ng, the little remains of liberty they
continued to enjoy, and at last such a degree of his confidence as in
some sort counterbalanced the severities of the former part of his
reign.

FOOTNOTES:

[72] I have known, myself, great mistakes in calculation by computing,
as the produce of every day in the year, that of one extraordinary day.

[73] The Bishop of Winchester fined for not putting the king in mind to
give a girdle to the Countess of Albemarle.--Robertus de Vallibus debet
quinque optimos palafredos, ut rex taceret de uxore Henrici Pinel.--The
wife of Hugh do Nevil fined in two hundred hens, that she might lie
with, her husband for one night; another, that he might rise from, his
infirmity; a third, that he might eat.

[74] For some particulars of the condition of the English of this time,
vide Eadmer, p. 110.

[75] Upon occasion of a ward refused in marriage. Wright thinks the
feudal right of marriage not then introduced.

CHAPTER III.

REIGN OF WILLIAM THE SECOND, SURNAMED RUFUS.

[Sidenote: A.D. 1087.]

William had by his queen Matilda three sons, who survived him,--Robert,
William, and Henry. Robert, though in an advanced age at his father's
death, was even then more remarkable for those virtues which make us
entertain hopes of a young man than for that steady prudence which is
necessary when the short career we are to run will not allow us to make
many mistakes. He had, indeed, a temper suitable to the genius of the
time he lived in, and which therefore enabled him to make a considerable
figure in the transactions which distinguished that period. He was of a
sincere, open, candid nature; passionately fond of glory; ambitious,
without having any determinate object in view; vehement in his pursuits,
but inconstant; much in war, which he understood and loved. But guiding
himself, both in war and peace, solely by the impulses of an unbounded
and irregular spirit, he filled the world with an equal admiration and
pity of his splendid qualities and great misfortunes. William was of a
character very different. His views were short, his designs few, his
genius narrow, and his manners brutal; full of craft, rapacious, without
faith, without religion; but circumspect, steady, and courageous for his
ends, not for glory. These qualities secured to him that fortune which
the virtues of Robert deserved. Of Henry we shall speak hereafter.

[Sidenote: A.D. 1088.]

We have seen the quarrels, together with