WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 347

grandeur and advancement. When a prospect, ctherefore, was opened of retrieving their liberty,he hastily embraced it; while the fumes of theliquor, and the ardour of the company, preventedhim from reflecting on the consequences of thatrash attempt. But after his cool judgment return-ed, he foresaw, that the conspiracy of those dis-contented barons was not likely to prove successfulagainst the established power of William ; or if itdid, that the slavery of the English , instead ofbeing alleviated by that event’, would becomemore grievous, under a multitude of foreignleaders , factious and ambitious , whose unionand whose discord would be equally oppressiveto the people. Tormented with these reflections,he opened his mind to his wife , Judith , ofwhose fidelity he entertained no suspicion , butwho , having secretly fixed her affections onanother , took this opportunity of ruining hereasy and credulous husband. She conveyed in-telligence of the conspiracy to the king, andaggravated every circumstance , which , shebelieved , would tend to incense him againstWaltheof, and render him absolutely implacable 7 \Meanwhile, the earl , still dubious with regardto the part which he should act, discovered thesecret in confession to Lanfranc , on whose pro-bity and judgment he had a great reliance: Hewas persuaded by the prelate , that he owed nofidelity to those rebellious barons, who had bysurprise gained his consent to a crime; that his

7 * Order. Vital. p. 5 36 ,

HAT

IV.

1074.