being aware1 of all the circumstances, to be pronounced void. He also affirms, that it was over-presumptuous in him to take an oath to alienate his inheritance and make it over to you without the general consent of the kingdom. He also added, that i him to give up that kingdom, the government of which he had undertaken with such great good will of the nobles." William, when he heard these assertions, began to be very indignant, and that he might not by any precipitation injure the righteous cause of war which he had, he sent messengers to pope Alexander, in order that the undertaking which he was engaging in might be sanctioned by apostolical authority. Accordingly, the pope having considered the cause of both the disputing parties, sent a banner to William, as an omen that the kingdom should be his. And when he had received it, he convened a council of his nobles at Liskeboune, and asked the opinion of every individual about the matter in hand. And when they had all animated him to undertake the expedition by great promises on their part, the council was dissolved, on the understanding that they should all meet again in the month of August, at the harbour of Saint Valori, with cavalry and arms, in readiness to cross the sea immediately. Accordingly, when they were all assembled at the appointed rendezvous, the fair wind failed which was to have conveyed them over to England. On this, the duke ordered the body of Saint Valori to be carried out of doors by way of deprecating the foul wind, and to be placed in the open air, and immediately the desired wind filled the sails. Then, after dinner, they all embarked on board the fleet, and after a prosperous voyage arrived off Hastings. But duke William, when disembarking from his ship, stumbled with his foot, and turning pale, interpreted the accident as a bad omen, and augury of an unsuccessful enterprise. But one of the soldiers by his side who lifted up the duke after his fall, while he still This refers to a trick of William, which is thus related by Hume : — " In order to render the oath more obligatory, William employed an artifice well suited to the ignorance and superstition of the age. He secretly conveyed under the altar on which Harold agreed to swear, the relics of some of the most revered martyrs ; and when Harold had taken the oath, he showed him the relics, and admonished him to observe religiously an engagement which had been ratified by so tremendous a sanction."—History of England, c. iii.