d
qualities incident to that character: he was open, frank, generous,
sincere, and brave; he was revengeful, domineering, ambitious,
haughty, and cruel; and was thus better calculated to dazzle men by
the splendour of his enterprises, than either to promote their
happiness or his own grandeur by a sound and well-regulated policy.
As military talents made great impression on the people, he seems to
have been much beloved by his English subjects; and he is remarked to
have been the first prince of the Norman line that bore any sincere
regard to them. He passed however only four months of his reign in
that kingdom: the crusade employed him near three years; he was
detained about fourteen months in captivity; the rest of his reign was
spent either in war, or preparations for war, against France; and he
was so pleased with the fame which he had acquired in the East, that
he determined, notwithstanding his past misfortunes, to have farther
exhausted his kingdom, and to have exposed himself to new hazards, by
conducting another expedition against the infidels.

[MN Miscellaneous transactions of this reign.]
Though the English pleased themselves with the glory which the king's
martial genius procured them, his reign was very oppressive and
somewhat arbitrary, by the high taxes which he levied on them, and
often without consent of the states or great council. In the ninth
year of his reign, he levied five shillings on each hide of land; and
because the clergy refused to contribute their share, he put them out
of the protection of law, and ordered the civil courts to give them no
sentence for any debts which they might claim [k]. Twice in his reign
he ordered all his charters to be sealed anew, and the parties to pay
fees for the renewal [l]. It is said that Hubert, his justiciary,
sent him over to France, in the space of two years, no less a sum than
one million one hundred thousand marks, besides bearing all the
charges of the government in England. But this account is quite
incredible, unless we suppose that Richard made a thorough
dilapidation of the demesnes of the crown, which it is not likely he
could do with any advantage after his former resumption of all grants.
A king who possessed such a revenue could never have endured fourteen
months' captivity for not paying a hundred and fifty thousand marks to
the emperor, and be obliged at last to leave hostages for a third of
the sum. The prices of commodities in this re