nguish the last embers of patriotic fire, massacred upwards of one
hundred Welsh Bards, in addition to many Cymric Princes. But the Cymri
were still discontented and given to insurrection, until a monarch of
their own Tudor blood was placed on the British throne in the person of
Henry the Seventh, A.D. 1485. Henceforward they became more reconciled
to the larger and dominant race, and at length subsided into peaceful
submission and attachment to the British throne and laws.

But to return to the feudal system strictly so called, we find the Lords
and Barons were all-powerful within their dominions, and had the power of
giving or taking away the life, liberty, and property of their retainers
and vassals. They often made war upon each other, the consequences of
which were frequently awful in the streams of blood which flowed, and the
murder, rapine, and spoliation which ensued. Evidences of these internal
wars are seen in the ruined castles and dismantled towers which cover our
own country and the continent of Europe. The Barons would frequently
league together, and make war upon the King or Sovereign, in which they
often triumphed. A remarkable instance of this is found in English
History, when the Barons joined in opposing King John, and wrested from
him Magna Charta at Runnymede. The De Veres, Bohuns, Mowbrays, Nevilles,
Howards, Percys, and Somersets often overshadowed their sovereign lieges
in England; while the powerful families of Douglas and Scott for ages
held the Kings of Scotland in awe. The Kings and Sovereigns were more in
fear and had greater apprehensions of the feudal Barons, than from the
mass of their subjects, and were therefore often completely obsequious to
their wills. But ever and anon would arise an Edward or a James, who,
defying the enmity of the feudal chiefs, diminished their powers and
restrained their excesses. Yet this was never done, or even attempted,
without the greatest opposition and danger, and never but by a brave and
formidable Prince.

Each of the great Barons kept a Court, and indulged in a style of
pageantry corresponding in an inferior degree to that of Royalty, of
which he occasionally affected independence. When the great Earl
Warrenne was questioned respecting the right to his vast land
possessions, he drew his sword, saying that was his title, and that
William did not himself conquer England, but that his ancestor with the
rest of the Barons were joint adventurers