s. His ceaseless energy was combined with a strong will, a
clear perception of the limits beyond which action would be unwise, a
good eye for ability in others, and a power of utilising their ability
in his own service. On the Continent his sagacity appeared in his
resolution to be content with the dominions which he had acquired
without making further conquests. In England his main object was the
same as that of his predecessors, to establish the king's authority
over the great barons. What especially distinguished him was his clear
perception of the truth that he could only succeed by securing, not
merely the passive goodwill, but the active co-operation of those who,
whether they were of Norman or of English descent, were inferior in
wealth and position to the great barons.

[Illustration: Effigies of Henry II. and Queen Eleanor at
Fontevrault.]

2. =Pacification of England.=--Henry's first year was spent in
completing the work which he had begun after the treaty of
Wallingford. He sent Stephen's mercenaries over the sea and
completed the destruction of the 'adulterine castles.' One great rebel
after another was forced to submit and have his strong walls pulled
down. There were to be no more dens of robbers in England, but all men
were to obey the king and the law. What castles remained were the
king's, and as long as they were his rebellions would not be likely to
be successful. Henry even regained from Malcolm IV., king of the
Scots, Northumberland and Cumberland, which had been surrendered by
Stephen (see p. 133). In his government Henry did his best to carry
out the plans of his grandfather, Henry I. It was perhaps because he
was afraid that one Justiciar would be too powerful, that he appointed
two, Richard de Lucy and the Earl of Leicester, to see that justice
was executed and the government maintained whether the king were
absent or present. The old Bishop Nigel of Ely was reappointed
Treasurer, and presided over the Exchequer at Westminster. Thomas of
London, known in later times by the name of Becket,[11] an active and
vigorous man, fifteen years older than the king, who had been ordained
a deacon, but had nothing clerical about him except the name, was made
Chancellor. Thomas was the king's chosen friend, and the two together
delighted in the work of restoring order. Thomas liked sumptuous
living, and the magnificence of his housekeeping and of his feasts was
the talk of the whole country. Yet though he l