CHAPTER IV. " Imperial being ! e'en though many a stain Of error be upon thee, There is power in thy commanding nature." HENRY immediately, conveyed his bride to Normandy, and installed her in the palace at Bayeux, once the resi-'dence of the family of "William the Conqueror. The mar-riage of Eleanor, but little more than a month after her di-vorcej^tonished all Europe. Especially was the King of France incensed by a union which made his already too powerful vassal lord of seven more beautiful and wealthy provinces. He immediately entered into an alliance with Stephen to deprive Henry of Normandy, and incited the baffled Geoffrey to make war upon his brother. "Let the stupid king do his worst," said Eleanor to h%r husband, as she despatched Peyrol to order the vessels of Bordeaux into the English Channel. The barons of oc and no will raise the banner of St. George and the golden leop-ards far above the oriflamme of France, and rejoice at hav-ing such fair cause of quarrel with the suzerain and jailer of their princess." The Provençal fleet that was thus brought to guard the coast of England, was of essential service to Henry in quelling the agitations excited by Louis not only, but in se-curing his peaceful accession to the-throne of his grand-father, Henry I. During the six weeks that elapsed after the death of Stephen, before he was ready to assume his crown, the maritime power anchored in the English harbors preserved the public tranquillity, and kept all foreign ene-mies in awe. Henry and Eleanor, with a brilliant train, landed on the coast of Hampshire, at the beginning of De-cember, A.D. 1154, and proceeded direct to Winchester. HEROINES OF THE CRUSADES.