could carry no malice, and she forgave Iachimo and those who had injured her. She crowned herself and them with the bright diadem of a full and joyous forgiveness, and remembered Caius Lucius and Belarius as her best and dearest benefactors. Thus in peace and forgiveness the sun of Fortune shone brilliantly upon a happy company, and King Cymbeline truly became "the radiant Cymbeline."

Having vindicated the heroism of his people, he made peace with Rome and promised to pay the tribute due to the Emperor, and in triumph the army prepared to march from Wales. Standing in his great war-chariot and pointing to the east, while his brave sons, the happy Posthumus and Imogen, and all the British captains stood around, King Cymbeline said:

"Laud we the gods;

And let our crooked smokes climb to their nostrils
From our blest altars. Publish we this peace

To all our subjects. Set we forward. Let

A Roman and a British ensign wave

Friendly together: so through Lud's town march:
And in the temple of great Jupiter

Our peace we'll ratify; seal it with feasts.

Set on there.-Never was a war did cease,

Ere bloody hands were wash'd, with such a peace."

And so through the rough defiles and over the mountain roads the victorious army streamed, and all Britain acclaimed the prowess and rejoiced in the happiness of the radiant Cymbeline and his triumphant people.

King John

IN the twelfth century the King of France ruled over a comparatively small territory which lay in the centre of the country, with Amiens, Paris, and Orleans as his chief cities. The fairest and richest part of France was held by the powerful and wealthy Counts of Anjou, and they were also lords of Normandy, Maine, Brittany, Anjou, Touraine, Poitou, Aquitaine, and Auvergne. These provinces by marriage had come into the hand of Matilda, daughter of King Henry I. of England. After the death of Stephen ofBlois in 1154, Matilda's son, Henry, Duke of Normandy, became King Henry II. of England. He had four sons and three daughters. The eldest son, Henry, married Margaret of France, and by his father's wish became Joint-King of England. He died without children. The second son, Richard of Poitou, known as Cœur de Lion, married Berengar of Navarre, but left no children of the marriage. The third son, Geoffrey of Brittany, married Lady Constance and left two children, Prince Arthur and Lady Eleanor. The fourth son, John, had two sons and three daughters; and the second daughter of Henry II. married King Alfonso of Castile and had one daughter, the Princess Blanche.

For many years the French possessions of King Henry II. were the cause of much strife, and there were

constant outbreaks between him and his ambitious, turbulent sons. The young Henry, chafing at being a king only in name, made a secret alliance with King Louis, and gathering to his standard his brothers Geoffrey of Brittany and Richard of Poitou and many Knights, he made war upon his father, the King of England. He did not succeed in his attempt, and later, a bitter quarrel broke out between the brothers, because Richard refused to pay homage to young Henry for the Duchy of Aquitaine.

In the year 1183 young Henry died. Then John and Geoffrey quarrelled with Richard, and while the conflict was yet unsettled King Henry II. died, and Richard of the Lion Heart became Duke of Normandy and King of England. He was a Knight of wonderful prowess, tall, stalwart, and handsome, with fair hair and bright blue eyes. His reckless bravery impelled him to enter quarrels on the most trivial causes, and he would travel many leagues in search of adventure. He was marvellously expert in the use of weapons, and had been trained from his boyhood in all the knightly exercises of his times. It was said that only one Knight in Christendom, William of Barre, could match him in the lists. He was a great lover of music and poetry, and took delight in the lays of troubadours and minstrels. He was made Duke of Normandy at Rouen, and crowned King of England at Westminster on September 3, 1189. Although he loved fighting, he did his best to put an end to the disturbances which had long vexed the kingdoms, and conferred upon his brother John the Earldoms of Cornwall, Derby, Devon, Dorset, and Somerset, and tried to bind him to his cause by many other rich gifts.

But John had his own ambitions and was not over scrupulous, and had determined already in his own mind to become King when Richard was out of his way. He knew that the young Prince Arthur of Brittany had been named by Richard as heir to the crown, and that the lad's mother Constance was striving hard to arouse Brittany, Maine, Anjou, and Touraine to rally to the cause of her son, but the subtle mind of John was not alarmed, and he waited patiently for his opportunity.

At length Richard Lion Heart sailed to the Holy Land, where the Knights of Christendom were gathering to wrest the Holy City of Jerusalem from the hands of Saladin the Saracen, and John began to sow the seeds of discord in England. Then word came that the impetuous Richard had quarrelled with the King of France and the Duke Leopold of Austria, and that the Crusaders were on the point of returning from the East. Richard embarked in a swift galley, and sailing up the Adriatic, landed at Ragusa, intending to make a more rapid journey to England by riding, as a simple Knight, with a few followers, through Austria and Germany. But his enemy Leopold was on the watch, and Richard was seized and flung into the dungeon of a strong castle.

For many months he lay there until tidings reached his friends. But his ransom was fixed at the high sum of one hundred and fifty thousand marks, and he was also advised to surrender his Kingdom to the Emperor Henry. He did so and received it again, with the Kingdom of Burgundy, on the promise of paying homage to the Emperor and contributing a yearly rental of five thousand pounds.

When his release was secured he hurried away, and in 1194 landed at Sandwich. Leaving his men, he hastened through the forest of Sherwood to Nottingham, where his brother John was staying with the noblemen whom he had won over to his side. On the appearance of Richard Lion Heart, John fled to France, and the King was once again crowned at Winchester, to wash out the stain of his captivity and surrender. Five years later at the Castle of Chaluz, which he was besieging because of a trifling quarrel with the Viscount of Limoges, Richard was shot in the breast by a crossbowman, and died on the sixth day of April in the year 1199. Prince John took immediate steps to set young Arthur of Brittany aside and would have seized him, if Constance had not claimed the protection of King Philip and roused the people of Brittany, Maine, Anjou and Touraine to the defence of their young lord.

John called the chief nobles of Normandy and England together, and on the proposition of his supporter, the Archbishop of Canterbury, that the Crown of England is an elective one, was chosen as the fittest candidate and representative of the House of Plantagenet, and crowned with the gilt coronet of Normandy by Hugh of Avalon on Easter Day, and a few weeks later, on May 27, Ascension Day, also received the Crown of England.

But now the fires of excitement blazed in France and Germany, and Philip of France and Leopold of Austria determined, for their own purposes, to support the cause of Arthur of Brittany. The aged Queen Eleanor, widow of Henry II., supported her son John. King Philip sent the Duke of Chatillon as ambassador to England. He rode to Northampton, where King John was staying, and craved an audience with him. The