from whence Matilda retired, unequal to the troublesome part she had
long acted. Worn out with age, and the clashing of furious factions, she
shut herself up in a monastery, and left to her son the succession of a
civil war. Stephen was now pressed with renewed vigor. Henry had rather
the advantage in the field; Stephen had the possession, of the
government. Their fortunes appearing nearly balanced, and the fuel of
dissension being consumed by a continual and bloody war of thirteen
years, an accommodation was proposed and accepted. Henry found it
dangerous to refuse his consent, as the bishops and barons, even of his
own party, dreaded the consequences, if a prince, in the prime of an
ambitious youth, should establish an hereditary title by the force of
foreign arms. This treaty, signed at Wallingford, left the possession of
the crown for his life to Stephen, but secured the succession to Henry,
whom that prince adopted. The castles erected in this reign were to be
demolished; the exorbitant grants of the royal demesne to be resumed. To
the son of Stephen all his private possessions were secured.

Thus ended this tedious and ruinous civil war. Stephen survived it near
two years; and now, finding himself more secure as the lawful tenant
than he had been as the usurping proprietor of the crown, he no longer
governed on the maxims of necessity. He made no new attempts in favor of
his family, but spent the remainder of his reign in correcting the
disorders which arose from his steps in its commencement, and in healing
the wounds of so long and cruel a war. Thus he left the kingdom in peace
to his successor, but his character, as it is usual where party is
concerned, greatly disputed. Wherever his natural dispositions had room
to exert themselves, they appeared virtuous and princely; but the lust
to reign, which often attends great virtues, was fatal to his,
frequently hid them, and always rendered them suspected.