"At Winchester, he thought it would be a fine thing to have a great hunting-park near his residence. There was a tract of country in the county of Hampshire, very picturesque and beautiful, that he determined to use for this purpose. But there were churches scattered among the hills; and thousands of peasants dwelt here, who had rude but happy homes. "William cared little for the churches and less for the homes of the peasants; so he sent soldiers to burn the former, and to drive the people away from the latter. "Nothing was done by the ruthless king to supply the wants of the people, or to relieve their misery. They left their native hills with wailing and weeping and wringing of hands, uttering imprecations on the head of the Conqueror and upon his race. "The stags multiplied, and the deer increased; and delightful to the Norman was the New Forest, on the golden autumn days. "One day, one of the king's sons, a fair-haired youth, named Richard, went to hunt in this New Forest. "He encountered a stag. The animal, maddened by the attack, rushed upon the prince, and killed him. "As the dead body was borne from the forest, broken and stained with blood, the people said that this was a beginning of the reckoning God would make with William, and that the New Forest would prove an unquiet place to the Conqueror and to those of his blood. "Foolish and superstitious stories began to be circulated. The people said that the New Forest was haunted; that spirits were seen, by moonlight, gliding among the dusky trees; that demons revelled there when the tempest arose, and the lightnings flashed, and the rain dashed on the great oaks. The old foresters did not wish to return to it now. They talked of it in low whispers, as of a place accursed. "At last William died. It was a bitter death. The Conqueror trembled before that CONQUEROR to whom the princes of the earth must yield. "It is said that, when he had reached the height of his fame, he declared that he would surrender his crowns and kingdom to know again 'peace of mind, the love of a true friend, or the innocent sleep of a child.' "When his last hour drew near, the nobles fled from his bedside. His servants pillaged the apartment where he died, and rolled the dead body from the bed, and left it lying on the floor. A good knight took it up, and carried it to St. Stephen's Church, at Caen. [Illustration: ST. STEPHEN'S CHURCH AT CAEN.] [Illustration: ROBERT THROWING HIMSELF ON HIS KNEES BEFORE HIS PROSTRATE FATHER.] "He left three sons, William Rufus, Robert, and Henry. To the first he bequeathed England, to the second Normandy, and to the last £5,000. "William Rufus now became king of England. He was called the Red King, because he had a red face and red hair; and a red king he proved to be, in another sense. "The Red King, like his father, quarrelled with everybody, and, like him, sought and found enjoyment by hunting in the New Forest.