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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2016 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates 
 
 https://archive.org/details/picturehistoryofOOdulc 
 
Queen Philippa interceding for the Burgesses of Calais. 
 
A PICTURE 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND 
 
 FROM THE INVASION OF JULIUS CiESAR TO THE PRESENT TIME. 
 
 WRITTEN FOR THE USE OF THE YOUNG. 
 
 BY H. W. DULCKEN, Pii.D. 
 
 1LLUST11ATEI) WITH 
 
 EIGHTY ENGRAVINGS 
 
 BY THE BROTHERS DALZIEL, 
 
 FKOM DESIGNS BY 
 
 A. W^. B A Y E S. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 GEORGE ROUT LEDGE AND SONS, 
 
 BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL. 
 
 MDCCCLXVI. 
 
 
Uniform with “ A Picture History of England,” Extra Cloth Gilt , on fine Toned Taper, 
 
 Five Shillings. 
 
 GOLDEN LIGHT: 
 
 BEING 
 
 SCEIPTUEE STOEIES EOE THE YOUNG. 
 
 OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 EIGHTY LAEGE PAGE ENGEAVINGS BY THE BEOTHEES DALZIEL, 
 
 DEAWN BY A. W. BAYES. 
 
 “ The stories have been so arranged as to form a complete, though elementary, History of the Bible, com- 
 mencing with the ‘Creation of the World/ and ending with the ‘Acts of the Apostles.’ Where the very 
 words of the Bible could tell the story simply enough to be understood by a child, they have been used — on 
 the principle that, as the study of the Scriptures can never be continued too long, so the sound of the 
 ‘ Bible Words ’ can never become familiar too early.” 
 
 DALZIEL BROTHERS, CAMDEN PRESS, LONDON. 
 
Dffp 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 In writing this book, it has been the Author’s endeavour to tell the 
 Story of the British Nation in a series of chapters sufficiently plain to be 
 within the comprehension of children, without making the volume a play- 
 book ; as, in opposition to a very wide-spread notion, he holds that even 
 the Outlines of History, acquired in sport, will not be retained in earnest. 
 
 The division of the work into parts or sections, and the sub-division 
 into chapters, has been made advisedly. Each part comprises a distinct 
 period of History, and should be made a subject of examination before 
 the reader proceeds to the next. The chapters have been generally 
 made of uniform length, each containing just as much as it is supposed 
 may be readily retained after reading attentively once or twice. 
 
 Questions for examination, generally inserted in a work of this kind, 
 have here been intentionally omitted. According to the Author’s view, 
 even young children should have something more than the 44 dry bones” 
 of question and answer presented to them, if History is to become a 
 study, not dependent entirely on a trick of memory or an aptitude for 
 retaining isolated facts and figures. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The Illustrations, of which no fewer than eighty appear in the volume, 
 have been inserted not merely to afford amusement to the young reader, 
 but to assist the memory, and chiefly to complete, through the eye, the 
 explanations which the limits of the work in many cases compelled the 
 writer to give very briefly. 
 
 It has been, in general, the Author’s endeavour to put into the volume 
 as much as possible that should be learned, and to keep out of it any- 
 thing that the reader would afterwards have to unlearn. 
 
 H. W. D. 
 
 London, December , 1865. 
 
 DIVISIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Paet I.— ANCIENT BRITAIN . . 1 
 
 „ II.— THE NORMAN KINGS . 36 
 „ III.— THE FIRST PLANTAGENETS 73 
 „ IV.— THE EDWARDS . . . I OS 
 
 „ V.— THE LANCASTRIAN KINGS. 141 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I Past VI.— THE TUDOR KINGS . . 173 
 
 I 
 
 VII.— THE STUART KINGS . . 213 
 
 VIII.— THE RESTORED STUARTS . 243 
 IX.— THE HOUSE OF HANOVER 278 
 X.— THE PRESENT CENTURY . 302 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Ancient Britons 3 
 
 Landing of Julius Caesar ... 7 
 
 Boadicea leading her Troops . . 11 
 
 King Arthur in Battle , . . 15 
 
 Alfred in the Neat-herd’s Cottage . 23 
 
 Alfred in tiie Danish Camp . . 25 
 
 Canute reproving his Courtiers . . 31 
 
 Binding the Body of Harold . . 35 
 
 Coronation of William the Conqueror . 39 
 
 Norman Castle. — Hunting Scene . 43 
 
 Robert setting out for tiie Crusade . 49 
 
 Death of William Rufus ... 51 
 
 Battle of Tenciiebray . . . .57 
 
 Wreck of the Blanche Nef . . 01 
 
 Stephen captive at Lincoln . . .07 
 
 Maude’s escape from Oxford in the 
 
 Snow ... . . . 71 
 
 Death of Thomas a Becket . . .79 
 
 Marriage of Eva and Strongbow . 81 
 
 Blondel discovers the place of Richard’s 
 
 Confinement 87 
 
 Richard pardons John . . . 89 
 
 John surrendering his Crown to Pandulpii 95 
 King John signing Magna Ciiarta . 97 
 
 Henry III. a prisoner at Leaves . .103 
 
 Simon de Montfort slain at Evesham . 107 
 
 Edward I. presenting itis Son to the 
 
 Welsh Ill 
 
 Wallace taken to Execution . . 115 
 
 Bruce at Bannockburn . . . .121 
 
 The Battle of Crecy . . . . 125 
 
 Queen Philippa and the Burgesses of 
 
 Calais 127 
 
 The Erencii King brought as prisoner 
 
 to London 131 
 
 Richard II. and Wat Tyler . . . 135 
 
 Bolin gbroke’s meeting with Richakd II. 139 
 
 Death of Hotspur 143 
 
 Prince Henry and Chief Justice Gas- 
 coigne 145 
 
 Henry V. at Agincourt . . . .149 
 
 Jack Cade at London Stone . . 157 
 
 The Duke of York slain at Wakefield 159 
 Queen Margaret and the Robber . 1G3 
 
 Gloucester conducting Edward Y. into 
 
 London 167 
 
 Richmond Crowned on Bos worth Field 171 
 Perkin Warbeck reading his Confession 177 
 The Field of the Cloth of Gold . 181 
 
 j 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 WOLSEY RECEIVED BY THE ABBOT OF 
 
 Leicester 1S5 
 
 Anne Boleyn in the Tower . . 189 
 
 Edward YI. granting a Charter to 
 
 Christ’s Hospital .... 193 
 Execution of Lady Jane Grey . . 199 
 
 Elizabeth’s entry into London . . 203 
 
 Defeat of the Spanish Armada . 211 
 
 Guy Eawkes before James I. . . . 215 
 
 Murder of Buckingham .... 219 
 Departure of the Pilgrim Fathers . 223 
 
 The Royal Standard raised at Not- 
 tingham 225 
 
 Charles I. a prisoner in Carisbkuok 
 
 Castle 229 
 
 Execution of Charles I. 231 
 
 Charles II. in tiie Oak . . . 233 
 
 Cromwell dissolving the Long Parlia- 
 ment 237 
 
 Charles II. received by General Monk 
 
 at Dover 211 
 
 The Plague in London . . . 245 
 
 Trial of Lord William Russell . .251 
 
 Monmouth entreating James II. for tiis 
 
 Life . . . . . . 255 
 
 Flight of James II. from London . 261 
 
 William and Mary on the Throne . 265 
 Massacre of Glencoe ... . . 267 
 
 The Czar Peter of Russia in Deptford 
 
 Dockyard 269 
 
 Taking of Gibraltar by Sir George 
 
 Rooke 273 
 
 Marlborough at Ramillies . . .275 
 
 Escape of Lord Nithisdale. . . 279 
 
 George II. at Dettingen . . .235 
 
 The Young Pretender concealed in a 
 
 Cave 287 
 
 Death of General Wolfe at Quebec . 289 
 
 Signing Treaty of Peace with America 293 
 
 Storming of Seringapatam . . . 301 
 
 Death of Kelson 305 
 
 Convention of Cintra . ,. . 307 
 
 The Battle of Waterloo . . .311. 
 
 Battle of Navarino . . . . 315 
 
 Burning of tiie Houses of Parliament 319 
 Yisit of Victoria and Albert to King 
 
 Louis Philippe 323 
 
 Opening of the Exhibition of 1851 . 325 
 
 Havelock entering Lucknow . . 327 
 
THE KINGS AND QUEENS OE ENGLAND, 
 
 PROM THE CONQUEST TO THE PRESENT DAY. 
 
 Monarch. 
 
 Began to reign. 
 
 Died. 
 
 THE NORMAN DYNASTY. 
 
 William I. . 
 
 . 1066 
 
 1087 
 
 William II. 
 
 . 1087 
 
 1100 
 
 Henry I. 
 
 . 1100 
 
 1135 
 
 Stephen . . 
 
 . 1135 
 
 1154 
 
 THE PLANTAGENET DYNASTY. 
 
 Henry II. . . 
 
 1154 
 
 1189 
 
 Richard I. . . 
 
 1189 
 
 1199 
 
 John . . . . 
 
 1199 
 
 1216 
 
 Henry III. . . 
 
 1216 
 
 1272 
 
 Edward I. . . 
 
 1272 
 
 1307 
 
 Edward II. . . 
 
 1307 
 
 1327 
 
 Edward III. 
 
 1327 
 
 1377 
 
 Richard II. . . 
 
 1377 
 
 1399 
 
 THE LANCASTRIAN DYNASTY. 
 
 Henry IY. . . 
 
 1399 
 
 1413 
 
 Henry V. . . 
 
 1413 
 
 1422 
 
 Henry YI. . . 
 
 1422(3E)1471 
 
 THE YORK 
 
 DYNASTY. 
 
 
 Edward IY. 
 
 1461 
 
 1483 
 
 Edward Y. . 
 
 1483 
 
 1483 
 
 PtICHARD III. 
 
 1483 
 
 1485 
 
 THE TUDOR 
 
 DYNASTY 
 
 
 Henry YII. 
 
 1485 
 
 1509 
 
 Henry VIII. . 
 
 1509 
 
 1547 
 
 Monarch. Began to reign. Died. 
 
 THE TUDOR DYNASTY, continued. 
 
 Edward YI. 
 
 1547 
 
 1553 
 
 Mary I. . . . 
 
 1553 
 
 1558 
 
 Elizabeth . . 
 
 1558 
 
 1603 
 
 THE STUART 
 
 DYNASTY. 
 
 James I. . . . 
 
 1603 
 
 1625 
 
 Charles I. . . 
 
 1625 
 
 1649 
 
 (Interregnum.) 
 
 THE PROTECTORATE. 
 
 Oliver Cromwell 1653 1658 
 
 (Interregnum.) 
 
 THE RESTORATION. 
 
 Charles II. . . 
 
 1660 
 
 1685 
 
 James II. . . 
 
 1685 
 
 1688 
 
 THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 
 William III. ) 
 and Mary II. ) 
 
 1688 
 
 (1702 
 
 11694 
 
 Anne .... 
 
 1702 
 
 1714 
 
 THE BRUNSWICK DYNASTY. 
 
 George I. 
 
 . 1714 
 
 1727 
 
 George II. . 
 
 . 1727 
 
 1760 
 
 George III. 
 
 . 1760 
 
 1820 
 
 George IY. . 
 
 . 1820 
 
 1830 
 
 William IV. 
 
 . 1830 
 
 1837 
 
 Victoria . . 
 
 . 1837 
 
 r Vivat \ 
 \Regina.) 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 ANCIENT BRITAIN AND ITS INHABITANTS. 
 
 The first inhabitants of Britain — Celts and Teutons — Their manners and customs — Their 
 weapons — Their herds of cattle — Their dislike of the sea — The Druids — Their manner 
 of worship — Cruel sacrifices, <fcc. 
 
