trhunpli to England, where they passed the winter in a con-tinual round of feasting and voluptuousness. Thwarted in the usual method of redress, Count Hugh had recourse to the pope, the acknowledged lord of both potentate and peer. Innocent III. at once fulminated his thunders against the lawless prince ; but as the lands, if not the person of the heiress of Aquitaine, were the property of King John as her lord paramount, not even the Church could unbind the mystic links of feudal tenure that barred the rights of Coutit Lusignan. Disappointed in his hopes of vengeance in this quarter, the count became suddenly impressed with the right of young Arthur of Bretagne, to the throne of England, and being joined by the men of Anjou and Maine, he suddenly laid siege to the castle of Mirabel, where Queen Eleanor,' -then entering her eightieth year, had taken up her summer residence. The son of Geoffrey entered re|dily into the plot, for he had little cause to love the grandmother, who had advocated the setting aside his claims in favor of those of his uncle ; and it was the intention of Count Hugh to capture the aged queen, and exchange her for his lost spouse. In an age when decent people were expected to break their fast at the early hour of five, King John was sur-prised at his midday breakfast by a messenger, summoning him to his mother's rescue. Kising hastily in terrible wrath, and swearing a horrid oath, he overset the table with his foot, and leaving his bride to console herself as 6he could, set off immediately for Aquitaine. Arrived be-fore the castle of Mirabel, he gave fierce battle to his enemies. The contest was very brief, and victory for once alighted upon the banners of John. The unfortunate Count Hugh, and the still more unfortunate Arthur, with twenty-four barons of Poitou were taken prisoners, and chained hand and foot, were placed in tumbril carts and drawn after the Conqueror wherever he went. The barons, by the orders of King John, were starved to death in the dungeons of Corfe castle. The fate of the hapless Arthur was never ISABELLA. 279