tory leading to no
important advantages, a truce for a year was at last, from mutual
weakness, concluded between the two monarchs.

During this war, Prince John deserted from Philip, threw himself at
his brother's feet, craved pardon for his offences, and by the
intercession of Queen Eleanor was received into favour. I FORGIVE
HIM, said the king, AND HOPE I SHALL AS EASILY FORGET HIS INJURIES AS
HE WILL MY PARDON. John was incapable even of returning to his duty,
without committing a baseness. Before he left Philip's party, he
invited to dinner all the officers of the garrison, which that prince
had placed in the citadel of Evreux: he massacred them during the
entertainment: fell, with the assistance of the townsmen, on the
garrison, whom he put to the sword; and then delivered up the place to
his brother.

The King of France was the great object of Richard's resentment and
animosity: the conduct of John, as well as that of the emperor and
Duke of Austria, had been so base, and was exposed to such general
odium and reproach, that the king deemed himself sufficiently revenged
for their injuries; and he seems never to have entertained any project
of vengeance against any of them. The Duke of Austria, about this
time, having crushed his leg by the fall of his horse at a tournament,
was thrown into a fever; and being struck, on the approaches of death,
with remorse for his injustice to Richard, he ordered, by will, all
the English hostages in his hands to be set at liberty, and the
remainder of the debt due to him to be remitted: his son, who seemed
inclined to disobey these orders, was constrained by his ecclesiastics
to execute them [b]. [MN 1195.] The emperor also made advances for
Richard's friendship, and offered to give him a discharge of all the
debt not yet paid to him provided he would enter into an offensive
alliance against the King of France; a proposal which was very
acceptable to Richard, and was greedily embraced by him. The treaty
with the emperor took no effect; but it served to rekindle the war
between France and England before the expiration of the truce. This
war was not distinguished by any more remarkable instances than the
foregoing. After mutually ravaging the open country, and taking a few
insignificant castles, the two kings concluded a peace at Louviers,
and made an exchange of some territories with each other [c]. [MN
1196.] Their inability to wage war occasioned the peace: their mu