loving-kindness in a retinue of nobles
and knights who consumed in one night's entertainment some five years'
revenue of their entertainer, and in a guard of fifteen hundred foreign
soldiers, whom he considered indispensable to the exercise of a vigour
beyond the law in maintaining wholesome discipline over the refractory
English. The ignorant impatience of the swinish multitude with these
fruits of good living, brought forth by one of the meek who had
inherited the earth, displayed itself in a general ferment, of which
Prince John took advantage to make the experiment of getting possession
of his brother's crown in his absence. He began by calling at Reading
a council of barons, whose aspect induced the holy bishop to disguise
himself (some say as an old woman, which, in the twelfth century,
perhaps might have been a disguise for a bishop), and make his
escape beyond sea. Prince John followed up his advantage by obtaining
possession of several strong posts, and among others of the castle of
Nottingham.

While John was conducting his operations at Nottingham, he rode at times
past the castle of Arlingford. He stopped on one occasion to claim Lord
Fitzwater's hospitality, and made most princely havoc among his venison
and brawn. Now it is a matter of record among divers great historians
and learned clerks, that he was then and there grievously smitten by the
charms of the lovely Matilda, and that a few days after he despatched
his travelling minstrel, or laureate, Harpiton, [3] (whom he retained at
moderate wages, to keep a journal of his proceedings, and prove them all
just and legitimate), to the castle of Arlingford, to make proposals to
the lady. This Harpiton was a very useful person. He was always ready,
not only to maintain the cause of his master with his pen, and to sing
his eulogies to his harp, but to undertake at a moment's notice any
kind of courtly employment, called dirty work by the profane, which the
blessings of civil government, namely, his master's pleasure, and the
interests of social order, namely, his own emolument, might require. In
short,

Il eut l'emploi qui certes n'est pas mince,
Et qu'a la cour, ou tout se peint en beau,
On appelloit etre l'ami du prince;
Mais qu'a la ville, et surtout en province,
Les gens grossiers ont nomme maquereau.

Prince John was of opinion that the love of a prince actual and king
expectant, was in itself a sufficient honour to the daughter of a simple
b