usefully as well as amusingly illustrated, by the following instances of what we should now call unwarrantable interference with the liberty of the subject, and which I find, with many others, in Madox's History of the Exchequer. Alice Bertram is condemned to pay the fine of one hundred marks, for not coming to be married at the king's summons ! "Celestia, widow of Richard, son of Colbern," pays a large sum, "that she might have her children in wardship, and that she might not be married except to her own good liking" this took place in Henry II's reign. Again, Isabel de Bolebec pays John "three palfreys and three hundred marks, that she might not be distrained to marry;" but agreeing on her part, that, if she wished to marry, she would first demand the king's conduct. Occasionally John sells his power to enforce or forbid marriages, as when he accepts one hundred marks from Bartholomew de Muleton, to whom he grants, in return, "the lands and heir of Lambert de Ybetoft in custody, with leave to marry the widow of Lambert to whomever he might please!" John was married three times, and by his third wife, Isabella of Angoulême, he had two sons and three daughters. He founded the Abbey of Beau lieu, in Hampshire. The stone bridge over the Thames was finished in his time by the merchants of London, and the Church of St. Mary Overies, in Southwark, was built. He died at the age of 51, and in the eighteenth year of his reign. THE KING'S VENGEANCE. THE tyranny by which John aroused the hatred of his barons has been more than once alluded to in the abstract of his reign; I am now about to relate to you a very fearful instance of this worthless monarch's wickedness. Aware of the strong disapprobation his conduct excited among the nobles, King John had demanded that great numbers of their children should be placed in his hands, as hostages for the peaceable demeanour of their parents. The heir of William de Bruce-or de Braose, as he is more correctly named-lord of Bramber, in Sussex, was in this manner required from his parents by Peter de Mauluc, an especial confidant of John, and one who was said to have assisted him in the murder of his nephew Arthur. But the mother of the boy, a Norman lady of the house of St. Valery, was aware of the crime imputed to this Mauluc, and declared that she would not resign her child to a sovereign who had murdered his nephew, nor to one who had taken part in the crime. Her words were overheard and maliciously reported to the king by De Mauluc; and the Lady de Braose, becoming sensible of the danger into which her imprudent reply had thrown her family, made all possible efforts to propitiate the queen in her favour, hoping that the influence of Isabella might procure a pardon for her offence. 66 Among other offerings, the lady of Bramber sent the queen a present of four hundred cows and one beautiful bull, all milk-white, the ears only excepted, which were red." But the deadly anger of John was not to be thus averted; he pursued the unfortunate family into Ireland, whither they had retired for safety-seized them at Meath, and had all brought prisoners to his Castle of Windsor. Here the wretched sufferers were shut up in a strong room.-Father, mother, and five innocent children where, shocking to relate, the whole were deliberately starved to death! "An atrocity," as is well remarked by an admirable writer of our own day, "compared with which the dark stain of Arthur's murder fades to the hue of a venial crime." This cruel tragedy has been made the subject of an episode in a drama by Davenport, an author who wrote in the middle of the 17th century. I subjoin some extracts from a scene he describes as taking place between the Lady de Braose, her youngest son, and their cruel jailor, a wretch whom he calls Brand, and whom he describes as a retainer of the Earl of Chester. Enter Brand. He makes a long speech which I do not give you, then calls,— "Come out madam mother and your young prating brat! Enter Lady and Boy. BRAND. They do look hungry already! LADY.-What would our unkind jailor? Boy. Sure, mother, Mr. Brand hath brought us victuals. * He leaves them after many taunts, the next time he visits them it is to demand— "How have you passed the time you wanted victuals?" LADY.-Very hardly! and still the poor boy sighing would say Mother, "You look very hungry!" I did think straight how hard Your heart was; then we both did fall a weeping, Cling'd our lean armes about each other's neck And sat, a pair of mourners. BRAND.-Delicate pastime !-look yee! here's bread. Boy.-Oh, if you be a good man, give me but a bit to give my mother, poor soul, Indeed she's very hungry! BRAND. Yes, so is my dogge! I must keep this for his breakfast. LADY.-Give but my boy one bit! |