the extermination of thofe who had been the moft active in their rebellious efforts, and the defolation of that country which had afforded a ready avenue to foreign invaders, promised a continuance of peace; and the numerous forfeitures confequent on the late infurrections, in proportion as they weakened the force of the difaffected English, ftrengthened the hands of the encroaching Normans, and not only engaged their gratitude to fupport the government of their royal benefactor, but stimulated fuch as had not been hitherto rewarded, to watch every appearance of fedition with the most anxious vigilance, which, notwithstanding their defire of encouraging the diffufion of revolt, that the greater number of individuals might be involved in the penalties annexed to it, ftill provided against any dangerous crifis. The feries of confifcations which had taken place fince the acceffion of William, had produced a great revolution in the property of the English lands; and the eftates which the king was thus enabled to bestow on his followers, were distributed by him with all the accompaniments of the feudal law. The poffeffors were to hold them immediately of the crown, under the condition of performing various fervices, and making ftated payments, to the fovereign; and the three obligations to which the land-holders were subjected by the Anglo-Saxon kings, namely, military attendance, the erection and defence of the royal caftles, and the reparation of the highways and bridges, were multiplied into the burthenfome and reftrictive appendages of the feudal fyftem. The perfons who held thefe lands of the king, and who were styled barons, granted a portion of them to other individuals, on the fame conditions of homage, fervice, and payment, that were annexed to the tenure by which they themfelves held of the crown. William's power being now firmly established, he ventured to extend these innovations to the lands of the church, regardless of the murmurs and complaints of the clergy, who reprobated the meafure as an arbitrary encroachment on their privileges and immunities. At the time of his making this attack on the ecclefiaftics, he endeavoured to provide against the ill effects which the refentment of fo powerful a body of men might produce, by removing thofe prelates and abbots whofe influence over the people he dreaded, or whofe fidelity he pretended to fufpect -in other words, by depriving the English of every high preferment in the church, and filling their places with his countrymen. He did not, however, execute this defign by his own immediate authority, but thought it moft prudent to cover his intentions under the fhadow of the papal fupremacy. A fynod being convoked at Wiachefter, at the requifition of bishop Ermenfred and two other legates of the holy fee, cognifance was taken of the cafe of Stigand archbishop of Canterbury, whofe popularity among the English had Whart. Auglia Sacra, vol. L-Matth. Par. ad ann. 1970. excited excited the jealoufy of the Conqueror, while his great eftates, and plurality of preferments, marked him out as a defirable object of rapacity. This prelate was accufed of having intruded into the primacy while Robert, the lawful archbishop, was living; of having retained the fee of Winchefter with the archbishopric; and of having received his pall from Benedict X. a fimoniacal ufurper of the popedom. The influence of the legates, and the well-known inclinations of the king, produced the condemnation of Stigand, who was degraded from his fpiritual dignity, and divefted of his temporal poffeffions; and, as if this feverity had been infufficient, he was deprived of his perfonal liberty, being obliged to pass the remaining term of his life in prifon at Winchefter, fupported by a very small allowance from the royal treasury*. In the fame council, Agelinar, bishop of Elmham, and feveral abbots of the most opulent monafteries, were difpoffeffed of their dignities on the most frivolous pretences. In a fubfequent fynod, Agelric, bishop of Selfey, and many respectable abbots, were fubjected to unmerited deprivation, and this fentence was followed by the immediate im prifonment of the condemned ecclefiaftics. By thefe and other exertions of arbitrary power, the fees which, at the time of the conqueft, had been in the poffeffion of English clergymen, were transferred into foreign hands; but it must be obferved, that the bishops thus deprived, formed only a part of the epifcopal bench, many Normans and other foreigners having been promoted to English fees by Edward the Confeflor; and from the general depofition of the native prelates, there was one folitary exception in the person of Wulftan, bishop of Worcester, who, though he difpleafed the king by his firmnefs in demanding the manors which had been difmembered from that fee by archbishop