Page:The reign of William Rufus and the accession of Henry the First.djvu/118

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moment he was lavish of promises. All the wrongs of the days of William the Elder were to be put an end to in the days of William the Younger. The English folk should have again the best laws that ever before were in this land. King William would reign over his people like Eadward or Cnut or Ælfred. The two great grievances of his father's days were to cease; the King's coffers were no longer to be filled by money wrung from his people; the King's hunting-grounds were no longer to be fenced in by the savage code which had guarded the Conqueror's pleasures. All unrighteous geld he forbade, and he granted to them their woods and right of hunting. At the sound of such promises men's hearts were stirred. At such moments, men commonly listen to their hopes rather than to their reason; the prospects and promises of a new reign are always made the best of; and there was no special reason as yet why the word of William the Red should be distrusted. He had not conquered England; he had not as yet had the means of oppressing England; he had shown at least one virtue in dutiful attachment

pene omnes in una rabie conspiratos, Anglos probos et fortes viros, qui adhuc residui erant, invitatoriis scriptis accersiit." It is singular that Florence mentions the English only in an incidental way a little later; "Congregato quantum ad præsens poterat Normannorum, sed tamen maxime Anglorum, equestri et pedestri, licet mediocri, exercitu." Does the precious document spoken of by William of Malmesbury still lurk in any manuscript store?]tinge." William of Malmesbury (iv. 306) translates, "Bonas leges et tributorum levamen, liberasque venationes pollicens." Florence is less literal; "Statuens leges, promittens fautoribus omnia bona." Simeon gives another version; "Eo tenore, ut si in hac necessitate sibi fideles existerent, meliorem legem quam vellent eligere eis concederet, et omnem injustum scottum interdixit, et concessit omnibus silvas suas et venationem. Sed quicquid promisit, parvo tempore custodivit. Angli tamen fideliter eum juvabant."]
 * [Footnote: writ comes from William of Malmesbury, iv. 306; "Ille, videns Normannos