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STORIES FOR CHILDREN, 
 
 SELECTED FROM THE 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
Mi 
 
 CLARENCE DROWNED IN THE BUTT OF MALMSEY. 
 
>6 — * 
 
 STORIES 
 
 SELECTED FROM THE 
 
 History of England, 
 
 FROM THE CONQUEST TO THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 FOR CHILDREN. 
 
 FOURTEENTH EDITION. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED WITH TWENTY-FOUR WOODCUTS. 
 
 LONDON; 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 
 
 1847. ; ;'■ 
 

 LONDON : 
 
 TIZETELLT BROTHERS AND CO., PRINTERS AND ENGRAVERS, 
 
 135 FLEET STREET. 
 
 <S.&y?$ 
 
 &x 
 
PKEFACE. 
 
 Every parent has, I suppose, felt the difficulty of 
 paying the contribution of stories which children 
 are so anxious to levy. I happen to have one 
 little girl whose curiosity and shrewdness have 
 frequently embarrassed me. I have found that 
 fictions lead to inquiries which it is not easy to 
 satisfy ; supernatural fictions (such as fairy tales) 
 vitiate the young taste, and disgust it from its 
 more substantial nourishment ; while the fictions 
 of common life (such as histories of Jenny and 
 Tommy — of dolls and tops), though very useful as 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 lessons, have not enough of the marvellous to 
 arrest the attention to the degree necessary for 
 amusement. These considerations led me to tell 
 my little girl the following stories, which I have 
 found to amuse her in a very high degree, with- 
 out having any of the disadvantages which result 
 from relations merely fictitious. 
 
 My principal object was not to instruct but 
 to amuse, and I therefore did not attempt any 
 thing like a course of history ; but as I have, in 
 general, adhered to historical fact, and departed 
 from it only (when history was doubtful or silent) 
 in favour of some popular prejudices,* whatever 
 lasting impression may be made on the young 
 mind will be, on the whole, consistent with truth, 
 and conducive to its further and more substantial 
 improvement. 
 
 * As in the story of Fair Rosamond, Richard, &c. 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 Though I have not followed an historical 
 course, yet I have thought it might be useful to 
 arrange my stories in chronological order, and to 
 select one, and one only, from each reign ; and I 
 have prefixed to each the king's name in whose 
 reign the facts of the story happened — thus the 
 child may be made acquainted with the names 
 and succession of the Kings of England. The 
 dates which I have prefixed are rather for the 
 use of the parents than of the children. 
 
 I have not come down later than the Revolu- 
 tion, because from that period history becomes 
 too distinct and important to be trifled with. 
 
 As these stories have appeared to answer my 
 purpose in the individual case, I think it right to 
 offer them to the public, and shall be glad to 
 hear that they are as successful in other families 
 as they have been in my own. 
 
Xll PREFACE. 
 
 As a literary work this trifle can have no 
 merit ; my sole object has been to keep my style 
 as simple, I may say, as humble, as possible, and 
 to preserve, as nearly as I could, the very words 
 in which I had been in the habit of repeating 
 the story. Whenever I may accidentally have 
 deviated from the mere nursery style, I am sure 
 that I have gone astray. 
 
 J. W. C. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PA.GE 
 
 I. Robert of Normandy 1 
 
 II. Red William 10 
 
 III. The Shipwreck 15 
 
 IV. Stephen 20 
 
 V. Fair Rosamond 25 
 
 VI. Co:ur de Lion 32 
 
 VII. Arthur 41 
 
 VIII. Edward's Escape 51 
 
 IX. The Conquest of Wales 60 
 
 X. Edward of Carnarvon 69 
 
 XI. The Siege of Calais 74 
 
 XII. Wat Tyler 83 
 
 XIII. Madcap Harry 89 
 
 XIV. The Crown . . . . , . . .97 
 [XV. The Generous Robber 105 
 
Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 nun 
 
 XVI. The Death of Clarence . , . . .113 
 
 XVII. Jane Shore 119 
 
 XVIII. The Murder in the Tower ..... 128 
 
 XIX. Perkin Warbeck 137 
 
 XX. King Henry and his Six Wives .... 145 
 
 XXI. Jane Grey 153 
 
 XXII. Bloody Mary 160 
 
 XXIII. The Ring 166 
 
 XXIV. The Gunpowder Plot ...... 173 
 
 XXV. King Charles's Martyrdom 182 
 
 XXVI. The Royal Oak 191 
 
 XXVII. The Escape 197 
 
LIST OF PLATES. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Robert Overthrows and Recognises his Father, William the Con- 
 queror i 6 
 
 King William II. Shot in the New Forest by Tyrrel . . .13 
 
 Shipwreck of the Children of Henry 1 17 
 
 Homage to Queen Matilda 21 
 
 Fair Rosamond compelled to drink Poison by Queen Eleanor . SO 
 
 Blondel before the Prison of Richard Cceur de Lion ... 37 
 
 / 
 
 Hubert and Prince Arthur 44 
 
 Escape of Prince Edward 55 
 
 The Bard 62 
 
 Murder of Edward II. in Berkeley Castle 72 
 
 Queen Philippa Intercedes for the Citizens of Calais ... 81 
 
 Wat Tyler Slain by Sir William Walworth ...... 86 
 
 Prince Henry Strikes the Chief Justice 94 
 
 Prince Henry brings back the Chown ....... 97 
 
 Queen Margaret and the Robber 110 
 
LIST OF PLATES. 
 
 PA.GB 
 
 Clarence Drowned in the Butt of Malmsey . . 113 
 
 Jane Shore doing Penance 125 
 
 Murder of the Princes in the Tower 134 
 
 Perkin Warbeck entering London 142 
 
 Lady Jane Grey and her Executioner 159 
 
 Burning of Ridley and Latimer , . 162 
 
 Guy Fawkes in the Cellar 178 
 
 Cromwell turning out the House of Commons 189 
 
 Charles II. in the Oak ... ... ... 193 
 
I. 
 
 EGBERT OF NORMANDY. 
 
 William I. 1024.— Died 1087.— Reigned 20 years. 
 
 HERE was a king who lived a 
 great while ago, — many hundred 
 years, — whose name was William. 
 He is sometimes called William the 
 First, because no king had been called 
 William before him; and sometimes he 
 is called William the Conqueror, be- 
 cause he came to England with a great 
 
Z ROBERT OF NORMANDY. 
 
 army, and won a great battle over another 
 king, whose name was Harold, and who 
 being killed in the battle, William the 
 Conqueror became king in his stead. 
 Now this King William had three sons, 
 called Robert, William, and Henry. 
 Robert was a brave and generous boy, 
 but he was bold, passionate, and unruly. 
 
 William had few of Robert's good 
 qualities, and most of the bad ; but he was 
 very cunning, and therefore did not dare 
 to offend his father, as Robert used often 
 to do. 
 
 But Henry was a good boy, very 
 obedient to his father, obliging to all his 
 friends, and so very attentive to his learn- 
 ing, that he was called, by all who knew 
 
ROBERT OF NORMANDY. 3 
 
 him, Beau Clerc — which is French for 
 Good Scholar. 
 
 Now I shall tell you how Robert's 
 bad temper got him into a great scrape, 
 and was very near making him commit a 
 dreadful crime. 
 
 It happened that the three young 
 princes, Robert, William, and Henry, 
 were one day amusing themselves in the 
 court-yard of the castle which belonged to 
 their father, and amongst other foolish 
 romping plays, (which are always bad, be- 
 cause they make boys angry with one 
 another,) William and Henry threw a 
 great can of water over Robert's head, 
 which quite drenched him, and spoiled all 
 his fine clothes ; upon which this passionate 
 
 A 2 
 
ROBERT OF NORMANDY. 
 
 Robert, who ought to have been wiser, 
 because he was by this time grown to be 
 quite a man, and was the eldest of all, 
 snatched up a sword, and was going to 
 strike his brothers in his fury. 
 
 But their father, hearing the noise, 
 came to put an end to the quarrel ; and 
 seeing that Robert was so much in fault, 
 he scolded him very severely. 
 
 But Robert, instead of asking pardon, 
 and being sorry for his offence, only grew 
 more angry; and pretending that his father 
 had been partial to his two younger bro- 
 thers, he ran away in the night in a fit of 
 passion^ and, young as he was, had the 
 wickedness to endeavour to make his 
 father's subjects rebel against him ; and he 
 
ROBERT OF NORMANDY. 5 
 
 wandered about the country with some 
 other wild young men like himself, trying 
 to make riots and confusion. 
 
 And it was while he was playing these 
 wicked pranks that he had like to have 
 committed the most dreadful crime that 
 anybody can ever be guilty of, which is, 
 killing his own father. This is so horrible 
 a crime, that Robert, violent as he was, 
 could never have thought of doing it on 
 purpose; but his conduct was so foolish, 
 that he was near doing it by mistake. 
 
 In those days all princes and gentlemen 
 wore armour; that is, plates of brass or 
 iron over their clothes, and iron or brass 
 caps or helmets over their heads and faces ; 
 and these things they wore to guard them- 
 
6 ROBERT OF NORMANDY. 
 
 selves from being wounded by arrows 
 which their enemies might shoot at 
 them. 
 
 When men were covered up in this 
 armour, and their faces hidden by their 
 helmets, you could not know one man 
 from another; and it happened that, as 
 the King was riding in armour through the 
 part of the country where Robert was, 
 Robert came and attacked him. 
 
 He did not know it was the King, be- 
 cause of his armour; and as Robert was 
 in armour also, the King did not know him; 
 and so they fought for a great while, till at 
 last Robert, who was young and strong, 
 knocked down his poor old father; and 
 then, just as he was going to stab him with 
 
ROBERT OVERTHROWS AND RECOGNISES HIS FATHER, 
 WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 
 
ROBERT OF NORMANDY. 7 
 
 his sword, the old King's helmet fell off, 
 and Robert saw his father s face. 
 
 You may judge how shocked and sur- 
 prised he was ; for bad as his conduct had 
 been, there never could be a son so wicked 
 as to wish to kill his father: so Robert 
 fell on his knees, and thanked God that he 
 had been saved from this crime ; and he 
 begged his father's pardon, and mounted 
 him upon his own horse, for the King's had 
 been killed in the fight. 
 
 This shows how dangerous it is to give 
 way to bad temper ; for Robert, by doing 
 so, was very near being led into a horrible, 
 horrible crime, of which he had no inten- 
 tion : if he had killed his father, neither 
 God nor man would ever have forgiven 
 
8 ROBERT OF NORMANDY. 
 
 him, and he would been miserable for ever 
 and ever. 
 
 As it was, he suffered very severely for 
 his faults ; for though he was the eldest 
 son, King William at his death left his 
 kingdom to his younger sons, who were 
 both kings of England in their turn; and 
 Robert, though he tried every means to 
 become king, never could succeed : so he re- 
 mained only Duke of Normandy, whence 
 he is called Robert of Normandy. 
 
 At last this poor Robert, who, but for 
 his violent temper, would have been a good 
 prince, and much beloved, was confined in 
 prison for the last twenty-eight years of his 
 life, because, if he had been let loose, he 
 would have quarrelled with his brothers, 
 
ROBERT OF NORMANDY. 
 
 9 
 
 and done all kinds of violence and mis- 
 chief. 
 
 So you see how wicked and how foolish 
 it is to be cross, and passionate, and ill- 
 tempered. 
 
II. 
 
 RED WILLIAM. 
 
 William II. born 1057.— Died 1100.— Reigned 12 years. 
 
 OW I'll tell you a story about 
 
 another King William. 
 
 He also had two names : he was 
 
 jj called William the Second, because 
 
 ffr; he was the second king of that name ; 
 
 & and he was also called William 
 
 Rufus, or Red William, because his hair 
 
 was red — Rufus being a Latin word for 
 
 Red. 
 
 This Red William is the same whom 
 I mentioned to you before ; he was the 
 
RED WILLIAM. 11 
 
 second son of King William the Con- 
 queror, and brother of Robert and 
 Henry. 
 
 I told you that he was as violent as 
 Robert, but he was cunning and sly ; so 
 that people did not find out his temper as 
 easily as they did Robert's. 
 
 I cannot tell you all his history, that 
 would be too long, and you will read it 
 by-and-by yourself, when you have learned 
 to read books of history ; I shall only tell 
 you of his death, which happened in a 
 strange manner. 
 
 King William the Conqueror was 
 very fond of hunting ; so very fond, that he 
 never cared what harm he did to other 
 people in riding over their lands, or even 
 
12 RED WILLIAM. 
 
 in taking their lands away from them alto- 
 gether, in order to make forests, or places 
 where wild beasts are kept for the purpose 
 of being hunted ; and Red William was, 
 in this respect, exactly like his father. 
 
 This was very unjust and cruel of both 
 of them, and Red William suffered dearly 
 for it, as you shall hear. 
 
 For one day, as he was hunting in the 
 New Forest, which had been made by 
 turning many poor people out of their 
 houses, a gentleman called Walter Tyr- 
 rell, who was hunting with him, shot an 
 arrow at a deer that was running by. 
 
 The arrow flew with great violence; but 
 before it could reach the deer, it happened 
 to strike against the bough of a tree, so it 
 
<aTW 
 
 KIM. WILLIAM II. SHOT IN THE NEW FOREST BY TYRREL. 
 
RED WILLIAM. 13 
 
 slanted off another way, and pierced the 
 heart of Red William, who happened un- 
 luckily to be at that moment passing under 
 the tree, and who immediately fell dead on 
 the spot. 
 
 The moment Walter Tyrrell saw 
 what he had done, he was, as you may 
 think, horribly frightened, and without 
 saying one word of what had happened, he 
 hastened to make his escape out of the 
 forest. He crossed the river Avon, near 
 the town of Ringwood, at a spot which the 
 country people still call Tyrrell's Ford, 
 and he rode to the sea-side, where he got 
 into a boat, and sailed away for France. 
 
 But Red William was so hated on 
 account of his injustice and cruelty, that 
 
14 RED WILLIAM. 
 
 no one was sorry for the accident, and the 
 dead body lay for some time unnoticed in 
 the forest; and it was afterwards found, and 
 brought to a church to be buried, by some 
 of the poor country people whom he had 
 treated so badly while he was alive. 
 
 A stone has been put up in the New 
 Forest, on the spot where the tree grew 
 under which the King was killed. If ever 
 we go into Hampshire, I shall take you to 
 see this stone ; for it is a great pleasure to 
 visit the very spot where any remarkable 
 event has happened. 
 
III. 
 
 THE SHIPWRECK, 
 
 Henry I. born 1068. — Died 1135. — Reigned 35 years, 
 
 * ^HERE have been no less than 
 |PvJ|| ^^ eight Kings of England of the 
 
 name of Henry. 
 
 I shall tell you stories about 
 each of them in his turn ; but now I shall 
 tell you that the first king of this name had 
 a son called William : who was, as you 
 may suppose, a great favourite with his 
 father, for he had no other son. So it was 
 expected that Prince William would be 
 king when his father should die; but he 
 
16 THE SHIPWRECK. 
 
 died before his father, when he was only 
 eighteen years old, in a very dismal manner. 
 
 He was coming with the King, his father, 
 from France to England, and if he had 
 sailed in the same ship with the King, he 
 would have arrived safe, as the King did ; 
 but the Prince delayed, and was not ready 
 to go with his father, as he ought to have 
 been, and so he sailed in another ship a 
 little after the King. 
 
 Now the captain and sailors of this ship 
 were all drunken and riotous, and took so 
 little care about steering the ship, that she 
 drove against a rock that stood out in the 
 sea, and was immediately broken almost in 
 pieces, and quite filled with water. 
 
 Then all the poor souls that were on 
 
8HIPWKKCK mK THE CHILDREN <>!' HENRY I. 
 
THE SHIPWRECK. 17 
 
 board began to try to save themselves ; and 
 the Prince and some others got into a little 
 boat that belonged to the ship, and were 
 escaping to the land, when William heard 
 the voice of his sister who was left behind 
 in the wreck, crying and lamenting at the 
 prospect of being drowned. 
 
 As William was very good-natured and 
 generous, and loved his sister, he would 
 not think of saving himself while she was 
 drowning : and so he desired the men to 
 row the boat back again to the ship, to try 
 to save his sister ; but when he approached 
 the ship, instead of being able to save her, 
 he and all the rest were lost. 
 
 For when the little boat came near 
 enough, all the poor miserable creatures 
 
18 THE SHIPWRECK. 
 
 who were clinging to the ship, in hopes to 
 save each his own life, jumped altogether 
 into the boat, which immediately sunk 
 under so great a weight, and the poor 
 young Prince and his sister, and every soul, 
 perished ; except only one man. This man 
 was a butcher, who did not jump into the 
 boat, but clung to the mast of the ship ; 
 and was saved by some fishermen next 
 morning, who, as they went out to fish, saw 
 the butcher on the wreck of the ship, and 
 went to save him. 
 