 In this book I purpose to give my young readers an account of the 
 chief events that have happened in England during the many hundreds 
 of years that comprise its story or history. I wish to tell them of the 
 kings who governed the land, and of the great men who worked for its 
 advancement and prosperity; to record the battles fought and dangers 
 endured from time to time ; and to point out the changes that passed over 
 England before it became the great and flourishing empire it now is. I 
 shall begin by describing Britain as it existed in the very old days, at the 
 time when our Saviour, from whose birth we count the dates of all events, 
 came upon earth 
 
 The great Bom an people, who had been conquering Southern and 
 Western Europe piece by piece, had heard vague accounts given by 
 travellers of an island, or rather of two islands lying close together, in 
 the cold Northern Sea. The larger of these two islands was called 
 Prydain or Britain — now it is England and Scotland. This island was 
 inhabited by wild tribes of barbarians, savage, uncultivated, and cruel. 
 They were of two separate races : those in the south belonging to the 
 Teutons or Germans, a great race spread over different parts of Europe, 
 while the rest of the Britons were Cymri or Celts, the name given to 
 another great race. The Britons of the southern districts had commerce 
 with Prance, or, as it was then called, Gaul ; and as the Gauls were not 
 quite so wild as the Britons generally, these southern Britons had begun 
 to learn and practise some useful arts. They knew, for instance, how to 
 prepare the fields and sow corn ; and thus bread was not unknown among- 
 them as an article of food. Some of the merchant ships that traded 
 about the coasts of Gaul also visited them from time to time, bringing 
 
 u 
 
 i 
 
MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND WEAPONS OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. 
 
 the produce of Gaul to Britain, and carrying away a few products, chiefly 
 metals, in return. 
 
 But the Celtic Britons of the interior were as wild as any rude savages 
 in the South Sea Islands. They wandered about in the marshes and 
 morasses of their foggy, uncultivated country, quite ignorant of the arts 
 of ploughing, sowing, and reaping, and generally without clothes of any 
 kind. In winter, indeed, they covered themselves with the skins of 
 wolves and other savage beasts, of which there were plenty in the thick 
 forests ; but in summer they were content to stain themselves, according 
 to their savage notions of ornament, with a plant called woad, which 
 produced a blue colour. Their weapons were heavy clubs, and swords 
 and spears made of copper or tin, or of a mixture of several metals; 
 they had axes too ; and the heads of these axes were often made of 
 flint ; and on their left arm they carried a shield of copper. They were 
 divided into a number of tribes, each tribe having its chief, and being 
 generally at war with its neighbours ; and when a great chief died, it 
 was a custom among them to bury his weapons in the grave with him, 
 and erect a mound of earth to show the spot where the warrior rested. 
 Many of these mounds have been opened, and within them have been 
 discovered the weapons of the Ancient Britons, and some of the rude 
 ornaments they wore. In the British Museum may be seen many such 
 memorials of the first inhabitants of Britain. 
 
 Though these painted wild men knew not how to cultivate fields, they 
 possessed herds of cattle, and had some very strong and swift horses. 
 In time of war they harnessed these horses to chariots, with scythes 
 fastened to the axles of the wheels ; and it will be imagined that these 
 sharp scythes caused much damage when the chariots were driven at full 
 speed into an enemy’s ranks. Many of the Britons lived in the woods 
 on acorns and berries, and must have led a very poor and rough life, 
 though they were hardy, strong, and bold. Had they not wasted their 
 strength by continual combats among themselves, they might have with- 
 stood the Romans. 
 
 The Celtic Britons were not, like the English of the present day, fond 
 of sailing upon the mighty sea. They had frail little boats called 
 coracles, made of a framework of wood covered over with hides, shaped 
 
Ancient Britons. 
 
THE DRUIDS — THEIR MANNER OF WORSHIP— SACRIFICES. 
 
 like baskets, and so light that a man could carry one upon his back. 
 They seem also to have had canoes, or boats made of the hollowed trunks 
 of trees ; but they did not love to tempt the perils of the deep, as the 
 northern nations did, or to sail forth on a voyage in quest of adventure 
 and plunder. But as they were by no means wanting in bravery, they 
 roamed through the woods in quest of wild beasts, when they were not 
 engaged in wars among themselves. 
 
 Like the other barbarian nations, the Britons were sunk in heathen 
 darkness. They knew nothing of the true God, nor of the service that 
 is perfect freedom. In the silent depths of the dark oak forests their 
 priests taught them to practise a gloomy and wicked superstition. These 
 priests, who were called Druids, made the ignorant people believe that the 
 deities they worshipped were pleased with the spoils of war, and delighted 
 in the blood of human beings slain in their honour. So at times, tall 
 figures were built of wood and wicker-work, and within these figures 
 were crowded a number of unhappy prisoners ; and then the cruel 
 Druids set fire to the whole mass, and the wretched savages rejoiced in 
 the sufferings of the poor captives who were being roasted to death. 
 The Druids were the judges and lawgivers, as well as the priests, of the 
 Britons. They knew more than the ignorant people. They wore long 
 robes and ornaments of gold. The people respected them greatly, and 
 were much afraid of them ; for even among the most savage and debased 
 the proverb holds true that 4 4 knowledge is power . 55 
 
 The dwellings of the Britons were wretched huts ; but the temples in 
 which the Druids carried on their rites were formed of circles of stones, 
 so huge in size that some of them looked as though giants and not 
 ordinary men had piled them together. Some of these temples still. v 
 remain. The most famous is the circle of stones on Salisbury Plain," 
 called Stonehenge, though the old British name for it was Choir-guar , or 
 the 44 Giant’s dance . 55 
 
 Such were the oldest inhabitants of England, nineteen hundred years 
 ago : cruel savages without knowledge, arts, or true religion, inhabiting 
 a dreary tract of forest, marsh, and fen. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE ROMANS CONQUER BRITAIN. 
 
 Warlike character of the Eomans — Julius Caesar — His conquest of Gaul — He invades Britain 
 — The Britons left to themselves — Visit of Claudius — Conquest of Britain by Ostorius 
 and other Generals — The story of Caractacus — Massacre of the Druids. 
 
 In those days the Romans were the strongest nation in the world. 
 For many years they had been sending their armies into one country 
 after another ; and wherever they fought, they were certain in the end 
 to become masters. The chief reason of this success was to be found in 
 the skill of the Roman generals, the excellent order of the Roman 
 troops, and the quality of the Roman weapons. What, for instance, 
 could the heavy copper swords used by the Gauls be expected to do 
 against the keen polished steel of the Roman weapon ? or how could the 
 barbarians, brave though they were, stand up against men who had been 
 trained to war, and whom it was very difficult to throw into disorder, 
 while the barbarians, on the other hand, hardly knew what order meant ? 
 No wonder that the Romans conquered half the world. They were 
 employed in this task at the time concerning which I am now writing ; 
 and the greatest of the generals who arrived in this country on the work 
 of slaughtering the barbarians, and taking away their property, was 
 named Julius Crnsar. 
 
 He was a mighty man, this Caesar, and has left a great name in the 
 ^history of the Romans. In the year 55 before the birth of our Lord, 
 he had succeeded, after fighting hard for ten years, in conquering the 
 whole of Gaul, or the countries now called Trance, Holland, and Belgium. 
 In Gaul he heard of an island whose people were brave and unconquered ; 
 and one day he appeared opposite the English coast, with a fleet of ships 
 and twelve thousand soldiers. On the coast of Kent, not very far from 
 where the important town of Dover now stands, Csesar and his troops 
 landed. The natives did all they could to drive the Romans away, and 
 fought right bravely for their liberty ; but they were no match for the 
 
JULIUS CAESAR — INVASION OF BRITAIN— VISIT OF CLAUDIUS. 
 
 Roman general and his soldiers, who had practised the art of war in a 
 hundred battles in Gaul and elsewhere. 
 
 In spite of their valour and their scythe chariots, the poor Britons 
 were several times defeated, and Caesar compelled them to beg for peace. 
 He himself was called away into Gaul ; and as soon as he was gone, the 
 Britons forgot that they had been beaten, and probably thought very 
 little more of the Roman conqueror or of his victories. 
 
 But the next year Caesar came again, with a larger force than before. 
 The Britons, united under a chief called Cassivelaunus or Caedwallow, 
 turned out manfully to fight him. But Cassivelaunus was vanquished, 
 and his city was burned by Caesar, who marched through the southern 
 part of the island, crossed the Thames, and might have made himself 
 master of all Britain, if he had not been called elsewhere. His presence 
 was required in Gaul, where there was work of more consequence for 
 him than the task of conquering the naked Britons. So he sailed 
 away; and though the story of his triumphs over the Britons makes a 
 very pretty chapter in the book of his conquests, it is difficult to say 
 what real advantage he ever derived from it. 
 
 Bor nearly a hundred years the Britons heard nothing more of the 
 Romans, and at last Csesar’s invasion must have been to them but a story 
 told by the old men among them, who had heard it from their fathers as 
 a thing that happened long ago. Bor at Rome events happened of so 
 grave a nature as almost to drive from the minds of the Romans all 
 remembrance of the dull foggy island beyond the seas. The mighty 
 Caesar was slain in the midst of his glory. A great war followed, and 
 then the form of government was changed, and emperors ruled over the 
 people in the imperial city of Rome. 
 
 It was Anno Domini 43, or forty-three years after the birth of our 
 Lord, that Claudius, a weak, foolish emperor, thought of achieving the 
 conquest of Britain, and proceeded thither from Gaul, after first sending 
 his general Plautius before him, to clear the way and do the fighting. 
 Claudius remained but a few days in Britain, and soon returned to Rome, 
 leaving Plautius to finish the work. That general really conquered part 
 of the island; and from this time the Romans pushed their conquests 
 steadily forward through Britain, defeating one tribe after another. 
 
 6 
 

 Landing of Julius C/esar 
 
 7 
 
THE STORY OF CARACTACUS— MASSACRE OF THE DRUIDS. 
 
 It was the misfortune of the Britons that they were divided into a 
 number of separate tribes or nations, such as the Iceni, the Cantii, the 
 Hegni, and many others, and that they had no sort of union or agree- 
 ment among themselves. The Homans knew that nations, like men, are 
 weak when disunited, and only become strong when they act together 
 with hearty accord and agreement. Consequently, they attacked these 
 nations separately, and subdued them one after the other, until at last 
 the whole of England, as far north as Yorkshire, had submitted to the 
 valiant general, Ostorius. 
 
 One king, however, resisted the Homans with great valour and perse- 
 verance. This was Caractacus or Caradoc, a king of the people called 
 Silures, who inhabited the borders of Wales. Eor nine long years did 
 this brave Caractacus defend his land against the advancing Homans, 
 and every defeat seemed to make him more determined. But at last the 
 Homan discipline prevailed. He lost a great battle, fell with his wife and 
 daughter into the hands of the Homans, and was sent to Italy, where 
 his captors led him in chains through the streets of Home. The brave 
 barbarian never lost his courage ; but when he saw the regal riches and 
 splendour of the city, which was then called the capital of the world, he 
 exclaimed in very natural surprise, “ How is it possible that people pos- 
 sessed of such magnificence at home, should envy men humble cottages 
 in Britain?” He did not know, poor simple barbarian! that when 
 covetousness enters into the hearts of a people, they will crave for more 
 and more possessions, however great their wealth may be, and that the 
 more they gain the less they can enjoy. He was led before Claudius, 
 the emperor, who, weak-minded though he was, felt compassion and 
 admiration for his prisoner, and treated him with kindness and honour. 
 
 Some time after, when Claudius had been succeeded by the wicked 
 Nero, a general named Suetonius Paulinus was sent into Britain. This 
 Suetonius saw that the Druids incited the Britons to resist the Homans ; 
 he therefore marched to the island of Anglesea, or, as it was then called, 
 Mona, where the Druids chiefly dwelt, conquered the island, and burned 
 the priests, as they in their time had burned many poor prisoners of war : 
 and when we think of the cruelties they practised and taught, their fate 
 will not be thought altogether unjust or unmerited. 
 
 8 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 boadicea’s revolt, and other important events. 
 
 Great revolt of the Britons — Burning of London — Battle gained by Suetonius — Death of 
 Boadicea — Boman cities in Britain — Boman walls — The weakness of the Britons — The 
 Bomans abandon Britain — Pitiable condition of the Britons. 
 
 The Eomans were not generally cruel to those nations whom they 
 conquered, except when the vanquished showed signs of restlessness or 
 revolt ; in such cases their severity was merciless. An event occurred to 
 show the Britons the cruelty of the Bomans when roused to vengeance. 
 
