duly and undoubtedly seen, that princes who have usurped
ecclesiastical benefices (and particularly king Henry the Second,
who laboured under this vice more than others), have profusely
squandered the treasures of the church, and given away to hired
soldiers what in justice should have been given only to priests.

Yet something is to be said in favour of the aforesaid William de
Braose, although he greatly offended in this particular (since
nothing human is perfect, and to have knowledge of all things, and
in no point to err, is an attribute of God, not of man); for he
always placed the name of the Lord before his sentences, saying,
"Let this be done in the name of the Lord; let that be done by God's
will; if it shall please God, or if God grant leave; it shall be so
by the grace of God." We learn from Saint Paul, that everything
ought thus to be committed and referred to the will of God. On
taking leave of his brethren, he says, "I will return to you again,
if God permit;" and Saint James uses this expression, "If the Lord
will, and we live," in order to show that all things ought to be
submitted to the divine disposal. The letters also which William de
Braose, as a rich and powerful man, was accustomed to send to
different parts, were loaded, or rather honoured, with words
expressive of the divine indulgence to a degree not only tiresome to
his scribe, but even to his auditors; for as a reward to each of his
scribes for concluding his letters with the words, "by divine
assistance," he gave annually a piece of gold, in addition to their
stipend. When on a journey he saw a church or a cross, although in
the midst of conversation either with his inferiors or superiors,
from an excess of devotion, he immediately began to pray, and when
he had finished his prayers, resumed his conversation. On meeting
boys in the way, he invited them by a previous salutation to salute