To this temper I was greatly addicted from my youth.

I was, while a boy, a great partisan of prince John's against his brother Richard, during the latter's absence in the holy war and in his captivity.

I was no more than one-and-twenty when I first began to make political speeches in public, and to endeavor to foment disquietude and discontent in the city.

As I was pretty well qualified for this office, by a great fluency of words, an harmonious accent, a graceful delivery, and above all an invincible assurance, I had soon acquired some reputation among the younger citizens, and some of the weaker and more inconsiderate of a riper age.

This, co-operating with my own natural vanity, made me extravagantly proud and supercilious.