BEFORE THE RESTORATION.

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tyrants. Yet the subject race, though beaten down and cn l AP 'trodden under foot, still made its sting felt. Some bold men, -the favourite heroes of our oldest ballads, betook themselvesto the woods, and there, in defiance of curfew laws and forestlaws, waged a predatory war against their oppressors. As-sassination was an event of daily occurrence. Many Normanssuddenly disappeared leaving no trace. The corpses of manywere found bearing the marks of violence. Death by torturewas denounced against the murderers, and strict search wasmade for them, but generally in vain; for the whole nationwas in a conspiracy to screen them. It was at length thoughtnecessary to lay a heavy fine on every Hundred in which aperson of French extraction should be found slain; and thisregulation was followed up by another regulation, pro-viding that every person who was found slain should besupposed to be a Frenchman, unless he were proved to be aSaxon.

During the century and a half which followed the Conquest,there is, to speak strictly, no English history. The FrenchKings of England rose, indeed, to an eminence which was thewonder and dread of all neighbouring nations. They con-quered Ireland. They received the homage of Scotland. Bytheir valour, by their policy, by their fortunate matrimonialalliances, they became far more powerful on the Continentthan their liege lords the Kings of France. Asia, as well asEurope, was dazzled by the power and glory of our tyrants.Arabian chroniclers recorded with unwilling admiration thefall of Acre, the defence of Joppa, and the victorious marchto Ascalon; and Arabian mothers long awed their infants tosilence with the name of the lion hearted Plantagenet. At onetime it seemed that the line of Hugh Capet was about to end asthe Merovingian and Carlovingian lines had ended, and that asingle great monarchy would spread from the Orkneys to thePyrenees So strong an association is established *in most