quently, conscious, inflict, shoals, and voyage.

2. Give the illus

tration of the voyagers and the chart. 3. Name the several guides for conduct which we possess, and show how each acts.

with joy, and he and his queen Eleanor were crowned at Westminster, in December, 1154.

Besides the kingdom of England, he ruled over nearly one-third of France, either in his own right or in that of his wife. Henry governed with much discretion and vigour ; he reduced the more turbulent of the nobles to order, and ordered the recently built castles to be demolished. He then sought to bring the clergy into obedience to the laws. William the Conqueror had separated the civil from the ecclesiastical or church authority and ever since, the priests had been tried for any crimes they committed, by their own bishops, who often shielded them from their due punishment. Moreover, there were many priests who, taking advantage of this, did acts of wrong and violence with impunity. To remedy this state of things, Henry assembled a council of barons and bishops at Clarendon, in 1164, and

there certain provisions known as the Constitutions of Clarendon were enacted. Thomas à Becket, whom the king had made Archbishop of Canterbury, in the hope that he would assist his own designs, gave an unwilling assent to these proceedings, but soon after repented, and from that time gave the king his most determined resistance. Becket was cited before the royal council, but he appealed to the pope, and fled to France, where he found a friend in the monarch of that country. Six years after he returned, and proceeded to excommunicate his enemies, and even the king himself. Enraged at this, the king exclaimed, "Have I none to rid me of this turbulent priest !" Four knights, hearing these words, rode to Canterbury, and finding the primate at service in the choir of the cathedral, they felled him to the ground, and left him dead on the steps of the altar. This was in 1170.

It is in this reign that Ireland begins to figure in our history. Even as early as the fifth century, this country had, under the teaching of St. Patrick, become Christian. Partly from the invasions of the Danes, and partly from internal causes, the light of religion and even of civilization had become dim, and the morals of the people debased. The Irish were now broken up into five petty states, each with its own king, Ulster, Leinster, Munster, Connaught, and Meath. It seems that Dermot, King of Leinster, having been punished by his neighbour King Roderick, for an act of lawless wrong, applied to the English monarch, to assist him against his enemy. King Henry willingly sent over Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke, to Ireland, with an army, and soon after proceeded there himself. The dethroned Dermot was restored, and King Henry took the title of Lord of

Ireland.

Thus Ireland became nominally subject to the English crown, but for several generations this brought about very little change in the condition of the inhabitants.

The last years of King Henry were saddened by the ungrateful and rebellious behaviour of his sons, Henry, Richard, and John. They sided with the barons against their father; and at last, by their unkindness, broke his heart. He died in the year 1189, leaving behind him a great and noble name. It is said that his son Richard met the body of his father as it was carried to the grave, and, touched with repentance, burst into tears.

Richard I. was crowned at Westminster, in 1189. While the ceremony was going on a tumult arose, and the soldiers, thinking it was some insurrection of the Jews, fell on them, killed a large number, and pillaged their houses. A little later, nearly five hundred Jews perished miserably in the same way at York.

And now the king, who was more fond of fighting and adventure than of quietly governing the nation, sold his treasures to raise money and men for the Crusades. He left the government in the hands of the Bishops of Durham and Ely, and joined the King of France, and other princes, in a journey to the East. It was thought by these Crusaders a Christian duty to take by force of arms the Holy Land, with its sacred shrines and relics, from the possession of the infidel Turks who then held it. Richard fought bravely, and won the title of Cœur de Leon, the Lion-heart; but the Saracens, under Saladin, fought bravely too, and so a truce was concluded, and the king turned homewards. On his way home, he was shipwrecked, and fell into the hands of his enemy the Duke of Austria, and at last he was thrown into a strong castle in the Tyrol. He was at length

released on a promise of a large sum of money from England being paid as his ransom.

On his return home, he found that his brother John had been endeavouring to get the throne for himself, and he set himself to reducing the country to law and order. King Philip of France had proved an enemy for many years, and Richard fought many battles against him. When besieging the castle of Chalus, he was struck by an arrow from one of the enemy, and died of the wound. The archer's name was Bertrand de Gourdon; and when he was led in chains into the presence of the dying king, he forgave him, and ordered him to be set at liberty. In the king's absence, no man's life or property was safe. Robin Hood, in Sherwood Forest, and other outlaws elsewhere, robbed the wealthy traveller, though, it is said, they never molested the poor.

This was the age of what is called Chivalry. Every one sought to be made a knight, and by acts of bravery to show himself worthy of the honour. For a whole night, with fasting and prayer, the young warrior watched his arms in the church, and an older knight then gave him his spurs, his lance, and his coat of mail, saying, "In the name of God, St. Michael, and St. George, I make thee a knight; be valiant, hardy, and loyal.”

Tournaments, as they were called, were held in large open spaces, around which the spectators sat in galleries. Here knight met knight on horseback, with shield and lance, and spurring their steeds from opposite ends of the lists, each tried to unhorse his opponent, while the victor received his prize from a lady's hand.

EXERCISES.-I. Define,-Discretion, demolished, excommunicate, invasion, dominion, and chivalry. 2. Name three chief events in the reign of Henry II. 3. Give the character of Richard I., and say how it showed itself.

MAN.

GEORGE HERBERT.

Stately, large, of many parts.
Creation, bringing into being.
Symmetry, harmony of form.
Dismount, come or bring down.
Amity, friendship.

Wan, looking ill or sick.

Habitation, a place to live in.
Decay, passing away by death,
Proportions, due amount of parts.
Acquaintance, those known.
Cabinet, a closet or safe place.
Wit, knowledge.

My God, I heard this day,

That none doth build a stately habitation
But he that means to dwell therein;
What house more stately hath there been,
Or can be, than is Man? to whose creation
All things are in decay.

For man is everything;

And more, he is a tree, yet bears no fruit;
A beast, yet is or should be more;
Reason and speech we only bring.

Parrots may thank us if they are not mute,
They go upon the score.

Man is all symmetry:

Full of proportions, one limb to another,
And all to all the world besides ;

Each part may call the farthest brother :
For head with foot hath private amity,
And both with moons and tides.

Nothing hath got so far

But man hath caught and kept it as his prey.
His eyes dismount the highest star,

He is in little all the sphere;

Herbs gladly cure our flesh because that they

Find their acquaintance there.