 Boadicea, the queen of a warlike tribe called the Iceni, had been 
 grievously ill-treated by the Boman officers, who caused her to be beaten 
 with rods, like a slave. Naturally indignant at this, Boadicea prevailed 
 upon the Britons to unite in a general revolt against their conquerors. 
 When Suetonius returned from his expedition to Mona, he found that 
 the Britons were all in arms. They burned London, and slew a great 
 number of the Bomans. But here again the Boman discipline and 
 knowledge prevailed. In a great battle the Britons were defeated, and 
 eighty thousand are said to have been killed. Boadicea, very probably 
 knowing that she had no mercy to expect if she fell into the hands of 
 Suetonius, in her despair took poison, and died 
 
 Thus the great revolt was quelled ; and from that time the Britons 
 submitted to their Boman masters quietly enough. Some years later, a 
 great general, named Agricola, was sent as governor to Britain. Into 
 the northern or Scottish part of the island, then called Caledonia, or the 
 country of the Gaels, Agricola penetrated at the head of his soldiers. 
 Everywhere he was successful, and in the narrowest part of Scotland, 
 between the friths of Eorth and Clyde, he established a number of troops, 
 who were to prevent the wild savages of the north from disturbing the 
 peaceful southern districts. Thus that part of the island which was yet 
 uncivilized was shut off from the rest, and prevented from injuring the 
 Britons who had submitted to the Boman sway. 
 
 0 
 
ROMAN CITIES AND WALLS— WEAKNESS OF THE BRITONS. 
 
 Not only was Agricola a great man in war : he taught the Britons 
 many things, and showed them how to practise many arts with which the 
 Romans had long been familiar, hut which were quite novel and strange 
 to the simple islanders. Gradually the Britons became Romanized ; that 
 is, they learned the Roman language, dressed themselves in the Roman 
 garb, and became altogether like the Romans — with this important 
 difference, that they lost their own warlike qualities, without acquiring 
 either the discipline or the valour of their captors. 
 
 In many parts of the island arose strong cities, built by the Romans, 
 and surrounded by high walls, such as Chester, Gloucester, Cirencester, 
 and many others. Baths, temples, and villas were also built in numbers 
 in different parts of Britain. The remains of many of these may be 
 seen at the present day. The Romans also made roads through various 
 parts of the island, so that their armies could move from place to place, 
 and defend any point where danger was threatened. Wealth and luxury 
 gradually came into Britain ; and we have proofs of this in the coins and 
 ornaments, and other matters, occasionally found in the ground in spots 
 where the Romans once had their settlements. 
 
 The chief danger the Romans had to encounter in Britain arose from 
 the attacks of the wild inhabitants of the regions beyond the Forth and 
 Clyde. These people were called Piets and Scots, and were as savage 
 and uncultivated as the Britons themselves had been before the Romans 
 came. To keep them from pouring into Britain, two great walls were 
 built across the island, besides a rampart of earth raised in Scotland. 
 Along these walls castles were built at certain distances, and soldiers 
 were posted, who lighted fires or beacons at various points, to announce 
 to the rest when danger threatened them. While these walls were 
 garrisoned and the coasts properly defended, there was little danger of 
 war for the Britons. The only misfortune was, that in time they came to 
 depend so entirely on Roman protection and Roman help that they lost 
 all power of doing anything for themselves. And now the time came 
 when they were to be left alone to defend themselves as they best could. 
 
 The Roman empire had been growing weaker and weaker for a long 
 time. The descendants of those barbarians against whom Caesar had 
 fought with such merciless severity were gradually growing stronger, and 
 
 70 
 
Boadicea Leading her Troops. n 
 
THE ROMANS ABANDON RRITAIN— CONDITION OF THE BRITONS. 
 
 learning the Roman method of warfare ; and the stronger they became 
 the more fiercely were they determined upon attacking Rome itself. The 
 emperors became alarmed at the increasing danger, and could no longer 
 defend themselves with the troops near Rome. Therefore they deter- 
 mined to order some legions home who were quartered in the farther 
 provinces of the empire ; and as Britain was the most distant province 
 of all, it was natural that the troops in Britain should be called away 
 first. The Roman emperors Arcadius and Honorius determined to leave 
 Britain to its fate. 
 
 The Britons had by this time become accustomed to depend entirely 
 on the Romans for protection, and accordingly were much alarmed and 
 disconcerted at being thus left to shift for themselves. The Piets and 
 Scots were not long in finding out that the Romans had departed, and 
 renewed their incursions with greater ferocity than ever. They broke 
 down the wall that the Romans had built to keep them out, and plun- 
 dered and maltreated the defenceless Britons at their pleasure. It seems 
 strange that barbarians like the Piets and Scots should have been able 
 to do all this to people who were civilized, and knew so much more than 
 they ; but strong walls and fortified cities are of no use without stout 
 hearts to defend them ; and the Britons had lost all power of uniting 
 for their common defence. 
 
 They applied pitifully to Rome for succour, and a legion of Roman 
 soldiers was sent over to help them. These soldiers really did all that 
 could be done in the matter. They rebuilt the wall of Severus, making 
 it firm and strong. They went out against the Piets and Scots, and soon 
 drove those barbarians back into their native woods and marshes. They 
 exhorted the Britons to valour and union, and tried to show them that, 
 having been so long aided, they should know how to defend them- 
 selves. Then, in the year 448, they sailed finally away from Britain, 
 leaving the inhabitants to govern and protect themselves. 
 
 This was precisely what the Britons could not do ; and their foes the 
 Piets and Scots knew that fact very well, and attacked them accordingly. 
 The unhappy Britons sent a letter to (Etius, a brave Roman general in 
 Gaul, begging for help, and complaining that while the barbarians drove 
 them into the sea, the sea thrust them back on the swords of the bar- 
 
 12 
 
THE THREE NATIONS — H ENGIST AND HORS A — THE HEPTARCHY. 
 
 barians, so that they had only the hard choice of perishing by the sword 
 or by the waves. But (Etius had other work to do than to send his 
 soldiers to fight for the Britons ; and for a long time those poor people 
 were in a sad plight. 
 
 At last one of the British princes, Vortigern of Dumnonium, is said 
 to have invited over certain warlike strangers from the continent for the 
 protection his people. Beyond the North Sea, lived nations of hardy 
 barbarians ; rough, rude, and sunk in the depths of heathenism, but 
 brave, warlike, and independent, and great rovers of the sea. Their 
 princes had little authority or power, except in time of war, when every 
 man followed his chief with the strictest obedience. Two of these chiefs 
 came over at the summons of Yortigern. Their names were Hengist and 
 Horsa ; and with their arrival begins a new period in English history. 
 
 CHAPTER IY. 
 
 THE SAXONS IN BRITAIN. 
 
 The Three Nations — The Heptarchy — Hengist and Horsa obtain Thanet — Vortigern — The 
 Kingdom of Kent — Essex, Sussex, &c. — The fugitive Britons — Prince Arthur — Conversion 
 of the Saxons to Christianity. 
 
 There were three nations who dwelt in the north of Germany, and 
 especially on the coasts of Holstein and Denmark. They were all of 
 the same race, and had the same manners and customs; therefore they 
 are often put together under the one name of Saxons. But, properly 
 speaking, we must divide them into Jutes, Angles, and Saxons. I am 
 now going to tell you the story of the conquest of Britain by these 
 nations, and of the foundation of various kingdoms in Britain — seven 
 kingdoms being formed altogether, and called, from their number, the 
 44 Heptarchy 55 — a word signifying seven kingdoms. 
 
 Hengist and Horsa, the two warlike chiefs who came over to the 
 assistance of the weak Yortigern, belonged to the nation of Jutes, whose 
 
 13 
 
MARRIAGE AND DEATH OF VORTIGERN— THE KINGDOM OF KENT. 
 
 name is still preserved in the Danish “Jutland.” The valour of these 
 wild warriors soon put the enemies of Yortigern to flight; and as it was 
 thought they deserved a reward, the island of Thanet in Kent was given 
 to them. At that time Thanet was divided from the mainland by a 
 broad arm of the sea, though now it forms part of the county, with 
 only a narrow rivulet to mark the boundary. The island of Thanet was 
 then, as it is still, pleasant to behold, and fertile and goodly as a dwelling- 
 place ; though there was as yet no trace of the flourishing and important 
 towns, such as Ramsgate and Margate, which it now contains. So the 
 chiefs who had come over with a band of followers, a small expedition of 
 three ships, took possession of Thanet ; and with their establishment in 
 that island the great Saxon conquest began. 
 
 The news of the good fortune of Hengist and Horsa, who had thus 
 gained a fertile island, was soon spread abroad among their countrymen. 
 Large numbers of Jutes found their way across to Thanet; and the 
 chiefs determined to have some more of this goodly country, if not to 
 conquer the whole. Yortigern, it is said, married Rowena, the daught 
 of Hengist, being captivated by her beauty at a banquet, at which 
 she offered the British king the great goblet of wine, with the Saxon 
 “ Waes Jiael ,” or, “ I wish you health.” This offering of the cup has 
 been preserved in the custom of the 66 Wassail-bowl,” which at certain 
 festivals is handed round from guest to guest. But the unity between 
 Yortigern and his savage visitors did not last long. The Jutes demanded 
 more and more land, and when it was refused them, proceeded to take it 
 by force. They were at one time beaten, and sued for peace ; but at a 
 banquet given to celebrate the granting of the peace they sought, the 
 treacherous Hengist and his savage followers suddenly drew forth swords 
 which they had concealed under their cloaks, and put a number of their 
 unarmed hosts to death. 
 
 Brom this time, not even the appearance of friendship was kept up. 
 Yortigern was taken prisoner, and the Jutes set about conquering the 
 country behind the Isle of Thanet. They became masters of the whole 
 of that district, and called it Kent. This was the first kingdom of the 
 Heptarchy. Other chiefs very soon arrived : Saxons from the north of 
 Germany; bold yellow-haired warriors, of lofty stature and powerful 
 
 14 
 
ESSEX, SUSSEX, &c.— THE FUGITIVE BRITONS— PRINCE ARTHUR. 
 
 build, rejoicing in war and thirsting for plunder. The Saxons of the 
 east established themselves in Essex, while Sussex fell to the Suth 
 Saxeani , or Saxons of the south; and farther west the kingdom of 
 the West Saxons, or “Wessex,” was founded. A great part of Britain 
 gradually fell into the hands of the third nation, the Angles, who in one 
 respect may be considered the most important, inasmuch as they gave 
 their name to the whole country, England meaning “Angle-land,” or 
 the land of the Angles. It must not be supposed that all these con- 
 quests were quickly achieved. A long period elapsed before the Saxon 
 race established itself firmly — indeed, more than a hundred years — and 
 all this while the Saxons were gradually spreading their language and 
 their laws and customs throughout the land. 
 
 What became of the Britons who were conquered? They met with 
 the fate that befalls every nation, when a stronger people takes away its 
 land and reduces it to servitude. Great numbers of them were slain in 
 the various battles. Of those that remained in England, some became 
 the slaves of the conquerors ; many retired as the foe pressed forward, 
 and at last established themselves in the mountain fastnesses of Wales; 
 while others took refuge in the distant wilds of Cumberland, establishing 
 themselves from thence northward to the town in Scotland called Dum- 
 barton, or Dunbreton, the stronghold of the Britons. Others, again, 
 crossed the channel when all was lost, and settled in the nearest district 
 of Erance, from which circumstance that province was called Bretagne, 
 the country of the Britons. 
 
 The names of some of the great British heroes and princes have been 
 chronicled in songs and poems. Thus it is told of Yortimer, the son of 
 Yortigern, how his tomb was erected on the sea shore, that the foreign 
 invaders whom he had vanquished in several great battles might look upon 
 it as soon as they landed, and tremble at the recollection of their defeat. 
 
