a roll called Doomsday Book; obliged the people to
put out their fires and candles at a certain hour every night, on the
ringing of a bell which was called The Curfew; introduced the Norman
dresses and manners; made the Normans masters everywhere, and the
English, servants; turned out the English bishops, and put Normans in
their places; and showed himself to be the Conqueror indeed.

But, even with his own Normans, he had a restless life. They were always
hungering and thirsting for the riches of the English; and the more he
gave, the more they wanted. His priests were as greedy as his soldiers.
We know of only one Norman who plainly told his master, the King, that he
had come with him to England to do his duty as a faithful servant, and
that property taken by force from other men had no charms for him. His
name was GUILBERT. We should not forget his name, for it is good to
remember and to honour honest men.

Besides all these troubles, William the Conqueror was troubled by
quarrels among his sons. He had three living. ROBERT, called CURTHOSE,
because of his short legs; WILLIAM, called RUFUS or the Red, from the
colour of his hair; and HENRY, fond of learning, and called, in the
Norman language, BEAUCLERC, or Fine-Scholar. When Robert grew up, he
asked of his father the government of Normandy, which he had nominally
possessed, as a child, under his mother, MATILDA. The King refusing to
grant it, Robert became jealous and discontented; and happening one day,
while in this temper, to be ridiculed by his brothers, who threw water on
him from a balcony as he was walking before the door, he drew his sword,
rushed up-stairs, and was only prevented by the King himself from putting
them to death. That same night, he hotly departed with some followers
from his father's court, and endeavoured to take the Castle of Rouen by
surprise. Failing in this, he shut himself up in another Castle in
Normandy, which the King besieged, and where Robert one day unhorsed and
nearly killed him without knowing who he was. His submission when he
discovered his father, and the intercession of the queen and others,
reconciled them; but not soundly; for Robert soon strayed abroad, and
went from court to court with his complaints. He was a gay, careless,
thoughtless fellow, spending all he got on musicians and dancers; but his
mother loved him, and often, against the King's command, supplied him
with money through a messenger named SAMSO