improvement of lands in Ireland, and they have been recently restored to the honors of the peerage. Yet the Courtenays still retain the plaintive motto, which asserts the innocence, and deplores the fall, of their ancient house. 86 While they sigh for past greatness, they are doubtless sensible of present blessings: in the long series of the Courtenay annals, the most splendid æra is likewise the most unfortunate; nor can an opulent peer of Britain be inclined to envy the emperors of Constantinople, who wandered over Europe to solicit alms for the support of their dignity and the defence of their capital. 80 (return) [ Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum, vol. i. p. 786. Yet this fable must have been invented before the reign of Edward III. The profuse devotion of the three first generations to Ford Abbey was followed by oppression on one side and ingratitude on the other; and in the sixth generation, the monks ceased to register the births, actions, and deaths of their patrons.] 81 (return) [ In his Britannia, in the list of the earls of Devonshire. His expression, e regio sanguine ortos, credunt, betrays, however, some doubt or suspicion.] 82 (return) [ In his Baronage, P. i. p. 634, he refers to his own Monasticon. Should he not have corrected the register of Ford Abbey, and annihilated the phantom Florus, by the unquestionable evidence of the French historians?] 83 (return) [ Besides the third and most valuable book of Cleaveland’s History, I have consulted Dugdale, the father of our genealogical science, (Baronage, P. i. p. 634—643.)] 84 (return) [ This great family, de Ripuariis, de Redvers, de Rivers, ended, in Edward the Fifth’s time, in Isabella de Fortibus, a famous and potent dowager, who long survived her brother and husband, (Dugdale, Baronage, P i. p. 254—257.)] 85 (return) [ Cleaveland p. 142. By some it is assigned to a Rivers earl of Devon; but the English denotes the xvth, rather than the xiiith century.] 86 (return) [ _Ubi lapsus! Quid feci?_ a motto which was probably adopted by the Powderham branch, after the loss of the earldom of Devonshire, &c. The primitive arms of the Courtenays were, _Or_, _three torteaux_, _Gules_, which seem to denote their affinity with Godfrey of Bouillon, and the ancient counts of Boulogne.] Chapter LXII: Greek Emperors Of Nice And Constantinople.—Part I. The Greek Emperors Of Nice And Constantinople.—Elevation And Reign Of Michael Palæologus.—His False Union With The Pope And The Latin Church.—Hostile Designs Of Charles Of Anjou.—Revolt Of Sicily.—War Of The Catalans In Asia And Greece.—Revolutions And Present State Of Athens.