in the presence of Prince Edward and the assembled nobles, the King became furious, and with a great oath exclaimed, “I will not be silent or at rest, either for Mount Zion or for Jerusalem, but, as long as there is breath in my nostrils, I will defend what all the world knows to be my right.” On calmer reflection, however, he saw the necessity of returning a milder answer to the admonition of his adviser, in which he promised to consult his parliament, and send messengers to Rome to acquaint his Spiritual Father with the result of their deliberations. In a parliament assembled some time after at Lincoln, the Pope’s bull was submitted to the consideration of the English Barons; and in his reply, Edward attempted to prove the superiority of England by historical facts, deduced from the period of Brutus the Trojan, who, he said, founded the British monarchy in the age of Eli and Samuel. He then supports his position by all the events which passed in the island before the arrival of the Romans: And, after laying great stress on the extensive dominions and the heroic victories of King Arthur, he vouchsafes at last to descend to the time of Edward the Elder, from which period he has chosen to begin his claim of superiority. He asserts it as a fact _notorious, and confirmed by the records of antiquity_, that the English monarchs had often conferred the kingdom of Scotland on their own subjects--had dethroned those vassal-kings when unfaithful to them, and had substituted others in their stead. He displays, with great pomp, the full and complete homage which William had done to Henry II.--without mentioning the formal abolition of that extorted deed by King Richard, and the renunciation of all future claims of the same nature. Yet in this paper he begins with a solemn appeal to the Almighty, the searcher of hearts, for his own firm persuasion of the justice of his claim; and no less than a hundred and four barons, assembled in parliament at Lincoln, concurred in maintaining before the Pope, under their seals, the validity of the pretensions. At the same time, they took care to inform Boniface, that although they had justified their cause before him, they did not acknowledge him as their judge: the crown of England was free and sovereign: they had sworn to maintain all its prerogatives; and would never permit the King himself, were he willing, to relinquish its independence.