Page 99 - Third Book of Reading Lessons

98 THIRD BOOK OF
MEL1ANCHOLY, n., a depressed or d ected state of mind. L. melan­
1. THE ambition of IIenry was now grati ed. His reign es had been compelled to solicit peace; his Norman enemies had been crushed by the weight of his arms; and if rther security were wanted, it had been obtained by the investiture of the dutchy of Normandy, which had been granted to his son Wil­ liam. After an absence of ur years, he resolved to return in triumph to England, November, 1120.
2. At Bar eur he was met by a Norman mariner, called Fitz-Stephen, who o ered him a mark of gold, and solicited the honour of conveying him in his own vessel, "The vVhite Ship." It was, he observed, new, and manned with fty of the most able seamen. His ther had carried the king's ther, when he sailed to the conquest of England ; and the service by which he held his e, was that of providing r the passage of his sovereign.
3. Henry replied, that he had already chosen a
_vessel r himself; but that he would con de his son and his treasures to the care of Fitz-Stephen. With the young prince (he was in his eighteenth year) em­ barked his brother Richard, and his sister Adela, the earl of Chester and his countess, the king's niece, sixteen other noble ladies, and one hundred and rty knights. They spent some hours on deck, in ast­ ing and dancing, and distrihated three barrels of wine among the crew; but the riot and intoxication which prevailed about sunset, induced the most prudent to quit the vessel and return to the shore.
4. Henry had set sail as soon as the wind would permit. William, a er a long delay, ordered Fitz­ Stephen to follqw his father. Immediately every sail
cholia, om melan, G., black, and clwle, bile.
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