much superior naval force of tlie enemy,* By his valour and military talents he speedily reduced the French prince to the necessity of suing for peace.f On the 11th of September a personal interview took place between the latter and the protector at Staines near London, and it was agreed that the prince and all the French forces should immediately evacuate the country. Having thus rescued England from the danger of a foreign yoke, and having established tranquillity throughout the country, and secured the young king Henry in the peaceable and uudisputed possession of the throne, he died (A. I. 1219) at Caversham, leaving behind him, says Matthew Paris, such a reputation as few could compare with. His dead body was, in the first instance, conveyed to the abbey at Reading, where it was received by the monks in solemn procession. It was placed in the choir of the church, and high mass was celebrated with vast pomp. On the following day it was brought to Westminster Abbey, where high mass was again performed; and front thence it was borne in slate to the Temple Church, where it whs solemnly interred on Ascension-day, A. d . 1219.$ Matthew Paris tells us that the following epitaph was composed to the memory of the above distinguished nobleman :— " Sum qnera Saturnmn si hi sensit Hibernia, soletn Anglia, Mercurium Nomianuia, Gallia Martelli," For he was, says he, always the tamer of the mischievous Irish, the honour and glory of the English, the negotiator of Normandy, * Matthew Paria bears witness to the great superiority of the English sailors over the French even in those days,—Ibid., p. 2.9ÎÎ. Trivet, p. 167—169. t Acta Bgmeri, torn. i. p. 219,221, 223. X Duffd. Baronage, tom. i. p. 602, Α. η. 1210. Wilh'ebnus senior, mareschallua regis et rector regni, diem claasit extremum, ctLondini npud Novum Teniplum honorifice turnuliittir, scilicet in ecclesia, in Ascensioni? die videlicet XVii. culendas Aprilis.—Matt. Par. p. 304. Aim. D'instarle, ad aim. 1219. Attn. Wuvcrky.