Aldred, when he was tranflated from Worcester to York, and which William had seised on that prelate's death, was not only permitted to retain his bishopric, but even procured the full reftitution of the manors claimed by him †.' We are rather furprized, however, to find the word mal. tontents, spelled malecontents; but fuppofe it merely an error of the preis. The character of the Conqueror is thus delineated: Though a reflecting reader may easily deduce the principal lineaments of a prince's portrait from the tranfactions recorded of Gul. Malmfb de Geft. Pontif. lib. i. We are informed by this writer, that, after Stigand's death, a confiderable quantity of money belonging to him was difcovered in a fubterranean recefs, his vexation and reientment at the in juftice of his treatment having fo far prevailed over the defire of comfort og luxury, that he had not, during his whole confinement, applied any part of his fecret treafure to the purposes of life.' Hoved. p. 259, 260.-Gul. Malmb. de Geft. Pontif. lib. iv.' his his life and reign, a consciousness of the fatisfaction derived from accurate delineations of perfonal deportment, moral habit, and political principle, may be affigned as an adequate apology for the delivery of our fentiments respecting the character and demeanor of the fovereigns who pafs in review before us. As an appendage to historical record, a character has the same effect with the peroration which clofes an harangue. 'William the Conqueror was, in his perfon, above the middle fize, of fair proportion, and extraordinary robuftnefs and vigour of conftitution. His countenance was ftern, and his prefence majeftic. In his deportment, he was haughty and imperious; his temper was naturally rigid and austere; and his manners were tinctured with a faftidious reserve. His understanding was ftrong, and had been improved by education and experience: while, to a clearness of perception, he added a folidity of judgment. He was of a bold and prefumptuous fpirit, fuperior to all apprehenfions of danger. He was forcibly infpired with the love of fame; and a fondness for fhow and oftentation marked his public appearance. From his earlieft youth, he was ambitious and enterprifing; but his aspiring views were profecuted with fuch prudence, that they generally commanded fuccefs. As a warrior, he fhone with diftinguished luftre. Bred to arms from his infancy, he had acquired a confummate knowledge of the prevailing system of military affairs, long before the period of his English expedition. While his fagacity enabled him to difcern the advantages which the enemy afforded him, his circumfpection was fo vigilant as to prevent others from gaining any advantage over him. His courage was never appalled by the dangers of the field; for, in the most desperate emergencies, he maintained a furprising coolness and presence of mind. He preserved among his troops an exactnefs of difcipline and fubordination, which, added to the native intrepidity of his countrymen, paved their way to victory and triumph. His political wisdom has been extolled with extravagant praise; and, indeed, we have fufficient reason to conclude, that he was an able governor and a profound statesman. His measures were, for the most part, planned with ability, and executed with judgment; but a degree of craft was fometimes vifible, which derogated from the dignity of his administration, and exposed him to the occasional contempt of the difcerning. He was fecret in his defigns, fteady in his refolutions, and obftinately bent on the completion of any fcheme upon which he had deliberately determined, the difficulties which appeared in his way ferving only to increase his ardour, and ftimulate his perfeverance. By the strictness of his government, he eftablished throughout the kingdom fo excellent a police, that the reign of Alfred the Great seemed to be revived; though, in other refpects, the parallel between the two reigns did not hold; for Al fred's fred's fway was that of a mild and beneficent prince, who acted as the father of his people, while the administration of William was that of a jealous tyrant, who treated his fubjects as born to crouch at his feet.' Our ingenious hiftorian extends this character, or rather retrospect of the reign of William, to confiderable length; but our limits will not permit us to follow him further. We fhall only obferve that, though fome object to historical characters, we fhould be forry to fee modern hiftory, which in orations, and other pleafing varieties, yields to the ancient, rendered yet more bare and uniform by the omiffion of one of its chief ornaments. The reigns of William II. Henry I. and Stephen, are narrated with perfpicuity and accuracy. At the termination of the latter is given, in chapter VIII. a view of the hiftory of the English church, from the