•with a prudence and discretion beyond bis years. In one council, be appointed the great officers of the crown ; in another he confirmed to his subjects, all the rights and liberties secured under the famous charter of Henry Beau-clerk, in a third he induced the barons to do homage to his eldest son "William, and in the event of William's death, to his second son Henry, a child in the cradle. He de-molished many of the castles reared by the rebellious barons under Stephen, dismissed the foreign mercenaries or Bra-bançons, that had long infested the kingdom, and compell-ed Malcolm, grandson of David and Maude, to exchange three northern counties for the earldom of Huntingdon, which the King of the Scots claimed as the descendant of Earl Waltheof. During the stormy period of Stephen's reign, the ecclesiastical tribunals had acquired an authority above the judicial courts ; and it was the ardent desire of the monarch to reform this abuse. He owed so much, however, to the friendship and constancy of Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury, that he found it difficult to work an}r innovation upon the jurisdiction of the church so dear to the heart of his venerable friend. Eleanor occupied in her own pleasures, and it is charitably to be hoped in the duties of a mother, took little interest in these affairs ; for the death of her eldest boy, and the birth of a daughter, had in some sort awakened her mind to maternal respon-sibilities. She was particularly solicitous with regard to the tutor to be chosen for her son Henry, and herself made a visit to the archbishop to confer upon the subject. A few days after the king entered her apartments in'an unusually facetious mood. " The good Theobald," said he, " who suffered banishment for my mother, has parted with his right hand to benefit her son. He has sent us his own archdeacon as a tutor for Henry." " And how looks the candidate for our favor ; is he fair and wise?" asked Eleanor. " Nay, for that," said Henry, " the archbishop, with his wonted sagacity, has shown due regard for the tastes of the family, since the man he has sent is half Saxon, half Saracen." 150 HEROINES OF THE CRUSADES.