Page:A History and Defence of Magna Charta.djvu/77

becauſe you are wholly ignorant of the perils that hang over your heads; for Lewis has taken an oath, and ſixteen earls and barons of France with him, that, if ever he get England, and be crowned King, he will condemn all the barons that are now in arms with him againſt K. John, to perpetual baniſhment, as traitors againſt their ſovereign lord, and will extirpate the whole race of them out of the land. And leſt you ſhould doubt of the truth of this, I that lie here ready to die, do affirm to you upon the peril of my ſoul, that I myſelf was one of thoſe that were engaged with Lewis in this oath. Wherefore I now counſel you, by all means, to look carefully to yourſelves hereafter, and to make the beſt uſe of what I have told you, and to keep it under the ſeal of ſecrecy.” When this nobleman had thus ſaid, forthwith he expired. When this dying ſecret came to be ſpread amongſt the reſt of the barons, they were ſadly caſt down, finding themſelves ſurrounded with difficulties, and perplexed on every ſide. For, as a concurrent proof of what viſcount Melun had ſaid, Lewis, inſtead of reſtoring them to their rights, according to his oath, had given all the lands and caſtles of the barons, as faſt as he won them, to his own Frenchmen: and though the

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