he king [r]; but the marriage of this princess with a
subject and a foreigner, though contracted with Henry's consent, was
loudly complained of by the Earl of Cornwall and all the barons of
England; and Leicester was supported against their violence by the
king's favour and authority alone [s]. But he had no sooner
established himself in his possessions and dignities, than he
acquired, by insinuation and address, a strong interest with the
nation, and gained equally the affections of all orders of men. He
lost, however, the friendship of Henry, from the usual levity and
fickleness of that prince; he was banished the court; he was recalled;
he was intrusted with the command of Guienne [t], where he did good
service and acquired honour; he was again disgraced by the king, and
his banishment from court seemed now final and irrevocable. Henry
called him traitor to his face: Leicester gave him the lie, and told
him, that if he were not his sovereign, he would soon make him repent
of that insult. Yet was this quarrel accommodated, either from the
good nature or timidity of the king; and Leicester was again admitted
into some degree of favour and authority. But as this nobleman was
become too great to preserve an entire complaisance to Henry's
humours, and to act in subserviency to his other minions, he found
more advantage in cultivating his interest with the public, and in
inflaming the general discontents which prevailed against the
administration. He filled every place with complaints against the
infringement of the great charter, the acts of violence committed on
the people, the combination between the pope and the king in their
tyranny and extortions, Henry's neglect of his native subjects and
barons; and though he himself a foreigner, he was more loud than any
in representing the indignity of submitting to the dominion of
foreigners. By his hypocritical pretensions to devotion, he gained
the favour of the zealots and clergy: by his seeming concern for
public good, he acquired the affections of the public: and besides the
private friendships which he had cultivated with the barons, his
animosity against the favourites created an union of interests between
him and that powerful order.
[FN [r] Ibid. p. 314. [s] M. Paris, p. 315. [t] Rymer, vol. i. p.
459, 513.]

A recent quarrel, which broke out between Leicester and William de
Valence, Henry's half-brother, and chief favourite, brought matters to
extremity [u],