M--A--NS.

* * * * *



RETROSPECTIVE GLEANINGS.


SPEECH OF KING HENRY THE FIRST.

(_To the Editor_.)


The following speech of Henry the First will, no doubt, be thought by some
of your numerous readers curious enough to deserve a corner in your
valuable _Mirror_. It is the first that ever was delivered from the throne;
--is preserved to us by only one historian (Mathew Paris), and scarcely
taken notice of by any other. Henry the First, the Conqueror's youngest
son, had dispossessed his eldest brother, Robert, of his right of
succession to the crown of England. The latter afterwards coming over to
England, upon a friendly visit to him, and Henry, being suspicious that
this circumstance might turn to his disadvantage, called together the
great men of the realm, and spoke to them as follows:--

"My friends and faithful subjects, both natives and foreigners,--You all
know very well that my brother Robert was both called by God, and elected
King of Jerusalem, which he now might have happily governed; and how
shamefully he refused that rule, for which he justly deserves God's anger
and reproof. You know also, in many other instances, his pride and