the lovers of history, not only from its antiquity, but also from its
gloomy recesses, having afforded a safe shelter to our weak and cruel King
John. Here he bade farewell to this province which he abandoned to the
French Knights, and from whom he carefully concealed every trace of his
retreat. The entrance is almost obscured, and tradition says it is so
artfully managed as to have the appearance of a passage to another. The
spot is barren, and it appears as if a thunder-bolt had burnt up the
verdure. The spirit of _Robert le Diable_ is supposed to haunt the cavern
in the form of a wolf, and advances uttering piteous cries, and
steadfastly gazing on its place of defence (the caverns extending to the
River Seine) reviews his former glory and conquests, and seems bitterly to
lament the present decay. In vain the peasants commence the chase; they
assert that the wolf though closely pursued always eludes the vigilance of
the huntsman. On the death of Richard I. of England, 1199, his Brother
John was proclaimed King of Normandy and Aquitaine; the Duchies of
Brittany, the Counties of Anjou, Maine, Tours and others, acknowledged
Arthur, John's nephew, as their sovereign, and claimed the protection of
the King of France, Philip II., surnamed Augustus; but he despairing of
being able to retain these provinces against the will of their inhabitants,
sacrificed Arthur and his followers to John, who in a skirmish with some
of the Norman Lords, carried them all prisoners into Normandy, where
Arthur soon disappeared: the Britons assert that he was murdered by his
uncle; and the Normans that he was accidentally killed in endeavouring to
escape. The death of their favourite Prince stung the Britons to madness,
as in him centered their last hope of regaining independence: an ardent
imagination led them to believe their future destiny connected with this
child, which inspired them with a wild affection for Philip, as being the
enemy of his murderer. They accused John before the French King of
Arthur's murder, and he was summoned as a Vassal of Normandy to appear and
defend himself before the twelve Peers of France. This command being