Page:A History and Defence of Magna Charta.djvu/98

52 to himſelf and to that juſtice which he ought to maintain and exerciſe towards his ſubjects: and I ſhould give a bad example to all men of deſerting juſtice and the proſecution of right, for the ſake of an erroneous will, againſt all juſtice, and, to the injury of the ſubject; for hereby it would appear that we had more love for our worldly poſſeſſions, than for righteouſneſs itſelf.” But I wrong the diſcourſe, by ſingling any particulars out of it.

King kept his Chriſtmas at Glouceſter with a very thin court, the late rout at Groſmund caſtle having ſcattered them. And the morrow after, of Monmouth, a nobleman, one of the King’ warriors in Wales, attempting to ſurprize the marſhal, was entirely defeated with the loſs of a great number of Poitovins and others, himſelf narrowly eſcaping; which his eſtate did not, for the marſhal immediately burned and deſtroyed it. The ſame did the other exiled lords by all the King’s counſellors in thoſe parts; for they had laid down, amongſt themſelves, this laudable and general rule, “That they would hurt no body, nor do them any damage, but only the evil counſellors of the King, by whom they had been driven into baniſhment; and uſed in the