 Though the captain of this ship was the 
 person who was most in fault for this sad 
 accident, I must tell you something that 
 will make you sorry for him. 
 
 He, like the butcher, had saved himself 
 
THE SHIPWRECK. 19 
 
 by clinging to the mast of the ship ; but 
 when the butcher told him that Prince 
 William was drowned, the poor captain 
 was so shocked, that he said he would not 
 live after having caused the Prince's death, 
 and so he let go his hold of the mast, and 
 sank to the bottom of the sea, and was 
 drowned with his young master. 
 
 The poor old King, who was very fond 
 of his son, when he heard of his death, was 
 so sorry, — so sorry that he fainted away, 
 and never was seen to smile again during 
 the rest of his life, though he lived as long 
 as fifteen years. 
 
 b2 
 
IV. 
 
 STEPHEN. 
 
 Stephen, born 1105. — Died 1154. — Reigned 18 years. 
 
 
 TOLD you how poor Prince 
 William, King Hjenry's son, 
 was drowned, with his sister and 
 a great many other people, and 
 how very sorry the poor old King 
 was ; and well he might, for be- 
 sides that William was a very 
 
 fine youth, the King had, as I told you, no 
 
 other son. 
 
 But he had one other daughter, and 
 
 having lost his other children in so lament- 
 
UOMAGli TO QUBEN MATH. HA. 
 
STEPHEN, 21 
 
 able a way, he grew doubly fond of her ; 
 and when he was dying he ordered that 
 Matjlda, for that was his daughter's name, 
 should be Queen of England ; and the 
 lords and bishops and all the people ac- 
 cepted Matilda for their Queen, and took 
 an oath to be faithful and obedient to her. 
 
 But there was a cousin of Matilda's 
 whose name was Stephen, who was a great 
 soldier, very brave, and very wicked ; and 
 although he had sworn like all the rest to 
 have Matilda for Queen, no sooner was 
 the old King dead, than Stephen, wick- 
 edly breaking his oath, collected an army, 
 and proclaimed himself King. 
 
 Then there began long and bloody wars ; 
 for most of the lords, bishops, and people, 
 
22 STEPHEN. 
 
 remembered the oath they had taken, and 
 were true to Matilda; and so an army was 
 raised for her which fought with the army 
 of Stephen; and sometimes Matilda's 
 army won the battle, and sometimes Ste- 
 phen's. 
 
 But at last Stephen succeeded in driv- 
 ing Matilda out of England, and in get- 
 ting possession of the kingdom ; but this did 
 not last long, for Stephen was a very un- 
 just king, and oppressed the people, and 
 they all rose against him, and invited Ma- 
 tilda to come back to England, and to 
 bring her little son, who was called Henry, 
 after the old King his grandfather. 
 
 So she and little Henry came to Eng- 
 land, and a great army was raised for 
 
STEPHEN. 23 
 
 them, and it fought Stephen's army 
 several times, and at last took Stephen 
 himself prisoner ; and he was then thrown 
 into a prison, where he was kept a whole 
 year, and during that time Matilda was 
 Queen of England. 
 
 But Stephen getting out of prison, the 
 wars began again; and there were a dread- 
 ful number of people killed, and many a 
 poor father and mother lost their children 
 in the bloody battles on both sides. 
 
 So you see what sad misfortunes were 
 occasioned by Stephen's wickedness in 
 breaking his promise ; but you shall hear 
 how Stephen himself, by the justice of 
 Heaven, suffered the same misfortunes 
 that he caused to others. 
 
24 STEPHEN, 
 
 For his chief object was that his own 
 son, who was called Eustace, should be 
 King of England after him, and this was 
 the chief reason of his wicked conduct; 
 but, as if to punish him for his crime, just 
 as he had again got quiet possession of the 
 kingdom, this very son Eustace died. 
 
 And Stephen himself died soon after ; 
 and then young Henry became King, to 
 the great joy of every body; and he was 
 one of the bravest, the wisest, and the 
 best kings that ever reigned in England. 
 
V. 
 
 FAIR ROSAMOND. 
 
 Henry II. born 1133. — Died 1189. — Reigned 34 years. 
 
 N C E on a time there was a beau- 
 tiful young lady of the name 
 of Rosamond Clifford, so ex- 
 tremely beautiful, that she was 
 commonly called Fair Rosamond- 
 It happened that one day King 
 j^ Henry — the son of Matilda, 
 and second king of England of that name 
 — saw this young lady, and fell in love with 
 her ; and she, as the King was young and 
 handsome, fell also in love with him. 
 
26 FAIR ROSAMOND. 
 
 So the King ordered a beautiful bower 
 to be made near a town called Woodstock, 
 in which Fair Rosamond was to live. 
 
 This bower was one of the most de- 
 lightful places that ever was heard of: it 
 was a nice little cottage, in a delicious gar- 
 den, quite overgrown with sweetbriars and 
 honeysuckles; and the groves and garden 
 were full of singing birds, and the air was 
 quite sweet with the smell of flowers. 
 
 But the chief wonder of the bower was, 
 that, from without, no one could see it, 
 it was so completely buried in the woods. 
 The trees grew so thick about it, that 
 they formed a kind of labyrinth or maze, 
 through which no one could find the way, 
 unless by following a clue or thread ; which 
 
FAIR ROSAMOND. 27 
 
 winded along through a great, great many 
 passages, from the outward entrance into 
 the centre of the bower ; and this clue was 
 very fine silk thread, so fine, that unless 
 persons were told of it they would never 
 be able to see it. 
 
 So whenever the King could get away 
 from court, he used to go alone to the 
 bower to visit Fair Rosamond, and by 
 the clue he used to find his way in; but 
 nobody else except himself ever passed in 
 or out; except one servant, who used to 
 go out at night to fetch bread, and wine, 
 and meat, for the use of Fair Rosamond. 
 
 Now I will tell you why this curious 
 bower and labyrinth were made. 
 
 There was a Queen at that time in 
 
28 FAIR ROSAMOND, 
 
 England, called Ellinor, who was jealous 
 and cruel ; and the king was afraid that if 
 she knew about Fair Rosamond she would 
 put her to death, and therefore he took 
 all this care to hide her in Woodstock 
 Bower. 
 
 It was very wrong of the King to at- 
 tempt to deceive the Queen in this manner, 
 and it was very wicked in Rosamond to 
 join him in doing so; and accordingly a 
 great misfortune was the consequence of 
 this great fault. 
 
 Queen Ellinor could not but observe 
 that the King often went away from court, 
 and nobody knew whither he was gone, and 
 every one wondered where he could be. 
 
 So the Queen watched him very closely, 
 
FAIR ROSAMOND. 29 
 
 and, after long watching, she found that he 
 always went towards Woodstock, but what 
 became of him after he got to Woodstock 
 she could never discover; for no one could 
 either see the bower, or find his way 
 through the labyrinth. 
 
 And so perhaps it never would have 
 been discovered, but that Queen Ellinor 
 happened to meet the servant who used to 
 buy meat, and bread, and wine, for the use 
 of Fair Rosamond; and from him she 
 found out the secret of the labyrinth, and 
 learned to make her way with the assistance 
 of the clue. 
 
 Having thus found the secret, Queen 
 Ellinor watched her opportunity; and 
 when she knew that the King was at the 
 
30 FAIR ROSAMOND. 
 
 court, and that Fair Rosamond must be 
 alone in the bower, she went to the laby- 
 rinth, with a dagger and a cup of poison, 
 and laying hold of the clue, she found her 
 way to the very centre of the bower where 
 Fair Rosamond was sitting. 
 
 You may judge of the surprise of poor 
 Rosamond, when she saw the Queen come 
 in with a furious look, with a dagger in one 
 hand, and the cup of poison in the other ; 
 but I cannot explain to you her horror 
 when the cruel Queen told her that she 
 was come to kill her, and that all the 
 indulgence she could have was a choice, 
 whether to die by being stabbed by the 
 dagger, or by drinking the cup of poison. 
 
 The poor, poor creature went upon 
 
FAIR ROSAMOND COMPELLED TO DRINK POISON BY QUEEN ELEANOR. 
 
FAIR ROSAMOND. 31 
 
 her knees to the Queen, and wept and 
 prayed for mercy; but the Queen continued 
 cruel and hard-hearted : and at last the 
 miserable Rosamond was forced to drink 
 off the poison, and soon after died in great 
 agony. 
 
 But in the meanwhile the Queen got 
 away out of the labyrinth, and nobody 
 knew that she had been there: but when 
 the King next came to visit the bower, he 
 was surprised and shocked to find his dear 
 Rosamond dead; and though he did not 
 know how her death was caused, he could 
 not but feel that his own folly and wicked- 
 ness, in keeping her hid in this bower, was 
 the cause of her death, and he was, ever 
 after, very much grieved for her loss. 
 
VI. 
 CCEUR DE LION. 
 
 Richard L born 1157. — Died 1199. — Reigned 9 years. 
 
 <o^4<^^^f^^ 
 
 |HERE was once a king of 
 England, who was one of the 
 *b bravest men in the world, and 
 was called, from his great generosity and 
 courage, Cceur de Lion, which means 
 Heart of Lion ; for the Lion is supposed 
 to be the most courageous and generous 
 of all animals. 
 
 It happened that in King Richard's 
 time, a people who were called Infidels 
 (or Unbelievers, because they did not be- 
 
CCEUR DE LION, 33 
 
 lieve in our Saviour,) obtained possession 
 of a Holy City called Jerusalem, about 
 which you will read in the Bible, when you 
 are old enough to read the Bible ; and all 
 the Christians in England, France, and 
 Germany resolved to join together, and 
 form a great army to attack these Infidels, 
 and drive them out of the Holy City of 
 Jerusalem, which was the chief city of 
 the Holy Land. 
 
 Of all the kings who went to the Cru- 
 sade — so this war was called — none was 
 more powerful, brave, or magnificent, than 
 Cceur de Lion; and his army was one of 
 the finest that ever was seen; and when 
 he arrived at the Holy Land, where the 
 Holy City was, he attacked the Infidels, 
 
34 CGEUR DE LION. 
 
 and conquered them in a great many 
 glorious battles, and the fame of Cceur de 
 Lion spread far and wide throughout all 
 Europe. 
 
 But it happened before this war was 
 quite ended, that it became necessary for 
 King Richard to return to England, to 
 do some business for the good of the 
 people, which could not be done without 
 him ; so he left his army in the Holy Land, 
 and began his journey back to England 
 with only a few servants or followers. 
 
 But as he was passing through a 
 country called Austria, the Duke or 
 Prince of that country, who was a cruel 
 and treacherous tyrant, seized upon King 
 Richard, and put him into a prison. 
 
CCEUR DE LION. 35 
 
 Nothing could be so shocking as this 
 Duke of Austria's conduct, because the 
 King was not only his friend, but, even if 
 he had not been his friend, was entitled to 
 every respect and protection, because he 
 was a stranger in that country; and the 
 king of every country is bound to protect 
 all strangers travelling through it, as long 
 as they behave themselves properly, and 
 obey the laws. 
 
 But the Duke of Austria was a savage, 
 who loved nothing but money, and he 
 seized King Richard in hopes that the 
 people of England would give a great sum 
 of money for his release. 
 
 It is said that this vile Duke at first hid 
 the King in a dark dungeon, in a castle 
 
 c 2 
 
36 CCEUR DE LION. 
 
 which was built in the midst of a great 
 forest, and that no one knew what was 
 become of him. 
 
 But Richard had a faithful page, who 
 loved him exceedingly, and this page wan- 
 dered through all Germany to find out the 
 place where his master was confined ; and 
 whenever he came to a castle where he 
 thought the King might be, he began to 
 sing a song under the windows of the castle. 
 And he always sang the same song, which 
 was one that the King himself used to sing, 
 and the page knew that if the King should 
 hear this song, he would know who sang 
 it, and would, perhaps, make himself 
 known by singing the same song in return. 
 
 Many was the castle, and many the 
 
jrr? 7A ■■■■' ■ fwv€ • »■ 
 
 BLOXDEL BEFORE THE PRISON OF RICHARD CCBUH DK I. ion 
 
CCEUR DE LION. 37 
 
 tower, under the walls of which the faith- 
 ful page sang his song : but he never heard 
 any voice in answer, till at last, by good 
 fortune, he arrived at the very castle where 
 the King was confined. 
 
 Then he had no sooner sung the first 
 verse of his song but Cgeur de Lion heard 
 him, and immediately knew who it was 
 that sang it, and just as the page expected, 
 he answered by singing the second verse of 
 the song, and so the page knew that he 
 had at last found where his master was 
 confined. 
 
 Now as soon as it was known that the 
 Duke of Austria had been so treacherous, 
 all the other kings and princes in Europe 
 endeavoured to procure Richard's release; 
 
38 CCEUR DE LION. 
 
 but all in vain: for the Duke would not 
 give him his liberty without a large ransom, 
 that is, a great sum of money. 
 
 So when the people of England heard 
 this, they immediately collected their jewels 
 and money, and made up the great sum 
 which the Duke demanded, and sent it 
 over to him, so that he had no longer any 
 excuse for keeping Cceur de Lion : he 
 accordingly let him go. 
 
 The moment the King was at liberty, 
 he, with his faithful page and other 
 attendants, mounted their horses and gal- 
 loped away, and travelled day and night, 
 without stopping, on the road to England. 
 
 And well it was that he did so : for the 
 treacherous Duke had no sooner seen him 
 
CGEUR DE LION. 39 
 
 depart, but he thought that he might have 
 got a larger sum if he had kept him longer, 
 and he immediately sent soldiers to ride 
 after Cceur de Lion and bring him back 
 as a prisoner again. 
 
 These soldiers also rode day and night, 
 and travelled quite as fast as the King, but 
 as he had a day the start of them, they 
 never could overtake him : and at last after 
 a journey of a great many days and nights, 
 the King arrived at the sea-side, and got 
 into a ship, and was just sailing away for 
 England at the very moment that the sol- 
 diers arrived to stop him. 
 
 But the King was already at sea, and 
 out of their reach, and the soldiers got 
 nothing by their journey but the trouble 
 
40 
 
 CCEUR DE LION. 
 
 and disgrace ; for every body hated the 
 Duke's treachery, and were very glad that 
 his soldiers had failed in overtaking the 
 King ; who landed safely in England, and 
 was received by all the people with the 
 greatest joy, and they seemed to love Cceur 
 de Lion the better for all the toils and 
 misfortunes he had suffered. 
 
 
VII. 
 ARTHUR. 
 
 John, born 1166. — Died 1216. — Reigned 17 years. 
 
 -<k 
 
 ip' SHALL now tell you the 
 story of Prince Arthur, which 
 is a very melancholy one. 
 m|^# Arthur was the nephew of Ri- 
 
 fty chard Cgeur de Lion, and on 
 the death of his uncle should have been 
 king; but, unfortunately for him, he had 
 another uncle called John, a very wicked, 
 cruel man, who wanted to be king himself, 
 and he made himself king accordingly — 
 so, getting possession of poor young Ar- 
 
42 ARTHUR. 
 
 thur, he immediately shut him up in a 
 prison, a great, lonely tower, which was 
 the most dismal place that can be ima- 
 gined. The keeper of this prison was called 
 Hubert, a bad man, whom King John 
 employed in this business, because he pro- 
 mised him to murder the poor Prince ; for 
 John was afraid lest the people should in- 
 sist on making his little nephew king. 
 
 Arthur had not been long in this 
 tower when the King sent an order to 
 Hubert to put him to death; — but it 
 seems Hubert was not quite so wicked 
 as the King thought him to be, and he 
 could' not bring himself to commit a mur- 
 der on an innocent young creature like 
 Arthur. 
 
ARTHUR. 43 
 
 But as he was nevertheless willing to 
 assist John, so far as to prevent Arthur's 
 ever being king, he thought that if, instead 
 of killing him, he was to put out the poor 
 boy's eyes, it would prevent his ever being 
 king just as well as if he killed him : this 
 was, indeed, a very cruel design on the part 
 of Hubert, but it was not quite so bad as 
 killing him. 
 
 But though Hubert had resolved to 
 blind the poor Prince, he was not so savage 
 as to think of doing it with his own hands ; 
 so he hired two ruffians to commit this 
 crime, and he gave them two irons, which 
 they were to make red-hot in the fire, and 
 then to thrust them into the eyes of the 
 unhappy little boy. 
 