 But by far the most famous hero of this period was Prince Arthur, of 
 whose greatness and wisdom a number of tales are told. It is said that 
 he was accustomed to seat his knights at a round table, to avoid any 
 quarrels about the different positions ; and separate histories of many of 
 the knights have been written. But most of these histories, and of the 
 wonderful tales told concerning Prince Arthur, are no more true than the 
 
 16 
 
CONVERSION OF THE SAXONS TO CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 adventures of Jack the Giant-Killer, or of Tom Thumb, who, by the 
 way, is represented as having lived in high favour in Arthur’s court. All 
 that we know for a certainty concerning this famous Prince Arthur is, 
 that he fought valiantly for his crown, and was loved by his friends and 
 feared by his foes ; and it appears that he was at last slain in battle, 
 fighting valiantly against a rebellious nephew. 
 
 Of far more importance is the event now to be related, namely, the 
 introduction and spreading of the true religion among the Saxons. You 
 know that they were heathens, worshipping false gods, to whom they 
 dedicated certain days, such as Thursday to their god Thor, and Priday 
 to their goddess Preya. But even amid their errors they had preserved 
 some great truths. Por instance, they knew that God is good, and that 
 man is sinful ; and ignorant as they were, many among them were ready 
 and willing to be taught better things. 
 
 ■ One day Gregory, the then Bishop or Pope of Borne, saw some boys 
 standing in the market-place there waiting to be sold ; for in those days 
 captives taken in war were sold into slavery. He was struck by the 
 beauty of the poor lads, and asked who they were. On being told they 
 were Angli , or Angles, he replied that if they were Christians they 
 would be angeli — “ angels ” — and he commanded a holy man named 
 Augustine to proceed to England, and teach the people, that they might 
 learn the truth about God and our Saviour, His blessed Son. Augustine 
 accordingly set out, and landed in England with forty followers, setting 
 foot, in the year 597, in that very Isle of Thanet which had been the 
 first habitation of the Saxons in England. Ethelbert, King of Kent, 
 whose wife Bertha was a Christian, received Augustine and his friends 
 kindly, and allowed them to preach to the people ; and Augustine spoke 
 so convincingly, and pointed out so clearly the truth of the Christian 
 religion, that in a short time Ethelbert himself was converted, and became 
 a follower of Christ. The great nobles of his kingdom soon followed his 
 example. Churches were built at Canterbury and other towns, and the 
 tidings of truth were spread from city to city, and from shore to shore, 
 until the great and blessed change had been made in all England. 
 
 Everywhere the altars of the heathen gods were thrown down, and the 
 Gospel of Christ was taught and believed in pleasant England. 
 
CHAPTER Y. 
 
 THE SAXON RULE. TO THE REIGN OF .ALFRED. 
 
 The Heptarchy, from a.h. 457 to a.d. 827 — Egbert, first King of England — The Danes and 
 Northmen — Description of the Danes — Their incursions — Their establishment in Erance — 
 Battle of Hengesdown — Ethelwolf — Ethelbald — Ethelbert — Ethelred and Alfred — Battle 
 of Ashdown. 
 
 When several governments exist together in the same land, the end 
 is generally that one, more powerful than the others, swallows them up 
 and builds itself upon their ruins ; and this was the case in England 
 with the Heptarchy. Egbert, King of Wessex, a man of great skill 
 and courage, gradually conquered the other kings, and made himself 
 supreme ruler of England. This great event happened in the year 827 ; 
 and from that year, therefore, we date the commencement of our English 
 series of kings. 
 
 A new and great danger had begun to menace England some years 
 before this period. This danger consisted in the incursions and ravages 
 of the Danes ; and as these Danes play a great part in the history of 
 England, it is well that we should know who and what kind of men 
 they were. 
 
 The name Dane or Northman was in those days given pretty generally 
 to every inhabitant of the peninsula that forms the present countries of 
 Sweden and Norway. These two countries, and especially the parts 
 near the coasts, were inhabited in those days by wild and savage pirates, 
 who were skilled in their own mode of warfare, and more cruel and keen 
 for plunder and conquest than the Saxons had been in their darkest days 
 of barbarism and idolatry. The Danes were heathens, as the Saxons had 
 been. They looked upon warfare as their chief diversion, and upon 
 plunder as the fitting reward of the perils and trials they underwent. 
 They were bold and hardy sailors, venturing out, even in the roughest 
 weather, upon the stormy ocean, in ships which they built and managed 
 with great skill. Many of the chiefs called themselves sea-kings, and 
 possessed no other property than the vessels in which they put to sea, 
 
 18 
 
INCURSIONS OF THE DANES— DEFEAT BY EGBERT — HIS DEATH. 
 
 the armour they wore, and the swift horses on which they rode, nor had 
 they any subjects except the bold robbers who accompanied them in their 
 forays in the hope of spoil. These pirates would suddenly appear in 
 front of a town on or near to the sea-shore. Before a force could be 
 brought together to oppose them, they frequently succeeded in plundering 
 the places, mercilessly putting to death all whom they found, young or 
 old, male or female ; then collecting their plunder, they would retreat to 
 their ships, and sail away rejoicing. By these exploits, repeated over and 
 over again, they kept the coasts of England in a continual state of alarm 
 and insecurity. 
 
 With success they naturally became bolder. In the year 787 they 
 burnt a town on the coast of Dorsetshire, murdering the mayor and his 
 attendants. This was only the first of a long series of similar exploits. 
 Soon every coast town looked with terror, to see unfolded the great 
 banner displaying the Danish Baven, which these devastators carried in 
 front of their armies; and the path of the fierce Danes began to be 
 traced by the ashes of ruined homesteads and the fragments of burnt 
 villages all along the English shore. In 810 they had invaded Erance, 
 where at last their successors managed to establish themselves ; and at 
 length, coming to England in greater numbers than ever, they boldly 
 took the field against the powerful King Egbert himself. 
 
 But this time they had miscalculated their strength. Egbert marched 
 out against them, and totally defeated them at Hengesdown in Devon- 
 shire. But it seemed as if the Danes could not be driven away, simply 
 because they had nothing to lose. If ever so great a number of them 
 were killed, fresh bands came to supply their place ; and those who had 
 been compelled to flee to their ships for safety, were sure to return in 
 a year or two, determined to revenge themselves upon their enemies. 
 They were without ruth or mercy, slaying priests and layman alike, 
 and burning a convent as they would a barn. And just when it became 
 more necessary than ever to stand up boldly against them, the brave 
 King Egbert died, in the year 836. 
 
 Ethelwolf, who succeeded his father, had not the energy nor the ability 
 of Egbert ; but he did a good thing by giving up part of his kingdom 
 at once to his brave son Athelstan ; and this Athelstan made himself a 
 
 19 
 
THE REIGNS OF ETHELWOLF— ETHELBALD— ETHELBERT. 
 
 great name by courage and conduct against the Danes. And indeed 
 there was fighting in plenty to do ; for the fierce invaders had now estab- 
 lished themselves in the Isle of Thanet, the first possession oNfhe Saxons 
 in England. Thence they sallied forth up the Thames in their ships, 
 and burnt London. Canterbury and Rochester were likewise plundered ; 
 and the Danes, instead of going away, as was their custom, after these 
 achievements remained in England for the winter. Victories were some- 
 times gained over them ; but the more the Danes were slain, the more 
 Danes seemed to come ; and from this time they were never fairly driven 
 out of England. 
 
 Ethelwolf had another cause for grief and annoyance in the latter 
 part of his reign ; and this grief must have heen the more bitter as it 
 was caused by one of his own children. Athelstan, his brave eldest son, 
 died, and he had now four sons surviving. Their names were Ethelbald, 
 Ethelbert, Ethelred, and Alfred. While Ethelwolf was absent on a 
 journey to Rome, Ethelbald laid a plot with certain bishops and noble- 
 men to deprive his father of the throne. But Ethelwolf on his return 
 to England preferred to give up part of the kingdom to the undutiful 
 Ethelbald, rather than enter upon a war against his own son. So he 
 gave the kingdom of Wessex to Ethelbald. 
 
 In the year 857 King Ethelwolf died, and Ethelbald succeeded him. 
 He had not honoured his father, as the Bible tells us to do, and certainly 
 his days were not long in the land ; for after a short reign of four years, 
 during which the only thing recorded of him is a crime which he com- 
 mitted, he too died ; and his next brother Ethelbert mounted the throne 
 in 860. 
 
 The name Ethelbert is taken from two Saxon words, signifying noble 
 and illustrious ; and certainly Ethelbert behaved far more nobly than 
 either his father or his elder brother. He bravely defended his kingdom 
 against the Danes, who, however, made head against him, and even burned 
 the city of Winchester. The men of Kent made a treaty with them, 
 and sought to buy a peace by paying a large sum of money ; but the 
 treacherous Danes took the money, and then plundered and ravaged the 
 country as if they had received nothing. And when things were at their 
 worst, in 866, Ethelbert died. 
 
 20 
 
ETHELRED AND ALFRED DEFEAT THE DANES AT ASHDOWN. 
 
 His next brother Ethelred came to the throne in his turn, in 866, and 
 at once found himself opposed to three Danish chieftains, Haldane, 
 Hingwar, and Hubba, the sons of a great leader named Ragnar Lodbrok. 
 These men landed on the east coast, and gained greater successes than 
 the Danes had yet achieved. Ethelred and his youngest brother Alfred 
 marched against them, and tried to stop the flood of invasion that was 
 now pouring over the whole of England. But the Danes forced their 
 way onward. Edmund, a brave prince of the East Angles, was taken 
 prisoner by them, and shot to death with arrows because he would not 
 deny his faith in Christ. For a time the tide of victory seemed to turn. 
 At Ashdown in Berkshise, Ethelred and Alfred gained a victory over the 
 Danes, to commemorate which their followers dug out the shape of a 
 horse, the ensign of the Saxons, on the face of a chalky hill, where it is 
 still to be seen. No great result, however, followed the battle of Ash- 
 down. At Basing the Danes were victorious ; and a new army came to 
 the English shores. Ethelred died of a wound he received in a battle ; 
 and thus the whole burden of government, in the time of the greatest 
 danger, fell upon the shoulders of the last surviving son of Ethelwolf, 
 the young Alfred, who was now only twenty-two years of age, but who 
 lived to save his country from the ruin that threatened it, and to earn for 
 himself an imperishable name in history. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ALFRED THE GREAT. 
 
 Importance of Alfred’s reign — Difficulties at its commencement — Strength and progress of the 
 Danes — Alfred at Athelney — Story of the cakes — Alfred emerges from Athelney — Visits 
 the Danish camp — Defeats the Danes — Makes a treaty with them — Makes wise laws, and 
 rules gloriously. 
 
 The reign of King Alfred, from 871 to 901, of which I have now to 
 speak, is perhaps the most important in the history of England ; for in 
 this one reign we have the change from disorder to order, from a country 
 
 21 
 
IMPORTANCE OF ALFRED’S RETGN — STRENGTH OF THE DANES. 
 
 overrun by robbers and murderers to a realm thoroughly at peace, and 
 completely under the control of a wise and powerful monarch. In 871; 
 when, on the death of his brother Ethelred, Alfred was left alone to main- 
 tain his power as best he could, the Saxons were in a deplorable condition, 
 no man’s life or property being safe ; in 901, when Alfred died, the 
 nation was at peace, every man could live in comfort and security, and 
 the evil-doer was sure to suffer his merited punishment. And all this 
 great and happy change was due, under Heaven, to the genius and 
 virtues of him whom historians with great reason have united in calling 
 Alfred the Great. 
 
 For nearly eight years did Alfred contend, with untiring perseverance 
 and dauntless valour, against the Danes, whose numerous armies were 
 ravaging the kingdom in all directions. In one year nine great battles 
 were fought. Sometimes Alfred gained the day, sometimes the Danes. 
 But these barbarians seemed to be as numerous as the grains of sand on 
 the wild sea-shore whence they came. The defeat of one band was but 
 the signal for the arrival of another ; and the wonder is, that Alfred did 
 not altogether lose heart, and entirely give up the attempt to confront a 
 foe so numerous and so savage. For no treaty or promise could bind 
 these heathen Northmen ; and even when they swore by what they 
 considered most sacred, namely, the holy ring or bracelet of Odin, their 
 god, they broke the oath as soon as they could gain any advantage by 
 their treachery. At length, though Alfred never lost his courage, the 
 greater number of his Saxon subjects, weary at last of the long strife, 
 determined to yield to the invader, and to resist no more. 
 
