est to the English people, who visit it in great
numbers in order that they may see the place where the great hero was
born; for, desperate and reckless as Richard's character was, the
people of England are quite proud of him on account of his undaunted
bravery.

It is very curious that the first important event of Richard's
childhood was his marriage. He was married when he was about four
years old--that is, he was regularly and formally affianced, and a
ceremony which might be called the marriage ceremony was duly
performed. His bride was a young child of Louis, King of France. The
child was about three years old. Her name was Alice. This marriage was
the result of a sort of bargain between Henry, Richard's father, and
Louis, the French king. They had had a fierce dispute about the
portion of another of Louis's children that had been married in the
same way to one of Richard's brothers named Henry. The English king
complained that the dowry was not sufficient, and the French king,
after a long discussion, agreed to make it up by giving another
province with his daughter Alice to Richard. The reason that induced
the King of England to effect these marriages was, that the provinces
that were bestowed with their infant wives as their dowries came into
his hands as the guardian of their husbands while they were minors,
and thus extended, as it were, his own dominions.

By this time the realms of King Henry had become very extensive. He
inherited Normandy, you will recollect, from his ancestors, and he was
in possession of that country before he became King of England. When
he was married to Eleanora, he acquired through her a large addition
to his territory by becoming, jointly with her, the sovereign of her
realms in the south of France. Then, when he became King of England,
his power was still more extended, and, finally, by the marriages of
his sons, the young princes, he received other provinces besides,
though, of course, he held these last only as the guardian of his
children. Now, in governing these various realms, the king was
accustomed to leave his wife and his sons in different portions of
them, to rule them in his absence, though still under his command.
They each maintained a sort of court in the city where their father
left them, but they were expected to govern the several portions of
the country in strict subjection to their father's general control.
The boys, however, as they grew older, became more and