44 ARTHUR. 
 
 When Hubert brought these two 
 ruffians into Arthur's presence, the Prince 
 was terrified at their wicked looks, at the 
 irons which they held in their hands, and 
 at the fire which was brought into the 
 room in a brazen pan for the purpose of 
 heating the irons ; but when he heard what 
 their design was, he burst into tears, and 
 fell on his knees to Hubert, and kissed his 
 hands and his feet, and wept so bitterly, 
 and prayed so earnestly, that Hubert's 
 heart was moved with pity. 
 
 And when the little innocent begged 
 and entreated that, if his eyes must be 
 put out, it should be done by the hands of 
 Hubert himself, and not by the horrid 
 ruffians, Hubert was so melted that he 
 
HUBERT AND PRINCE ARTHUR. 
 
ARTHUR. 45 
 
 sent the ruffians away, and prepared to do 
 the cruel work himself. 
 
 But no sooner were they alone, than 
 Arthur threw himself into Hubert's 
 arms and kissed him, and used so many 
 tender entreaties and prayers, that Hubert 
 began to weep. 
 
 Then it was that Arthur redoubled 
 his prayers and entreaties : he told Hubert 
 how much he had always loved him, how 
 he had watched over him when he was ill, 
 for Hubert had been sick a short time 
 before ; he reminded Hubert of the horrid 
 pain he had suffered when a little piece of 
 straw only had accidentally got into his 
 eye, and he prayed Hubert not to put him 
 to the dreadful torture of having both his 
 
46 ARTHUR. 
 
 eyes burned out ; nay, rather than undergo 
 such shocking pain, he begged his dear 
 Hubert, his sweet Hubert, his only friend, 
 his only hope in the world (so he called 
 him), to be so merciful as to put him to 
 death, and kill him outright. 
 
 It would make you weep if I were to 
 tell you all the affectionate and tender 
 things which the poor little Prince said 
 to Hubert, sometimes kneeling at his feet, 
 with his little hands joined as if praying; 
 and sometimes hanging about Hubert's 
 neck, and kissing his eyes and cheeks : in 
 short, his entreaties, his prayers, his tears, 
 and his kisses, had so much effect on Hu- 
 bert, that he threw away the irons, and 
 catching the poor Prince in his arms, swore 
 
ARTHUR. 47 
 
 that he would never do him any harm, 
 and that he would die himself rather than 
 suffer any one to injure him. 
 
 I leave you to judge how happy the 
 little Prince was to hear these kind words 
 from Hubert's mouth, and how affec- 
 tionately he thanked this dear friend, 
 who had so lately appeared his cruel 
 enemy. 
 
 But Hubert, who dreaded the King's 
 fury when he should hear that he had 
 neither blinded nor murdered Arthur, 
 began to think how he and the Prince 
 might make their escape together ; and he 
 was obliged to go to find out some means 
 of escaping from the cruel King. 
 
 Arthur did not wish to part with him ; 
 
48 ARTHUR. 
 
 but as Hubert could not stay, he was 
 obliged to let him go, giving him a thou- 
 sand kisses, and begging of him to hasten 
 back as soon as possible. 
 
 Now that poor Arthur was left alone 
 in the tower, and now that his friend 
 Hubert was gone, he began to be afraid 
 lest the ruffians should come back and 
 execute their first purpose ; and there hap- 
 pening just then to be a great noise in 
 another part of the tower, the poor boy 
 thought the ruffians were coming, and in 
 his terror, being resolved to suffer anything 
 rather than have his eyes burned out, he 
 opened a little window which was in the 
 tower, and though it was almost the height 
 of a house from the ground, he determined 
 
ARTHUR. 49 
 
 to venture to leap out, and so escape the 
 tortures he expected. 
 
 He ought to have waited for the return 
 of his friend Hubert, who would have 
 saved him; but alas! his fears were too 
 great, and he took the leap from that high 
 window, and falling upon some hard pointed 
 stones which lay on the ground under the 
 window, he was dashed to pieces, and died 
 on the spot. 
 
 When the dead body was found under 
 the walls of the tower, every body who 
 knew the cruelty of John believed that, if 
 he did not murder his poor little nephew 
 himself, he was, at least, the cause of his 
 death, which, indeed, was true enough; 
 and then all the lords and people rose up 
 
50 ARTHUR. 
 
 against that cruel monster, John, who 
 afterwards spent a most miserable time, 
 without a friend in the world, and soon 
 died in great torments, unpitied by all man- 
 kind, who remembered his cruelty to poor 
 little Arthur. 
 
VIII. 
 EDWARD'S ESCAPE. 
 
 Henry III. born 1207.— Died 1 272.— Reigned 56 years. 
 
 §jB#$}& HAVE already told you 
 about two kings of the name of 
 Henry ; I shall now tell you about 
 vj|^ another, who was called Henry the 
 W Third. 
 
 This King was a very quiet, religious, 
 and well-natured man, and would have 
 been a very good King in quiet times ; but 
 during his reign there were great riots and 
 disturbances, and the King was not strong 
 enough to keep all the unruly people in 
 
 d2 
 
52 edward's escape. 
 
 order : so there was, for a great many 
 years, a deal of fighting, and several 
 battles ; but King Henry had a son called 
 Edward, and when Edward grew up to 
 be a man he was one of the best and 
 bravest princes in the world, and so he 
 assisted his father in conquering all the 
 unruly people, and in restoring peace and 
 quiet throughout all England. 
 
 But of all the wicked people who were 
 rebelling and rioting, the worst of all was 
 a great lord called Simon de Montford, 
 Earl of Leicester. 
 
 This Simon was so rich, that he kept a 
 great number of soldiers, both horse and 
 foot, at his command ; and as he was very 
 clever as well as very rich, he contrived to 
 
Edward's escape. 53 
 
 conquer poor King Henry, who was not at 
 all clever ; and in one battle he took both 
 the King and his son Edward prisoners. 
 
 But this wickedness and rebellion of 
 Simon's was soon after severely punished, 
 as you shall hear. 
 
 Though Prince Edward was a prisoner, 
 Simon did not always keep him locked up 
 in a dungeon ; he sometimes gave him 
 leave to ride abroad on horseback, but he 
 was still always surrounded with guards 
 and soldiers, to prevent his escaping; but 
 notwithstanding all these guards and 
 soldiers, this brave young Prince contrived 
 to escape in the following manner : — 
 
 He had a cousin called Robert, who 
 had a horse that was one of the swiftest 
 
54 edward's escape. 
 
 in the world, and could gallop so fast that 
 no other horse could overtake him ; so 
 Robert lent this horse to Edward, and 
 one day as Edward was riding him, sur- 
 rounded, as usual, with guards and soldiers, 
 he cunningly asked the guards to ride races 
 with one another, which they, thinking it 
 would be good sport, consented to do. 
 
 So they rode a great many races, and 
 some won and some lost the race ; but 
 they had all galloped so fast that their 
 horses were tired. 
 
 But Prince Edward would not ride 
 races himself, for fear of tiring his own 
 horse, which he kept fresh and strong ; 
 and when he saw the horses of all the 
 guards quite out of breath and unable to 
 

 ESCATE OF PRINCE EDWARD. 
 
edward's escape. 55 
 
 gallop, he bade them good by, and, setting 
 spurs to his own horse, galloped off like 
 the wind, leaving the guards far behind, 
 and laughing heartily to see them look so 
 foolish ; for their horses were quite unable 
 to overtake the Prince's horse- — and so 
 Edward escaped out of Simon's power, 
 
 I never heard what Simon did to the 
 foolish guards, but I dare say he punished 
 them very severely for letting the Prince 
 escape so easily. 
 
 Edward had no sooner escaped than 
 he found friends everywhere, for he was 
 greatly beloved for his goodness and 
 courage, and he soon raised a great army, 
 and marched at its head to fight Simon, 
 and rescue the poor old King out of his 
 
56 edward's escape. 
 
 power ; and Edward made so much haste, 
 that he came up with him and his army 
 quite unexpectedly, and while Simon 
 thought that he was at least a hundred 
 miles off. 
 
 But the moment Simon saw the Prince, 
 and his brave army, he knew that he should 
 be conquered, and he cried out in great 
 grief, " The Lord have mercy on our souls, 
 for I see our bodies are the Prince's !" 
 meaning that Edward would either kill 
 them all, or take them prisoners. 
 
 And so it happened : for the Prince 
 immediately began the battle, and soon put 
 Simon's army to flight; and Simon himself 
 and his son, and a great number of his 
 friends, were killed on the spot. 
 
Edward's escape. 57 
 
 You may guess how glad Edward was 
 to win this great victory ; but what pleased 
 him most was, that he was so happy as to 
 save his poor old father's life. 
 
 For Simon, who kept the poor old King 
 prisoner, dressed him, just as the battle was 
 beginning, in armour, and placed him in 
 the front of his army that he might be 
 killed by his own friends. 
 
 I told you once before that when a man 
 was covered up in armour no one could 
 know who he was ; and so, when King 
 Henry's friends came to attack Simon's 
 army, they began to strike at the man in 
 armour, whom they did not know to be 
 their own King. 
 
 One of them wounded the King by 
 
58 edward's escape. 
 
 thrusting his sword through one of the 
 joints of the armour, upon which the King 
 cried out, "Save me, save me, I am Henry, 
 the King!" 
 
 Prince Edward, who happened to be 
 in this part of the battle, heard his father's 
 voice, and immediately galloped up and 
 saved him from the soldiers, and carried 
 him away to his tent, where his wound was 
 soon cured, and he lived six years after, 
 happy in the affection and protection of 
 his brave and good son Edward. 
 
 This King Henry reigned longer than 
 any king who has ever been in England 
 except good King George the Third. 
 
 It is curious that three kings who have 
 been the third of their names, have reigned 
 
EDWARD S ESCAPE. 
 
 59 
 
 longer than any others. Henry the 
 Third was king fifty-six years; Edward 
 the Third fifty-one years ; and George 
 the Third nearly sixty years. 
 
IX. 
 THE CONQUEST OF WALES. 
 
 Edward I. born 1239.— Died 1307.— Reigned 34 years. 
 
 HERE is a part of the king- 
 dom of England called Wales. 
 Formerly Wales was a separate 
 country, and had a prince of its own. 
 
 The prince of that country having 
 made war upon Edward King of Eng- 
 land, it happened that he was conquered 
 in the war, and his kingdom was taken 
 away from him, and ever since that time 
 Wales has been a part of the kingdom 
 of England. 
 
THE CONQUEST OF WALES. 61 
 
 You have been in Wales yourself — 
 do you recollect, when you came last year 
 from Ireland, that you passed through 
 a country which was full of high moun- 
 tains covered with snow ? — that was 
 Wales. 
 
 It is covered with snow in winter only ; 
 in summer, when the rivers are not frozen, 
 and that the trees have leaves, and that 
 the fields are green, Wales is a very 
 pretty country. 
 
 You have been in Wales yourself 
 during summer, but you forget it, as it is 
 a great while ago; — but I dare say you 
 would like to hear how King Edward got 
 possession of Wales. Well, I shall tell 
 you. 
 
62 THE CONQUEST OF WALES. 
 
 As soon as the Prince of Wales made 
 war upon King Edward, which he ought 
 not to have done, and which was very 
 wicked in him, because he had promised 
 not to make war, Edward marched with 
 a great English army, and, as I told you, 
 soon conquered the Welsh Prince, who 
 was taken prisoner and put to death for 
 breaking his word. 
 
 But though the Welsh Prince was 
 taken and killed, the Welsh people did 
 not choose to submit to King Edward, 
 as they wanted to have a prince of their 
 own. 
 
 There was a kind of men in Wales 
 who were called Bards ; these Bards sang 
 songs, and told tales and stories, and 
 
> Jt ^%^ 
 
THE CONQUEST OF WALES. 63 
 
 played upon the harp ; and the songs they 
 sang, and the stories they told, were old 
 Welsh songs and stories about the strength, 
 and courage, and goodness of the old 
 princes of Wales. 
 
 They used to sing these songs to music 
 which they played on their harps ; and 
 they played and sang so well, that all 
 the Welsh people thought that their own 
 princes were the bravest and best in the 
 whole world; and they resolved to die 
 rather than have an English king like 
 Edward. 
 
 For a long time Edward did not know 
 what to do; for the people would only 
 listen to the Bards, who encouraged them 
 to battle, and would not submit to the 
 
64 THE CONQUEST OF WALES. 
 
 English; at last, however, he determined 
 to put all the Bards to death. 
 
 This was very cruel of him; for the 
 poor Bards were only defending their 
 own country, which they had a right 
 to do. 
 
 Edward, nevertheless, resolved to put 
 them to death ; and accordingly, he hunted 
 the poor Bards into all the mountains and 
 woods, and, whenever he caught any of 
 them, he put them immediately to death ; 
 and in a little time they were all taken and 
 put to death, except one who lived on a 
 high rock, over a river, where Edward's 
 soldiers could not get at him. 
 
 But the poor Bard was soon weary of 
 living alone in this desolate place, and he 
 
THE CONQUEST OF WALES. 65 
 
 was sorry to remain alive after all his 
 brothers and friends had been killed. 
 
 So one day that Edward and his army 
 were marching along, on the other side of 
 the river, at the foot of the rock, the Bard 
 appeared on the top of the rock ; he had 
 his harp in his hand, and his long beard 
 and hair, which were quite grey, were 
 streaming in the wind. 
 
 Then he called upon Edward with a 
 loud voice, and began a strange melan- 
 choly song, in which he foretold great mis- 
 fortunes to Edward for his cruelty in 
 Wales. 
 
 Edward and all his soldiers were very 
 much enraged, and wished to be able to 
 get up to the Bard and to kill him ; but he 
 
66 THE CONQUEST OF WALES. 
 
 saved them the trouble : for having ended 
 his strange melancholy song, and cursed 
 King Edward and his soldiers, he threw 
 himself headlong from that high rock into 
 the river below, and was either dashed to 
 pieces or drowned, for he never was heard 
 of again. 
 
 Now, though Edward had thus got 
 rid of the Prince of Wales, and of all the 
 Bards, still the people would not submit to 
 him, and they were still resolved to die 
 rather than have any Prince who was not 
 born in Wales, or who could speak 
 English, they hated the English so much. 
 
 When Edward heard this, and saw 
 that he could never succeed by force, he 
 resolved to try a stratagem, or trick. 
 
THE CONQUEST OF WALES. 67 
 
 So he said to the people, ' If I give you 
 a Prince born in Wales, and who cannot 
 speak English, will you obey him ?' 
 
 The Welsh all cried out that they 
 would. 
 
 Then the King took his own little son, 
 who was just born, in his arms, and showed 
 him to the people, and said, ' Then here is 
 your Prince ; for he has been just born in 
 Carnarvon Castle, which is in Wales, 
 and he cannot speak one word of 
 English.' 
 
 The people, you may be sure, were 
 greatly surprised to see a little tiny boy, 
 when they expected to see a great Prince ; 
 but, as they had promised to accept whom- 
 soever should be born in Wales, and 
 
 e2 
 
68 
 
 THE CONQUEST OF WALES. 
 
 could not speak English, they were obliged 
 to submit, and so they did. 
 
 And ever since that time the eldest son 
 of the King of England is made Prince of 
 Wales a day or two after he is born. 
 
 N^^^J^jUg^^ 
 
X. 
 
 EDWARD OF CARNARVON. 
 
 Edward II. born 1284 —Died 1327— Reigned 19 years* 
 
 »HE little Prince who was, as I 
 
 J 
 
 [1 before told you, the first Prince 
 of Wales, was called Edward 
 of Carnarvon, from Carnarvon Castle, 
 in which he was born ; and when he came 
 to be King, on his father's death, he was 
 called Edward the Second. 
 
 This poor King was neither wise, nor 
 brave, nor fortunate — he had false friends, 
 a wicked wife, and rebellious subjects : his 
 
70 EDWARD OF CARNARVON. 
 
 whole life was unfortunate, and his death 
 miserable. 
 
 It would be too long to tell you the 
 history of all the unhappy events of Ed- 
 ward's life ; I shall only tell you of his 
 cruel imprisonment and death. 
 
 His wicked wife and his rebellious sub- 
 jects having made him prisoner, kept him 
 in close confinement, and appointed three 
 keepers to watch him in turn : one of 
 these men watched him for one month, 
 and then another, and so on. 
 
 Now two of these men were cruel, hard- 
 hearted, and savage wretches ; and when 
 their months came they treated the poor 
 Kins in a most cruel manner : the other 
 keeper was Lord Berkely, and the poor 
 
EDWARD OF CARNARVON. 71 
 
 King was always glad when his month 
 came; for Lord Berkely was not so 
 savage as the other two, and he treated 
 poor Edward with some tenderness and 
 respect. 
 