 It was in the year 878 that Alfred was obliged at last, after a great 
 victory gained by the Danes in Wiltshire, to retire to the little island of 
 Athelney, in Somerset. Here, with a few faithful friends, he fortified 
 himself as best he could, and lived for a time in comparative safety, while 
 the Saxons and Danes alike thought he had perished. In this very 
 island of Athelney, a jewel with Alfred’s name engraven on it was found 
 many years afterwards. For a time he was obliged to quit even this 
 retreat, and to hide himself in the cottage of a peasant, or neat-herd, 
 as a man who took care of oxen was then called ; and here a singular 
 adventure happened to him. 
 
 22 
 
Alfred in the Neat-herd’s Cottage 
 
 23 
 
ALFRED AND THE NEAT-HERD’S WIFE — DEFEATS THE DANES. 
 
 One evening, as Alfred was sitting in the chimney corner, mending 
 his hows and arrows, the neat-herd’s wife, who had no idea that her 
 guest was a king in distress, desired him to watch some loaves or cakes 
 of bread that were baking on the hearth. Alfred consented, but think- 
 ing of other matters, allowed the cakes to burn ; whereupon the good 
 wife rated him soundly for his neglect, and gave it as her opinion that 
 he would be ready enough to eat the cakes when they were done, though 
 he was too lazy to attend to them while they were baking. After- 
 wards, in happier days, when Alfred was the dreaded monarch of many 
 thousands of vassals, he must often have smiled at the recollection of 
 the scolding he had once received from the neat-herd’s wife of Athelney. 
 
 But now a change of fortune occurred ; and Alfred was not slow to 
 avail himself of the chance which presented itself. Two great Danish 
 chiefs, Bjorn and Hubba, were totally defeated by the men of Wessex in 
 Devonshire, and their banner, the Baven, which they looked upon as a 
 token of victory, fell into the hands of the Saxons. When Alfred heard 
 this great news, he resolved to see for himself if the Danes might not 
 now be encountered and overthrown. He disguised himself as a harper 
 or gleeman, and went boldly into the camp of the Danes ; and while the 
 rude chieftains were rejoicing at his singing and plaving, and gleefully 
 shouting out the tunes he played, Alfred was observing them to some 
 purpose. He saw that they had grown careless, and that they thought 
 themselves perfectly safe ; and consequently he judged that if suddenly 
 attacked and taken unawares they might be routed. A few weeks after- 
 wards he sallied forth from Athelney with his trusty friends, and raised 
 his standard on the borders of Selwood Forest. When the news ran 
 abroad among the men of Somerset, Dorset, and Hampshire, that Alfred, 
 whom they had long considered dead, was alive and ready to lead them 
 once more to victory, they shouted with joy, and flocked round him in 
 great numbers; and great was the astonishment and dismay of the 
 Danes when they heard who it was that led the army against them. At 
 Ethandune Alfred gained a great battle, and Guthrum the Danish 
 leader, unable to escape, and at his wits’ end for provisions for himself 
 and his men, was compelled soon after to submit himself with his whole 
 army to the clemency of the Saxon king. 
 
 24 
 
Alfred in the Danish Camp 
 
 25 
 
ALFRED’S TREATY WITH THE DANES— HIS WISE LAWS. 
 
 And now Alfred showed himself a really great man. He saw that 
 the Danes were too numerous to he driven entirely from England ; and 
 he determined, therefore, to make peaceful subjects of them, and to give 
 them a part of England in which to live, on condition that they sub- 
 mitted to him as their king and promised obedience to his laws. Accord- 
 ingly he made a peace with Guthrum, and afterwards with Guthred, 
 another Danish king, giving them a portion of England, along the 
 eastern coasts, which was to be called the Danelaw, and where these 
 chiefs were to rule, with Alfred as their sovereign ; and as a condition, 
 he insisted that Guthrum and Guthred should be baptized and become 
 Christians. They were glad to consent ; and from this time the Danes 
 who thus settled in England often did good service against the wild 
 barbarians who came from abroad ; for they had now towns and fields 
 and villages of their own in England to defend. Both Guthrum and 
 Guthred remained true to Alfred ; and the Danes in general, except 
 perhaps those in Northumbria, were obedient and peaceable. 
 
 And now that the country, which had for many years been harassed 
 by war, had at last achieved peace, King Alfred turned his attention to 
 improving the laws and the government. lie divided the whole country 
 into counties, and hundreds, and tithings, and took care that proper 
 officers were appointed to do justice among his subjects. When a judge 
 gave an unjust sentence, and it came to Alfred’s ears, he always punished 
 the offender with great severity. He did not try to introduce many new 
 laws, which would have been regarded with suspicion and dislike by the 
 people ; but he revived the good old regulations which had fallen into 
 disuse in the troublous times of the Danish wars. Thus, trial of all 
 offenders by jury, or by twelve men sworn to do justice, and a regu- 
 lation called franh-pledge , which made each community of ten men liable 
 to deliver up any one of their number who committed an offence, were 
 revived, not introduced, by Alfred. But the true value of this good 
 king’s laws and regulations lay in the fact that he himself was a true and 
 consistent Christian. Above his own laws, as his model and guide, he 
 placed the Ten Commandments and other precepts to be found in that 
 unerring book of laws — the Bible. “Do these,” said the great king, 
 “ and if these be obeyed, no other law-book will be required.” 
 
THE DANES AGAIN INVADE ENGLAND — ALFRED'S NAVY. 
 
 During the latter years of Alfred’s reign, after the death of Guthrum 
 and Guthred, the Danes again began to molest the English. Again the 
 fleets of the heathen Northmen hovered upon the coasts, intent upon war 
 and pillage. Hasting, a wild Danish leader, collected a great fleet of 
 two hundred and fifty ships, landed in Kent, and fortified himself there. 
 Alfred called out his army in divisions, and managed to get the better of 
 Hasting, whose wife and children he once took prisoners; but the 
 generous king sent them back to the Danish chieftain. Hasting, how- 
 ever, did not seem to be moved by this kindness on Alfred’s part, but 
 carried on the war more mercilessly than ever. 
 
 Into the very heart of England marched the savage Danes, and took 
 up their quarters in the deserted old Roman city of Chester. It was 
 with great difficulty that Alfred prevented them from taking and 
 plundering London itself. He contrived, however, to oppose them to 
 such good purpose that Hasting at last sailed away, and came back to 
 England no more. And Alfred, to secure his people against new attacks, 
 built a fleet of larger and better ships than the Saxons had ever yet 
 possessed, and took care to engage some skilful foreign sailors, to teach 
 his own men what they did not yet know concerning the management of 
 these vessels. 
 
 On one occasion we are told that King Alfred acted harshly towards 
 a conquered enemy. In a battle on the south coast of England, his new 
 ships had gained the victory, and the crews of two Danish vessels fell 
 as captives into the hands of the English. The prisoners were brought 
 before Alfred at Winchester; and the king, looking upon them as 
 robbers and enemies of all men, caused the entire number to be hanged. 
 Now, this may appear very hard and merciless on Alfred’s part; but we 
 must remember how he had been fighting all his life long against the 
 Danes ; how often he had treated them with forbearance and kindness ; 
 and how they had in almost every case returned him evil for good, and 
 treachery for trust. That his sentence was a hard one cannot be denied ; 
 but Alfred had so often tried indulgence, that we cannot very much 
 blame him for once trying what severity would do. 
 
 I have not space here to tell you of the learning of Alfred, or many 
 of the good things he did for England. Of these you will read full 
 
ALFRED'S DEATH— HIS SUCCESSORS— THEIR SUCCESSES. 
 
 accounts when you are older ; and I will engage to say, that the more 
 you read of Alfred, the greater will he your admiration for him. When 
 he died in 901, after a glorious and most useful reign of twenty-nine 
 years, he had laid the foundation of the greatness of our country, by 
 wise and valiant rule; and he fully deserves the titles bestowed upon 
 him by the old chroniclers and historians, who rightly named him “ the 
 wisest man of his time, and the darling of the English people.” 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Alfred’s successors. — king Canute and his sons. 
 
 Edward the Elder, a.d. 901 — 925 — Athelstane, 925 — 941 — Battle of Brunanburgh — Edmund, 
 941 — 945 — Edred, 945 — 955 — Edwy, 955 — 959 — Bishop Dunstan — Edgar the Peaceable, 
 959 — 975 — Edgar’s Power and Wealth — Edward the Martyr, 975 — 978 — Ethelred the 
 ready, 978 — 1016 — Canute, 1017 — 1035 — Harold Harefoot, 1035 — 1039 — Hardicanute, 
 1039—1041. 
 
 I can only say a very few words about the successors of Alfred, as we 
 have to speak of some important kings presently. Edward, called The 
 Elder, the son of Alfred, came to the throne on his father’s death. 
 Ethelwald, his cousin, tried to take the kingdom from him, but Ed- 
 ward managed not only to keep the English throne, but to make him- 
 self greatly respected alike by Danes, Scots, and Britons in the outskirts 
 of his empire. His sister Ethelfleda, called the “Lady of Mercia,” was 
 very useful to him by her counsel and aid. Athelstane, the son and 
 successor of Edward, extended his authority over the Britons of part of 
 Wales, and gained the great battle of Brunanburgh over an army of 
 invading Danes and Scots, led on by a chief named Anlaf : he was a 
 wise and generous prince. Edmund, the younger brother of Athelstane, 
 who came to the throne in 941, conquered Northumbria, the part of 
 England north of the ITumber, and established his power there. Edred, 
 the next king, was obliged to reconquer Northumbria, which stood up 
 for a time against him ; and he decided that there should no longer be a 
 
 28 
 
INSOLENCE OF DUNSTAN— EDWARD THE PACIFIC— HIS POWER. 
 
 king reigning in Northumbria, but that an earl or nobleman should keep 
 the people in order. 
 
 In the reign of another king, Edwy, a clever but cruel monk, named 
 Dunstan, became very famous. The people had a great respect for this 
 Dunstan, thinking him a holy man ; and Dunstan was very clever as a 
 worker in metals, and made many useful things. But he treated the 
 young King Edwy, and the king’s wife Elgiva, very badly ; and when 
 the king sent him away as a punishment, the revengeful Dunstan per- 
 suaded some of Edwy’s subjects to rise up against their master, headed 
 by an archbishop named Odo. Elgiva was killed, and Edwy’s kingdom 
 was given to Edgar his brother. 
 
 In the reign of this monarch, the power of the ^nglo-Saxon rulers 
 reached its height. The wily Dunstan, who had now been made an 
 archbishop, was his chief counsellor. He was a clever man, in spite of 
 all his faults, and taught the young Edgar to govern England prosper- 
 ously and well. His reign was more peaceful than that of any king 
 who had reigned before him ; and therefore he is called Edgar the Pacific. 
 So great was his power, that on one occasion he had eight kings, all 
 subject to him, to row his barge upon the river Dee. The Welsh princes 
 also were under his authority : Edgar made them pay a tribute of three 
 hundred wolves’ heads every year, because he wished to destroy those 
 savage creatures througout the whole of the island. 
 
 When Edgar died, in 975, he left two sons, Edward and Ethelred. 
 Elfrida, the mother of Ethelred, was still alive, and wished her son to 
 succeed ; but Dunstan managed matters in such a way that Edward was 
 chosen. But the wicked Elfrida caused Edward to be murdered as he 
 was drinking a cup of wine at her castle-gate; and then Ethelred 
 mounted the throne. 
 
