen into an abject superstition; and was
induced, by a devotion more sincere than that of Henry, to make a
pilgrimage to the tomb of Becket, in order to obtain his intercession
for the cure of Philip, his eldest son. He probably thought himself
well entitled to the favor of that saint, on account of their ancient
intimacy; and hoped that Becket, whom he had protected while on earth,
would not now, when he was so highly exalted in heaven, forget his old
friend and benefactor. The monks, sensible that their saint's honor was
concerned in the case, failed not to publish that Lewis's prayers were
answered, and that the young prince was restored to health by Becket's
intercession. That king himself was soon after struck with an apoplexy,
which deprived him of his understanding: Philip though a youth of
fifteen, took on him the administration, till his father's death, which
happened soon after, {1180.} opened his way to the throne; and he proved
the ablest and greatest monarch that had governed that kingdom since
the age of Charlemagne. The superior years, however, and experience of
Henry, while they moderated his ambition, gave him such an ascendant
over this prince, that no dangerous rivalship for a long time arose
between them. The English monarch, instead of taking advantage of
his own situation, rather employed his good offices in composing
the quarrels which arose in the royal family of France; and he was
successful in mediating a reconciliation between Philip and his mother
and uncles. These services were but ill requited by Philip, who, when
he came to man's estate, fomented all the domestic discords in the royal
family of England, and encouraged Henry's sons in their ungrateful
and undutiful behavior towards him. Prince Henry, equally impatient
of obtaining power, and incapable of using it, renewed to the king the
demand of his resigning Normandy; and on meeting with a refusal, he fled
with his consort to the court of France: but not finding Philip at
that time disposed to enter into war for his sake, he accepted of his
father's offers of reconciliation, and made him submissions. It was
a cruel circumstance in the king's fortune, that he could hope for no
tranquillity from the criminal enterprises of his sons but by their
mutual discord and animosities, which disturbed his family and threw his
state into convulsions. Richard, whom he had made master of Guienne,
and who had displayed h