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son Henry; but no sooner was the scholar dead than many of them went over to the side of Stephen, who, as the son of Adela, the Conqueror's daughter, set up his claim, and was crowned by the primate as King of England.

And now for nearly twenty years our poor country was given up to war, anarchy, and rapine, with their fearful attendants, famine, disease, and death. The Scotch, under King David, made two powerful incursions, but were signally defeated at the battle of the Standard, at North Allerton, 1138, and this was followed by a civil war between Matilda and Stephen, which was prosecuted with varying success. At Lincoln, Stephen was defeated and taken prisoner. But Queen Matilda was too haughty to please even her own supporters, and when her brother Robert, Earl of Gloucester, died, she found it prudent to retire to Normandy. Her son, Prince Henry, soon took up the contest, but in prospect of the renewal of a fierce struggle, one nobleman, the Earl of Arundel, dared to plead for peace. Others joined in the cry, and the rival parties agreed to lay down arms, on the understanding that Stephen should reign during his lifetime, but that Prince Henry should succeed him. The year following, 1154, Stephen died, when this treaty was carried out.

Such is the sad story of the reigns of the early Norman kings. Could we picture to you the condition of the country, first, during the latter part of the reign of Alfred, and then, as it was under King Stephen, about 250 years later, the contrast would be sad indeed. In the Anglo-Saxon, or as we prefer to say, Old English times, king and nobles, caring for the well-being of the whole people, were met by a loyal and loving

obedience; and the commonwealth, knit together by such mutual ties, grew and prospered. In the Norman times, on the other hand, we see selfishness, the most intense, taking possession of king and nobles. The latter, secure as they thought in their castles, made war at will upon their neighbours, and treated the English peasants as slaves, wringing from them everything they possessed. Thus it was that the land from year to year grew more and more the scene of violence and misery, and from one end to the other became, as an old chronicle describes it, a charnel house of impurity and death.

Before going further in the history of our country, we must explain a little the great and fundamental change in the constitution brought about by the Norman Conquest. In other words, we must describe what is meant by and included in the Feudal System.

This system had its origin in times of Roman conquest. By it, territory acquired by force of arms was granted conditionally in large portions to the chief military commander, who in his turn, made sub-grants to the other veterans who had fought with him in its conquest.

When the Teutonic tribes of Northern Europe overran the Roman empire, they imitated this mode of dividing the land, and hence arose the leading principle of the feudal system; namely, that all land was held on condition of military service rendered by the holder.

The highest power, generally the king, claiming the first or superior right to the whole country, granted the land to barons, as his tenants-in-chief; these were then the king's vassals, and were bound, in return, to be true and faithful to their lord, and to furnish in time of war a

certain number of knights fully equipped to serve the king for forty days. The barons in like manner received the fealty and service of their vassals, and in turn gave them protection in time of war.

So in our own country. The Conqueror claimed the land of the entire country, and parcelled it out among his barons. But the Anglo-Saxon nobles, abbots, bishops, and freemen had long held these lands, some in large, others in small portions, by long established rights of various kinds. It was not to be expected that they should willingly give up their ancestral estates to foreigners. But the least resistance on their part was treated as rebellion. Some few indeed were allowed to retain a middle position and to live in their old halls, on little more than a nominal homage being paid to the Norman lord, but the greater number were altogether dispossessed.

With the lands were the old free farmers and peasants, as well as those who built the halls and farmsteads, ploughed the land, herded the swine and cattle. What of all these? The Norman baron treated them as belonging to the land; and thus, while the Saxon thane became the feudal vassal of the Norman nobleman, the free peasant of the former sank into the serf or villein of the latter.

This new state of things could only be a constant source of irritation to the English. And in this you have the key to the perpetual risings and tumults of the early Norman times. It was to overawe and quell their rebellious vassals and serfs, as well as to strengthen themselves against each other, that so many huge castles were built, some of which even yet stand. The whole country became dotted with these strongholds, the

homes of military chiefs and adventurers, always ready for war, and often bent on violence.

EXERCISES.-I. Define,-Confirm, maintain, attendant, renewal, imitated, resistance, and nominal. 2. Show the cause of the frequent uprisings of the people during the reigns of the early Norman kings. 3. Explain the feudal system as it was carried out in England.

THE MEN OF OLD.

R. MONCKTON MILNES (LORD HOUGHTON).

Ingenuous, open or candid.

Foregone, given up.

Reverse, a change for the worse.

Proffered, offered to give.
Diadem, a crown.

Aspire, to long for.

Appointed, fixed by authority.
Scanned, looked into.
Unmanned, without self-control.
Scope, as far as one can see.
Sublimest, highest in thought.
Restrain, to keep back by force.

I know not that the men of old

Were better than men now,

Of heart more kind, of hand more bold,
Of more ingenuous brow:

I heed not those who pine for force
A ghost of time to raise,

As if they thus could check the course

Of these appointed days.

Still is it true, and over true,
That I delight to close

This book of life self-wise and new,
And let my thoughts repose
On all that humble happiness
The world has since forgone-
The daylight of contentedness
That on those faces shone !

With rights, though not too closely scanned,

Enjoyed, as far as known

With will, by no reverse unmanned

With pulse of even tone

They from to-day and from to-night

Expected nothing more,

Than yesterday and yesternight

Had proffered them before.

To them was life a simple art
Of duties to be done,

A game where each man took his part,
A race where all must run;

A battle whose great scheme and scope
They little cared to know,
Content, as men-at-arms, to cope
Each with his fronting foe.

Man now his virtue's diadem

Puts on, and proudly wears

Great thoughts, great feelings, came to them,
Like instincts, unawares,
Blending their soul's sublimest needs

With tasks of every day,

And went about their gravest deeds
As noble boys at play.

A man's best things are nearest him,

Lie close about his feet,

It is the distant and the dim

That we are sick to greet:

For flowers that grow our hands beneath

We struggle and aspire;

Our hearts must die except they breathe
The air of fresh desire.

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