"When the people found that they were none the better for the blessings of the Druids, and none the worse for the curs…"

"Some became Crusaders for the love of change; some, in the hope of plunder; some, because they had nothing to do at h…"

"Courtiers are not only eager to laugh when the King laughs, but they really do enjoy a laugh against a Favourite."

"In the year of our Lord one thousand one hundred and eighty-nine, Richard of the Lion Heart succeeded to the throne o…"

"King Richard... was a strong, restless, burly man, with one idea always in his head, and that the very troublesome id…"

"So fell Wat Tyler. Fawners and flatterers made a mighty triumph of it, and set up a cry which will occasionally find …"

"There were two Popes at this time (as if one were not enough!), and their quarrels involved Europe in a great deal of…"

"War is a dreadful thing; and it is appalling to know how the English were obliged, next morning, to kill those prison…"

"When men unnaturally fight against their own countrymen, they are always observed to be more unnaturally cruel and fi…"

"We now come to King Henry the Eighth, whom it has been too much the fashion to call ‘Bluff King Hal,’ and ‘Burly King…"