eye. He therefore desired leave to accompany Robert out of the kingdom,
and then to make a voyage to the Holy Land. This leave was readily
granted. Edgar, having displayed great valor in useless acts of chivalry
abroad, after the Conqueror's death returned to England, where he long
lived in great tranquillity, happy in himself, beloved by all the
people, and unfeared by those who held his sceptre, from his mild and
inactive virtue.

[Sidenote: A.D. 1084.]

[Sidenote: A.D. 1087.]

William had been so much a stranger to repose that it became no longer
an object desirable to him. He revived his claim, to the Vexin Français,
and some other territories on the confines of Normandy. This quarrel,
which began, between him and the King of France on political motives,
was increased into rancor and bitterness, first, by a boyish contest at
chess between their children, which was resented, more than became wise
men, by the fathers; it was further exasperated by taunts and mockeries
yet less becoming their age and dignity, but which infused a mortal
venom into the war. William entered first into the French territories,
wantonly wasting the country, and setting fire to the towns and
villages. He entered Mantes, and as usual set it on fire; but whilst he
urged his horse over the smoking ruins, and pressed forward to further
havoc, the beast, impatient of the hot embers which burned his hoofs,
plunged and threw his rider violently on the saddle-bow. The rim of his
belly was wounded; and this wound, as William was corpulent and in the
decline of life, proved fatal. A rupture ensued, and he died at Rouen,
after showing a desire of making amends for his cruelty by restitutions
to the towns he had destroyed, by alms and endowments, the usual fruits