Conqueror gave an opportunity to blend the graces of Norman chivalry,
and a somewhat higher form of civilization, with the rougher virtues of
the Saxon character. Henry II. personally illustrated this combination,
with his ruddy English face and strong physical powers, and impressed
himself upon British history by the conquest of Ireland. Richard Coeur
de Lion gave his country many famous pages of crusading in the East, and
embodied in his life and character the adventurous and daring spirit of
the age. Edward I. dominated events by his energy and ability, subdued
Wales, and for a time conquered the Kingdom of Scotland. Edward III., in
his long reign of fifty years, carried the British flag over the fields
of France, and won immortality at the battles of Crecy and Poictiers.
Henry V. gained the victory of Agincourt, and won and wore the title of
King of France. Then came the Wars of the Roses and the turbulent
termination to a period of six centuries during which the English
Monarchs had represented the military spirit of their times, and had led
in the rough process of struggle and conquest out of which was growing
the United Kingdom of to-day.

With the reign of Henry VIII. commenced the period of religious
change--the struggles for religious liberty against ecclesiastical
dominance. Limited as were the achievements of Henry and Elizabeth, in
this respect, by prevailing bigotry and narrowness of view as well as
by diverse personal characteristics, they none the less did great
service to the country and the people. The rule of Cromwell--who, in the
exercise of Royal power and the possession of regal personal ability,
may properly be included in such a connection--gave that liberty of
worship to a portion of the masses with which previous Sovereigns had
more especially endowed the classes. During the reign of the Stuarts
religious dissensions and ecclesiastical controversies and intermittent
persecutions, illustrated the predominant passion of the period; and
forced the weak or indifferent monarch of the moment to be an
unconscious factor in the progress towards that general toleration which
the Revolution of 1688 and the crowning of William and Mary finally
accomplished. But, whether it was Henry persecuting the monks, or
Elizabeth the Roman Catholics, or Mary the Protestants, or Cromwell the
Episcopalians, or Charles II. the Dissenters, each ruler was being led,
to a great degree, by the undercurrent of surrounding b