 One day when the King was in the 
 keeping of one of those two vile ruffians, 
 he wished to be washed and shaved. But 
 instead of getting him clean warm water 
 for these purposes, the ruffians sent out 
 to the ditch by the road side, and had a 
 basin of muddy, dirty, cold water brought 
 in. 
 
 When the poor King saw this he could 
 not help bursting out into tears at this 
 insult and cruelty ; and when his tears ran 
 down his cheeks, he exclaimed, ' Behold, 
 
72 EDWARD OF CARNARVON. 
 
 here is clean warm water !' for the water 
 of his tears was warm and clean. 
 
 The hopes of his wicked wife and these 
 ruffians were, that, by his confinement, and 
 these hardships, the health and spirits of the 
 poor King might decay, and that he might 
 waste away and die, and so save them the 
 trouble of murdering him by violence. 
 
 But when thev found this method too 
 slow, they resolved to despatch him in a 
 quicker and more cruel way. 
 
 So one time when Lord Berkely was 
 sick, — Lord Berkely, you know, was the 
 good natured keeper, — so then when he 
 was sick, the other two ruffians took that 
 opportunity of executing their horrid de- 
 sign : and, getting into Berkely Castle in 
 
MURDER OF EDWARD II. IX BERKELEY CASTLE. 
 
EDWARD OF CARNARVON. 73 
 
 the night, they broke into the poor King's 
 room, and burned him to death with red 
 hot irons, in the most cruel tortures. 
 
 The horrid deed was discovered by the 
 screams with which the poor tortured King 
 filled all the castle; but when the guards 
 ran to the room it was already too late to 
 save him — poor Edward of Carnarvon 
 was dead. 
 
 The two ruffians made their escape be- 
 yound sea, but one of them was soon taken 
 prisoner, and put to death for his crimes ; 
 the other suffered a still greater punish- 
 ment; for he lived many years, a miserable 
 wretch, tortured in his own mind by the 
 recollection of his crimes, and an object of 
 horror and hatred both to God and man. 
 
XL 
 THE SIEGE OE CALAIS. 
 
 Edward III. born 1312.— Died 1377.— Reigned 51 years. 
 
 
 T 
 
 ING EDWARD the THIRD 
 
 was the son of Edward of Car- 
 narvon; but though, perhaps, 
 he was not a better man than 
 his poor father, he was a braver soldier, a 
 greater king, and had a happier reign. 
 You have heard of Calais. 
 Calais is a town in France, the nearest 
 to England ; and when your papa and 
 mamma went to France, Calais was the 
 first town where they arrived. 
 
THE SIEGE OF CALAIS. 75 
 
 I shall tell you a story about King Ed- 
 ward the Third and the town of Calais. 
 
 King Edward, who was, as I have just 
 told you, a brave soldier, was at war with 
 the King of France ; and, in order to 
 carry on the war, he wanted to get posses- 
 sion of Calais. 
 
 Because, as Calais was so near Eng- 
 land, he could collect all his troops and 
 armies in that town, ready to march out 
 into France whenever he should please to 
 attack the French. 
 
 So he gathered a great army, and 
 marched to attack Calais : but the 
 French had built a high, thick wall round 
 Calais, and had dug a deep ditch round 
 the wall, which they filled with water, so 
 
76 THE SIEGE OF CALAIS. 
 
 that no one could get into the town, ex- 
 cept by a little bridge over the ditch, and a 
 gate which was in the wall. 
 
 But the bridge was a drawbridge, which 
 is a kind of bridge easily moved away when- 
 ever the people choose, and when it was 
 moved away no one could cross the ditch ; 
 and the gate was a great strong gate, made 
 of oak and iron ; and when the gate was 
 shut and fastened on the inside, with locks, 
 and bolts, and chains, it was almost impos- 
 sible to force it open. 
 
 Now when King Edward marched 
 with his army to attack Calais, the peo- 
 ple removed the bridge and shut the gate ; 
 so that Edward's army could not get in — 
 which put Edward into a great rage. 
 
THE SIEGE OF CALAIS. 77 
 
 So he made his soldiers shoot arrows 
 into the town over the walls, to kill those 
 who were within ; and those who were 
 within shot out arrows again, and killed a 
 great many of Edward's soldiers; and so 
 they went on for weeks and weeks, shoot- 
 ing and killing each other; but Edward 
 could not get into Calais. 
 
 But though Edward could not get into 
 Calais, he placed his army so close all 
 round about it, that the people of Calais 
 could not stir out of the town into the coun- 
 try, to get bread and meat, or wine. So you 
 may judge that the quantity of wine, meat, 
 and bread, which they had prepared and 
 laid up in storehouses and cellars, was 
 growing less and less every day, until, at 
 
78 THE SIEGE OF CALAIS. 
 
 last, there was none left, and the people 
 were starving with hunger. 
 
 Then they had nothing else to do but 
 to attack Edward's army, and drive it 
 away, or else to submit to Edward — but 
 his army was too strong; and these poor 
 people were too weak to drive it away ; so 
 they were obliged to submit, after resisting 
 a great many months. 
 
 But Edward was in such a rage at this 
 long resistance, and at the number of his 
 soldiers who had been killed, and all the 
 labour and toil he and his army had suf- 
 fered, that he resolved to put all the poor 
 people of Calais to death. His generals 
 and ministers advised him not to be so cruel 
 as to put all the people to death, who had 
 
THE SIEGE OF CALAIS. 79 
 
 committed no fault, but only defended their 
 own town, which they had a right to do ; 
 and they said so much to the King, that 
 he at last consented to put six only of the 
 inhabitants of Calais to death. 
 
 When this was known in Calais, all 
 the people assembled in the great square, 
 in extreme fear, because, though only six 
 were to be hanged, nobody knew but he 
 himself might be one of the six. So there 
 were great debates and terrors who the six 
 poor victims were to be : every one was 
 unwilling to give up his neighbour ; but at 
 the same time every one was anxious to 
 save his own life. 
 
 At last, while they were in this con- 
 sternation and doubt what to do, one brave 
 
80 THE SIEGE OF CALAIS. 
 
 and generous man called Saint Pierre, 
 stood forth and said, 'My friends, I offer 
 myself willingly to be the first to die, for 
 the safety of the rest.' 
 
 This was one of the noblest and most 
 generous actions which can be conceived ; 
 for this brave man offered to suffer the pain 
 and horrors of death to save the lives of 
 the rest of his fellow-citizens, who would 
 have been all put to death if the six should 
 not be found. 
 
 When Saint Pierre gave this noble ex- 
 ample, another brave man soon offered to 
 die with him, and then another, and another, 
 until the whole six were found. 
 
 Then these six generous and good men 
 were dressed in vile clothes, like common 
 
 
QUEEN PHILIPPA INTERCEDING FOR THE CITIZENS OF CALAIS. 
 
THE SIEGE OF CALAIS. 81 
 
 robbers ; and, barefooted, with halters round 
 their necks, they were marched into Ed- 
 ward's presence, and they laid the keys 
 of the gate of Calais at his feet : as soon 
 as they had done this, Edward ordered 
 them immediately to be taken away and 
 hanged. 
 
 All the English generals and ministers 
 and the whole army were sorry to see these 
 brave men put to so vile a death, but 
 Edward was so enraged that he would not 
 pardon them ; but at last his wife, Queen 
 Philippa, who had heard the weeping and 
 lamentations of the wives and children of 
 these poor men, hastened into the King's 
 presence, and threw herself at the foot of 
 his throne, and wept and prayed to the 
 
82 THE SIEGE OF CALAIS. 
 
 King so strongly to spare the lives of the 
 six, that he could not resist her tears and 
 entreaties, and he granted the poor crea- 
 tures their pardon. 
 
 Then the Queen took them away to her 
 own tent and ordered them an excellent 
 supper ; and when they had eaten and 
 drunk, and refreshed themselves, she sent 
 them back to Calais with large presents of 
 money and clothes, as rewards for their 
 generosity and courage. 
 
XII. 
 WAT TYLER. 
 
 Richard II. born 1366.— Died 1399.— Reigned 12 years. 
 
 J^HERE are often great riots in 
 England, which are sometimes 
 
 very dangerous ; for when mobs as- 
 f^ semble, nobody knows what such a 
 great crowd of foolish ignorant people may 
 do : but one time, about four hundred 
 years ago, there happened the most danger- 
 ous riots that ever were known, for all the 
 country people armed themselves with 
 sticks, and staves, and scythes, and pitch- 
 forks, and they rose in such great numbers, 
 
 f2 
 
84 WAT TYLER. 
 
 that they drove away all the King's soldiers, 
 and got possession of the city of London. 
 
 The chief leaders of this mob were 
 not gentlemen nor soldiers, but common 
 peasants and tradesmen, who were called 
 after the names of their trades, Wat 
 Tyler, Hob Carter, and Tom Miller ; 
 and, as these fellows could neither read 
 nor write, and were poor ignorant creatures, 
 they took a great hatred against all gentle- 
 men, and everybody who could read and 
 write, and they put several of them to 
 death ; and the whole city was kept for 
 several days in the greatest confusion and 
 danger, and all quiet, honest people were 
 afraid for their lives. 
 
 The King at this time was called 
 
WAT TYLER. 85 
 
 Richard, — not Cceur de Lion, — but 
 another King Richard, who was called 
 Richard the Second. He was the 
 grandson of Edward the Third, but 
 he was neither so wise nor so fortunate 
 as his grandfather, who was a great king. 
 Richard was very young, not more than 
 seventeen years old, and it is not surprising 
 that he hardly knew how to stop the pro- 
 ceedings of this riotous mob; for his 
 soldiers were driven away, many of his 
 ministers were put to death, and the rest 
 of them were forced to fly. 
 
 At last the King thought it best to go 
 and meet the mob; and hear what they 
 had to say. So he went with the Lord 
 Mayor, and a few other lords and gentle- 
 
86 WAT TYLER. 
 
 men, to a place called Smithfield, where 
 the mob were encamped, as if they had 
 been an army. When Wat Tyler, who 
 was their chief leader, saw the young King 
 coming, he advanced to meet him; and 
 then they began to talk and dispute to- 
 gether ; but at length, Wat Tyler was so 
 insolent to the King, that his conduct was 
 not to be borne ; and, although it was in 
 sight of his own army, the Lord Mayor of 
 London had the courage to strike him 
 down with his mace, and then the other 
 gentlemen put Wat Tyler immediately 
 to death. 
 
 The rioters, seeing Wat Tyler, their 
 leader, fall, prepared to revenge themselves 
 on the King and his party ; and the whole, 
 
TYLER SLAIH BY SIR WILLIAM WALWORTH. 
 
WAT TYLER, 87 
 
 even the King himself, would undoubtedly 
 have been murdered on the spot, but that 
 Richard, young as he was, saved them all 
 by his own courage — for when he saw 
 the mob so furious, instead of seeming 
 frightened, he rode up to them alone, and 
 said to them in a good-humoured manner, 
 ' What is the matter, my good people ? 
 Are you angry that you have lost your 
 leader ? I am your King, and I will be 
 your leader myself.' 
 
 The mob was astonished and overawed 
 by the young King's courage, and they 
 immediately obeyed him, and followed him 
 out into the fields ; for the King was glad 
 to get them out of the city, where they 
 were committing all manner of mischief. 
 
88 WAT TYLER. 
 
 When he had them in the fields, he 
 had such a strong guard of his own soldiers 
 that he was no longer afraid of the rioters. 
 So he commanded them all to go quietly 
 to their own houses; which accordingly 
 they immediately did, and not a life was 
 lost after the death of Wat Tyler ; who 
 very well deserved to die for his rebellion 
 against the King, and for all the mischief 
 and murders that his rebellion had occa- 
 sioned. 
 
XIII. 
 MADCAP HARRY. 
 
 Henry IV. born 1368.— Died 1413.— Reigned 13 years. 
 
 ING HENRY the FOURTH 
 
 had a son, who was called, as I 
 told you all the eldest sons of 
 our kings are, Prince of 
 Wales. His own name was Henry also : 
 but he was very wild and gay, and so free 
 with the people, that they commonly called 
 him Harry, and sometimes he was called 
 the Madcap Prince of Wales. 
 
 He played several wild pranks in his 
 youth, and gave his father a great deal of 
 
90 MADCAP HARRY. 
 
 pain and trouble, and sometimes got him- 
 self into very naughty scrapes. I shall tell 
 you one of them. 
 
 Among his riotous companions there 
 was one whom he loved better than the 
 rest — a great fat, good-humoured old fellow, 
 called Sir John Falstaff. This old 
 fellow spent all his time in eating, drinking, 
 and making merry ; and as he used to 
 amuse Prince Harry with his jests and 
 stories, Harry was very fond of his com- 
 pany : so one evening that they were drink- 
 ing and laughing together, with several 
 other of their riotous companions, the fat 
 old rogue proposed to the Prince that they 
 should sally out that night and rob some 
 travellers who were travelling in a certain 
 
MADCAP HARRY. 91 
 
 part of the road between Rochester and 
 London with a great deal of money. This 
 was a fine plan to propose to a young 
 Prince, to go out on the high road and rob 
 his father's subjects ; but the Prince looked 
 upon it only as a joke, and so he consented. 
 So they all went out on the road, and 
 just at the very spot which old Falstaff 
 had foretold, they met the travellers, and 
 in a minute they fell upon the travellers 
 and robbed them of all their money ; and 
 when they had got the money, they all re- 
 turned back again to London, and went to 
 a tavern where they ordered a great supper 
 and plenty of wine, which they intended to 
 pay for out of the money they had taken 
 from the travellers. 
 
92 MADCAP HARRY. 
 
 The travellers, as soon as they had 
 been robbed, ran away in the greatest 
 fright, and hid themselves, lest the thieves 
 should kill or wound them ; but they did 
 not run so far but that they were near 
 enough to watch the robbers, to see which 
 way they should go. So they followed the 
 Prince, Fal staff, and their party, at a 
 distance, until they saw them safely lodged 
 at the tavern where they were to sup. 
 When the travellers saw this, they left one 
 or two to watch the house, and the others 
 went away to the Sheriff, to complain that 
 they had been robbed, and to get assist- 
 ance to catch the thieves; so the Sheriff 
 got a party of people with him, and set off 
 in great haste to lay hold of the thieves ; 
 
MADCAP HARRY. 93 
 
 but when he came to the house where the 
 other travellers were watching, and got 
 into the room where the party was at sup- 
 per, you may judge of the Sheriff's surprise 
 and fright when he saw the King s son 
 amongst the supposed robbers. The tra- 
 vellers were as much frightened as he ; but 
 they, nevertheless, all declared that the fat 
 old man was one of the party, for they 
 knew him by his great size, which he could 
 not conceal, though he wore a mask over 
 his face; and, indeed, the Prince and all 
 the rest had worn masks too. So the 
 Sheriff did not well know what to do, but 
 he thought it best to carry the whole party 
 before the Judge. When the Judge was 
 told that a party of robbers were taken 
 
94 MADCAP HARRY. 
 
 prisoners, he ordered them all to be brought 
 before him ; and he was ten times more 
 amazed than the Sheriff when he saw the 
 Prince of Wales brought before him as 
 a robber ; but he was not frightened. So 
 he said to the Prince, that he was sorry and 
 surprised to see him in such bad company J 
 that out of respect for the King his father, 
 he would not send him to jail ; but that, 
 as for old Falstaff and the rest, he would 
 send them to jail that very night, and that 
 he would go next morning to the old King 
 to tell him the whole of Harry's miscon- 
 duct. This speech so incensed Harry, 
 that what do you think he did ? — he raised 
 his hand in a violent fury, and gave the 
 good old Judge a box on the ear. Upon 
 
PRINCE HENRY STRIKING THE CHIEF JUSTICE. 
 
MADCAP HARRY. 95 
 
 which the Judge, although Harry was the 
 son of the King, yet since he dared to in- 
 sult the law by striking a Judge, he imme- 
 diately ordered him to be taken prisoner, 
 and carried off to jail that very night; and 
 there Harry was obliged to remain all 
 night without food to eat ; but perhaps he 
 was not hungry, as he probably had eaten 
 his supper before he was taken. 
 
 Early in the morning the good old 
 Judge went to the King, and told him the 
 whole story; when the King applauded what 
 he had done, and obliged the Prince to beg 
 the old Judge's pardon for his violent con- 
 duct. So the Prince, who by this time had 
 become a little cool, and who saw how much 
 he was in the wrong, very willingly con- 
 
96 MADCAP HARRY. 
 
 fessed how improper his conduct had been ; 
 and humbly bagged the Judge to pardon 
 him, which of course the good old man 
 did; and then King Henry said, u Iama 
 happy King to have so honest a Judge, who 
 was not afraid to send my son to prison ; 
 and I am a happy father to have so good a 
 son, who is not ashamed to confess his fault, 
 and submit himself to the law which he 
 had offended." 
 
