bers, and plundered the people; and there were no judges able to punish them, because the king had taken all the good soldiers with him, and there was nobody to catch the robbers and bring them to the judges.

There was a very famous robber in those times, called Robin Hood. He had his hiding place in the great forest of Sherwood, in the very middle of England. He only robbed rich lords or bishops, and was kind to the common people, who liked him, and made merry songs about him and his three friends, Friar Tuck, Little John, and Allan-a-Dale.

Then there was another bad thing owing to Richard's being in the wars so far off. He was often wanting money to pay his soldiers, and the English, who were proud of their brave king, in spite of all they suffered from his being so far away, used to sell anything they had for the sake of sending the king what he wanted. This was very right, while they only sent their own money. But there happened at that time to be a great many Jews in England: these unfortunate people, who have no country of their own, lived at least in peace while wise Henry was king. They were very industrious, and taught the English many useful things. They were the best physicians and the best merchants in the country. But the people were jealous of them for their riches, and they did not like their strange dress, nor their strange language. So now, when there was no king in England to protect these poor Jews, they fell upon them, and robbed them of their money and goods, and pretended they meant to send them to Richard, but most of the money was kept by Prince John and some of the worst of the barons, who had stayed at home; and they encouraged the people to treat the

Jews very cruelly, besides robbing them, and they killed a great many. I am sure, when you are old enough to read of the bad treatment of the Jews at York, you will be ashamed to think such cruel things could have been done in England.

There was one person more to blame for the bad things done at this time than anybody else; I mean Queen Eleanor.

She behaved as ill to her son Richard as she had done to her husband, and while he was at the wars she encouraged her favourite son John to become a rebel, and try to get the kingdom for himself. All the foolish and all the wicked barons, both Norman and English, followed Prince John; but there were enough good barons to defend Richard, though he was so far off; and a good many bishops joined them, and prevented John from making himself king.

When Richard of the Lion's heart heard how much the people of England were suffering, he resolved to come home; but as he was coming the shortest way, one of his enemies contrived to take him prisoner, and to shut him up in a castle, so that it was a long time before anybody knew what had become of the king of England.

That enemy was Leopold, Duke of Austria, with whom Richard had quarrelled when they were at the Crusade. Now Richard, who was really good-natured, although he quarrelled now and then, had forgot all about it; but Leopold was of a revengeful temper, and as soon as he had an opportunity he took him, as I have told you, to a castle in his country, and would perhaps have killed him there, if a faithful servant had not found out where he was.

This servant's name was Blondel. He had been with Richard in all the wars, and loved him very much.

When his master did not come home as he expected, he began to think that perhaps the revengeful Leopold had made him a prisoner. So he went to

Germany, which was Leopold's country, and travelled from one castle to another for some time, without finding his master. At last one evening, when he was very tired, he sat down near the castle of Trifels

to rest, and while he was there he heard somebody singing, and fancied the voice was like the king's. After listening a little longer, he felt sure it was, and then he began to sing himself, to let the king know he was there; and the song he sang was one the king loved. Some say the king made it. Then Richard was glad, for he found he could send to England, and let his people know where he was.

Blondel was not long in carrying the king's message, and the moment the people in England knew his life was safe they determined to do everything they could to get him home. They sent to Duke Leopold to beg him to set Richard at liberty; but he said that the English should not have their king until they gave him a great deal of money; and when they heard that, they all gave what they could; the ladies even gave their gold necklaces, and ornaments of all kinds, to send to Leopold, that he might set Richard free.

At length the king came home; but he found that while he was away, Philip, King of France, had been making war on his subjects in Normandy; and, besides that, helping his brother John to disturb the peace in England; so he went to Normandy to punish Philip very soon afterwards, and was killed by an arrow shot from a castle called Chaluz, when he had only been king ten years.

Many people praise and admire Richard of the Lion's heart, because he was so brave and hardy in war. For my part, I should have liked him better if he had thought a little more about taking care of his country; and if he had stayed in it and done justice to his people, and encouraged them to be good and industrious, as his wise father did.

CHAPTER XXI.

JOHN.-1199 to 1216.

Why King John was called Lackland; how he killed his nephew Arthur; and how the barons rebelled against him, and made him sign the Great Charter.

JOHN, the youngest son of Henry Plantagenet, became king after the death of his brother Richard.

His reign was a bad one for England, for John was neither so wise as his father, nor so brave as his brother. Besides, he was very cruel.

While he lived, all his mother's great estates in France were taken from him, as well as Normandy. So that he was laughed at, and called John Lackland-or John with no land. He did not know how to govern England so as to repair the ill it had suffered while Richard was absent at the wars, so that the King of France's son came into England, and had very nearly driven John away, and made himself king instead; and then John was so base that he went to a priest, called a Nuncio, who came from Rome, and really gave him the crown of England, and promised that England should belong to the Pope, if they would only keep him safe.

You cannot wonder that John was disliked; but when I have told you how he treated a nephew of his, called Prince Arthur, you will, I am sure, dislike him as much as I do.

This Prince Arthur ought to have been King of England, because he was the son of John's elder brother, Geoffrey. And John was afraid that the barons and other great men would choose Arthur to