Who found, returning, to thy cost,
The mem'ry of that kick not lost,
And was by Austria's lads surrounded,
And 'till great ransom paid, impounded.
Or, as your Troubadour* folks tell,
Was fiddled out by one Blondel,

Fiddled

brave associates,) Cœur de Lion not only laboured in person, but appointed hours for other leaders to work at the head of their men. All chearfully obeyed, except the Duke of Austria, who sent word that his father having been neither bricklayer nor mason, he had not learned either business. The English King hearing this insolent speech repeated to his face by the haughty Duke, cum pede percussit" Anglice kicked him out of his tent, and ordered his banner to be disgraced.

BROMPTON.

* King Richard was a passionate lover of poetry, and bears a rank among the Provencal Poets or Troubadours, who were the first of the modern Europeans that distinguished themselves by attempts of that nature.

HUME.

CRESCIMBINI, in his Commentary on the Lives of the Provencal Poets, says that Richard composed a sonnet which he sent to Princess Stephanetta, wife of Hugh de Baux, and other sonnets, while a prisoner, which he sent to Beatrix, Count of Provence; the whole of one the latter productions is given in the Catalogue of Royal Authors, one or two verses will be sufficient here to give an idea of the supposed softness of the Provencal dialect.

REIZ RIZARD.

Ja nus hom pris non dira sa raison,
Adreitamout se com hom dolent non,
Mas per conort pot il faire chanson,
Pro adamis, mas povre son li don,

M 2

Onta

Fiddled or not (excuse me hyper-
Critics) Old England paid the piper.
Who made with Saladin a truce,

(As was the war) of little use.
Whose brother JOHN took arms, and then
You made him lay 'em down again.
Who beat King PHILIP out of measure,
And lost your life while seeking treasure.*

O, gallant Prince! such store of deeds
To tell, my pen must mending needs,
Therefore I only, valiant King,

Have set down what I wish'd to sing;

Onta j avron, se por ma Reezon,
Soi fai dos yver pris.

Or sachon ben mi hom e mi baron,
Engles, Norman, Pettavin & Gascon,
Que ge navoie si' povre compagnon,
Que laissasse por aver en preison,
Ge nol di pas, por nulla retraison,
Mas anquar soise pris.

*While besieging the Castle of Chalons, or Choley, where it was supposed a treasure lay concealed, which Richard claimed, and where" an Arbalaster standing upon the wall, and seeing his time, charged his steel bow with a square arrow, making first his prayer to God that he would direct that shot and deliver the innocency of the besieged from oppression, mortally wounded the King in the left shoulder: the anguish and peril whereof was extremely increased by the unskilfulness of the chirurgeon." MEDULLA HISTORIE ANGLICANE.

For

For in thy reign, I'm told, a bard
Found it a subject keen and hard,

And much was forced his brain to tax,
Even to sing thy battle axe,

With all its murd'rous hews and hacks.
This version shall conclude my page,
And shew the genius of thy age.

SPECIMEN

SPECIMEN OF POETRY,

IN THE YEAR 1190.

KING RICHARD, I understonde,
When he went out of En-ge-londe;
Let make an axe, for the nones,

To break therewith the Sarasyns bones.
The head thereof was wrought full weel,
Therein was twenty pounds of steele;
And when he came to Cyprus londe,
This axe taketh he in honde,
The Griffons fast away they rapp'd
All that he hit, he also frapp'd.†
And the prison when he came to,
With his axe he smote right thro'

Dores, barres, and iron chaynes!

Griffons.-Heathens.
+ Frapp'd.-Knocked down.

WARTON.

SUMMARY

SUMMARY OF THE REIGN OF

JOHN,

SURNAMED

SANS TERRE, OR LACKLAND.

Born in London, A.D. 1166. Crowned at Westminster, 1199. Married thrice, first to Alice, daughter of Hugh, Earl Morton; next to Avisa, heiress of Glocester, whom he repudiated, and married Isabella, daughter to Aimar, Earl of Angouleme; he had issue only by his third wife, viz. Henry, his successor; Richard, Earl of Cornwall, and King of the Romans; Joan,* espoused Alexander II. of Scotland; Isabella, consort to the Emperor Frederick II.; and Eleanor, married first to William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, and afterwards to Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester. He left also six natural children. He reigned seventeen years and a half. Died in 1216, and was buried at Worcester.

PRINCIPAL EVENTS.

Wars with France. The King of Scotland pays homage at Lincoln. Quarrels with the Pope, manly resistance and subsequent mean submission of the King to the See of Rome. The King and kingdom excommunicated. The French fleet destroyed. A revolt of the Barons, and the signature of MAGNA CHARTA. London-bridge first built of stone.

EMINENT PERSONS.

Prince Arthur, nephew to and supposed to be murdered by the King. Gerald Barry, better known as Giraldus Cambrensis. Gervase, of Canterbury, and Ralph de Dreese,

* This amiable Princess was styled Joan Makepeace for her constant and successful endeavours to keep England and Scotland in amity.

celebrated