PRINCE HENRY BRINGS BACK THE CROWN. 
 
XIV. 
 THE CROWN. 
 
 Henry V. born 1389.— Died 1422.— Reigned 9 years. 
 
 -*-<#* 
 
 001^ HAVE told you what a 
 wild young man Harry the Mad- 
 cap Prince of Wales was; I 
 shall now tell how he afterwards 
 became one of the best kings that 
 ever reigned in England, . 
 
 When the old King, his father, was in 
 his last illness, it happened one day that he 
 fell asleep : while he was asleep the Prince 
 came into the room, and seeing his father 
 lying with his eyes shut, he thought he was 
 
98 THE CROWN. 
 
 dead. He was sorry for his father, but not 
 so much as a good child ought to be ; and 
 so, seeing the crown, which was lying on 
 the King's pillow, he took it, put it on his 
 own head, and walked away with it, be- 
 lieving that the old King was dead, and 
 that he was now King himself. 
 
 He had not been long gone, when the 
 old King awoke, and observing that the 
 crown was not on his pillow, he asked who 
 had dared to take it away ? and when the 
 attendants told him that the Prince of 
 Wales had taken it away, he desired that 
 the Prince of Wales might be called. 
 
 So the Prince came — not wearing, as 
 you may suppose, the crown on his head, 
 but carrying it humbly in his hand, and 
 
THE CROWN. 99 
 
 when he came near his father's bed, he 
 kneeled down, and laid the crown on the 
 bed : then the King chided him for his im- 
 patience for his poor old father's death ; he 
 told him he was so sick that he would not 
 have much longer to wait for the crown, 
 and that, whenever he got it, he would find 
 it more pain than pleasure to wear it ; for 
 that a king was obliged to watch over the 
 happiness and comfort of all his people, 
 and that all the misfortunes which hap- 
 pened throughout the whole country must 
 reach the king, who ought to be the father 
 of all, and feel for all, as a father does for 
 his children. 
 
 The Prince was now very penitent for 
 his conduct, and begged his father's par- 
 
 G 2 
 
100 THE CROWN. 
 
 don ; he assured him that he did not wish 
 for his death, nor to be king in his stead ; 
 but he promised him that whenever he 
 should become king, (which he hoped 
 would not happen for many, many years,) 
 he should endeavour to be a good king and 
 a father to his people. 
 
 So the old King was delighted to hear 
 the Prince speak so virtuously and wisely, 
 and he forgave him for all his past follies, 
 and gave the Prince his blessing, and soon 
 after the old King died. 
 
 Then Prince Henry became really 
 King; and he remembered his promise to his 
 father, and resolved to leave off all the wild 
 tricks of his youth, and to behave with dig- 
 nity and wisdom as a king ought to do. 
 
THE CROWN. 101 
 
 But the people hardly believed that he 
 would make so very sudden a change in his 
 conduct ; and old Fal staff, and the rest 
 of the Prince's wild companions, thought 
 that now he was King they should be great 
 favourites, and become great men, and be 
 allowed to follow their own practices to 
 their hearts' content. 
 
 But, if the riotous companions were full 
 of hope and joy, all the wise and good peo- 
 ple were greatly alarmed at the prospect 
 of a wild, wicked, riotous King; but no 
 one was so much frightened as the good 
 old Judge, about whom I have told you, 
 and who had put the Prince into prison for 
 having insulted him. 
 
 So the day the new King was crowned, 
 
102 TFIE CROWN. 
 
 there were the lords and the bishops, and 
 gentlemen, and the rest of the people, all 
 paying their duty to him; and amongst 
 others, old Fal staff and his fellows, who 
 expected great favour from their merry 
 Prince ; and the old Judge, who expected 
 to be severely treated by him. 
 
 But both were disappointed, as you 
 shall hear: — for the King, when he came 
 to the old Judge, put on a grave face, and 
 pretended to be very angry with him, and 
 asked him how he dare come into his pre- 
 sence, after having once sent him to prison : 
 so the old Judge, who, as I before told 
 you, was a brave and good man, justified 
 himself to the King, and maintained that 
 he had done only his duty, and that the 
 
THE CROWN. 103 
 
 King ought to thank him instead of being 
 angry. Then the King said, "And I do 
 thank you, and you are a brave and good 
 man; and since you were so honest as to 
 put the law in force against me, I am sure 
 you will always use it to protect the people, 
 and therefore I make you Lord Chief Jus- 
 tice of England." 
 
 But he gave Fal staff and the others 
 a very different reception; for he turned 
 round to them and said, " Be gone out of 
 my sight ! you led me astray, you encou- 
 raged me to commit faults, and to forget 
 my duty to my father and the people, 
 therefore I banish you from my presence. 
 I will not punish you more, because I was 
 as much in fault as you, and because I 
 
104 
 
 THE CROWN. 
 
 cannot help feeling a little regard for my 
 old companions; but I will never admit 
 you to my company again, and therefore 
 begone, and let me never see you more ! " 
 
XV. 
 THE GENEROUS ROBBER. 
 
 Henry VI. born 1421.— Died 1471.— Reigned 38 years. 
 
 'OU remember, I hope, the sto- 
 ries I have told you about King 
 Henry the Fifth, he who was 
 so wild a Prince and so good a 
 King. He fought a great many 
 battles with the French, and 
 conquered them in all : but when he 
 died he left a little son, also called 
 Henry, so very young, that though a 
 crown was put upon his head, and 
 that he was called King Henry the 
 
106 THE GENEROUS ROBBER. 
 
 Sixth, yet he could not act as King; 
 and even afterwards, when he grew up to 
 be a man, he was unfortunately such a 
 poor silly person that he was little better 
 than a child, though he was married, and 
 had a little son himself. The story I am 
 now going to tell you is about this silly 
 King's wife and child. 
 
 During all this poor King's reign there 
 was nothing but confusion, bloodshed, and 
 battles throughout all England ; for a 
 cousin of his, called Edward, Duke of 
 York, wanted to be king in Henry's 
 stead. 
 
 I hope you recollect what I told you 
 once about armour, and how those who 
 were dressed in armour were not to be 
 
THE GENEROUS ROBBER. 107 
 
 known from one another, because neither 
 their limbs nor faces could be seen. So in 
 those times, when armies were going to 
 fight, they wore some kind of mark on the 
 outside of their helmets or iron hats, that 
 they might know one another, and not kill 
 their own friends. Now in these wars 
 between Henry and Edward, all Hen- 
 ry's soldiers wore Red Roses in their hel- 
 mets, and Edward's party wore White 
 Roses. But this could only be in summer, 
 when roses blow; so in winter I suppose 
 Henry's men wore red ribands, and Ed- 
 ward's white ribands, which perhaps were 
 tied up in the shape of roses ; and for this 
 reason these wars, which were very long and 
 bloody, were called the Wars of the Roses. 
 
108 THE GENEROUS ROBBER. 
 
 It happened that in a great battle that 
 was fought between those parties, the Red 
 Roses — that is to say, King Henry's 
 friends — were bitterly beaten; poor Hen- 
 ry himself was taken prisoner by the 
 White Roses, and his wife and child, who 
 was a very little boy, only escaped from 
 their enemies by flying into the forests to 
 hide themselves. 
 
 But unluckily they had not made much 
 way in the forest, when they fell in with a 
 band of robbers; these robbers did not 
 know who they were, but as the Queen and 
 little Prince had fine clothes, with orna- 
 ments of silver and gold, the robbers found 
 they had a good prize, and began to strip 
 and plunder them both in that dark forest. 
 
THE GENEROUS ROBBER. 109 
 
 But it so happened that the robbers 
 could not agree about sharing the plunder 
 which they had taken, and they began to 
 quarrel amongst themselves with so much 
 fury, that, in the darkness of the night, the 
 Queen contrived to make her escape with 
 her son into the depth of the wood, where 
 she hoped the robbers could not find her 
 again, and she expected when daylight 
 came, she might be able to find a way to 
 make her escape both from the robbers, 
 and any soldiers of the White Rose who 
 should be in search of her. 
 
 So she wandered all night in the forest, 
 and having had nothing to eat or to drink, 
 she and the little Prince were greatly tired, 
 and almost ready to die with hunger and 
 
110 THE GENEROUS ROBBER. 
 
 weariness ; but when morning came, the 
 first thing they saw was one of the rob- 
 bers coming towards them with a drawn 
 sword. 
 
 He looked as if he meant to kill them, 
 and the poor Queen thought that it was 
 now all over with her and her poor son ; 
 but she fortunately thought there was still 
 one chance left, which was, to gain over 
 the robber to assist and protect them, and 
 she resolved to try it. So instead of run- 
 ning away and appearing afraid of him, 
 they advanced boldly to meet the robber, 
 and she said to him, in a kind voice, ' My 
 good friend, you look like a generous man, 
 who would not betray nor hurt the un- 
 fortunate ; here is your King's son, I 
 
QUEEN MARGARET AND THE ROBBER. 
 
THE GENEROUS ROBBER. Ill 
 
 commit him and myself to your humanity 
 and honour.' 
 
 The robber was greatly surprised at 
 these words ; but, by good luck, he was a 
 man who, although a robber, had not lost 
 all good nature and generosity ; and when 
 he saw that the Queen threw herself under 
 his protection, he resolved not only not to 
 do her any mischief, but to help and 
 protect her, and to assist her in escaping 
 from the hands of her enemies. 
 
 So he hid the Queen and the Prince 
 for some time in the forest, all the paths 
 and lurking places of which he knew per- 
 fectly, and he fed and guarded them with 
 great tenderness and care; till after some 
 time, when the search after her began to 
 
112 THE GENEROUS ROBBER. 
 
 be a little less strict, he contrived to con- 
 duct her to the sea-shore, where he pro- 
 cured a ship, in which he placed her and 
 her son, and then bidding them farewell, 
 and praying for their safety, he fled back 
 into the forest ; while the ship sailed away 
 over the sea, and soon after reached the 
 opposite coast, where the Queen and Prince 
 landed in safety, and told their friends the 
 surprising history of their escape which I 
 have just told you. 
 
XVI. 
 THE DEATH OF CLAEENCE. 
 
 Edward IV. born 1442.— Died 1483.— Reigned 22 years. 
 
 )HERE was once a King in 
 England called Edward the 
 Fourth ; he was the same Ed- 
 ward who, before he was King, was called 
 Duke of York, and who belonged to the 
 White Rose party. This King had two 
 brothers; one was called George, and 
 the other was called Richard. 
 
 George was a handsome Prince, but 
 had been guilty of a great many faults and 
 follies; but Richard was a crooked-back, 
 
114 THE DEATH OF CLARENCE. 
 
 deformed, ill-natured, wicked wretch. The 
 King was very fond of his brothers at 
 first, and he made George Duke of 
 Clarence, and Richard he made Duke 
 of Gloucester. 
 
 Now Richard was so wicked, that he 
 was not contented with being Duke of 
 Gloucester, but he resolved in his own 
 mind that he would try to be king; and 
 for this purpose he determined to kill both 
 his brothers, and his brother Edward's 
 little sons; that when they were thus 
 taken out of his way, he might be 
 king. 
 
 You may be sure he kept this design a 
 great secret, for if it had been known, he 
 would have been put to death himself; so 
 
THE DEATH OF CLARENCE. 115 
 
 he was obliged to act very cautiously and 
 cunningly. 
 
 So he endeavoured by all manner of 
 tricks and lies to make his brothers quar- 
 rel : to the King he told falsehoods of 
 George, and to George of the King; 
 and as George was, as I told you, often 
 foolish and wicked, Richard so far suc- 
 ceeded as to make George offend the 
 King very often and very much, and the 
 King at last was obliged to order George 
 to be taken up and sent a prisoner to 
 the Tower. 
 
 But this did not satisfy the cruel 
 Richard ; he wanted his brother's death, 
 and not merely his imprisonment; and so 
 he went on by all manner of wicked arts 
 
 h2 
 
116 THE DEATH OF CLARENCE. 
 
 to effect the destruction of the Duke of 
 Clarence, and he at last succeeded, and 
 poor George was condemned to death. 
 
 On the night before George was con- 
 demned to death, he dreamed a strange 
 dream, — that he was sailing in a ship with 
 his brother Richard, and that when they 
 were walking together along the side of 
 the ship, Richard thrust him overboard 
 into the sea : then Clarence fancied that 
 he was drowning, and that he felt all 
 the pains and horrors of that dreadful 
 kind of death ; but this was not the worst 
 part of his dream ; for he dreamed that, 
 after his death, all the crimes he had 
 ever committed were brought up against 
 him, and that he suffered dreadful punish- 
 
THE DEATH OF CLARENCE. 117 
 
 ments for all his wickedness ; and when 
 he awoke from this shocking dream, he 
 was in the greatest fright and trouble 
 imaginable. 
 
 But his dream turned out to be in 
 some parts too true, for that same day 
 he heard he was condemned to death : 
 and what do you think was the kind of 
 death that he was to suffer ? It was a 
 very strange one, one that was never heard 
 of before nor since. 
 
 This foolish George, it seems, was 
 very fond of Malmsey wine, and he thought 
 that, since he was to die, it would be 
 pleasanter to die in drinking that wine 
 than in any other way ; and so he chose 
 to be drowned in a cask of Malmsey. 
 
118 
 
 THE DEATH OF CLARENCE. 
 
 Accordingly a great cask of this wine 
 was brought into the Tower, and Cla- 
 rence was taken by the persons appointed 
 to put him to death, and put down head- 
 foremost into the cask, and in a very 
 few minutes he was drowned and died. 
 
 %55&^&4Wft*^3^^ 
 
XVII. 
 JANE SHORE. 
 
 Edward V. born 1470. — Died 1483. — Reigned 2 months. 
 
 
 HEN King Edward the 
 Fourth died, he left behind 
 him two little sons, the eldest 
 only thirteen years of age, and 
 the second only nine. 
 The eldest, whose name was also 
 Edward, being so called after his father, 
 was crowned, young as he was, by the 
 name of King Edward the Fifth; 
 but his uncle Crookback Richard, 
 Duke of Gloucester, was appointed to 
 
120 JANE SHORE. 
 
 govern the kingdom till the little King 
 should grow big enough to govern it 
 himself. 
 
 This vile monster Richard, as I told 
 you before, wished to be king himself, 
 and for this purpose he intended to mur- 
 der his little nephews ; but as they had 
 a great many powerful friends, he thought 
 it safest for him to begin by getting rid 
 of some of these friends. 
 
 There was in those days a great lord 
 whose name was Hastings, who had a 
 great deal of power in England; and 
 Crookback Richard endeavoured to get 
 this Lord Hastings over to his own 
 party ; but Lord Hastings had been a 
 friend of the late King, and he declared 
 
JANE SHORE. 121 
 
 he would protect the young King and his 
 little brother with his life. 
 
 So then Richard found that he must 
 make away with Lord Hastings before 
 he could make any attempt on the little 
 King. 
 
 Accordingly one day he called a coun- 
 cil of several great lords and gentlemen, as 
 if to consult about the affairs of the king- 
 dom; Lord Hastings came there with 
 the rest; and as soon as they were all 
 assembled, and the doors shut, Crook- 
 back Richard, in a furious voice, asked 
 what those persons deserved who wished 
 to put him to death ? 
 
 All the councillors looked at one 
 another in amazement, for they did not 
 
122 JANE SHORE. 
 
 know what he meant; and Lord Hast- 
 ings said, that if any person wished to 
 put Richard to death, that person ought 
 to be punished. 
 
 ' Dost thou answer me with ifs ?' cried 
 Richard in a fury ; ' audacious traitor ! 
 you yourself are one of those persons. See/ 
 said he to the councillors, baring his arm 
 up to the shoulder, and showing how 
 crooked and shrivelled it was — ' See,' said 
 he, 'how that traitor Hastings and the 
 witch Shore have disfigured me by 
 witchcraft.' 
 
 The councillors were now more amazed 
 than ever, for they all knew that neither 
 Hastings nor any one else had done this, 
 because Richard was born with this de- 
 
JANE SHORE. 123 
 
 formed and withered arm ; but they were 
 all afraid to say a word, for Richard 
 swore by St. Paul he would not dine till 
 he had Hastings's head. 
 
 So he struck the council table with his 
 hand, and a crowd of soldiers rushed in, 
 who, after wounding several of the coun- 
 cillors, carried off Lord Hastings, and cut 
 off his head on a block of wood which 
 happened to lie in the court-yard, and 
 they brought the head to Richard before 
 he dined. 
 
 But Richard's rage was not satisfied 
 with the death of Hastings ; he resolved 
 also to put to death the witch Shore, 
 as he called her. 
 
