THE NORMAN KINGS. WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. P. Yes. The FEUDAL SYSTEM decreased the power of the people, and increased the power of the king. And William took care to use this power for himself. 66 After giving land to the 700 of his followers-hear how much he had for his own share! He had one thousand-four hundred-and twenty-two estates-besides farms and lands in Middlesex and Shropshire!" From these lands, and other sources, he gained a revenue every year so large, that if we were to put down its value in sovereigns, it would come to twelve hundred thousand pounds. W. That is more than a million pounds, papa! P. Yes, and then with one pound you could go to a shop and purchase nearly ten times as much as you can now-so think again, his income would now be worth more than TEN MILLIONS POUNDS A-YEAR! We may therefore believe that "there never had been in any age, or nation, any prince, or any emperor, whose riches and power could be compared to that of WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR." What would the people say to their conqueror now? Ion. They would say he was very rich! P. And powerful too. They would whisper, "great and mighty king!" You would have thought him a mighty king-for he must have been a strong and heavy-handed man to keep down those active and restless barons. Yes-he was like some tall mountain, which, as I said in our Geology lesson, the active fire from beneath had raised up on the earth. These mountains, you may remember, were soft and yielding when they were being made, but, afterwards, they became cold and heavy stone, pressing down on the fire that had raised them up. So did William. But, you remember, sometimes the fire "would not stand it!" Sometimes giving a restless roar, it would make efforts to rise again, and in the great earthquakes would give the old mountain many a shake. And so it was with the heavyhanded William. He had taken away the liberty of the Saxons, but he could not take away their love of liberty! The fire was within, and all through his reign it gave him "many a shake." Not only did the people make the dreadful conspiracy I told you of-but, again and again, he had to march against and conquer the different towns before he could quite establish the feudal system. The BARONS, too, were restless, fiery spirits, and, once or twice, those who were not satisfied with their lands, rose up in against him-but these William conquered. arms MALCOLM, King of Scotland, whom William had once defeated, rose again, and attempted to seize part of his kingdom at the north -but him, too, William conquered. At the same time he built Newcastle, for the protection of the people. CANUTE, too, a king of Denmark threatened to invade England; and prepared a large fleet of ships, to see if he could not give this conqueror a shake; but William, with his money and by other means, caused Canute's soldiers to rebel-so him also William conquered. His son, ROBERT, alas! rebelled against him, and fought to gain his father's Dukedom of Normandy. In one battle this foolish son almost killed his own father! but at last, him also William conquered. William had a half-brother called ODO, the Bishop of Bayeux, who rebelled against him. Odo had gathered so much riches, that he thought he would use them in purchasing the Popedom. He would go and be Pope! So, once when William happened to be absent in Normandy, Odo went secretly to the Isle of Wight, and fitting out a vessel, he loaded it with immense treasures, which he intended to take to Italy. While, however, he was being detained by contrary winds, William heard of this, and returned to prevent such great wealth being taken from his dominions. Just as his brother was stepping on board ship, William ordered him to be made prisoner; and it is said that the attendants being afraid to seize such a holy man as a bishop, William arrested him with his own hands. Pope Gregory directly sent a message to William that he was to let him go because he belonged to the Church-but, William sent back word that he seized him not as a bishop, but as the Earl of Kent, and that he meant to keep him. So, notwithstanding all the angry threats and remonstrances of the powerful Pope, William did keep him. He sent Odo as a prisoner to Normandy; and kept him in custody till the end of his reign, thus-him also William conquered. W. And I suppose he kept all those treasures for himself. P. Very likely. Although the Pope would try to prevent him. But he did not care for the Popenot he! Unlike the kings before him, the Church had not been able to interfere with his government. He was a very good Catholic, but then he was the king of 700 barons! Of the names of these 700 barons, and their estates, he made a list, with an account of all the lands, except the abbey lands, and those of the priests, who refused to give in any account. This list was written in a large vellum book, called "The Doomsday Book," which is still preserved in the Exchequer, in two volumes. The first volume has 382 double pages-and the second 450 double pages; and I dare say he thought them "pleasant pages," as he read them over, and counted up the number of great and powerful men who served him! 66 So, no wonder men called him great and mighty king." They had tried to shake him, but his heavy hand had conquered them all. All people now obeyed him. I have read in some history book that, to show he was their rightful lord, he summoned a meeting of the nobles to do him homage for their lands. Think of that great meeting. How many hundreds of these splendid barons, proud and haughty looking characters, followed by their trains of knights and yeomen, must have met together! Perhaps it was at Winchester, for I forget where, in some great hall, where they all stood round their Conqueror. And then these darkfaced, crop-haired warriors bowed down to William, kissed his hand, and swore fealty to him as their king. Now, what would you have said if you had been there? W. I would have said, "GREAT AND MIGHTY CONQUEROR!" just as the others did. Ion. So would I, papa. P. And yet, do you know he was a very poor conqueror, after all! L. What, papa? P. A very poor conqueror. W. But he had ten millions ayear! P. And yet if you had known him well, you would have said, "Poor fellow!" Hear what I say Poor fellow-poor fellow-poor fellow; for all his riches were outside him! There were no riches within him-in the man himself. Indeed he had no riches at all-for he had not gained happiness, and only those things are riches which make the heart glad. Ion. Oh! W. But, when he had the ten millions a-year-did not that make him rich? P. No-it only made him poor. And I'll show you how. for so much money to make a man poor. But, the gold itself, papa! and the power, would not that make him happy? P. Oh! dear no!