Page:A History and Defence of Magna Charta.djvu/134

88 and unſearchable doubleneſs, which they perceived by a terrible word he let fall. Being one day upon the Thames in his barge, a ſudden ſtorm of thunder and lightning aroſe, which he dreaded above all things; and therefore immediately ordered to be ſet on ſhore, which happened to be at Durham-houſe, where the earl of Leiceſter then lay: which, when the earl underſtood, he ran joyfully to meet him, and reverently ſaluted him according to his duty; and chearing him, ſaid, “You have no occaſion to be concerned at the tempeſt, for now it is over.” To whom the King replied in the greateſt earneſt, and with a ſtern countenance, “I am indeed afraid of thunder and lightning above meaſure; but,” with a horrid oath, “I dread thee more than all the thunder and lightning in the world.” To which the earl gave a mild and gentle anſwer, and only let him know he had a wrong opinion of him. But all men did ſuſpect his amazing expreſſion proceeded from hence, that the earl had been a main man in eſtabliſhing the proviſions at Oxford.

boded ill to thoſe proviſions, and, accordingly in a ſhort time, the King ſent privately to the Pope, to be abſolved from his oath, whereby he