 Jane Shore was a beautiful woman, 
 
124 JANE SHORE. 
 
 who had been a friend of the late King, 
 and, now that he was dead, she and Lord 
 Hastings were great friends to the little 
 King and his brother. 
 
 Poor Jane Shore had committed 
 many faults, but she had also done a 
 great deal of good; for she was very 
 humane and charitable to the poor and all 
 other unfortunate persons ; and while King 
 Edward the Fourth was alive, she 
 always was civil and kind to every one who 
 had any favours to ask of the King. 
 
 By these means she was greatly be- 
 loved by the people, but she was equally 
 hated by Crookeack Richard, and so he 
 accused her of being a witch, and wither- 
 ing his arm. 
 
JANE SHORE DOING PENAN! B 
 
JANE SHORE. 125 
 
 Now this was not true, because his arm 
 was withered when he was born; but 
 besides that, there never was such a thing 
 as a witch, for the stories of witches are all 
 lies invented by the wicked to deceive 
 the foolish. 
 
 But Richard did not care about that ; 
 he accused her, and she was condemned — 
 and her sentence was, that she should do 
 penance ; that is, stand at the church door 
 in a white sheet, with a candle in her hand, 
 confessing her fault, and all the people 
 who came to church were allowed to mock 
 and insult her; but she had been so 
 charitable, that the people pitied her and 
 did not insult her. 
 
 Then Richard ordered, that when her 
 
126 JANE SHORE. 
 
 penance was over, no one should give her 
 shelter in their houses, nor any clothes 
 to cover her — nor bread to eat, nor even 
 water to drink; but that she should be 
 forced to wander about the streets, cold, 
 and hungry, and miserable, until at last she 
 should be tired and starved to death. 
 
 The people were very much grieved to 
 hear this order; but as Richard threat- 
 ened to put any one to death who should 
 disobey it, they were afraid to disobey. 
 
 So poor Jane Shore wandered about 
 the streets, wrapped up in this white 
 sheet ; and when she grew weary and cold 
 she begged for shelter, but no one dared 
 open his house to her — and when she was 
 hungry she begged for a bit of bread, but 
 
JANE SHORE. 127 
 
 no one dared give it to her — and when she 
 was dying of thirst, and begged a little 
 drink, no one dared to give her even a 
 drop of water. Then it was that she lay 
 down in the very kennel of the street ; and 
 oh ! she who had once been dressed in silks 
 and satins, and had eaten the richest feasts 
 at a king's table, would have given the 
 world for a little bit of mouldy bread and 
 a drop of muddy water. 
 
 There she lay dying : not weeping and 
 lamenting, but praying to God to forgive 
 her all the sins she had committed ; and at 
 the end of three long days and three long 
 nights, the poor creature was quite worn out, 
 and she laid her cheek on the cold stones, 
 and she shut her hollow eyes, and died. 
 
XVIII. 
 
 THE MURDER IN THE TOWER. 
 
 Richard III. born 1450.— Died 1485— Reigned 2 years. 
 
 l^^^uC SHALL now continue the story 
 \ of little King Edward and his 
 
 ^pU brother, who were cruelly put to 
 death by their wicked uncle, the same 
 Crookback Richard, who, as I before 
 told you, murdered his brother, and put 
 Lord Hastings and Jane Shore to death. 
 
 The little King's name was Edward, as 
 you know; but his little brother's name 
 was Richard, the same name as his cruel 
 uncle. 
 
THE MURDER IN THE TOWER. 129 
 
 As little Edward and little Richard 
 were so very young, the King their father, 
 when he was dying, gave them to the care 
 of their uncle, Crookback Richard, who 
 promised to take care of the little boys, 
 and to love and protect them as long as 
 they should be little and weak, and to be 
 dutiful and obedient to them when they 
 should grow to be men ; but he intended 
 no such thing, for he meant to get them 
 out of the way by killing them, in order to 
 be king himself. 
 
 So Crookback Richard pretended to 
 be very fond of them, and seemed to do 
 every thing that a good uncle ought to do ; 
 but this was all pretence, that he might get 
 them into his power, and out of the reach 
 
130 THE MURDER IN THE TOWER. 
 
 of their mother and all her friends, who 
 would watch carefully over them. 
 
 The first thing he did was to pretend 
 that it was not safe for these little boys to 
 live in the palace where their father had 
 lived, and he therefore took them to the 
 Tower, which is that great old castle at the 
 other end of London, where the wild beasts 
 are now kept ; but there is no beast in the 
 Tower so cruel as Richard was. 
 
 When you are a little older, I shall 
 take you to see the Tower and the wild 
 beasts, and shall show you the very place 
 in which the poor little princes were kept. 
 
 The little princes did not much mind 
 going to the Tower, for they were too 
 young to guess their uncle's wickedness ; 
 
THE MURDER IN THE TOWER. 131 
 
 and indeed the Tower seemed to them as 
 good as any other home, because they were 
 told that their dear mother and their grand- 
 mother were to go with them. 
 
 You know that you yourself would go 
 any where with your own dear mamma, and 
 would rather live with her in a little dark 
 room with iron bars to the windows and 
 a stone floor, than in a room with large 
 windows, and warm carpets, and soft sofas, 
 without your mamma. Well, so did these 
 dear little princes. 
 
 But after they had been there for a 
 short time, Crookback Richard got im- 
 patient of having their mother there, and 
 he cruelly sent her away from her little 
 
 boys. Oh ! you may think how the poor 
 
 i 2 
 
132 THE MURDER IN THE TOWER. 
 
 mother cried, and how the poor little boys 
 cried, at parting ; every body cried ; even 
 the very soldiers who came by Richard's 
 order to take their mother away, cried ; 
 and Crookback Richard himself pre- 
 tended to cry ; but in reality he was ex- 
 ceedingly glad that their mother was gone. 
 
 When he thus had the poor little boys 
 quite in his own power, his first attempt 
 was to bribe the keeper of the Tower to 
 murder the little boys ; but the keeper was 
 too honest, and he refused. Then Richard 
 turned him off from being keeper of the 
 Tower, and appointed another keeper, a 
 villain who was ready enough to do the 
 bloody job. 
 
 So this new keeper hired three ruffians, 
 
THE MURDER IN THE TOWER. 133 
 
 — (just such men as Hubert hired to kill 
 poor Arthur, as I told you before), — three 
 ruffians to come and murder these poor little 
 innocents; and it was settled that this 
 shocking murder was to be committed on a 
 certain night while the little princes were 
 asleep in bed. 
 
 So that night, after the poor little boys 
 had said their prayers, and kissed one ano- 
 ther, and wished that they could have 
 kissed their poor mother, who was far away, 
 they went to bed, and very soon fell asleep 
 in one another's arms — for they were so 
 good that they never forgot their dear 
 mother, and they said their prayers to 
 God every morning and every night ; 
 and when they went to sleep they folded 
 
134 THE MURDER IN THE TOWER. 
 
 their little arms lovingly about each 
 other. 
 
 While they were lying there fast asleep, 
 the ruffians came in to murder them ; but 
 they were not agreed how to do it ; at first 
 they intended to stab the princes, but then 
 they were afraid the blood would be seen, 
 and so at last they resolved to smother 
 them, which would not spill any blood, 
 and would prevent their making any noise ; 
 and so the ruffians took up the pillows and 
 forced them down over the faces of the 
 little princes, who, in spite of all the efforts 
 they could make with their little strength, 
 were smothered, and died. 
 
 When they were dead, the ruffians took 
 off the pillows, and then they saw the two 
 
THE MURDER IN THE TOWER. 135 
 
 little faces lying close together, and their 
 arms round each other, as if they had just 
 kissed each other as they were dying. 
 
 Then the ruffians took the dead bodies 
 and carried them down the dark narrow 
 stone stairs, and dug a hole at the bot- 
 tom of the stairs, and threw the bodies 
 into the hole, and covered them up with 
 clay, and no one knew what had become 
 of them. 
 
 Every one knew, indeed, that their 
 cruel uncle had hired ruffians to murder 
 them, but nobody ever knew where they 
 had been buried until many years after- 
 wards, when the bones of two little boys 
 were found by accident in digging a hole 
 at the foot of the dark stone stairs, and 
 
136 THE MURDER IN THE TOWER. 
 
 then these bones were known to be the 
 bones of the poor little princes. 
 
 When we go to the Tower I shall 
 show you the place where these bones 
 were found. 
 
XIX. 
 PERKIN WARBECX. 
 
 Henry VII. born 1457.— Died 1509.— Reigned 23 years. 
 
 BtlW HAVE told you how 
 b^, the two little Princes were mur- 
 <^m^ dered in the Tower by their uncle 
 Richard. Richard himself was 
 killed in battle, and another King, 
 called Henry the Seventh, made himself 
 King in his stead. 
 
 This King Henry the Seventh, was 
 very oppressive to the people, and the peo- 
 ple all lamented the loss of the two little 
 Princes, who were the rightful heirs to the 
 throne. 
 
138 PERKIN WARBECK. 
 
 This love of the little Princes and hatred 
 of the King, induced a young man, of the 
 name of Perkin Warbeck, to pretend to 
 be the Duke of York, the younger of the 
 two Princes, who had escaped, as he said, 
 by accident from the cruelty of his uncle, 
 and now came to claim the crown. 
 
 This Perkin Warbeck was not really 
 the Duke of York, nor any relation of the 
 royal family, but the son of a poor Jew in 
 Flanders ; but, what was very extra- 
 ordinary, he happened to have a great 
 likeness both to the little Prince whom he 
 pretended to be, and to King Edward, his 
 pretended father. 
 
 He also took great pains to find out 
 many secrets and stories relating to the 
 
PERKIN WARBECK. 139 
 
 Duke of York and his brother, the little 
 King ; so much so, that when he was ques- 
 tioned, he was able to give such answers as 
 the Duke of York himself would probably 
 have given. 
 
 This great likeness to the little duke 
 and this knowledge of many things that it 
 was supposed the duke alone could have 
 known, convinced every body that this was 
 the real Duke of York ; and it is very 
 wonderful, that the relations and friends of 
 the royal family who examined Perkin 
 were as much deceived as the rest ; and all 
 declared that there was no doubt but that 
 he was the real Plantagenet :— Planta- 
 genet was the name of the royal family. 
 
 Perkin now called himself King of 
 
140 PERKIN WARBECK. 
 
 England, by the name of King Richard 
 the Fourth ; and a great number of lords 
 and gentlemen offered to join him, and 
 fight in his cause, believing him to be 
 the real prince. 
 
 The King of Scotland, too, was de- 
 ceived by Perkin ; and when he went 
 into that country, the king married him 
 to a beautiful and noble young lady, a 
 cousin of his own. 
 
 All this wonderful success made Per- 
 kin very vain and proud, and he almost 
 began to think himself king in good 
 earnest ; and at last he ventured to land 
 in England, and to raise an army to fight 
 King Henry the Seventh ; but this soon 
 put an end to his strange adventures ; for 
 
PERKIN WARBECK. 141 
 
 Henry had no sooner put his army into 
 motion to march against him, than Perkin 
 took to flight, dismissed his army, and tried 
 to hide himself; but he was soon discovered 
 and taken prisoner. 
 
 Henry the Seventh might have put 
 Perkin to death, but he did not, and only 
 imprisoned him in the Tower of London — 
 the very place in which the real Duke of 
 York had been murdered. 
 
 But in order to make Perkin ridiculous 
 and contemptible in the eyes of all the 
 people, the King obliged him to confess 
 what he really was, and this confession 
 was printed and given to all the people 
 to read, and then Perkin was put on 
 horseback, and conducted through the 
 
142 PERKIN WARBECK. 
 
 streets of London in a kind of mock 
 procession. 
 
 He was next placed, like a rogue or 
 vagabond, in the stocks ; and the people, 
 who were at first so fond of Perkin, now 
 became so violent against him, that they 
 insulted the poor wretch as he sat in the 
 stocks, and treated him with every kind of 
 violence and hatred. Such is the fickleness 
 of the common people. 
 
 But Perkin, though mercifully treated 
 by the King, and only confined to the 
 Tower, was of so restless a temper that 
 he could not remain quiet ; so he began 
 new plots and schemes to escape from 
 the Tower, and to proclaim himself king 
 again. 
 

 L'KRKIN WARBECK ENTERING LONDON. 
 
PERKIN WARBECK. 143 
 
 This at last obliged King Henry the 
 Seventh to punish Perkin severely, and 
 so he ordered him to be tried for his life ; 
 and as his crimes were confessed even by 
 himself, he was immediately condemned : 
 and this very Perkin — who had been ac- 
 knowledged as Duke of York — who had 
 married the cousin of the King of Scot- 
 land — and who had been received as King 
 of England by a great part of the nation 
 — was drawn on a miserable hurdle to 
 Hyde Park Corner, which was then called 
 Tyburn, and there put to death by the 
 hands of the common hangman. 
 
 So surprising was Perkin' s resemblance 
 to the Duke of York, that to this very day 
 some people believe that he was the true 
 
144 PERKIN WARBECK. 
 
 Plantagenet ; but Perkin himself at 
 last confessed that he was not ; and I be- 
 lieve that the real Duke of York was mur- 
 dered in the Tower, because his bones 
 were found near those of his brother, the 
 little King, as I told you in the former 
 story. 
 
XX. 
 
 KING HENRY AND HIS SIX 
 WIVES. 
 
 Henry VIII. born 1492. — Died 1547. — Reigned 37 years. 
 
 »^toH- 
 
 &*&&!> 
 
 •j 
 
 mM^%> ENRY the EIGHTH 
 was the most cruel tyrant that 
 ever sat on the throne of Eng- 
 land. He was worse, I think, 
 than either John or Crookback 
 Richard — they murdered their nephews 
 to become kings themselves, but Henry 
 put to death, out of mere wantonness and 
 wickedness, his servants, his friends, and 
 even his wives. 
 
146 KING HENRY AND HIS SIX WIVES. 
 
 Shall I tell you the story of this monster 
 and his six wives ? 
 
 His first wife was a Princess of Spain, 
 called Catharine ; she was a good wife, 
 and a good queen ; and a good mother too, 
 for she had one little daughter, whose name 
 was Mary, of whom she was very fond. 
 
 But Henry soon grew tired of Queen 
 Catharine ; and, by some wicked pretences 
 and lies, procured his marriage with her to 
 be broken ; and he turned her and her little 
 daughter out of his palace, and a law was 
 passed that Catharine was not the King's 
 wife, nor little Mary the Kings daughter. 
 
 In those days the people were so base 
 and wicked that they made whatever laws 
 the King pleased, however foolish or unjust ; 
 
KING HENRY AND HIS SIX WIVES. 147 
 
 and surely such a law as this was as foolish 
 and unjust as could be. 
 
 His second wife was a young lady of 
 the name of Anne Boleyn — she was a 
 beautiful and virtuous young creature; 
 and happy it would have been for her if 
 this cruel tyrant had never seen her — for 
 he fell in love with her ; and it is supposed 
 his wish to marry her was the chief reason 
 for his breaking his marriage with poor Ca- 
 tharine ; for as soon as that marriage was 
 broken, Henry married Anne Boleyn. 
 
 In about a year after they were mar- 
 ried, Anne had a little daughter, named 
 Elizabeth, who afterwards was a famous 
 queen, and of whom I shall tell you a story 
 by-and-by. 
 
 j 2 
 
148 KING HENRY AND HIS SIX WIVES. 
 
 But Henry soon got tired of Anne 
 as he had done of Catharine, and fell in 
 love with another lady ; so he resolved to 
 put poor Anne to death : she was brought 
 out on a scaffold, where a block was placed 
 on which she was to lay her head, and an 
 executioner stood by with a sharp axe to 
 cut it off. 
 
 This poor young creature was too good 
 to be afraid of death ; and when she came 
 on the scaffold she smiled on the execu- 
 tioner, and said, 'that he would not have 
 much trouble ; for,' said she (putting her 
 hands round her beautiful neck), ' my poor 
 neck is very slender:' then she laid her 
 head on the block, and the executioner 
 with his axe struck it off with one blow. 
 
KING HENRY AND HIS SIX WIVES. 149 
 
 When you go to the Tower you will see 
 the very, very axe, which is still kept there. 
 
 The next day after the death of poor 
 Anne, the hard-hearted Henry married a 
 third wife, who was called Jane Seymour 
 — he probably would have put her to death 
 too ; but it happened that she died when 
 they had been married about a year : she 
 left a baby, who was afterwards King 
 Edward the Sixth. 
 
 His fourth wife was a German Princess, 
 called Anne of Cleves ; but Anne of 
 Cleves was neither handsome nor clever, 
 and Henry broke his marriage with her 
 very soon ; but as she was a princess, and 
 as her brothers and friends were very 
 powerful, he did not venture to put her 
 
150 KING HENRY AND HIS SIX WIVES. 
 
 to death as he had done poor Anne 
 Boleyn. 
 