Norman Conqueft to the acceffion of Henry II. It is probable that the clergy still found a difficulty in procuring tithes; for it was deemed expedient, in one of Lanfranc's fynods, to pass a specific canon, enjoining the payment of thefe dues. In another, it was enacted, that every person who had killed one or more men in the battle of Haftings, fhould do penance one year for every individual who had fallen by his hands; and that a penance of forty days for every man who had been wounded in that engagement, thould be impofed on the foldier who had inflicted the wounds. Many other penances were ordained in the fame council for offences of the military kind. Here it is necessary to remark, that the most ufual penances were these, viz. fasting, pilgrimage, frequent lamentation, abftinence from the luxury of a soft bed or agreeable clothing, &c. These and other penitential inflictions might be redeemed by the payment of fuch fums as the bifhop of the diocefe fhould appoint, by the copious diftribution of alms, by erecting or endowing a church or a monastery. In another fynod, ail clergymen were prohibited from fitting in judgment in a cause which affected life or limb. This was doubtlefs intended to fhow, that the purity of the clerical character was fo remote from the idea of bloodfhed, as to be wholly unconcerned with any fanguinary procefs. The fpirit of this canon is still obferved. • Several attempts had been made by the popes to introduce celibacy among all the members of the church, that the absence of secular connexions might render them more independent of the tem poral power, and attach them the more to the exclusive interefts of the own order. In the reign of Edgar the Pacific, as we have before feen, this mode of life had been adopted in the greater part of the monafteries and cathedrals. But it was not yet univerfal even among U 2 among the monks, and had made very little progrefs among the fecular or parochial clergy. Gregory VII. who now filled the papal chair, was a frenuous promoter of this fcheme, which he enforced by repeated canons. Lanfranc was alfo a zealous advocate for it; and he procured the enactment of a law, ordaining, that no monk, canon, or prebendary, fhould be allowed to have a wife; that fuch priefts as lived in caftles, towns, or villages, fhould not enter into the matrimonial ftate, but that those who were already married might retain their wives; and that bishops fhould not give holy orders to any married perfon, or to one who would not make a folemn promife to avoid matrimony. In the fame council which fanctioned thefe unreasonable provifions, a canon was enacted against the fupplantation of churches. Among the Anglo-Saxons, lands were frequently conveyed by the delivery of a fword, a ftaff, an arrow, a cup, &c. without any written inftrument; and the Conqueror and his nobles, taking advantage of this infufficiency of evidence, endeavoured to fupplant the churches and monafteries, by feifing thofe lands to which a right of property could not be proved by written teftimony. To guard againft this fupplantation, many deeds and charters were forged by the clergy; and, with a view of giving additional fecurity to the lands of the church, a ftatute was now particularly directed against the rapacity of the fupplanters. Of the changes which William I. made in the constitution of the English church, the most important was the feparation of the ecclefiaftical from the civil courts. In the Saxon times, every ear! or governor of a fhire prefided in the county-court with the bishop of the diocefe; and the caufes and offences both of the clergy and laity were there tried. But the perfuafions of the Norman prelates, who withed to eftablish a feparate jurifdiction for the church, prevailed on William to confine clerical caufes to the determination of the prelates and archdeacons. He did not, perhaps, foresee that this measure would tend to promote the independence of the church on the civil power, and encourage the encroachments of the fee of Rome, appeals to which, from the ecclefiaftical courts, were likely to become frequent, difunited as they now were from the temporal judicature. It must be obferved, however, that this exemption from the judgment of a fecular court was not meant to extend to those clergymen who were guilty of crimes of a nature purely civil, as murder, theft, &c. but the original intention of it was foon perverted by the ambition of the ecclefiaftics, and their selfish defire of withdrawing every clerical delinquent from the jurifdiction of a civil tribunal.' In returning to the civil hiftory we muft exprefs a wifh that our author had made more use of able and accurate modern authors. The reign of Henry II. on which we now enter, has been moft elaborately written by lord Lyttelton, though his attention to hifto |