think in earnest
of a lasting peace; but found it so difficult to adjust their opposite
pretensions, that they were content to establish a truce of twenty-five
years: Brest and Cherbourg were restored, the former to the duke of
Brittany, the latter to the king of Navarre: both parties were left
in possession of all the other places which they held at the time of
concluding the truce; and to render the amity between the two crowns
more durable, Richard,[****] who was now a widower, was affianced to
Isabella, the daughter of Charles. This princess was only seven years
of age; but the king agreed to so unequal a match, chiefly that he might
fortify himself by this alliance against the enterprises of his uncles,
and the incurable turbulence, as well as inconstancy, of his barons.

The administration of the king, though it was not in this interval
sullied by any unpopular act, except the seizing of the charter of
London,[******] which was soon after restored, tended not much to
corroborate his authority; and his personal character brought him into
contempt, even while his public government appeared in a good measure
unexceptionable.

* Cotton, p. 365. Walsing, p. 352.

** 15th August, 1388.

*** Froissard, liv. iii. chap. 124, 125, 126. Walsing, p.
355.

**** Rymer, vol. vii. p. 820.

***** Rymer, vol. vii. p. 811.

****** Rymer, vol. vii. p. 727. Walsing. p. 347.

Indolent, profuse, addicted to low pleasures, he spent his whole time
in feasting and jollity, and dissipated, in idle show, or in bounties
to favorites of no reputation, that revenue which the people expected to
see him employ in enterprises directed to public honor and advantage. He
forgot his rank by admitting all men to his familiarity; and he was not
sensible, that their acquaintance with the qualities of his mind was
not able to impress them with the respect which he neglected to preserve
from his birth and station. The earls of Kent and Huntingdon, his half
brothers, were his chief confidants and favorites; and though he never
devoted himself to them with so profuse an affection as that with which
he had formerly been attached to the duke of Ireland, it was easy for
men to see, that every grace passed through their hands, and that the
king had rendered himself a mere cipher in the government. The small
regard which the public bore to his person, disposed them to murmur
against his administration, and to receive w