 He was called Ethelred the Unready; for when the Danes, who now 
 began once more to make incursions into England, appeared on the 
 coasts, he was never ready to receive them. They took Southampton, 
 they burned London ; and when at length the council or Witan met to 
 concert measures to resist them, Ethelred yielded to the cowardly advice 
 that they should be bought with money. Naturally the Danes took the 
 money and departed, and then came back for more. Another equally 
 
 29 
 
ETHELRED THE UNREADY— CANUTE— HAROLD I.— HARDICANUTE. 
 
 cowardly and more cruel measure of Ethelred’s was the murder of a 
 number of peaceable Danes who dwelt in England. Among those who 
 were thus slain was Gunhilda, sister of Sweyne, King of Denmark ; and 
 it is not to he wondered at that Sweyne brought an army to England, to 
 avenge his sister’s death. Erom this massacre, in 1002, till Ethelred’s 
 death sixteen years after, the weak king never had a moment’s peace. 
 Sweyne established himself in England, and when he died, some time 
 before Ethelred, he left his power to his son Canute ; and at length, after 
 the death of Ethelred’s son Edmund Ironside, Canute the Dane became 
 the sole King of England. 
 
 He was a wise and powerful ruler, this Canute, and he governed the 
 English better than many of their native kings had done. As he grew 
 older his fierceness left him, and he ruled with justice and kindliness, 
 as the following anecdote will show : — In a moment of passion he slew 
 a soldier; and such was his sense of justice that he assembled his troops, 
 came down from his throne, and having expressed his repentance for the 
 rash act, demanded they should punish him ; ultimately he fined himself 
 three hundred and sixty talents, and then added nine talents more as a 
 further compensation. 
 
 It is told of him that one day at Southampton, his courtiers were flat- 
 tering him, and calling him King of the Sea. Canute thereupon com- 
 manded them to place his throne close to the margin of the water, 
 while the tide was rising ; and sitting down, he bade the sea retire. Of 
 course the waves would not hearken to his voice ; and as they rolled 
 around his feet, Canute turned to his courtiers, and bade them remark 
 that there was only One who could say to the waves of the sea, “ Thus 
 far shall ye come, and no farther.” And we are told that after this 
 adventure, he refused to wear his crown, but sent it to the Cathedral of 
 Winchester ; where he himself was afterwards buried, at his death in 
 1035. 
 
 Two more Danish kings reigned in England after Canute. These were 
 his two sons, Harold Harefoot and Hardicanute. Neither of these men 
 did anything good or great for England ; and the last of them, Hardi- 
 canute, died in 1042, in consequence of drinking too much mead and 
 wine at a banquet. 
 
 30 
 
 * 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE LAST OF THE SAXON KINGS. 
 
 Godwin Earl of Kent — He restores the Saxon line — Dissensions in the Royal Family — Banish- 
 ment of Earl Godwin and his Sons — Edward the Outlaw — Edgar Atheling — William of 
 Normandy and Harold intrigue for the Throne — Death of the Confessor — Harold made King 
 — William prepares to invade England— -Battle of Stamford Bridge — Battle of Hastings. 
 
 When Hardicanute closed his short ignoble reign with a drunkard’s 
 death, and no son of Canute was left to succeed to the English throne, 
 the people began to hope that a descendant of their beloved Alfred 
 might yet wear the crown ; and Godwin, Earl of Kent, a very powerful 
 nobleman, put himself at the head of the Saxon party. Edward, the 
 son of Ethelred the Unready, was living in Normandy, a province in 
 France. He had been educated at the court of the Norman duke whose 
 nephew he was ; for Ethelred had married Emma, the Duke of Nor- 
 mandy’s sister. Godwin now invited Edward to England, and by means 
 of the power he possessed placed him on the throne ; and thus was the 
 Saxon line of kings restored. 
 
 But Edward was not a king fit to rule in those times, or indeed in 
 any times at all. He was weak and timid, always trusting to others 
 rather than to himself ; and his long residence in Normandy had made 
 him feel like a stranger in England. He married Edith, the daughter 
 of the great Earl Godwin, but they had no children ; and although 
 Edward owed the throne of England to the energy of Godwin and his 
 brave sons, he never took kindly to them, and was always governed by 
 certain Norman favourites, and by the priests and monks, who praised 
 him for his piety, and gave him the title of The Confessor or Saint. 
 
 It is bad for a family, and it is bad for a kingdom, when the members 
 are divided into two sides, each jealous and distrustful of the other ; and 
 England was thus divided at the time of which I write. Godwin and 
 his sons, who had placed Edward on the throne, detested the Normans 
 whom Edward had brought with him, and the Normans, on their part, 
 
 32 
 
INTRIGUES OF WILLIAM AND HAROLD— DEATH OF THE CONFESSORo 
 
 hated Godwin and his sons, who had also by their arrogance made 
 enemies of many of the northern earls. Godwin and his sons were even 
 banished from England, but they returned with an army, and compelled 
 the weak Edward to make peace with them. Soon after Godwin died. 
 
 Edward the Confessor was now growing old ; and as he had no 
 children, it was necessary to settle who should be king after his death. 
 The next heir to the throne was a prince called Edward the Outlaw, a 
 son of Edmund Ironside, then living in the distant country of Hungary ; 
 and Edward the Confessor summoned this prince to England. But 
 Edward the Outlaw died soon after his arrival in England, leaving only 
 one son, Edgar Atheling, who was quite young and foolish, and unfit to 
 reign. 
 
 There were two men each of whom hoped that he himself should 
 whar the royal crown of England : one was William the young Duke of 
 Normandy, cousin to Edward the Confessor ; the other was Harold, the 
 second son of the great Earl Godwin, a brave and handsome man, well 
 beloved of the Saxons in England, and feared and hated by the Norman 
 party. William came to England to pay a visit to his friend, King 
 Edward ; and during this visit he obtained from the weak king a 
 promise that the English crown should be his. Some time after, Harold 
 went to Normandy to visit William, and to obtain the release of some 
 friends who were in the Norman duke’s power; and here William made 
 Harold swear a solemn oath, not to oppose him in any way in taking 
 possession of the throne. Harold returned to England full of rage and 
 anger ; for he considered that the oath had been unjustly obtained from 
 him, and he was more than ever determined to have the crown in spite of 
 all that the ambitious and crafty Norman could say or do. Matters 
 stood thus when the feeble-minded king was attacked by the sickness 
 which ended his life. As he lay dying, he was persuaded to name 
 Harold as his successor ; and then, on the 5th of January, 1066, he 
 breathed his last in his palace of Westminster, close by the grand abbey 
 which he had rebuilt, and wherein the great oak coffin which contains 
 his ashes is still to be seen. 
 
 Harold now took measures to get himself acknowledged king by 
 the prelates and nobles at Westminster; but only a part of England 
 
 D 
 
 33 
 
William 1>reBAres his invasion-battle of Stamford bridge. 
 
 acknowledged his title, for he had only the dying words of the Confessor 
 on which to base his claim, while the young Edgar Atheling was the 
 undoubted heir according to law. Edgar was too poor and weak to be 
 very dangerous; but far otherwise was the case with the proud Norman 
 duke. The moment the news of Edward’s death and of Harold’s 
 assumption of the crown was brought to William, that bold man deter- 
 mined to march against the traitor Harold, and conquer by force of arms 
 the realm which he could not peaceably obtain. He began his prepara- 
 tions at once. He persuaded not only his own nobles of Normandy, but 
 a host of foreigners, to join him by lavish promises of reward. Every one 
 who gave assistance to the undertaking should have a part of the con- 
 quered land for himself. Even bishops did not hesitate to equip men-at- 
 arms, and to furnish swords and shields, horses and ships, for the conquest 
 of England ; and every poor and discontented man who could wield a 
 sword, and who had nothing to lose at home, thought he might avail 
 himself of the chance of gaining something abroad. The Pope Alex- 
 ander gave his approval to the enterprise, and sent a banner to be carried 
 in the cause of war and bloodshed ; and Matilda, the wife of William, 
 presented to her husband a fine ship with purple sails, in which William 
 himself was to cross the sea from Normandy to England. 
 
 Harold, on his part, made every preparation to encounter the Norman 
 invader ; but first he had to march northward to encounter another foe. 
 Tostig, a brother of his own, who had been banished, had prevailed on 
 Harold Hardrada, King of Norway, to invade England from the north. 
 He refused all Harold’s offers to settle their disputes, and Harold had to 
 meet him in battle at Stamford Bridge. Tostig and Hardrada were 
 both slain, and Harold gained a victory, dearly purchased by the death 
 of many of his best men. And now he heard the news that William 
 had landed with a great army on the coast of Sussex. Pie at once 
 marched southward with his tired troops, resolved to conquer or die. It 
 was on the evening of the 13th of October, 1066, that the hostile 
 armies came in sight of each other. The Saxons seem to have been over- 
 confident, and passed the night in drinking and carousing ; while the 
 Normans prayed, and solemnly prepared for the great fight that was soon 
 to commence. 
 
 34 . 
 
Finding the Body of Harold 
 
 35 
 
BATTLE OF HASTINGS— THE CONQUEST. 
 
 Next morning, the 14th of October, the battle began. Both Harold 
 and William fought right bravely, and it is hard to say whether Saxons 
 or Normans showed the greater valour. The best weapons of the 
 Normans were their excellent bows and arrows; while the Saxons dealt 
 tremendous blows with their heavy axes. At one time it seemed as if 
 the Normans must be beaten, and William had his horse killed under 
 him. A trick of the Norman duke’s now turned the fortune of the day. 
 He ordered some of his men to pretend to fly ; and the Saxons, thinking 
 the day was their own, rushed out with broken ranks to pursue the flying 
 foe. But at a given signal the Normans turned, and just then an arrow 
 pierced the eye of Harold, who fell dead on the plain. This decided the 
 fortune of the fight. The English fought on till it became too dark to 
 see their foes. A great pile of corpses surrounded the place where the 
 body of Harold was afterwards found ; and that night, when the Norman 
 duke retired to his tent, around which lay for many a rood the dying and 
 the dead, he knew that he had won the great prize for which he fought, 
 and that he was King of England. 
 
 PART II, THE NORMAN KINGS. 
 
 CHAPTEB I. 
 
 WILLIAM I. (THE CONQUEROR.) 
 
 Effects of the Battle of Hastings — William’s promises— Revolt of the Saxons — Barbarous 
 punishment — Wretched state of the conquered— The New Forest— Forest Laws — The 
 Curfew. 
 
 We have now come to an unhappy period in the history of England; 
 a period heavy with .the sighs and groans of a whole people; a time 
 
 36 
 
■WILLIAM'S CORONATION AND PROMISES. 
 
 when oppression and wrong took the place of right and justice, and 
 rapine and davastation made a desert of many parts of pleasant England. 
 A conquered people must always expect to suffer hardships ; but very 
 seldom has a conquest been attended with misery so terrible to the 
 vanquished as was the wretchedness that accompanied the settlement of 
 the Normans in England, and the establishment of the feudal system . 
 
 What this feudal system was, and how it was established, I hope to 
 explain to you in this and the following chapters. 
 
 With the battle of Hastings, the hopes of the Saxons ended. Broken 
 into scattered bands, and without a leader, they had little chance of 
 being able to stand against the power of the Normans ; and the recent 
 government of the Danish kings among them had taught them to look 
 upon a foreign ruler with an indifference which their ancestors would 
 have been far from feeling. William, therefore, had little difficulty in 
 making his way to London, where he was crowned in the abbey of 
 Westminster on Christmas Day, in the year 1066 . On this solemn 
 occasion William promised that he would rule his new kingdom with 
 justice and mercy ; that every Saxon should be law worthy , or under the 
 protection of the law ; and that every man should succeed to his father’s 
 goods after his father’s death. This sounded well; and many Saxons 
 who were present showed their joy and approval by shouts. Unfortunately, 
 the Norman knights mistook the meaning of these shouts, and a tumult 
 ensued, which all William’s efforts could scarcely calm. 
 
 At first it really seemed as if William intended to carry out his 
 promise of treating the conquered nation with justice and kindness. 
 But he was quickly called to Normandy, to settle affairs of importance 
 there ; and while he was away many of the Saxons rose in revolt. 
 
