466 rcoci.i: OF WEXDOVEK. [A.η. 102G. that William earl of Salisbury, bis uncle, bad been drowned when on bis return from the transmarine provinces, and whilst he was indulging in grief at the event, Hubert justiciary of the kingdom came to him, and asked him to give the wife of the said earl William in marriage to his nephew Raymond, to whom the honour of that earldom belonged by hereditary right. The king having granted his request on condition that he could bring the countess herself to consent to the match, the justiciary immediately sent the aforesaid Raymond in his knightly apparel to the countess, to endeavour to gain the affections of that lady. Rut when the said Raymond by soft speeches and great promises endeavoured to gain her consent, she with great anger replied, that she had lately received letters informing her that her husband was safe and well; she. also added that if her husband had indeed been dead, she would not on any account accept of him as a husband, because the nobility of her family prevented such a marriage. "Seek elsewhere," said she, "for a wife, because you will li rid by experience that you have come here to no purpose." Raymond on receiving this reply went away in confusion. How his holiwss the pope demanded prebends for his own use. Λ.Ι). i'2'26. King Henry kept Christmas at Winchester in the company of some bishops and several nobles. After this festival had been duly observed, he went to Marlborough, where he was seized with illness and lay for many days in a hopeless state. In the meantime the period fixed on for holding the council at Westminster at the feast of St. Hilary was now come, at which the king, the clergy, and nobles of the kingdom were hound to appear to hear the pope's message. Many bishops therefore, with others of the clergy and laity, assembled at the above place, and master Otho the messenger of our lord the pope, of whom mention has been before made, read the pope's letters in the hearing of them all. In these letters the pope set forth a great scandal and old abuse of the holy church of Home, namely, an accusation of avarice, which is said to be the root of all evil, and especially because no one could manage any business at the court of Rome, without a lavish expenditure of money and large presents. "Rut since the poverty of the Roman