was suffering; and in the course of a few days he died, "unwept, unhonoured, and unsung.'

John died at Newark and was buried at Wor- Death of cester.

King

John,

LECTURE SECOND

COMPRISING

AN ACCOUNT OF THE FEUDAL SYSTEM, AND OF THE
ORIGIN OF THE LAWS AND GOVERNMENT OF ENGLAND.

Position of England at the Death of King John. - The Feudal System.
-Allodial Lands and Feudal Lands.- Results of Feudal Customs
springing from the Obligation of Military Service. - Abuses of the
Feudal System.Its good Effects. — Chivalry. - Investiture of a
Knight.-Tournaments. Results of Feudalism. — Feudal System
established in England by the Normans. Further Information as to
Tenure of Land, and Division of the Nation into Classes. - Govern-
ment of the Country, making of Laws, putting Laws in force. - Origin
of the Laws of England. - How the Laws were enforced. The
King's Court. The King's Court divided into other Courts.-
Contrivances for removing Business from one Court to another.
The Origin of Judges going on Circuit.— Trial by Jury. - Trial by
Twelve sworn Knights first introduced by Henry the Second. —
Court of Chancery. - Its Origin. - The Law administered in the
Court of Chancery is founded on the Roman Law. The Ecclesiastical
Courts and Doctors' Commons. - Court of Admiralty.

Position of England at the Death of King John.

--

ture ended

with death of King John, A. D.

1216.

My former lecture, as you will remember, ended with First Lecthe death of King John, soon after Magna Charta had been wrung from him by the barons. You will remember that John was weak, and cruel; that he was a tyrant and a coward; that he led an evil life, and that, whenever it suited him, he broke his sacred oath,

a

of Henry the Third.

His son, Henry the Third, whose history I shall Character next relate, was a better man. No man ever said word against his manner of life; he was not a tyrant, and never showed the mean cowardice of which his father was guilty. But he was not a great man.

England's

the death of John.

He was not a wise man like Alfred, or Canute the
Dane; not a man of strong will like William the
Norman; not a man of gallant bravery like Richard
the Crusader; nor a man of learning like Henry the
First.

But in his reign England made way. Laws were improved, freedom was strengthened, and England became more English. How was this? It was greatly because he was not a man of strong will,— because he was not a man of high and lofty aims. He was always in want of money, and to get it he did not shrink from granting in return those demands which gave greater freedom to his people, although at the same time they lessened his own power. He also was always leaning to the French, and thus roused. an opposing English spirit. He could not forget that the Plantagenets were a race of Frenchmen, and nobles of France, as well as Kings of England. He therefore showered down honours on Normans, on Gascons, and on the nobles of Poitou and Guienne. He made them his courtiers, his advisers, and his friends; and thus he roused the English barons to demand, that English nobles should rule over an English people, and thus he helped to make England and England's rulers unite together as an English nation.

You will remember, lastly, that at the end of King position at John's reign, the barons of England, goaded on by his oppressions, and enraged at his treacherous attempts to set aside the Magna Charta, to which he had solemnly sworn, had unwisely called in the French to help them. They called on Louis, the French prince, the son of Philip Augustus, King of France, to come to their aid. Louis pretended that he had a right to be King of England, because

REPRESENTATION OF A TOURNAMENT TAKEN FROM THE COTTON MSS. NERO D'IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. Drawn on stone from a Fac-Smile made by MF Vernon Howard.