A.D. 1191. LETTER OF THE BISHOP OF COVENTRY. 233 the living God. But when the king had given him certain earls as his associates, in order that at least the more weighty concerns of the realm might be managed by their counsels in common, he could not at all endure to have any partner therein, as he thought that the greater part of his glory would be thrown into the shade, if he should stand in need of the advice of any mortal being. Therefore he ruled alone, therefore he reigned alone, and from sea to sea was he dreaded as though a God ; and were I to say still more, I should not be telling a falsehood, because God is long-suffering and merciful ; while he, ruling every thing according to his own impulses, was neither able to observe justice when acting, nor to endure delay in waiting the proper time. Hence it arose that he set at nought all the letters and mandates of his lord ; that he might not seem to have a superior, nor be supposed to be subject to any one, having always made every one act as the servant of his own will. Therefore, after England had for a considerable time suffered under so heavy a burden and a yoke so insupportable, at length, while groaning at his deeds, she cried aloud with all her might. Her cries went up to the Lord, and He, rising, looked down on her from on high, who by His own might treads under foot the necks of the proud and haughty, and exalts the humble by the might of His arm. The sun of justice, indeed, may shine upon the good and the bad, still the eyes of the overwise it dazzles, and by the brilliancy of its light brings forth fruit in the minds of the humble. For although this chancellor may perchance have read that it is denied us long to dwell on high,34 and that ' He who stands must take care lest he fall,'35 and that, ' He who exalteth himself shall be abased,' 3 6 and that before a downfall the heart is elated ; still, being forgetful of the lot of mankind, which never remains in the same condition, and of the volubility of the wheel that elevates the lowly man, and, when elevated, is wont to depress him, he was never willing to understand that he ought to act virtuously ; but meditating iniquity in his bed, where he was sleeping with the ministers of wickedness, and with youths in his chamber, he added iniquity to iniquity, so as by his pride and his abuses, through the just retribution of God, to precipitate himself into the powerful hands of the Lord ; so tbat now there was no longer any room for mercy for him, but 34 35 Perhaps alluding to Is. xxvi. 5. Alluding to 1 Cor. x. 12. 3 6 St. Luke xiv. 11, and xviii. 14.