-the gold could not satisfy him. It could not bring happiness. Happiness cannot be made of any mineral that is dug out of the earth. The pleasure of having anything is very small-there is more pleasure in getting it; but the greatest and the lasting pleasure is the pleasure of giving. Do you understand that? Ion. Yes, yes, papa! I have often had that pleasure; so, in that way, the Conqueror might have made very great pleasure with his gold. P. Ah, yes. If he had only known that riches cannot be made of gold, but with gold, then, that ambition within him, that hungry feeling, would have been stilled. Yes; he never learned what I have told you before, that we get real riches from what we give-not from what we take. And he spent all his life in taking from others, poor fellow! Listen to what happened to him. His spirit of ambition was now very strong, and very restless. Yet he could not satisfy it. So, as there were no others to be con In his mind was working a selfish desire to be above all other men, which is called ambition. When a man has ambition, his mind feels very hungry; but, as long as he is working hard to get riches, and power to satisfy that desire, hequered-it began to conquer him. feels a certain pleasure, called the pleasure of getting. W. Something like that we feel when we are eating? P. Yes, something like that. But, when he had got all this greatness and gold, he could not have the "pleasure of getting," any longer; and yet he had that desire within him still-it was not satisfied; and it made him miserable. W. Ah! then, of course, it made him poor. How curious! He was driven all day to seek new pleasure. to quiet that restless spirit. He would seek pleasure in hunting the wild animals in the country; but then, so that he might have this pleasure to himself, he acted unjustly. He cared more for the deer than the people he governed. Before-any poor man might catch the animals in the woods, but now he made a law that no one should hunt in his forests. It is said that "he loved the wild deer as if he had been their father!" and ordered, that "whosoever should slay hart or hind, him should man blind." So the killing of a deer, a boar, or even a hare, was punished with the loss of an eye. This was part of what he called his FOREST LAWS. He then did a much worse thing. Not being content with his large forests in all parts of England, he determined to have one near his residence at Winchester. He therefore ordered thirty miles of country to be laid waste-he pulled down and burnt the houses, abbeys, and thirty-six churches-turning out the people to go where they could, without any payment for their dreadful loss. On this land he planted what is still called the New Forest. Ambition, I told you, is made of selfishness. Oh, how dreadfully this selfishness worked! He could have no pleasure in his castle at home. His sons would not love him-they were disobedient and rebellious; his wise and beautiful wife, Matilda - her broken. She felt that heart was "Glory built on selfish principles is shame and guilt," and died. Two years after this he went to Normandy, to punish some nobles who had rebelled. Being taken ill here, the King of France, who heard of it, made some rude remark about his lying in bed with a big belly-for he was becoming stout. William could not bear this, it hurt his selfishness, which turned round upon him, and tormented him into a state of fierce anger. He sent back word that he would soon set the kingdom of France in a flame. His evil passions drove him on, and in a rage he took the town of Mante, and burned it to the ground. As he stood looking at the flames, his horse plunging into some hot ashes, started and threw him off his saddle, so that he received a violent bruise, of which he soon after died. This happened near Rouen, in Normandy, in the year 1087, when he was sixty-three years old. Thus ended the Conqueror. He died when he was burning a city. Poor king, perhaps he had never had either happiness or riches. His bad passions always made him want something; but, as he could not satisfy them, the Conqueror became their slave. I could tell you how they tormented him as he died, but that is enough. So much was he hated, that, at his funeral in Caen, a man forbade the burial of his body. "That very spot," he cried, "is the site of my father's house. I summon the departed soul to answer to God for his crimes." And the man would not allow him six feet of ground to rest in, until its value was paid. Was he not "a poor Conqueror?" THE KNIFE AND FORK. W. How are we to make a lesson on a knife, mamma? M. We will make two lessons, if you like. Begin by observing and describing it. this memory is like a cupboard, where all your words and ideas are put away. Do you remember my telling you of the nerves, and that you had nerves from your brain to all parts of your body? L. I think you did, mamma. W. I don't understand, mamma. You said there are not only M I will tell you. When you nerves to the brain, but nerves observe it you are to use your from the brain to the other parts. senses"-you know what theyThe brain uses them to make the other parts move. 66 are? W. Yes-my eyes, and nose, organs of touch, and so on. M. With these you are to notice the knife, and keep on noticing, slowly and carefully, until you get an idea of it in your mind-so that you can see it with your eyes shut. Not with your senses, but with your mind's eye. Ion. I have often done that, mamma. Yesterday morning, when M. No, never mind that. Listen. If, Willie, you go on observing that knife with the eye of your body until you can see it with the eye of your mind-you are then said to have a perception of it. Ion. And he must do that, mamma, before he can describe it, I suppose - because how can his mind describe a thing, if it cannot see it. M. I will talk to you about "describing." When you describe, it is your mind's turn to work. Your mind looks at the perception which your senses have given it, and when it sees the thing quite clearly, it finds a number of words, and puts them together to make an account of it. Ion. Where does it keep the words, mamma? M. In a place called the memory. I told you once before, that W. Ah! I remember. M. Yes. Your mind has nerves to all parts-to your eyes, nose, mouth, and tongue. So, when it has found the proper words to give an account of that knife, it will send down a message to your tongue "to move," and it will keep on moving your tongue until it has made it say all the words it had thought of. W. Is that the way I describe? I get an idea in through my senses; and, then, get it out through my mouth? M. Yes. And when it receives the idea from your senses it is said to have a perception; but when it puts the idea into words, and gives it back again, it is said to form a conception. W. How curious, mamma-and can I do that? M. Yes. You are always doing it. You will do it now when you "observe and describe" this knife. Here is Jane. Jane. Please, mum, here's that boy come from the Printers, and says that as master has wrote |