with chains, and wasting with grief, shame, and apprehension; and they were deeply moved with his tears and entreaties. The scene was heart-rending; and it appears that they could not have executed their horrible mission, even if Hubert de Burgh, the warden of the castle, had not interposed his authority, and refused to allow the instructions to be complied with, unless in presence of the King. However, in order to dispirit the captive Prince's adherents, he caused bells to be tolled all over Normandy to apprise the inhabitants that Arthur of Britanny was no more.

On learning that his orders had not been executed, John became furious with disappointment, and requested William de Bray, one of his household, to murder Arthur. "I am a gentleman, and not an executioner," answered De Bray, with becoming scorn. Finding that others shrank from the atrocity, John's evil genius got the better of him, and he resolved upon perpetrating the deed of darkness with his own hand.

Having formed this determination, the tyrant, i the spring of 1203, repaired to Rouen, and on the 3rd of April prepared for the cruel deed. To suppress scruples, and silence the murmurs of conscience, he ate ravenously and drank copiously. He then steeled himself against repentance, and descended to the dungeon. The boy, terror-struck, gazed on his uncle with anxious amaze, and melted into tears. The near prospect of being launched into eternity appalled his spirit. He threw himself on his knees and begged for mercy.

"Oh, mine uncle," he exclaimed, "spare your brother's son; spare your nephew; spare your race!" John made no reply, but imbrued his hands in his young kinsman's blood; and, having fastened heavy stones to the bleeding corpse, caused it to be thrown into the Seine. The whole affair was managed with such secrecy that the fate of the unhappy Prince might long have remained in obscurity but for a simple occurrence.

A fisherman of Rouen, plying his nets in the river, was surprised to drag ashore the body of a boy of sixteen. Whether or not he had his suspicions, he took the corpse to the monks of Bec, who, recognising it as that of Arthur of Britanny, had it interred in the Priory of Notre Dame de Pré, which belonged to their wealthy religious house. The corpse was buried with the utmost secrecy; for, in the eyes of the blood-stained tyrant, even this act of reverence towards his nephew would have appeared a crime to be punished.

Among those who fell into the power of King John at this period was Eleanor, the orphan sister of Arthur, variously known as "La Brette," "The Damsel," "The Pearl," and "The Fair Maid of Britanny." In other days she had been contracted by Coeur de Lion to the son of Leopold, the perfidious Duke of Austria; and, in the year 1194, she had actually been sent into Germany. Before reaching her destination Eleanor was freed from her contract by Leopold's death, and she was soon after betrothed to a French prince.

But no royal palace was this fair

He threw himself on his knees and begged for mercy. "Oh, mine uncle,"

he exclaimed, "spare your brother's son."-p. 58.

daughter of the House of Plantagenet to grace. She was sent by John to the Castle of Bristol, between which and a monastery she passed forty years, musing in sorrow and sadness over the misfortunes of her family.

It was early in April when Arthur was assassinated, and ere the month of May arrived a rumour of the atrocious outrage was bruited about. The perpetrator was regarded with the utmost indignation, and in Britanny nothing was heard but the cry for vengeance. The exasperated inhabitants, rallying round Alice, a halfsister of the murdered Prince, allowed her father, Guy de Tours, to assume the title of Duke of Britanny, and deputed him to demand justice at the hands of Philip Augustus. That politic monarch seized so favourable an opportunity to crush a rival king at one blow, and sent him a formal summons to appear before the Court of the Twelve Peers of France, and, as a vassal of the crown, answer for his crime. John sent an ambassador to say he would obey, if granted a safe-conduct. "Ay, let him come in peace and security," said Philip. "And so return, my lord?" asked the ambassador. "Yes, if the judgment of his peers so allow." The ambassador then requested a safe-conduct for his king to come and go. "No, by all the saints of France; not unless he is judged innocent of the crime!" exclaimed Philip, with more passion than he was in the habit of manifesting. John, failing to appear, was tried and condemned; and Philip, eagerly taking up arms,