m was lame and misshapen,
quick of wit and unscrupulous. In a few weeks he had deprived his
rival of all authority. His own power did not last long. He had a
sharp tongue, and did not hesitate to let all men, great and small,
know how meanly he thought of them. Those whom he despised found a
leader in John, who was anxious to succeed his brother, and thought
that it might some day be useful to have made himself popular in
England. In the autumn of =1191= William of Longchamps was driven out
of the country.

3. =The Third Crusade. 1189--1192.=--Richard threw his whole
heart--his lion's heart, as men called it--into the crusade. Alike by
sea and by land, he knew better than any other leader of his age how
to direct the operations of war. He was too impetuous to guard himself
against the intrigues and personal rancour of his fellow-Crusaders. At
Messina he quarrelled with the wily Philip II. of France, while he
gave offence to all Germans by upholding the claims of Tancred to the
crown of Sicily, which was also claimed by the German king, who
afterwards became the Emperor Henry VI. In the spring of =1191=
Richard sailed from Sicily for the Holy Land, conquering Cyprus on the
way, where he married Berengaria of Navarre. Passing on to the coast
of Syria, he found the Crusaders besieging Acre, and his own vigour
greatly contributed to its fall. When Acre was taken Philip slipped
home to plot against Richard, and Richard found every French Crusader
and every German Crusader banded together against him. When he
advocated the right of Guy of Lusignan to the crown of Jerusalem, they
advocated the claim of Conrad of Montferrat. Jerusalem was not to be
had for either of them. Twice Richard brought the Crusading host
within a few miles of the Holy City. Each time he was driven to
retreat by the failure of the Crusaders to support him. The last time
his comrades invited him at least to reach a spot from which a view of
the city could be gained. Richard refused. If he was not worthy, he
said, to regain the city, he was not worthy to look on it.

4. =The Return of Richard. 1192--1194.=--In =1192= there was nothing
for it but to return home. Enemies were watching for him on every
shore. Landing at the head of the Adriatic, he attempted to make his
way in disguise through Germany. With characteristic want of
reflection, he roasted his meat at a village inn near Vienna with a
jewelled ring on his finger. Attention was aroused, and he wa