with the number of the corresponding chapter of Magna Charta that contains the privileges to which they refer. When these preliminary proceedings were thus agreed upon, they were sealed in a manner similar to the Charter itself; and an original schedule of these is preserved in the British Museum, with the seal of King John in brown wax, pendant from the parchment. As John had now conceded to all the claims which the discontent of his Barons could deyise, or their hatred demand, it might be expected that the remainder of his reign was passed with the faithful allegiance and love of his subjects, but this was not the case; they feared the King might yet retract his engagements, and they demanded, says Blackstone,a a real and substantial security for his performance of the articles of the Charter; nothing less than the custody of the City and Tower of London, till the 15th of August then next ensuing, and afterwards till the Charter should be carried into execution. To this the King also consented, if compliance in his circumstances may be called a consent, and the custody was actually delivered."

a 66

The Covenant which thus originated, contained a particular account of the Writs for electing the twelve Knights, who were to rectify the Forest laws and customs: these were dated on the nineteenth day of June, which was four days after the conclusion of Magna Charta and the period when b Vide the Translation.

a Introduction, p. xxii.

the assembly was dismissed. These Writs, or Letters of Election, as they are called by the Covenant, were a material part of the newly-granted liberties, inasmuch as they gave to the Barons the power of watching over the pure administration of the enactments of Magna Charta. They were addressed by the King, to the Sheriffs, Foresters, Warreners, Keepers of Water-banks, and their Bailiffs, in the various Counties; and command, that according to the Charter which had been concluded, they should proceed to swear to the twenty-five Barons, and afterward commence the election of the twelve Knights in their respective Counties. These Writs concluded by a command for the Officers to whom they were addressed, to make choice of such men as would support the King's honour, the peace of the Kingdom, and the laws contained in the Great Charter.

King John was thus seemingly cleared from the continual harrassings with which his Barons darkened his short and unhappy reign; but though he had resigned all which they demanded, and had satisfied their extensive claims, yet in the King's mind there was a deep and indelible regret for having thus yielded to the violence with which most of their resolutions had been conducted. A celebrated English historian speaks in the following terms concerning the manner in which the late grant of Magna Charta preyed upon the health and the disposition of John. "Great rejoising,"

a

says Holinshed,a was made for this conclusion of peace betwixt the King and his Barons, the people judging that God had touched the King's heart, and mollified it, whereby happie daies were come for the realme of England, as though it had beene deliuered out of the bondage of Aegypt: but were much deceiued, for the King having condescended to make such grant of liberties, farre contrarie to his mind, was right sorrowfull in his heart, curssed his mother that bare him, the houre that he was borne, and the paps that gaue him sucke, wishing that he had receiued death by violence of sword or knife, in steed of naturall norishment: he whetted his teeth, he did bite now on one staffe, and now on an other, as he walked, and oft brake the same in pieces when he had doone, and with such disordered behauiour and furious gestures he uttered his greefe, in such sort that the noble men verie well perceiued the inclination of his inward affection concerning these things, before the breaking vp of the councell, and therefore sore lamented the state of the realme, gessing what would come of his impatiencie and displesant taking of the matter."

If this melancholy description were a real picture of John's mind after the conclusion of Magna Charta, he was indeed reduced to a miserable state; and this in a twofold sense, for he was not

a Vol. II. p. 186.

only bent under the weight of his present evils, but his Peers perceiving how much his extorted concession oppressed his thoughts, and fearful of his swerving from it, were prepared to resort to the same violent methods for it's preservation, as those which they had already made use of to gain it. The future actions of John's life were then smouldering in his breast, like the sleeping yet unsubdued fires of a volcano: his intentions were however already suspected by many of his Peers, and while the King was secretly providing for the success of his plans, they were not less anxious for the security of theirs. Hence arose a mutual mistrust, which the sealed deed of Magna Charta could by no means dissipate; but it was regarded by one party at least, as only a temporising expedient, to put an end to the civil feuds which were spread over all the Kingdom. In the midst

of the schemes which John had commenced, to render void that engagement which he could never remember but with agony, he died suddenly at Newark on the 19th of October, 1215:-by poison, as it is related by some writers, and through the infirmities induced by a broken heart and constitution, as it is asserted by others. There are but few, however, at the present time, who give any degree of credence to the former relation; yet whoever attentively considers the utter hatred which was entertained for John by almost all his subjects, but more especially by the Ecclesiastics, will per

ceive but little reason why this account should be supposed wholly traditional. The celebrated Rapin, and his annotator, Morant, have thought it a sufficient argument against it's truth to remark, that it was improbable for "a man to poison himself to be revenged of another:" but as the mistaken Friar believed he was acting in the most patriotic and virtuous manner, in rescuing England from a tyrannic power, so he gave himself, without scruple, as a martyr to the cause, confidently expecting as a reward, an immediate and an eternal beatitude. The same authors also observe, that this circumstance is neither mentioned by any contemporary historians, nor even by any who lived within sixty years of that time. This argument will go, however, but a short distance to prove the falsity of the relation. Matthew Paris, and from him the principal account of John's reign is derived, was too great an enemy of that King to allow of any vices in the opposing party; particularly in that class of society, by a member of which this act is said to have been committed. During the space of sixty years it was in every one's memory, and after that period, it is more than probable, that, had there not existed some foundation for such a report, it could never have descended to later times through the medium of written history.