15. Another evil was that the Barons, who went with him to the Crusades, took all their own money as well as all they could get from their tenants, to support themselves and their fighting men abroad, so that the generality of the people were left very poor. 16. A great number, indeed, obtained their freedom, by giving up all they had to their lords; but then they were left without money or employment, and many turned robbers, to save themselves from starving; therefore, you see, it was not always a good thing, at first, for the bondmen to be set at liberty; but it was good in the end, for their children were born free, and, as times got better, the free middle classes began to be of some consequence, and have gone on gradually increasing in wealth and importance, till they have now become the best safeguard and support of the country. 17. While Richard was gone to the wars, his brother John, who was a very bad man, wanted to make himself king in England, and there were some of the nobles who encouraged him, while others defended the rights of the absent monarch; so that there was great confusion, and the laws were sadly disregarded. 18. At last, Richard heard of all these bad doings, and left the Holy Land, intending to come home as fast as he could; but, unfortunately, he was made prisoner, on his way, by the Duke of Austria, and confined in a castle in Germany for some time before the English people knew what had become of him. 19. Richard knew this duke was his enemy, because he had affronted him when in the Holy Land, so he had taken the precaution of disguising himself in passing through his dominions, and took with him only a single page; but, one day, being tired and hungry, he stopped to rest at a village near Vienna, and sent his page into that city to buy some provisions. 20. The youth, foolishly, hung a pair of handsome gloves in his belt, and as gloves were, in those days, only worn by persons of the highest rank, this circumstance excited suspicion, and he was arrested, and obliged to confess the truth. 21. The duke immediately sent a band of soldiers to seize the king, whom they found busy turning some meat that was roasting at the fire. 22. He started up, drew his sword, and fought valiantly, but was captured, and sent to a strong fortress, where he had remained a prisoner some months, when he was discovered, it has been stated, by a wandering minstrel, who heard him singing in his prison, and knew his voice. But this is a fabulous tale. 23. A large sum was raised in England, by taxes, for his ransom, and he came back; but he did not stay long at home; for he had quarrelled, while in the Holy Land, with the king of France, and went over to Normandy for the purpose of going to war with him, where he was killed by a poisoned arrow, aimed at him from the walls of a castle he was besieging, in the year 1199, having reigned ten years.