as they will," he cried bitterly. "I care no more for
myself or for the world." After a few days of suffering he died. The
last words which passed his lips were, "Shame, shame upon a conquered
king."

27. =The Work of Henry II.=--The wisest and most powerful ruler can
only assist the forces of nature; he cannot work against them. Those
who merely glance at a map in which the political divisions of France
are marked as they existed in Henry's reign, cannot but wonder that
Henry did not make himself master of the small territory which was
directly governed, in turn, by Louis VII. and Philip II. A careful
study of the political conditions of his reign shows, however, that he
was not really strong enough to do anything of the kind. His own power
on the Continent was purely feudal, and he held authority over his
vassals there because they had personally done homage to him. Henry,
however, had also done homage to the king of France, and did not
venture, even if he made war upon his lord, the king of France, to
push matters to extremities against him, lest his sons as his own
vassals might push matters to extremities against himself. He could
not, in short, expel the king of France from Paris, lest he should
provoke his own vassals to follow his example of insubordination and
expel him from Bordeaux or Rouen. Moreover, Henry had too much to do
in England to give himself heart and soul to Continental affairs,
whilst the king of France, on the contrary, who had no foreign
possessions, and was always at his post, would be the first to profit
by a national French feeling whenever such a feeling arose. England
under Henry II. was already growing more united and more national. The
crown which Henry derived from the Conqueror was national as well as
feudal. Henry, like his predecessors, had two strings to his bow. On
the one hand he could call upon his vassals to be faithful to him
because they had sworn homage to him, whilst he himself, as far as
England was concerned, had sworn homage to no one. On the other hand,
he could rally round him the national forces. To do this he must do
justice and gain the goodwill of the people at large. It was this that
he had attempted to do, by sending judges round the country and by
improving the law, by establishing scutage to weaken the power of the
barons, and by strengthening the national forces by the Assize of
Arms. No doubt he had little thanks for his pains. Men could feel the
weight of hi