execution of the laws, was sold to Hugh de
Puzas, bishop of Durham, for a thousand marks; the same prelate bought
the earldom of Northumberland for life;[**] many of the champions of the
cross, who had repented of their vow, purchased the liberty of violating
it; and Richard, who stood less in need of men than of money, dispensed,
on these conditions, with their attendance. Elated with the hopes of
fame, which in that age attended no wars but those against the infidels,
he was blind to every other consideration; and when some of his wiser
ministers objected to this dissipation of the revenue and power of the
crown, he replied, that he would sell London itself could he find a
purchaser.[***] Nothing indeed could be a stronger proof how negligent
he was of all future interests in comparison of the crusade, than his
selling, for so small a sum as ten thousand marks, the vassalage of
Scotland, together with the fortresses of Roxborough and Berwick, the
greatest acquisition that had been made by his father during the course
of his victorious reign; and his accepting the homage of William in
the usual terms, merely for the territories which that prince held in
England.[****] The English of all ranks and stations were oppressed by
numerous exactions: menaces were employed both against the innocent and
the guilty, in order to extort money from them; and where a pretence
was wanting against the rich, the king obliged them, by the fear of his
displeasure, to lend him sums which he knew it would never be in his
power to repay.

[* The sheriff had anciently both the
administration of justice and the management of the king's
revenue committed to him in the county. See Hale, of
Sheriffs' Accounts.]

[** M. Paris, p. 109.]

[*** W. Hemming, p. 519. Knyghton, p. 2402.]

[**** Hoveden, p. 562. Rymer, vol. i. p. 64. M.
West. p. 257.]

But Richard, though he sacrificed every interest and consideration to
the success of this pious enterprise, carried so little the appearance
of sanctity in his conduct, that Fulk curate of Neuilly, a zealous
preacher of the crusade, who from that merit had acquired the privilege
of speaking the boldest truths, advised him to rid himself of his
notorious vices, particularly his pride, avarice, and voluptuousness,
which he called the king's three favorite daughters. "You counsel well,"
replied Richard; "and I hereby dispose of the first to the Templars, of
the se