kness of this prince in
his government, was the imprudent passion for crusades; but it was his
zeal chiefly that procured him from the clergy the title of St. Lewis,
by which he is known in the French history; and if that appellation
had not been so extremely prostituted, as to become rather a term of
reproach, he seems by his uniform probity and goodness, as well as his
piety, to have fully merited the title. He was succeeded by his son
Philip, denominated the Hardy; a prince of some merit, though much
inferior to that of his father.
[FN [n] M. Paris, p. 677. [o] Chron. T. Wykes, p. 90.]

[MN 1271.] Prince Edward, not discouraged by this event, continued
his voyage to the Holy Land, where he signalized himself by acts of
valour; revived the glory of the English name in those parts; and
struck such terror into the Saracens, that they employed an assassin
to murder him, who wounded him in the arm, but perished in the attempt
[p]. Meanwhile, his absence from England was attended with many of
those pernicious consequences which had been dreaded from it. The
laws were not executed: the barons oppressed the common people with
impunity [q]: they gave shelter on their estates to bands of robbers,
whom they employed in committing ravages on the estates of their
enemies: the populace of London returned to their usual
licentiousness: and the old king, unequal to the burden of public
affairs, called aloud for his gallant son to return [r], and to assist
him in swaying that sceptre which was ready to drop from his feeble
and irresolute hands. [MN 1272. 16th Nov. Death,] At last,
overcome by the cares of government and the infirmities of age, he
visibly declined, and he expired at St. Edmondsbury, in the
sixty-fourth year of his age, and fifty-sixth of his reign; the
longest reign that is to be met with in the English annals. His
brother, the King of the Romans, (for he never attained the title of
Emperor,) died about seven months before him.
[FN [p] M. Paris, p. 678, 679. W. Heming. p. 520. [q] Chron. Dunst.
vol. i. p. 404. [r] Rymer, vol. i. p. 869. M. Paris, p. 678.]

[MN and character of the king.] The most obvious circumstance of
Henry's character is his incapacity for government, which rendered him
as much a prisoner in the hands of his own ministers and favourites,
and as little at his own disposal, as when detained a captive in the
hands of his enemies. From this source, rather than from insincerity
or tr