Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

loufy and refentment to commit the moft flagrant outrages against gratitude and found policy. His vices, as a king, feem to have been the effect of troubles in which he was involved; for, as a man, he was brave, open, and liberal; and, during the short calm that fucceeded the tempeft of his reign, he made a progrefs through his kingdom, published an edit to reftrain all rápine and violence, and difbanded the foreign mercenaries who had preyed fo long on his people. Smollett.

$42. Character of HENRY II.

Thus died, in the 58th year of his age, and thirty-fifth of his reign, the greatest prince of his time for wifdom, virtue, and ability, and the moft powerful in extent of dominion, of all thofe that had ever filled the throne of England. His character, both in public and private life, is almoft without a ble mish; and he feems to have poffeffed every accomplishment, both of body and mind, which makes a man eftimable or amiable. He was of a middle ftature, ftrong, and well proportioned; his countenance was lively and engaging; his converfation affable and entertaining; his elocution eafy, perfuafive, and ever at command. He loved peace, but poffeffed both conduct and bravery in war; was provident without timidity; fevere in the execution of juftice without rigour; and temperate without aufterity. He preferved health, and kept himfelf from corpulency, to which he was fomewhat inclined, by an abftemious diet, and by frequent exercife, particularly by hunting. When he could enjoy leifure, he recreated himself in learned converfation, or in reading; and he cultivated his natural talents by ftudy, above any prince of his time. His affections, as well as his enmities, were warm and durable; and his long experience of ingratitude and infidelity of men never deftroyed the natural fenfibility of his temper, which difpofed him to friendfhip and fociety. His character has been tranfmitted to us by many writers who were his contemporaries; and it refembles extremely, in its molt remarkable ftrokes, that al grandfather, Henry I.

excepting only that ambition, which was a ruling paffion in both, found not in the firft Henry fuch unexceptionable means of exerting itfelf, and pushed that prince into meafures which were both criminal in themfelves, and were the caufe of further crimes, from which his grandfon's conduct was happily exempted. Died 1189. Hume.

943. Another Character of HENRY II.

Thus died Henry in the fifty-feventh year of his age (Hume fays 58), and thirty-fifth of his reign, in the courfe of which he had, on fundry occafions, difplayed all the abilities of a politician, all the fagacity of a legiflator, and all the magnanimity of a hero. He lived revered above all the princes of his time; and his death was deeply lamented by his fubjects, whofe happiness feems to have been the chief aim of all his endeavours. He not only enacted wholefome laws, but faw them executed with great punctuality. He was generous, even to admiration, with regard to thofe who committed offences against his own perfon; but he never forgave the injuries that were offered to his people, for atrocious crimes were punifhed feverely without refpect of perfons. He was of a middle ftature, and the moft exact proportion; his countenance was round, fair and ruddy; his blue eyes were mild and engaging, except in a tranfport of paffion, when they fparkled like lightning, to the terror of the beholders. He was broad-chefted, ftrong, mufcular, and inclined to be corpulent, though he prevented the bad effects of this difpofition by hard exercife and continual fatigue; he was tem perate in his meals, even to a degree of abftinence, and feldom or ever fat down, except at fupper: he was eloquent, agreeable, and facetious; remarkably courteous and polite; compaffionate to all in diftrefs; fo charitable, that' conftantly allotted one tenth of houfhold provifions to the poor time of dearth he maintaine fand indigent perfons, fr ning of fpring till the His talents, natu cultivated with g lighted in the

[graphic]

men, to whom he was a generous benefactor. His memory was fo fuprizing ly tenacious, that he never forgot a face nor a circumstance that was worth remembering. Though fuperior to his contemporaries in ftrength, riches, true courage, and military skill; he never engaged in war without reluctance, and was fo averfe to blood fhed, that he expreffed an uncommon grief at the lofs of every private foldier: yet he was not exempt from human frailties; his paffions, naturally violent, often hurried him to excefs; he was prone to anger, transported with the luft of power, and particularly accufed of incontinence, not only in the affair of Rofamond, whom he is faid to have concealed in a labyrinth at Woodstock, from the jealous enquiry of his wife, but alfo in a fuppofed commerce with the French princefs Adalais, who was bred in England as the future wife of his fon Richard. This infamous breach of honour and

hofpitality, if he was actually guilty, is the fouleft ftain upon his character; though the fact is doubtful, and we hope the charge untrue.

