Page:The reign of William Rufus and the accession of Henry the First.djvu/196

 *

nearly nineteen years ended in the May of the year following the rebellion. He was buried in the metropolitan church of his own rebuilding, and, when his shorter choir gave way to the grander conceptions of the days of his successor, the sweet savour that came from his tomb made all men sure that the pious hope of the Chronicler had been fulfilled.

Lanfranc was borne to his grave amid general sorrow. But the sorrow might have been yet deeper, if men had known the effect which his death would have on the character of the King and his reign. Up to this time the worst features of the character of William Rufus had not shown themselves in their fulness. As long as his father lived, as long as Lanfranc lived, he had in some measure kept them in check. We need not suppose any sudden or violent change. It is the manifest exaggeration of a writer who had his own reasons for drawing as favourable a picture as he could of the Red King, when we are told that, as long as Lanfranc lived, he showed himself, under that wholesome influence, the perfect model of a ruler. There