Most likely he had never set foot in England till he came thither with Richard in 1189; he was ignorant of the English tongue;[1413] his new surroundings were thoroughly distasteful to him; and as he was by no means of a cautious or conciliatory temper, he expressed his contempt and dislike of them in a way which was resented not only by the people, but even by men whose origin and natural speech were scarcely more English than his own.[1414] He had in short every qualification for becoming an extremely unpopular man, and he behaved as if he desired no other destiny. The nation at large soon learned to return his aversion and to detest him as a disagreeable stranger; his colleagues in the administration despised him as an upstart interloper; the justiciar, in particular, keenly resented his own virtual subordination to one whom he naturally regarded as his inferior in every way.[1415] It was sound policy on Richard’s part to place a check upon Hugh of Durham; and it was not unnatural that he should select his chancellor for that purpose. The seven happiest years of Henry Fitz-Empress had been the years during which another chancellor had wielded a power almost as great as that which Richard intrusted to William of Longchamp. But, on the other hand, any one except Richard might have seen at a glance that of all statesmen living, William of Longchamp was well-nigh the least fitted to reproduce the career of Thomas of London. [1403] Cf. Ric. Devizes (Stevenson), p. 11, with the horrible caricature in Gir. Cambr. _Vita Galfr._, l. ii. c. 19 (Brewer, vol. iv. p. 420). [1404] Pipe Roll 2 Hen. II. (Hunter), p. 51. [1405] _Mag. Rot. Scacc. Norm._ (Stapleton), vol. i. p. 74. Cf. Stubbs, _Rog. Howden_, vol. iii. pref. p. xxxviii. [1406] Letter of Hugh of Nonant, in _Gesta Ric._ (Stubbs), p. 216 (also in Rog. Howden, Stubbs, vol. iii. p. 142). Gir. Cambr. _Vita Galfr._, l. ii. c. 18 (Brewer, vol. iv. p. 418). [1407] _Mag. Rot. Scacc. Norm._ (Stapleton), vol. i. p. 74. Stubbs, _Rog. Howden_, vol. iii. pref. pp. xxxviii, xxxix and notes. [1408] Stubbs, as above, pp. xxxix, xl. [1409] Gir. Cambr. as above, c. 1 (p. 388). [1410] _Ibid._ Cf. c. 19 (pp. 420, 421). It does not seem to be known exactly who William’s mother was; but she brought to her husband in dower a knight’s fee in Herefordshire under Hugh de Lacy. See _Lib. Nig. Scacc._ (Hearne), p. 155, and Stubbs, as above, p. xxxviii, note 4. [1411] Gir. Cambr. as above, c. 19 (p. 421). [1412] Ric. Devizes (Stevenson), p. 6. [1413] Letter of Hugh of Nonant in _Gesta Ric._ (Stubbs), vol. ii. p. 219. [1414] See Gir. Cambr. _Vita Galfr._, l. ii. c. 19 (Brewer, vol. iv. p. 424). [1415] _Gesta Ric._ (Stubbs), p. 101. Rog. Howden (Stubbs), vol. iii. p. 29.