Smollett.

$44. Character of RICHARD I. The most fhining part of this prince's character was his military talents; no man ever in that romantic age carried courage and intrepidity to a greater height; and this quality gained him the appellation of the lion-hearted, cœur de lion. He paffionately loved glory; and as his conduct in the field was not inferior to his valour, he seems to have poffeffed every talent neceffary for acquiring it: his refentments also were high, his pride unconquerable, and his fubjects, as well as his neighbours, had therefore reason to apprehend, from the continuance of his reign, a perpetual fcene of blood and violence. Of an impetuous and vehement fpirit, he was diftinguished by all the good as well as the bad qualities which are incident to that character. He was open, frank, generous, fincere, and brave; he was revengeful, domineering, ambitious, haughty, and cruel, and was thus better calculated to dazzle men by the fplendour of his enterprizes, than either to promote their happiness or his own.

grandeur by a found and well-regulated policy. As military talents make great impreffion on the people, he feems to have been much beloved by his English fubjects; and he is remarked to have been the firft prince of the Norman line who bore a fincere affection and regard for them. He paffed, however, only four months of his reign in that kingdom: the crufade employed him near three years: he was detained about four months in captivity; the reft of his reign was fpent either in war, or preparations for war againft France: and he was fo pleafed with the fame which he had acquired in the Eaft, that he feemed determined, notwithstanding all his paft misfortunes, to have further exhaufted his kingdom, and to have expofed himself to new hazards by conducting another expedition against the infidels. Died April 6, 1199, aged 42. Reigned ten years. Hume.

$45. Another Character of RICHARD I.

This renowned prince was tall, ftrong, ftraight, and well proportioned. His arms were remarkably long, his eyes, blue, and full of vivacity; his hair was of a yellowish colour; his countenance fair and comely, and his air majestic. He was endowed with good natural underftanding; his penetration was uncommon; he poffeffed a fund of manly eloquence; his converfation was spirited, and he was admired for his talents of repartee; as for his courage and ability in war, both Europe and Afia refound with his praife. The Saracens ftilled their children with the terror of his name; and Saladine, who was an accomplished prince, admired his valour to fuch a degree of enthusiasm, that immediately after Richard had defeated him on the plains of Joppa, he fent him a couple of fine Arabian horfes, in token of his efteem; a polite compliment, which Richard returned with magnificent prefents. These are the fhining parts of his character, which, however, cannot dazzle the judicious obferver fo much, but that he may perceive a number of blemishes, which no hiftorian has been able to efface from the memory of this celebrated monarch. His ingratitude and want of filial af

fection

fection are unpardonable. He was proud, haughty, ambitious, choleric, cruel, vindictive, and debauched; nothing could equal his rapaciousness but his profufion, and, indeed, the one was the effect of the other; he was a tyrant to his wife, as well as to his people, who groaned under his taxations to fuch à degree, that even the glory of his victories did not exempt him from their execrations; in a word, he has been aptly compared to a lion, a fpecies of animals which he refembled not only in courage, but likewife in ferocity.

Smollett.

$ 46. Character of JOHN. The character of this prince is nothing but a complication of vices, equally mean and odious, ruinous to himfelf, and deftructive to his people: cowardice, inactivity, folly, levity, licentiousness, ingratitude, treachery, tyranny, and cruelty; all thefe qualities too evidently appear in the feveral incidents of his life, to give us room to fufpect, that the difagreeable picture has been anywife overcharged by the prejudice of the ancient hiftorians. It is hard to fay whether his conduct to his father, his brother, his nephew, or his fubjects, was moft culpable; or whether his crimes in thefe refpects were not even exceeded by the bafenefs which appeared in his tranfactions with the king of France, the pope, and the barons. His dominions, when they devolved to him by the death of his brether, were more extenfive than have ever fince his time been ruled by any English monarch. But he firft loft, by his mifconduct, the flourishing provinces in France; the ancient patrimony of his family. He fubjected his kingdom to a fhameful vaffalage under the fee of Rome; he faw the prerogatives of his crown diminished by law, and ftill more reduced by faction; and he died at laft when in danger of being totally expelled by a foreign power, and of either ending his life miferably in a prifon, or feeking fhelter as a fugitive from the purfuit of his enemies.