 His fifth wife was an English lady, called 
 Catharine Howard. One is surprised 
 how he could persuade any one to marry 
 him, considering the danger in which the 
 wife of such a monster was placed ; but so 
 violent a tyrant was he, that to refuse him 
 was more dangerous even than consenting. 
 So Catharine Howard married him ; but 
 they were married only a few months when 
 Henry ordered her also to be put to death 
 — and she was beheaded accordingly. 
 
 At last, however, he maried a wife who 
 outlived him : her name was Catharine 
 Parr. She too was often in great danger 
 from the fury of this tyrant, and once he 
 
KING HENRY AND HIS SIX WIVES. 151 
 
 had actually signed an order for her being 
 sent to prison, which would probably have 
 been soon followed by her death ; but she 
 contrived by coaxing and flattering Henry, 
 to escape for that time, and very soon after 
 the monster himself fell sick and died. 
 
 The night before Henry died, he had 
 ordered the Duke of Norfolk, one of the 
 greatest men in the kingdom, to be put to 
 death, and he was to be executed next 
 morning; but that very night the King 
 himself died ; and when the morning came, 
 the officers, hearing of the King's death, 
 were very glad to refuse to execute his 
 unjust orders against the Duke of Nor- 
 folk ; so he escaped. 
 
 Remember the names of Henry's 
 
152 KING HENRY AND HIS SIX WIVES. 
 
 wives ; there were three Catharines, two 
 Annes, and one Jane — two he turned off, 
 two he beheaded, one died in her bed, and 
 one outlived him. 
 
 Now I am sure you agree with me, that 
 this Henry was the most cruel tyrant you 
 ever have heard of. 
 
XXI. 
 
 JANE GREY. 
 
 Edward VI. born 1538. — Died 1553. — Reigned 6 years. 
 
 ENRY the EIGHTH left 
 
 at his death one son and two 
 
 daughters. The son became 
 
 ^Sp J King at his father s death, and 
 
 the daughters, Mary and Eliza- 
 
 ? 
 
 beth, were queens in their turn ; 
 though an attempt was made to set aside 
 these two Princesses, as I shall tell you. 
 
 Edward, who was very young, had a 
 minister called the Duke of Northum- 
 berland, who governed the kingdom in 
 
154 JANE GREY. 
 
 the King's name; but Northumberland 
 was cruel and proud, and thought more of 
 himself and his own family than of the 
 good of the King or kingdom. 
 
 It happened that the young king had a 
 cousin, called Lady Jane Grey, who was 
 one of the most beautiful as well as the 
 most virtuous and learned young ladies in 
 England. 
 
 This beautiful young lady Northum- 
 berland resolved to marry to one of his 
 own sons ; and when he had done this, he 
 secretly persuaded the King to sign a paper 
 to declare, that after his own death Lady 
 Jane should be queen instead of his own 
 sisters Mary and Elizabeth. 
 
 This was very wicked in Northumber- 
 
JANE GREY. 155 
 
 land to ask, and very foolish in the King 
 to grant, because Lady Jane, good and 
 lovely as she was, had no right whatsoever 
 to the crown ; and you shall hear how 
 poor Lady Jane herself suffered from this 
 unhappy favour. 
 
 The young King had hardly written this 
 paper when he died, being only sixteen 
 years old. — Upon his death, Northumber- 
 land and some other lords proclaimed 
 Lady Jane Grey to be queen, and went to 
 visit her, to acquaint her that she was 
 Queen of England. 
 
 Nothing could equal Jane's surprise 
 and sorrow at this news, for she was too 
 good and too religious to wish to be queen 
 when she knew she had no right to be so ; 
 
156 JANE GREY. 
 
 and she entreated and prayed that they 
 would not force her to accept the crown, 
 but would permit her to remain in the 
 happy private station in which she was 
 born. 
 
 But Northumberland, who wished to 
 have all the power in his own hands, which 
 he thought he should have if she was 
 queen, being the wife of his son, would not 
 consent to this, and he obliged her to ac- 
 cept the crown, which she did with tears 
 and grief, for she foresaw how dangerous it 
 was to do so. 
 
 She accepted the crown then, but she 
 wore it only ten days ; for all the lords and 
 people, though they loved Lady Jane for 
 her goodness, did not choose to have her 
 
JANE GREY, 157 
 
 for their queen, because she had no right: 
 so they proclaimed Mary, the elder of 
 King Edward's two sisters, Queen. Nor- 
 thumberland was put to death ; and Jane 
 and her husband, who was not older than 
 herself, were confined in the Tower : but 
 as they had neither of them consented wil- 
 lingly to Northumberland's plot, it was 
 hoped that their youth and their innocence 
 would save them from any greater punish- 
 ment. 
 
 But they had not been above six months 
 in prison, when Queen Mary's tyranny 
 caused a rebellion in England; and though 
 the rebels were soon conquered and de- 
 stroyed, Mary, who was of a cruel, suspi- 
 cious temper, thought that she was not safe 
 
158 JANE GREY. 
 
 on the throne as long as Lady Jane was 
 alive ; so she resolved to put her and her 
 husband to death. 
 
 Jane, and her husband, whose name 
 was Lord Guilford Dudley, were both 
 very young, very handsome, and very good, 
 and they were quite innocent of the crime 
 for which Mary resolved to put them to 
 death ; so that you may think that every- 
 body loved and pitied them, and hated the 
 Queen for her cruelty to them. 
 
 They were beheaded on the same day 
 — Lord Guilford Dudley died first, and 
 died with the courage of a noble and inno- 
 cent young man. Jane saw his headless 
 body brought back in a cart ; and instead 
 of being frightened and dismayed at that 
 

JANE GREY. 159 
 
 dreadful sight, she gained courage from the 
 courage which her husband had shown; 
 for she loved him tenderly, and now re- 
 solved to imitate his example : so, with an 
 untroubled countenance, she laid her neck 
 upon the block, and the executioner with 
 his axe severed her head from the body. 
 
XXII. 
 BLOODY MARY. 
 
 Mary, born 1516. — Died 1558. — Reigned 5 years. 
 
 ARY, the same who 
 put Lady Jane Grey to death, 
 
 was the eldest daughter of Kins; 
 
 ASsv) Henry the Eighth, and she was 
 
 y) as wicked a monster as her father. 
 
 °^ She was ugly, ill-tempered, and 
 cruel, and she well deserves the name of 
 Bloody Mary, as you shall hear. 
 
 Mary was what is called a Papist, and 
 thought herself very religious; but hers 
 was not a mild, virtuous, Christian religion, 
 
BLOODY MARY. 161 
 
 such as is taught you in your prayers and 
 in the Bible, and which makes us kind to 
 one another, and obedient to God — but a 
 kind of bloody madness which she called 
 religion, and which drove her to commit 
 more cruelty and murder than her father 
 or even Crookback Richard had ever 
 been guilty of, for whoever would not agree 
 in her opinions, she ordered to be tied to a 
 stake, and burned to death. 
 
 You are greatly shocked to hear of a 
 Queen ordering people to be burned to 
 death; but it is very true, and the most 
 shocking part of the story is, that those she 
 burned were the best and most virtuous 
 men in the whole nation. 
 
 There were burned five of the bishops, 
 
162 BLOODY MARY. 
 
 twenty of the clergymen, hundreds of other 
 people, and even some little children like 
 yourself; and all these died with great 
 courage, some repeating psalms, some say- 
 ing their prayers, and all praising God in 
 the midst of the flames; and those who 
 died in this courageous manner for the sake 
 of their religion are called Martyrs. 
 
 But of all the Martyrs, two bishops, 
 whose names were Ridley and Latimer, 
 and an archbishop, called Cranmer, were 
 the most lamented for their goodness, piety, 
 courage, and sufferings. 
 
 Ridley and Latimer were burned at 
 the same time ; they were tied to two 
 stakes opposite to one another, and fagots 
 were heaped up about them, and the exe- 
 
P\ v" " . 
 
 BURNING OF RIDLEY AND LATIMER. 
 
164 BLOODY MARY. 
 
 This so enraged Bloody Mary, that she 
 ordered him to be immediately brought 
 forth and burned to death. When he came 
 forth to die, he showed a calm and courage- 
 ous countenance, not at all afraid of the 
 torture ; and when the fire was lighted, he 
 of himself held out his right hand which 
 had signed his name to the wicked paper, 
 and thrust it into the flames, and bravely 
 held it there till it was burned off, crying 
 out all the while, with a loud voice, " This 
 hand has offended ! " 
 
 After his hand was burned off, the exe- 
 cutioners heaped the blazing fagots up 
 about the poor old man's body, and he very 
 soon after died, praying and praising God 
 in the midst of the flames. 
 
BLOODY MARY. 165 
 
 The cruel Mary died soon after of a 
 broken heart : but the people of England 
 were so surprised and convinced by the 
 courage and constancy of these noble mar- 
 tyrs, that they all left Mary's cruel Papist 
 religion, and became of the Protestant reli- 
 gion, that of the martyrs ; and the Protes- 
 tant Religion is, to this day, the religion of 
 the people of England : it is the religion 
 of your papa and mamma, and that which 
 you are taught yourself; and which if you 
 follow and obey, every one will love you in 
 this world, and God will bless you in the 
 next. 
 
XXIII. 
 
 THE KING. 
 
 Elizabeth, born 1534.— Died 1603. — Reigned 44 years. 
 
 A M now going to tell you a story 
 about Queen Elizabeth, who 
 was one of the greatest and wisest 
 sovereigns England ever had ; 
 and when she first became queen, 
 she was young, handsome, and 
 agreeable; but in her old age, 
 she became ugly and cross and cruel. 
 
 In these latter times, amongst the young 
 noblemen of her court, she particularly no- 
 ticed the Earl of Essex, and he soon be- 
 
THE RING. 167 
 
 came her chief favourite ; for he was not 
 only young and handsome, but very clever 
 and agreeable. 
 
 But Lord Essex was so spoiled by his 
 good fortune and the Queen's favour, that 
 he became proud and haughty, and even 
 treated the Queen herself with so much in- 
 solence, that several serious quarrels arose 
 between them. 
 
 After a great many follies and faults on 
 the part of Lord Essex, and a great deal of 
 forgiveness on that of the Queen, this 
 foolish young man at last proceeded to 
 such violence, that he actually raised a riot 
 against the Queen, in which several men 
 were killed. 
 
 This was an insolence and wickedness 
 
168 THE RING. 
 
 too great to be borne ; and the Queen, well 
 as she loved Lord Essex, was obliged to 
 order him to be tried — and he was tried 
 accordingly, and found guilty, and con- 
 demned to lose his head. 
 
 But it is thought that even yet the 
 Queen would have forgiven him, but for 
 a strange accident which I shall now 
 tell you. 
 
 It happened that, in former times, when 
 the Queen and Lord Essex were good 
 friends, she had given him a beautiful ring, 
 which she told him to keep carefully, and 
 that whatever might afterwards happen, or 
 whatever fault he might commit, if he 
 sent this ring back to her, she would 
 forgive him. 
 
THE RING. 169 
 
 Now when Lord Essex was condemned 
 to death, the Queen, as you may well sup- 
 pose, expected to receive this ring ; and she 
 put off from day to day the last order for 
 his execution, still expecting the ring, but 
 the ring never came. 
 
 Then the Queen's patience was tired 
 out ; and thinking that Lord Essex did not 
 in the least repent of his conduct towards 
 her, and that he chose rather to die than 
 ask her pardon, her pride got the better of 
 her love for the poor Earl, and she gave 
 orders that he should be beheaded, and he 
 was beheaded accordingly. 
 
 Now it had happened that Lord Essex, 
 soon after his trial, finding that he was in 
 great danger, had thought of his ring, and 
 
170 THE RING. 
 
 resolved to send it to the Queen to move 
 her pity, and for this purpose he begged 
 the Countess of Nottingham, who was a 
 relation of his, to take the precious ring, 
 and to give it into the Queen's own 
 hands. 
 
 Lady Nottingham told this to her 
 husband, who being a great enemy to Lord 
 Essex, would not permit her to give the 
 ring to the Queen, nor to return it to Lord 
 Essex; so that the Queen never got the 
 ring, and poor Lord Essex was executed; 
 the Queen thinking him proud and ob- 
 stinate, and he thinking the Queen false 
 and cruel. 
 
 Some time after, however, Lady Not- 
 tingham being taken ill, and near dying, 
 
THE RING. 171 
 
 she remembered her wicked and deceitful 
 conduct towards Lord Essex; and this 
 made her so unhappy, that she could not 
 rest till she had sent to the Queen to say, 
 that she had something of the greatest im- 
 portance to tell her before she died. 
 
 So the Queen came to her, and every 
 body else being sent out of the room, Lady 
 Nottingham gave her the unfortunate 
 ring, beseeching the Queen to forgive her 
 for not having given it sooner, as her hus- 
 band had prevented her. But Elizabeth, 
 shocked and enraged in the highest degree, 
 exclaimed, "God may forgive you, but I 
 never can." 
 
 The Queen was so much grieved at 
 this discovery, that she never after reco- 
 
172 THE RING. 
 
 vered herself ; and she died at last in the 
 utmost sorrow at the thoughts of having 
 too hastily and cruelly consented to the 
 death of her unhappy favourite. 
 
 *g fl*zA*fl*&u&J^^ 
 
XXIV. 
 THE GUNPOWDER PLOT. 
 
 James I. born 1567. — Died 1625. — Reigned 22 years. 
 — »°^ 
 
 ^f" URING the reign of 
 King James I. the Papists — 
 those who were of Bloody Mary's 
 religion — were greatly enraged to 
 find that the King, and the Parlia- 
 ment, and the People were all become 
 Protestants ; and they resolved to make 
 a desperate attempt to put the King, the 
 Parliament, and the other chief Pro- 
 testants to death, in order that the 
 Papists should have the rule and govern- 
 
174 THE GUNPOWDER PLOT. 
 
 merit of England, and should be able to 
 bring in their religion again all through 
 the country. 
 
 Many plans and plots were devised 
 for this purpose, but none seemed great 
 enough to destroy the whole Protestant 
 party at once, which was what the Papists 
 wished to do. 
 
 At last, after many debates, it was 
 resolved to attempt to blow up the Par- 
 liament-House with gunpowder, on the 
 first day of the Parliament, when the 
 King and Queen, and all the royal family, 
 and all the Lords and Gentlemen of the 
 House of Commons were to be present; 
 by which they would at one blow destroy 
 the whole Protestant government. 
 
THE GUNPOWDER PLOT. 175 
 
 So these wicked traitors hired a house 
 next the Parliament-House, and they 
 set about digging a hole under the wall of 
 the Parliament-House, in order secretly 
 to place gunpowder under the house to 
 blow it up. 
 
 For many days they went on working 
 at this hole, and when they had made their 
 way almost under the Parliament-House, 
 they found, to their great surprise, that 
 there were vaults made there already, and 
 that if they broke through the wall they 
 would be discovered by the persons who 
 hired the vaults. — These persons were 
 coal-merchants who had coals in these 
 vaults. 
 
 On this discovery, they found that their 
 
176 THE GUNPOWDER PLOT. 
 
 first plan would not do ; so they resolved 
 to hire the vaults themselves, and under 
 pretence of keeping coals, fagots, and fire- 
 wood there, to place barrels of gunpowder 
 ready to blow up the house above. 
 
 You may remember that I once took 
 you to the Parliament-House, and 
 showed you some of these vaults, which 
 looked so dark and frightful. 
 
 Well, the traitors filled these very 
 vaults with barrels of gunpowder, and a 
 man of the name of Guy Fawkes was 
 the person appointed to set fire to the 
 train, and every thing was ready. But an 
 event which I am going to tell you defeated 
 all their wicked scheme. 
 
 It happened that there was a Lord 
 
THE GUNPOWDER PLOT. 177 
 
 Mounteagle, who had a friend among 
 the Papists; and this friend, to prevent 
 Lord Mounteagle being destroyed, wrote 
 him a letter to advise him not to go to 
 the Parliament. 
 
 This letter was written in very dark 
 language, almost like a riddle ; it talked of 
 a sudden blow, and that no one should see 
 the hand that gave it ; and as there was no 
 name signed to the letter, and as it told no 
 particulars, this lord could not tell what to 
 make of it ; but he thought it best, at all 
 events, to show it to the King and the 
 council. 
 
 The council all thought that it was a 
 foolish letter, without any other meaning 
 than to frighten this lord ; but King James 
 
178 THE GUNPOWDER PLOT. 
 
 suspected that there was some mischief at 
 bottom, and when he considered that the 
 blow was to be sudden and unseen, he 
 immediately thought that some explosion 
 or blowing up by gunpowder must be 
 meant; so a search was immediately 
 ordered in the vaults under the Parlia- 
 ment-House. 
 