 They were not able to effect much ; for they were scattered over a 
 great extent of country : there was never any union among them, and 
 not one of the separate bands knew what the rest were doing. Edgar 
 Atheling, the weak young Saxon heir to the throne, upon whom many 
 hopes were centred, made some feeble attempts more than once to assert 
 his claims ; but he never effected anything, nor did William ever look 
 upon him as a dangerous enemy. The sons of Harold rose against 
 William in one part of the kingdom, the great Earls Edwin and Morcar 
 
 37 
 
REVOLT OF THE SAXONS— WRETCHED STATE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 in another ; and the names of many Saxons are recorded as having 
 offered a courageous resistance to the Norman conquerors. But all was 
 in vain. The revolts which succeeded each other, but which were never 
 undertaken in concert, only aroused hatred and anger in the hearts of 
 the Normans ; and at last King William, in a fit of rage, marched 
 northwards with an army, and laid the whole of the country between 
 the rivers Humber and Tees, a district of sixty miles in breadth, entirely 
 waste and desolate. Every inhabitant who showed himself in this wretched 
 district was put to death; every house and every cottage was utterly 
 destroyed ; and the historians of the time speak of the horrible sight 
 presented by the dead bodies of men, women, and children, strewn about 
 over the desolate land, with no one to bury them. 
 
 The treatment endured by the poor Saxons throughout all England 
 was disgracefully barbarous and cruel. Every Norman who had come 
 over with Duke William, demanded the property of a certain number of 
 Saxons, much as each man in a band of robbers might demand his share 
 of the spoil. Bude grooms and horse-boys, cooks and scullions, demanded 
 to have the estates of ancient Saxon families given over to them ; and 
 as William had paid the expenses of his expedition to England only in 
 promises of land, he was obliged to make his words good. Where the 
 estates belonged to Saxon maidens or widows, the poor women were com- 
 pelled to marry Normans, whom they perhaps detested as the enemies of 
 their country ; for by such marriages the estates became the property of 
 the husbands. And as the Saxons were unable to resist these oppressions, 
 they were laughed and jeered at by the insulting Normans, who used 
 them worse and worse every year. Even where a Saxon kept a house in 
 which he could dwell with his family there was no safety for him. The 
 Normans might break in at any time, from mere love of mischief and 
 cruelty, and do him and his family an injury ; and all he could do was to 
 have strong bolts on the doors, and to defend himself, if his house was 
 attacked, as he would have defended his life against a band of thieves. 
 Thus the Saxons were in a wretched condition — robbed, oppressed, and 
 without a defender to take their part. A great number of them left Eng- 
 land altogether, and served as soldiers in foreign countries ; others escaped 
 into the marshes and forests, and lived there as best they could, by hunting, 
 
 38 
 
THE NEW FOREST— FOREST LAWS— THE CURFEW. 
 
 and sometimes by attacking and plundering the Normans when they 
 could get a chance. A hundred thousand had perished in that one 
 cruel expedition of William to the north ; and the rest sank into a con- 
 dition of miserable servitude. And now there was a terrible famine, or 
 scarcity of food, because the fields and gardens had been trampled down, 
 and the oxen and cattle killed and carried off ; and many poor Saxons 
 were obliged to sell themselves as slaves to their conquerors, merely that 
 they might have food to support their wretched lives. These were some 
 of the horrors caused by the great Norman Conquest ; but it would fill 
 every page of this book to tell them all. 
 
 King William did nothing to better the condition of his miserable . 
 subjects. Grasping and tyrannical, he thought only of his own interests, 
 and so long as he could heap up money, and become master of fresh 
 land, it mattered little to him who suffered injustice or wrong. He was 
 very fond of hunting ; and, not content with the forests that already 
 existed in England, he resolved to plant a new one. In making this 
 “ New Eorest 55 in the county of Hampshire, a space of many miles was 
 cleared of houses by the short method of turning out the Saxon inhabi- 
 tants of sixty parishes and pulling down their houses. William also 
 forbade the people to hunt the deer and other animals ; and very cruel 
 punishments were inflicted on all who were found by the king’s keepers, 
 or verdurers , as they were called, in pursuit of game. A writer who 
 lived in William’s time tells us, 44 He ordered that whoever should kill a 
 stag or a hind should have his eyes picked out : the protection given to 
 stags extended also to wild boars ; and he even made statutes to secure 
 hares from all danger. This king loved wild beasts,” adds the old 
 chronicler, 44 as if he had been their father. The poor murmured, but 
 he made no account of their ill-will, and they were fain to obey under 
 pain of death.” 
 
 William is also said to have introduced the curfew rule ; but it seems 
 that the curfew enactments existed before his time, and had been intro- 
 duced to guard against danger from fire in a time when nearly all houses 
 were built of wood. The curfew or 44 cover fire” bell was rung in every 
 town and village at sundown; and all householders were obliged when 
 they heard it to put out their fires and lanterns. There was an instru- 
 
THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 
 
 ment, something like a dish-cover in shape, which was placed like an 
 extinguisher over the hot ashes on the hearth, and this was called a 
 curfew. 
 
 CHAPTEB II. 
 
 THE END OE WILLIAM THE CONQUEEOb’s KEIGN. 
 
 ‘ The Feudal System — Its harshness towards the People — Quarrels among the Conqueror’s Sons 
 — Bebellion of Bobert — Great assembly of William’s Vassals — War with France — William’s 
 Death and Burial. 
 
 The most important thing in the reign of William the Conqueror 
 was the introduction of the “ feudal system ” into England. William 
 brought it from Normandy. 
 
 And now we will see what this “ feudal system ” was. 
 
 It was a way of governing a country by giving, or rather lending, 
 different portions of land to various people, on condition that they did 
 certain service in return. Eor instance, when William had conquered 
 England, the whole of the land belonged to him, however violently and 
 unjustly he had gained it. Now this land was all parcelled out into 
 manors ; and indeed a great book was prepared, called Domesday Book, 
 or the “Book of Judgment,” in which all the land in England was 
 inscribed, generally divided into estates or manors. Eifteen hundred 
 manors William kept for himself. The rest he gave to his chief com- 
 panions and followers, in various portions ; and each of these portions 
 was called a fief. This fief was to he held by the person to whom it had 
 been confided, and by that person’s successors, so long as they rendered 
 service to the king in return for it. In war-time each holder of a fief 
 was bound to join the king’s army with a certain number of armed men ; 
 and the larger the fief, the more men had the holder to furnish. The 
 holder of the fief, on his part, gave portions of it to friends of his own, 
 who were obliged in return to serve him ; and this rule by service in 
 
 41 
 
DISSENSIONS IN THE CONQUEROR'S FAMILY. 
 
 return for land, not given but lent , was what we call the feudal system, 
 and the Germans the loan system (lehen system). 
 
 Now this was all very pleasant for the king who had land to give away, 
 and for the barons and vassals who received it. But the bulk of the 
 people who lived on the land were not thought of at all in the matter. 
 The Saxons were generally reduced to the condition of serfs or slaves ; 
 and even those who were still called freemen, were quite at the mercy of 
 the holders of fiefs, who could treat them much as they chose. So we 
 are for instance told of one Ivo de Taillebois, to whom the Conqueror 
 gave a large fief, and who used to kill the cattle of the people on his 
 land, and destroy their crops, and do them all kinds of mischief, merely 
 from malice and in wanton cruelty. An oppressive rule for the poor 
 was feudalism. 
 
 It may be supposed, now that the Saxons were utterly subdued, and 
 the Conqueror everywhere acknowledged as lord paramount in England, 
 with wealth as much as heart could desire, and dominions wider than his 
 ancestors had dreamed of possessing, that William was a happy man. 
 But he was not. He sat moody and stern, in the midst of his lords and 
 prelates, anxious for the future, and perhaps in his secret soul dissatisfied 
 with the past. The conduct of his own children too, and especially that 
 of his eldest son Eobert, became a source of grief and anxiety to him ; 
 and it seemed that he who had gained his great power by means of 
 bloodshed and war, was to be involved in strife and quarrels to the end 
 of his days. This Eobert, partly excited by the wilfulness of youth, and 
 partly impelled by the advice of his friends, imagined himself slighted by 
 the king, in a foolish quarrel which had occurred between himself and his 
 brothers William and Henry, who had thrown water at him from a window. 
 He leagued himself with some discontented barons, and demanded either 
 a portion of England or the dukedom of Normandy from the king ; and 
 when William argued kindly with him, Eobert undutifully replied that 
 he came to demand his rights, and not to listen to sermons. Thereupon 
 he left William’s court in a rage, and absolutely gathered together a 
 number of men, to make war upon his own father. It was in Normandy, 
 in the castle of Gerberoy, that Eobert shut himself up to oppose his 
 father. 
 
 42 
 
Norman Castle. — Hunting Scene, 
 
 43 
 
WILLIAM'S WEALTH AND POWER-WAR WITH FRANCE. 
 
 Justly angry at this conduct of Robert’s, William proceeded himself 
 to Normandy with an army, to chastise his rebellious son, who had more- 
 over been aided and encouraged in his opposition by William’s wife 
 Matilda. One day Robert found himself opposed in fight to a knight 
 whom he overthrew and wounded in the arm ; but hearing the voice of 
 the fallen champion, he found that it was his own father whom he had 
 nearly slain. He was shocked and ashamed, and after a time made sub- 
 mission and was pardoned ; but the quarrel broke out afresh, and Robert 
 went away from his father for the last time, the angry king cursing him 
 in the bitterness of his heart as he rode away. Robert’s subsequent life 
 was very unfortunate ; and the old historians declare that the misfortunes 
 that befell him were a judgment upon him for his disobedient and un- 
 dutiful conduct towards his father. 
 
 William’s wealth and power appear forcibly in the fact of the great 
 meeting of his vassals, or of the men holding land from him, which he 
 summoned in the year 1086 . No fewer than sixty thousand came, and 
 each of these had land enough to keep a horse or to provide a complete 
 suit of armour. But all this splendour went side by side with great 
 and terrible misery. The Norman landholder ruled over a rich domain, 
 prosperous and free from taxes. The Saxon, to whom it had been 
 accorded as a great favour to hold a farm, was heavily and unjustly 
 burdened. The Norman part of the population furnished courtiers, 
 knights, warriors, and nobles, living in idleness, and amusing themselves 
 with chivalrous games and tournaments. Saxon families of ancient 
 birth, and once of high rank, now dwelt in thatched cottages, that 
 seemed to hide themselves away in the woods from the proud Norman 
 castles ; and the dwellers in these hovels had sunk to be poor artificers 
 and peasants. A writer telling of these things long afterwards, speaks 
 of the Norman Conquest as the “ memory of sorrow.” 
 
 And now William, whose proud spirit had been chafed by the Trench 
 King Philip’s foolish jest upon his fatness, determined to invade Prance. 
 In the pleasant month of July, when the land was smiling with corn 
 and with laden fruit trees, the ruthless king ordered his horsemen to 
 trample down the wheat fields and cut down the trees ; and coming to 
 the town of Nantes, he commanded them to burn it. As the flames 
 
 4-1 
 
DEATH OF WILLIAM I.— WILLIAM RUFUS. 
 
 rose up from steeple and tower, William rode to and fro in the streets, 
 rejoicing in his vengeance, and shouting to encourage his men in their 
 work of destruction. But his punishment was at hand. In the midst 
 of his triumph, his horse suddenly stumbled over some hot embers, and 
 seriously injured its rider. Humbled at last, and seemingly contrite, the 
 Conqueror was carried to Bouen, and laid in a monastery outside the city. 
 He grew rapidly worse, and now, at the eleventh hour, tried to make a 
 little amends for the wrongs he had done. He sent money to England 
 for the poor, pardoned some of his enemies whom he had kept in prison, 
 and promised to rebuild the burnt churches at Nantes. But his time 
 was come — he was to die ; and the memory of one good deed would avail 
 him more than all the wealth he had amassed through years of wrong 
 and bloodshed. He made a last disposition of his worldly goods. To 
 his son Robert he left Normandy ; he expressed a wish that William, 
 his second son, should succeed him in England; and to Henry, the 
 youngest, he gave a large sum of money. Robert was absent at the 
 time ; and William and Henry left their dying father, the first departing 
 to get crowned in England, the other to procure payment of his legacy. 
 And thus, alone and neglected, the Conqueror died, on the 10th of 
 September, 1087. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 WILLIAM II. 
 
 / . 
 