The prejudices against this prince were fo violent, that he was believed to have sent an embaffy to the emperor of

2

Morocco, and to have offered to change his religion and become Mahometan, in order to purchase the protection of that monarch; but, though that ftory is told us on plaufible authority, it is in itself utterly improbable, except that there is nothing fo incredible as may not become likely from the folly and wickedness of John. Died 1216. Hume.

§ 47. Another Character of JOHN.

John was in his perfon taller than the middle fize, of a good fhape and agreeable countenance; with respect to his difpofition, it is ftrongly delineated in the tranfactions of his reign. If his understanding was contemptible, his heart was the object of deteftation; we find him flothful, fhallow, proud, imperious, cowardly, libidinous, and inconftant, abject in adverfity, and overbearing in fuccefs; contemned and hated by his fubjects, over whom he tyrannized to the utmost of his power; abhorred by the clergy, whom he op preffed with exactions; and defpifed by all the neighbouring princes of Europe: though he might have paffed through life without incurring fuch a load of odium and contempt, had not his reign been perplexed by the turbulence of his barons, the rapacioufnefs of the pope, and the ambition of fuch a monarch as Philip Auguftus; his character could never have afforded one quality that would have exempted him from the difguft and fcorn of his people: neverthelefs, it must be owned, that his reign is not altogether barren of laudable tranfactions. He regulated the form of the government in the city of London, and feveral other places in the kingdom. He was the first who coined fterling money. Smollett.

$48. Character of HENRY III.

The most obvious circumitance of Henry the Third's character, is his incapacity for government, which rendered him as much a prifoner in the hands of his own minifters and favou. rites, and as little at his own difpofal, as when detained a captive in the hands of his enemies. From this fource, rather than from infincerity and trea

chery,

chery, arofe his negligence in obferving his promises; and he was too eafily induced, for the fake of prefent convenience, to facrifice the lafting advantages arifing from the truft and confidence of his people. Hence were derived his profufion to favourites, his attachment to ftrangers, the variablenefs of his conduct, his hafty refentments, and his fudden forgivenefs and return of affection. Inftead of reducing the dangerous power of his nobles, by obliging them to obferve the laws towards their inferiors, and fetting them the falutary example in his own government, he was feduced to imitate their conduct, and to make his arbitrary will, or rather that of his minifters, the rule of his actions,

Inftead of accommodating himself, by a strict frugality, to the embarrassed fituation in which his revenue had been left, by the military expedition of his uncle, the diffipations of his father, and the ufurpations of the barons; he was tempted to levy money by irregular exactions, which, without enriching himfelf, impoverished, or at least difgufted, his people. Of all men, nature feemed leaft to have fitted him for being a tyrant; yet are there inftances of oppreffion in his reign, which, though de. rived from the precedents left him by his predeceffors, had been carefully guarded against by the great charter; and are inconfiftent with all rules of good government: and, on the whole, we may fay, that greater abilities, with his good difpofitions, would have prevented him from falling into his faults; or, with worse difpofitions, would have enabled him to maintain and defend them. Died November 16, 1272, aged 64. Reigned 56 years, Hume. $49. Another Character of HENRY III.

Henry was of a middle fize and ro. bust make, and his countenance had a peculiar caft from his left eye-lid, which hung down fo far as to cover part of his eye. The particulars of his character may be gathered from the detail of his conduct. He was certainly a prince of very mean talents; irrefolute, inconftant, and capricious; proud, infolent, and arbitrary; arrogant in prof

perity, and abject in adverfity; profufe, rapacious, and choleric, though defti tute of liberality, œconomy, and courage; yet his continence was praifeworthy, as well as his averfion to cruelty; for he contented himself with punishing the rebels in their effects, when he might have glutted his revenge with their blood. He was prodigal even to excefs, and therefore always in neceffity. Notwithstanding the great fums he levied from his fubjects, and though his occafions were never fo preffing, he could not help fquandering away his money upon worthless favourites, without confidering the difficulty he always found in obtaining fupplies from parliament. Smollett.

