, the royal
note-shaver, while hunting, was shot accidentally by a companion, or
assassinated, it is not yet known which, and when found by a passing
charcoal-burner was in a dead state. He was buried in 1100, at
Winchester.
[Illustration: RUFUS FOUND DEAD IN THE FOREST BY A POOR
CHARCOAL-BURNER.]
Rufus had no trouble in securing the public approval of his death. He
was the third of his race to perish in the New Forest, the scene of the
Conqueror's cruelty to his people. He was a thick-set man with a red
face, a debauchee of the deepest dye, mean in money matters, and as full
of rum and mendacity as Sitting Bull, the former Regent of the Sioux
Nation. He died at the age of forty-three years, having reigned and cut
up in a shameful manner for thirteen years.
Robert having gone to the Holy Land, Henry I. was crowned at
Westminster. He was educated to a higher degree than William, and knew
the multiplication table up to seven times seven, but he was highly
immoral, and an armed chaperon stood between him and common decency.
He also made rapid strides as a liar, and even his own grocer would not
trust him.
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