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upon earth the boon of an eternal kingdom, "where the heavenly hosts should reign with him for ever."

In 1152, young Henry Plantagenet, who the year preceding had received the accolade of knighthood from his uncle, David of Scotland, at Carlisle, set sail for England, to contest once more with Stephen the crown. Most happily for the nation, worn and wasted by almost eighteen years of civil war, a composition was entered into, by which Stephen was secured possession of the crown during his life, the reversion being guaranteed to young Plantagenet. This arrangement, in which there is every reason to believe that the empress willingly joined, "had," says Sandford, in his own homely manner, "such an effect, that after the death of that king (Stephen,) she lived to see her son in possession of the kingdom of England and other large acquisitions, and is not so much as mentioned by historians after this accommodation till the time of her death; which is much to be wondered at, especially that she being so stirring a woman should be so quiet upon a sudden as not to have one word spoken of her in all the long time she lived after;" and the worthy Lancaster Herald, unable to unravel the mystery, declares, in conclusion, "that it is a Gordian knot which no writer helps us to untie.”

It is indeed a singular instance of moderation, in a mind so haughty and ambitious, to yield up the contest, to which every energy for eight anxious years had been devoted, even at that moment when Heaven, by the death of her husband, by the unexpected decease of Eustace, and by the fast-fail

ing health of Stephen, seemed most decidedly to promise success. And yet, although unbroken by age, unsubdued in spirit, and with an intellect invigorated and enlightened by more than forty years' experience, she resigned that sceptre to a son scarcely passed the age of boyhood; " and retiring herself to privacy, never, as it seems, casting a repentant look on the brilliant possessions she had left behind."

It may be fanciful; but might it not be, that, when after her third and most signal escape, cold, and wet, and weary, unattended and half clothed, she stood within the friendly walls of Wallingford castle, a second vow, unbreathed perchance in articulate sounds, arose in the grateful breast of the empress ; and contemplating the fearful loss of life and devastation this unhappy conflict had occasioned, and reflecting on her thrice-repeated defeat, coupled with her thrice-repeated almost miraculous rescue, she might vow never again to contest that crown which Heaven itself seemed determined to snatch from her brow.

But although the empress thus disappears from the pages of English history in the records of Normandy, her name will be found associated with every expression of grateful remembrance which her mild and judicious regency demanded. On the accession of her son Henry to the throne of England, she was constituted by him regent of Normandy; and taking up her residence in the favourite city of Rouen, held there the reins of government for nearly fourteen years. During this period she principally dis

tinguished herself by works of religion and charity. In compliance with the feelings of the age, in addition to the before-mentioned monastery of "Notre Dame du Vou," she founded that of "St. Mary de la Noue," in the diocese of Evreux, for Cistercians, and that of St. Andrew, in the forest of Gouffre. While she resided in England, and subsequently to the wars which she had occasioned, she also became foundress of the abbey of Bordesley; which is stated in her charter of foundation to be established "for the peace of her father and mother, ancestors, husband, and children, and for the peace and stability of the realm,” and also that of Stanleigh. She gave also to Reading the manor of Blewberry, in Berkshire; and joined with Stephen, in testimony of reconciliation, in founding and endowing the monastery of Radmore, in the year 1142. To the city of Rouen she was an especial benefactress. Almost every charitable and religious establishment within its walls testified her munifience; but the most important gift which she bestowed on its citizens was the noble stone bridge across the Seine, which superseded the mean and inconvenient, but ancient bridge of boats.

Although the empress had withdrawn into comparative retirement, yet her influence was almost as great as when in youth she had worn the diadem of the Caesars, or when in maturer years the crown of England had been placed on her brow. To her councils her son always lent a willing ear, and to the last moment of her life she was consulted on every important occasion. In the unhappy contest

between Henry and Becket, she took great interest, and endeavoured unceasingly to reconcile them to each other; and in no instance does the intellectual character of this gifted woman so challenge our respect as in the clear-sighted policy which characterized her mediation, a task to which she was appointed by the sovereign Pontiff himself. To the complaints of Becket, that her son "had afflicted the clergy in an intolerable manner, and exacted from them things unheard-of and unaccustomed," she returned a judicious answer, assuring him that mildness and moderation would be most effectual in regaining the king's favour, and expressing her indignation against the episcopal policy of ordaining men without titles, of allowing pluralities, and most especially of permitting pecuniary compensations for crime. To the messengers from the king she expressed her great disapprobation of many of the constitutions of Clarendon; blamed him for having reduced them to writing, and for having insisted that the bishops should observe them; warned him against the danger of pressing the prerogative farther than his predecessors, and earnestly exhorted him to peace. Well had it been for either disputant, had the intelligent remonstrances of the empress been successful. But the monarch was proud, and the archbishop unyielding; and although, to her earnest recommendation of peace, each bent a respectful ear, yet hatred rankled too deeply in each breast to permit a reconciliation.

Ere her peace-making purpose could be effected, the empress Maude was no more;-she died after a

short illness at Rouen, on the 10th of September, 1167. She was the mother of three sons; one of whom, the eldest, now king of England, alone survived her. Geoffrey the second, to whom his father had bequeathed the earldom of Anjou, did not long survive the violent seizure of his domains by his unnatural brother, but died broken-hearted, in 1157. William, the youngest, of whom scarcely any notice can be found, died at Rouen, in 1163.

On the arrival of the intelligence of the empress Maude's death, Henry, whose conduct towards his illustrious mother had always been most respectful, immediately proceeded to Rouen; where, in compliance with her last will, he distributed large sums to churches, to convents, to the poor, and to the leper. That duty performed, he then, followed by a numerous train, conveyed the remains of this illustrious woman to that abbey church of Bec where, more than thirty years before, she had so anxiously solicited a grave. Here she was interred before the altar of the Virgin. A splendid tomb, richly adorned with silver, arose to her memory, and on it was inscribed the proud epitaph

"Ortu magna, viro major, sed maxima partu,

Hic jacet Henrici filia, sponsa, parens."

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