$50. Character of EDWARD I.

The enterprizes finished by this prince, and the projects which he formed, and brought very near to a conclufion, were more prudent and more regularly conducted, and more advantageous to the folid interefts of this kingdom, than those which were undertaken in any reign either of his ancestors or fucceffors. He reftored authority to the government, difordered by the weakness of his father; he maintained the laws against all the efforts of his turbulent barons; he fully annexed to the crown the principality of Wales; he took the wifeft and most effectual measures for re. ducing Scotland to a like condition; and though the equity of this latter enterprize may reasonably be questioned, the circumftances of the two kingdoms promifed fuch fuccefs, and the advantage was fo vifible, of uniting the whole island under one head, that those who give great indulgence to reafons of ftate in the measures of princes, will not be apt to regard this part of his conduc with much severity.

But Edward, however exceptionable his character may appear on the head of justice, is the model of a politic and warlike king. He poffeffed induftry, penetration, courage, vigour, and enterprize. He was frugal in all expences that were not neceffary; he knew how to open the public treasures on proper occafions; he punished criminals with feverity; he was gracious and affable to

his

[blocks in formation]

§ 51. Another Character of EDWARD I. He was a prince of very dignified appearance, tall in ftature; regular and comely in his features; with keen piercing eyes, and of an afpect that commanded reverence and efteem. His conftitution was robuft; his ftrength and dexterity perhaps unequalled in his kingdom; and his fhape was unblemifhed in all other refpects, but that of his legs, which are faid to have been too long in proportion to his body; whence he derived the epithet of Long Shanks. In the qualities of his head, he equalled the greatest monarchs who have fat on the English throne. He was cool, penetrating, fagacious, and circumfpe&t. The remoteft corners of the earth founded with the fame of his courage; and all over Europe he was confidered as the flower of chivalry. Nor was he lefs confummate in his legiflative capacity, than eminent for his prowefs. He may be styled the English Juftinian: for, befides the excellent ftatutes that were enacted in his reign, he new-modelled the adminiftration of juftice, fo as to render it more fure and fummary; he fixed proper bounds to the courts of jurifdiction; fettled a new and eafy method of collecting the revenue, and established wife and effectual methods of preferving peace and order among his fubject. Yet, with all thefe good qualities, he cherished a dangerous ambition, to which he did. not fcruple to facrifice the good of his country; witnefs his ruinous war with Scotland, which drained the king dom of men and money, and gave rife to that rancorous enmity which proved fo prejudicial to both nations. Though he is celebrated for his chastity and re. gular deportment, there is not, in the

[blocks in formation]

§ 52. Character of EDWARD II.

It is not easy to imagine a man more innocent or inoffenfive than this unhappy king; nor a prince lefs fitted for ple fubjected to his authority. He was governing that fierce and turbulent peoobliged to devolve on others the weight of government which he had neither ability nor inclination to bear: the fame indolence and want of penetration led him to make choice of ministers and favourites, which were not always best qualified for the truft committed to them. The feditious grandees, pleafed with his weaknefs, and complaining of it, under pretence of attaching his minifters, infulted his perfon, and invaded his authority; and the impatient populace, ignorant of the fource of their grievan ces, threw all the blame upon the king, and increafed the public diforders by their faction and infolence. It was in vain to look for protection from the laws, whofe voice, always feeble in those times, was not heard in the din of arms: what could not defend the king, was lefs able to give fhelter to any one of his people; the whole machine of government was torn in pieces, with fury and violence; and men, inftead of complaining again ft the manners of the age, and the form of their conftitution, which required the most steady and the moft skilful hand to conduct them, imputed all errors to his perfon who had the misfortune to be intrufted with the reins of empire. Murdered 21 September, 1327.

Hume.

[blocks in formation]
« ZurückWeiter »