 This search was made on the 4th of 
 November, the very day before the Parlia- 
 ment was to meet ; and when the officers 
 went to make the search, they found Guy 
 Fawkes, with a lantern in his hand, stand- 
 ing in a secret corner, after having laid all 
 the trains of gunpowder, and prepared 
 every thing for the execution of the plot 
 next day. 
 
■^-"J^tGuYJT 
 
 GUY FAWKES IN THE CELLAR. 
 
THE GUNPOWDER PLOT. 179 
 
 So they immediately seized him, and 
 they found in his pockets matches, and 
 flints for striking fire, and on a further 
 search they found a great many barrels of 
 gunpowder all hidden under the coals and 
 fagots. 
 
 Guy Fawkes, when he found he had 
 no chance of escaping, told the whole story, 
 and the names of all the other Papists 
 who were joined in the plot, and they were 
 all soon after put to death for this most 
 horrible design. 
 
 If the plot had succeeded, and fire had 
 been set to the gunpowder, not only all 
 those that were in the Parliament- 
 House, but all the neighbourhood, would 
 have been destroyed; they would have 
 
 l2 
 
180 THE GUNPOWDER PLOT. 
 
 been blown into the air, and their bodies 
 would have been torn into a hundred 
 pieces, and scattered far and wide with the 
 ruins of the houses. 
 
 Guy Fawkes himself intended to have 
 stood a great way off and set fire to a long 
 train, which would have burned some 
 minutes before it reached the gunpowder, 
 and in these minutes he would have run 
 away and escaped. 
 
 Even to this time, on every Fifth of 
 November, — the day on which the plot 
 was to have been executed, — you see the 
 little boys carry a figure about the streets, 
 which they call Guy Fawkes, and which, 
 after parading it about, they hang, as Guy 
 Fawkes himself was hanged ; and Prayers 
 
THE GUNPOWDER PLOT. 
 
 181 
 
 are said in all the Churches, to thank God 
 for having saved the kingdom and the 
 Protestant religion from this dreadful 
 danger. 
 
XXV. 
 
 KING CHARLES'S MARTYRDOM. 
 
 Charles I. born 1600.— Died 1649.— Reigned 23 years. 
 
 ~s$^$/^m 
 
 ING CHARLES the FIRST 
 
 was an excellent man and a 
 good King — he was a tender 
 e ' husband, a loving father, a kind 
 
 master, and a true friend; but he had 
 the misfortune to live in bad times, and 
 to have wicked and rebellious subjects. 
 These wicked men rose in rebellion 
 against this good King, who had no fault 
 but his willingness to punish these 
 wretches; and after a great many battles, 
 
king Charles's martyrdom. 183 
 
 they at last succeeded in taking the King 
 prisoner. 
 
 In prison they treated him with the 
 greatest insolence and brutality ; and at 
 last they resolved to try him for his life, in 
 a Court of their own making, as if the 
 poor King had done any thing for which 
 he deserved to be tried, and (even if he had) 
 these wretches had any right to try him. 
 
 So they assembled a kind of Court in 
 Westminster Hall, you know Westminster 
 Hall, that great room with the curious 
 wooden roof which I once showed you ? 
 
 Well, in this room they assembled 
 their Court, which consisted of rebels and 
 madmen, fools and knaves, and they pro- 
 ceeded to try their King ; but they had 
 
184 king Charles's martyrdom. 
 
 nothing to prove against him, and his in- 
 nocence was so clear that they would not 
 let him speak, but they condemned him to 
 be beheaded — contrary to all law and 
 justice, and to the surprise and horror of 
 all good and honest men. 
 
 The rebel soldiers who guarded the 
 innocent King treated him with the greatest 
 brutality, but he never appeared angry, 
 and bore all their insults with the mildness 
 of an angel, and he even prayed to God to 
 forgive them their wickedness. 
 
 As he was returning from the pre- 
 tended Court where he was condemned, 
 one of those wretches dared to spit in his 
 face. The King showed no anger at thi s 
 shocking insult, but said — " Poor soul ! — 
 
king Charles's martyrdom. 185 
 
 he would do the same to one of his own 
 officers for a piece of money !" — and when 
 he heard some of the common people cry 
 out against him, he said — " God forgive 
 them, they know not what they do !" Such 
 were the meekness and piety of this ex- 
 cellent King. 
 
 But the rebels who had condemned 
 him were resolved to execute him — so they 
 ordered a great scaffold of wood to be 
 raised in Whitehall, just opposite the centre 
 window of the building which is now called 
 Whitehall Chapel, and all the night 
 long, as the poor King lay in bed, he heard 
 the noise of the hammers of the workmen 
 who were building the scaffold on which 
 he was to die. 
 
186 king Charles's martyrdom. 
 
 King Charles had three sons and a 
 daughter — his two eldest sons had escaped 
 from the rebels, but his youngest son, a 
 little boy not older than you, and his 
 daughter, were confined with him. So 
 before he was executed, he took these two 
 children on his knees, and kissed them a 
 thousand times over, and gave them all the 
 kind and good advice possible ; and he said 
 to the little boy — " They are going to cut 
 off your poor father s head !" At these 
 words the child looked steadfastly on him : 
 — " Mark, dear child, what I say — they 
 will cut off my head, and perhaps make 
 you a king; but mark what I say — you 
 must not be made king by them as long as 
 your brothers Charles and James are 
 
king Charles's martyrdom. 187 
 
 alive ; they will cut off your brothers 9 
 heads when they can catch them ; thy 
 head, too, they will cut off at last ! there- 
 fore, I charge thee, do not be made a king 
 by them !" 
 
 To which the courageous little boy 
 answered — " No, I will not ; I will be torn 
 in pieces first !" 
 
 This brave answer from so little a boy 
 filled the King's eyes with tears of joy : 
 then the King embraced him again and 
 again, and his little sister, and parted 
 from them in great affliction for them; 
 for as to himself, he was too good and 
 too pious to be afraid of his enemies or of 
 death. 
 
 When the time came he walked out of 
 
188 king Charles's martyrdom. 
 
 the centre window I told you of, on the 
 scaffold, which was built as high as the 
 window, and which was covered with black 
 cloth — on the scaffold was placed a block, 
 and by the block stood two executioners 
 with axes in their hands and masks on 
 their faces, that they who did this bloody 
 deed might not be known. 
 
 Then the King came forward with a 
 steady step and mild countenance, and 
 after having said a prayer, he laid his head 
 meekly on the block, and giving the signal 
 that he was ready to die, one of the exe- 
 cutioners struck off his head at a blow, 
 and the other, when it had fallen on the 
 scaffold, held up the bleeding head by the 
 hair, and showed it to the people, who all 
 
CROMWELL TURNING OUT THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 
 

 king Charles's martyrdom. 189 
 
 wept and lamented at that miserable 
 sight. 
 
 Almost all the people loved the King ; 
 but the rebels, though fewer in number 
 than the good people, were soldiers, and 
 had arms in their hands, and their general, 
 Oliver Cromwell, usurped the power 
 of a king, and forced the rest of the 
 people to submit to his and their cruel 
 tyranny. 
 
 So this tyranny of the soldiers lasted a 
 great many years ; but at length Oliver 
 died, and the people took courage, and 
 would bear the oppression no longer ; and 
 General Monk, who succeeded Oliver 
 Cromwell in the command of the army, 
 finding the disposition of the people, re- 
 
190 king Charles's martyrdom. 
 
 called the King's eldest son, who was called 
 Charles the Second : he became King 
 of England, and sat on the throne of his 
 poor father. 
 
XXVI. 
 THE EOYAL OAK. 
 
 Charles II. born 1627.— Died 1658.— Reigned 36 years. 
 
 ^^)#9 EF0RE Charles the Se- 
 cond became king, he fought 
 several battles with the rebels who 
 W had put his father to death ; but the 
 rebels were generally the stronger party. 
 
 After one of these battles, young 
 Charles's army was utterly beaten, and 
 he was himself obliged to fly. 
 
 But even by flying he could scarcely 
 save himself from the rebels, who were in 
 great numbers, and who wandered over all 
 
192 THE ROYAL OAK. 
 
 the fields and roads searching for him. 
 So poor Charles wandered alone in the 
 woods for several days, hiding himself in 
 the bushes and briers to escape the rebels, 
 and having nothing to eat but wild peas 
 and berries, which he gathered in the fields 
 and hedges. 
 
 But at last one day he saw two rebel 
 horsemen or troopers advancing towards 
 him, and as they were coming from oppo- 
 site sides he had no way left of escaping. 
 
 So he stood sadly frightened at the foot 
 of a great oak tree, towards which the 
 rebels seemed to be coming; when sud- 
 denly the thought struck him of climbing 
 up into the oak, and hiding himself in the 
 branches and leaves. 
 
CHARr.K- II. IN THE OAK 
 
THE ROYAL OAK. 193 
 
 He lost not a moment in climbing into 
 the oak, and as it was now summer, and 
 that all the leaves were out, and that the 
 oak was very large and full of thick 
 branches, he lay there quite unseen and 
 secure. 
 
 He had scarcely gotten to his hiding- 
 place on the boughs of the oak, when the 
 rebel troopers came up to the foot of the 
 tree, and Charles heard them make in- 
 quiries from one another about him, and 
 explain to one another which way they 
 supposed he had escaped; they little 
 thought that they were all the while so 
 near him. 
 
 After some talk, and after searching 
 all about the neighbouring wood, the 
 
194 THE ROYAL OAK. 
 
 troopers rode away, to the great joy of 
 Charles, who was half dead with fatigue, 
 hunger, and fright. 
 
 But when he came down from his tree 
 (which was ever after called the Royal 
 Oak), he was as badly off as ever, for he 
 did not know where to find food or shelter, 
 and he was afraid to go and look for them, 
 lest he should fall into the hands of the 
 rebels. 
 
 But it happened that there were five 
 brothers, whose names were Penderell, 
 who lived in that part of the country, in 
 an old house called Boscobel, and who had 
 always been loyal, and loved the King and 
 hated the rebels. Now one of these bro- 
 thers chanced to meet Charles, who told 
 
THE ROYAL OAK. 195 
 
 him who he was, and then Penderell 
 knelt down and kissed his hand, and pro- 
 mised to risk his life to save him. 
 
 So he took him to Boscobel, and all the 
 brothers were at once glad and frightened 
 to see Charles — glad that he was safe, 
 and frightened lest he should be taken 
 prisoner ; for the troopers were all about 
 the neighbourhood still in search of him. 
 
 So they could think of nothing better 
 than disguising the King like a poor labour- 
 ing man, and they made him work at cut- 
 ting fagots in the wood, till the search was 
 a little less strict. Then they dressed him 
 like a servant, and he rode to attend a lady 
 who pretended she wanted to go to the 
 sea-coast. 
 
 M 2 
 
196 THE ROYAL OAK. 
 
 And after a great deal of fatigue and 
 many narrow escapes, Charles, at last, by 
 the means of these worthy Penderells, 
 and some other good friends, contrived to 
 reach the sea-shore, where he soon found 
 a small vessel, and sailed over to France, 
 where he remained in safety for several 
 years, till the people, weary of the tyranny 
 of the soldiers, entreated that Charles 
 would return to them, which he did, to 
 the great joy of the whole nation. 
 
XXVII. 
 THE ESCAPE. 
 
 James II. born 1633. — Died 1700. — Reigned 4 years. 
 
 ING JAMES the SECOND 
 
 was a Papist and a bad King, 
 f^3, and the people rose up against 
 him, and he was obliged to fly- 
 to save his life. 
 
 But before he fled himself, he resolved 
 to provide for the escape of the Queen his 
 wife, and of his little son. 
 
 This Queen was an Italian princess, 
 and the people, who hated both her and 
 James, said that the little boy was not 
 
198 THE ESCAPE. 
 
 really her son, but that he was a little 
 foundling boy who had been brought into 
 the Queen's bed-chamber in a warming-pan 
 in order to impose upon the people, and 
 make them believe that he was really the 
 King's son ; but I do not believe this story 
 of the warming-pan, and I am sure the little 
 boy was really the son of the King and 
 Queen. 
 
 But, poor little fellow ! he had better 
 have been the son of any other father and 
 mother, for his whole life was one course 
 of unhappiness. 
 
 He was but a few months old when the 
 fury of the people obliged the King to con- 
 trive the escape of him and his mother, — 
 but the King was so surrounded with spies, 
 
THE ESCAPE. 199 
 
 that he did not know whom to trust, for he 
 thought all the English were his enemies, 
 so he was obliged to consult a French 
 gentleman who happened to be in London, 
 and who was a man of great courage and 
 rank, and who promised to assist in carry- 
 ing off the Queen and the little Prince 
 to France, out of the reach of their 
 enemies. 
 
 So a plan was arranged accordingly ; 
 but great care was taken to keep it all 
 a profound secret, lest some of the other 
 party should find it out and stop the Queen 
 and Prince. 
 
 The way it was arranged was this : the 
 night appointed for the Escape, the little 
 Prince was put to bed as usual, and soon 
 
200 THE ESCAPE. 
 
 after the King and Queen sent away their 
 
 attendants, and went to bed also. 
 
 When everybody was fast asleep in the 
 house, the King and Queen got up and 
 dressed themselves, and the King went and 
 opened the door, where he found the French 
 gentleman waiting; then the Queen took 
 up the little Prince, and wrapping him up 
 in flannel to keep him warm, for it was a 
 cold winter s night, she also came to the 
 door; then the King kissed them both, 
 and wept bitterly at parting from them, 
 and gave them both into the care of the 
 French gentleman, who taking the little 
 boy in one arm, and helping the Queen 
 with the other, set out upon this melan- 
 choly journey. 
 
THE ESCAPE. 201 
 
 The night was a very stormy night, 
 and the wind blew and the rain fell with 
 great violence ; and when they came to 
 the river side, where the French gentleman 
 had ordered a boat to wait that they might 
 escape down the river, it was so dark and 
 stormy that he could not find the boat. 
 
 He now hardly knew what to do, but 
 he gave the Queen the little boy to hold, 
 and he placed her under shelter of an old 
 wall, and he desired her to remain there 
 while he should go and look for the boat ; 
 there then was this poor Queen and her 
 baby, shivering in the cold and rain, and 
 terrified at every noise she heard, more 
 miserable than the poorest and meanest 
 woman in England that night. 
 
202 THE ESCAPE. 
 
 After she had stood for a long while 
 under the wall, the French gentleman 
 returned, and told her he had found the 
 boat ; so he took the Prince, and led the 
 Queen, trembling and weeping, and almost 
 fainting, along, till they came to the water- 
 side, where he placed them in the boat, 
 and wrapping the boatman's cloak round 
 them, and making them as comfortable as 
 he could, he sat down by them, and 
 directed the boatman to row away. 
 
 The boatman did not know what great 
 persons he had in his boat, and so he 
 rowed away; had he known it, he might 
 have delivered them up to their enemies ; 
 but he thought perhaps that they were 
 common people who had some reason of 
 
THE ESCAPE. 203 
 
 their own for going at that time of 
 night. 
 
 So he rowed away, and by morning he 
 had gotten a great way down the river, far 
 from the palace and from London, and 
 there they found a small ship about to sail 
 for France ; so the French Gentleman 
 went on board this ship, and pretending 
 the Queen and Prince were his own wife 
 and son, he bargained with the master of 
 the ship to convey them to France ; which 
 the master, suspecting nothing, agreed to 
 do for a sum of money. 
 
 Accordingly, they all got on board the 
 ship, and set sail for France ; but they 
 had not gone far when they saw the whole 
 English fleet, watching at the mouth of 
 
204 THE ESCAPE. 
 
 the River Thames, to examine all vessels, 
 and prevent their escape : then indeed 
 they began to be greatly afraid ; but the 
 vessel they were in was so small and looked 
 so poor, that the admirals and captains of 
 the fleet never suspected her of containing 
 such treasure, so they let her pass without 
 examination ; and that very night the 
 French gentleman had the happiness and 
 glory of landing the Queen and her little son 
 in safety in France, at that very town of 
 Calais which I told you of once before. 
 
 In the meanwhile, the King was in 
 great anxiety and terror about his poor 
 wife and child, and you may judge how 
 happy he was, after a few days, to hear 
 that they were safely landed in France. 
 
THE ESCAPE. 
 
 205 
 
 I dare say you are very anxious to 
 know the name of this brave and faithful 
 French gentleman — he was called the 
 Duke of Lauzun; and when you are 
 older and can read history, you may read 
 some more of the story of the Duke of 
 Lauzun, which you will find very curi- 
 ous and entertaining. 
 
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