to reinstate himself in his throne, and
to wipe off he ignominity of his captivity. Their satisfaction was
not damped, even when he declared his purpose of resuming all those
exorbitant grants which he had been necessitated to make before his
departure for the Holy Land. The barons also, in a great council,
confiscated, on account of his treason, all Prince John's possessions
in England and they assisted the king in reducing the fortresses which
still remained in the hands of his brother's adherents.[*] Richard,
having settled every thing in England, passed over with an army into
Normandy; being impatient to make war on Philip, and to revenge himself
for the many injuries which he had received from that monarch.[**] As
soon as Philip heard of the king's deliverance from captivity, he wrote
to his confederate John in these terms: "Take care of yourself: the
devil is broken loose."[***]

[* Hoveden, p, 737. Ann. Waverl. p. 165. W.
Heming. p. 540.]

[** Hoveden, p. 740.]

[*** Hoveden p. 739]

When we consider such powerful and martial monarchs, inflamed with
personal animosity against each other, enraged by mutual injuries,
excited by rivalship, impelled by opposite interests, and instigated by
the pride and violence of their own temper, our curiosity is naturally
raised, and we expect an obstinate and furious war, distinguished by the
greatest events, and concluded by some remarkable catastrophe. Yet are
the incidents which attended those hostilities so frivolous, that scarce
any historian can entertain such a passion for military descriptions as
to venture on a detail of them; a certain proof of the extreme weakness
of princes in those ages, and of the little authority they possessed
over their refractory vassals The whole amount of the exploits on both
sides, is the taking of a castle, the surprise of a straggling party, a
rencounter of horse, which resembles more a rout than a battle. Richard
obliged Philip to raise the siege of Verneuil; he took Loches, a small
town in Anjou; he made himself master of Beaumont, and some other places
of little consequence; and after these trivial exploits, the two kings
began already to hold conferences for an accommodation. Philip insisted
that, if a general peace were concluded, the barons on each side should
for the future be prohibited from carrying on private wars against
each other; but Richard replied, that this was a right claimed by
his vassals, and h