 Accession of William — Discontent of the Normans — The Saxons called to fight — Treaty with 
 Robert of Normandy — Rebellion of Robert de Mowbray — Tyranny of the King — Last 
 incursion of the Northmen — The first Crusade. 
 
 When Prince William left his father to die alone in the monastery of 
 Rouen, he made what speed he could towards the coast, for he was 
 anxious to cross to England without delay. He knew that Robert, his 
 elder brother, was beloved by the Norman nobles, and that he himself was 
 hated ; therefore it was important that he should get to England first, 
 
 45 
 
DISCONTENT OF THE NORMANS— TREATY BETWEEN THE BROTHERS. 
 
 and if possible get himself proclaimed king, and procure the oaths of 
 submission of the nobles, before his brother had time to take any steps 
 against him. At the little town of Ushant he received the news that 
 his father was dead. Then he crossed the Channel, and hastened to 
 Winchester, where he took possession of the royal treasure. King 
 William the First had extorted vast sums from his conquered subjects, 
 for William found sixty thousand pounds of silver and a quantity of gold 
 and jewels at Winchester. Then he hastened on to London, assembled 
 what Norman barons he could bring together, and was crowned King of 
 England in the abbey of Westminster by the title of William the Second. 
 In history he is generally known as William Rufus, or the Bed , from the 
 colour of his hair. 
 
 At this time a great many of the Norman barons were absent in 
 France. They would greatly have preferred Robert to William as their 
 king, and were angry at the manner in which William had outwitted 
 them by his sudden seizure of the crown. They determined to dethrone 
 him and set up Kobert on the throne of England. When William saw 
 the Normans preparing to fight against him, he considered that it would 
 be very useful to have the English on his side. Therefore he summoned 
 his Saxon subjects to his aid, and promised them the liberty to carry 
 weapons and the right of hunting, and for a time took the burden of 
 taxes off their shoulders. The Saxons, on their part, regained all their 
 old warlike spirit now that there was a chance of a good fight. They 
 flocked right willingly to the standard of William, and in a short time 
 the attempt to dethrone William, aided by Odo, Bishop of Bayeux (there 
 were many fighting bishops in those days), was totally defeated, and 
 Odo considered himself fortunate in being allowed to quit England in 
 disgrace. 
 
 The two brothers soon came to an understanding. It was agreed 
 between them that each should keep what he had — Robert, Normandy, 
 and William, England ; and whichever brother died first should leave 
 his possessions to the survivor. And now that the danger had passed 
 away, King William thought proper to break all the promises he had 
 made to the Saxons. He treated them just as badly as his father had 
 done, and by his faithlessness and ingratitude made himself hated by all 
 
 46 
 
REBELLION OF ROBERT DE MOWBRAY— THE KING'S TYRANNY. 
 
 of them. Still, the very fact that they had been necessary to the king 
 to support his claim was of some use to them, and gradually the English 
 began to be of some consequence in the country again. 
 
 In those days, the king was the only person who had a right to hunt 
 in the forests of England. Even the Norman nobles were debarred from 
 that privilege ; and so angry did they become on the subject, that certain 
 of them rebelled against William in 1094, headed by Kobert de Mowbray, 
 Earl of Northumberland. King William marched against the earl, who 
 was taken by William’s troops, and kept in prison ; and those who had 
 helped him were sent away from England. The people who lived on the 
 lands of these banished noblemen had to pay heavy taxes to the king ; 
 and William spared no man’s farm, workshop, or warehouse, where he 
 could extort anything. He also compelled a number of Saxons to work 
 for him in constructing part of the Tower of London, which had been 
 begun by his father the Conqueror ; and near Westminster Abbey he 
 built a great hall for the assemblies of his barons. This structure, the 
 famous Westminster Hall, is still standing, and many great meetings 
 have been held therein. 
 
 William governed, or rather misgoverned England in a very “ rough 
 and ready” fashion, and set a bad example to his barons and retainers, 
 who imitated him only too readily. His idea seems to have been that he 
 was the master of the English, and therefore that they must do whatever 
 he chose to order, and give him whatever he thought fit to demand. In 
 the journeys he sometimes undertook through England, his servants and 
 companions completely plundered the country through which he passed. 
 They took all the provisions, and wine, and ale they could find in the 
 English houses ; and what they could not eat they either sold in the 
 markets for their own profit or wantonly destroyed. The red king never 
 thought that it was his duty, as ruler of the kingdom, to guard his sub- 
 jects, one and all, from insult and outrage. He was almost as savage 
 and ferocious as the heathen Danes of old; and no wonder, therefore, 
 that when the news of the king’s approach came, the people for the most 
 part ran away into the woods, and remained there till he and his court 
 were gone, hiding from their liege lord’s court as they would from any 
 other set of robbers. He was especially severe in punishing any offence 
 
 47 
 
LAST INCURSION OF THE NORTHMEN— THE FIRST CRUSADE. 
 
 against the forest laws, and the people found a sort of consolation in 
 abusing him — in his absence, of course — and calling him the 46 forest 
 keeper, 5 ’ and the “ wild beast-herd. 55 But, after all, this did not help 
 them much. 
 
 So time passed on, without bringing any great change in the aspect of 
 England. And now the north of Europe, Sweden and Norway, had 
 become more civilized, and the chiefs left oif their piratical excursions. 
 The last attempt of the kind occurred in the reign of William Rufus. 
 Magnus, King of Norway, came with a fleet to the island of Anglesea ; 
 but a great earl marched out with his men against the invader, and drove 
 him away; and after that the English saw no more of the Northern 
 pirates. 
 
 We must now turn for n short time to William’s brother, Robert of 
 Normandy, for he will appear again in the history of the next reign. In 
 1095 a great undertaking was begun in Europe — nothing less than the 
 attempt to take the Holy Land, where our Saviour lived and worked His 
 miracles, from the heathen Saracens, who had possessed it for some hun- 
 dreds of years. It had always been a custom for people to make journeys 
 to the Holy Land, especially to visit Jerusalem, where our Lord lived and 
 died ; and these journeyings were called pilgrimages, and considered as 
 highly meritorious. When the Saracens began to ill-treat and molest the 
 pilgrims, a French monk, called Peter the Hermit, went through Europe 
 declaring to all people, high and low, that it would be a good thing to 
 march to the Holy Land and take the country, and especially Jerusalem, 
 from its cruel oppressors. The Pope at Pome gave his full approval to 
 the design ; and many of the princes and nobles of Europe, who were 
 fond of fighting and adventure, caught eagerly at the idea of conquering 
 the Holy Land, and prepared to start for the East with a great number 
 of armed men. They wore on their left shoulder a cross, in token that 
 they were going to fight in the name of Him who had died on the cross 
 to save all mankind from everlasting death ; and the enterprise itself was 
 called a crusade. There were no fewer than seven of these crusades 
 undertaken at different times. The one of which I am now speaking 
 was the first, and ended in 1099, when Jerusalem was captured by the 
 Crusaders. 
 
 48 
 
ROBERT PLEDGES HIS DUKEDOM— JOINS THE CRUSADE. 
 
 Now, Eobert of Normandy wished to take part in this great action, for 
 ' he was a brave man. He required money to buy what was necessary for 
 himself and the numerous troop of followers at whose head he was to set 
 forth. Accordingly, he applied to his brother King William, and offered 
 to pawn or pledge Normandy to him for the sum of ten thousand marks. 
 William, who was, doubtless, glad of the opportunity of increasing his 
 dominions, had only to be a little more extortionate than usual to wring 
 this sum from the people and the clergy. Eobert received his ten thou- 
 sand marks, and started for the East ; and England heard nothing more 
 of him for some years. 
 
 William took possession of Normandy, and the province of Maine in 
 France; but these new dominions brought trouble and disquietude for 
 him. His new subjects were not disposed to accept him for their ruler, 
 and the Erench king especially did him all possible harm. A brave 
 knight named Heli de la Eleche offered his services to William, who was 
 foolish enough to make him an insulting reply. Erom this time Heli 
 became the greatest enemy of the English king; and William was 
 obliged to go over to Erance in a great hurry to combat him. The 
 Duke of Guienne, another Erench nobleman, who wished, like Eobert of 
 Normandy, to start for the Holy Land, and who again, like Eobert, was 
 in want of money, offered to pledge his provinces to William for a sum 
 of money ; and William, glad of a proposal which would bring him land, 
 while his subjects would have to pay the price, made great preparations 
 to go to Erance and conclude the bargain, when suddenly his career of 
 cruelty and rapine was ended by a violent death. 
 
 It was in the year 1100, the month was July, the season of plenty and 
 sunshine, in which, thirteen years before, the Conqueror had ridden to 
 his grave over the ashes of Nantes, that the Eed King determined to 
 enjoy the sport of hunting in that New Eorest which had been laid out 
 at the expense of a certain amount of Saxon misery. But now an event 
 happened which put an end to all his schemes. While he was thinking 
 of gaining fresh possessions, he was suddenly summoned away, like the 
 unjust steward whose lord called him to give an account of his steward- 
 ship, for he was to be steward no longer. 
 
 William was as fond of hunting as his father had been ; and before 
 
 50 
 
Death of William Rufus. 
 
 U. OF ILL LIB, 
 
 51 
 
DEATH OF RUFUS IN THE NEW FOREST. 
 
 starting for Prance he resolved to enjoy this sport once more in the 
 forest that his father made on the place where the Saxon villages had 
 once stood. He set out from Winchester with a large train of courtiers 
 and servants about him, little thinking that the sun which shone so 
 brightly through the green trees of the forest had risen upon him for 
 the last time. An especial favourite of the king’s, a Frenchman named 
 Walter Tyrrel, hunted with him on that day; and the king’s huntsmen 
 ran out, according to their custom, to chase the deer from their covert, 
 that the king and his companions might shoot at the game as it ran by. 
 Suddenly a large stag started up, just between the king and Tyrrel, who 
 were both standing ready with crossbow in hand. The king shot at the 
 stag, and missed. Then he called upon Tyrrel to shoot. The favourite 
 obeyed. The bow twanged as the arrow flew from the string, and the 
 next moment the king suddenly sank down on the green sward — dead. 
 An arrow had pierced his breast : whether it was Tyrrel’s, or had been 
 shot by another marksman, was never known. As for Tyrrel, when he 
 saw what had happened, and found that the king was dead, he became 
 alarmed for his own safety, and mounted his horse and started for the 
 sea coast: there he found a boat, and passed over at once into Nor- 
 mandy. We are told that from thence he went to fight in the Holy 
 Land against the Saracens. 
 
 He had no friends, this tyrannical and cruel Red King ; and when he 
 was dead, the courtiers who had surrounded him in the morning with 
 smiles and flattery, rode off, one and all, and left him lying in the forest 
 alone. Presently some woodcutters came by with their cart, and found 
 the corpse of the great Conqueror’s son lying stark and stiff. They put 
 it in their cart, wrapped in some rags which happened to be at hand ; 
 and thus, without one mourner to weep for him, the dead king was 
 brought back to Winchester. His life had been selfish, violent, and 
 cruel ; and in his death he was left uncared for and alone. He was the 
 second of the Conqueror’s sons who had been killed in the New Forest, 
 and his nephew, son of Duke Robert, afterwards perished there also. 
 When the Saxons talked of these deaths, in their smoky cottages, they 
 said that the judgment of God had found out the Norman Conqueror’s 
 family, in the very place which had been made by his tyranny. 
 
 52 
 
CHAPTER IY. 
 
 A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE CRUSADES. 
 
 The origin of the Crusades — The First Crusade — Taking of Jerusalem — Second Crusade, 
 undertaken by Louis VII. and Conrad III. — Third Crusade, by Frederic Barbarossa, 
 Bichard L, and Philip Augustus — Fourth Crusade — Constantinople taken — The last 
 Crusades — St. Louis of France — His death. 
 
 As the Crusades are often mentioned in English History, it is right 
 that my readers should know something about them. I will therefore 
 devote this chapter to giving a short account of these wars, showing when 
 they took place and what was done in each. 
 
 The Crusades were undertaken, as I have already observed, to win 
 back the Holy Land from the Saracens, who did not know or worship 
 the Saviour. These wars were all approved of by the Pope, who was 
 considered as the head of the Church in those days ; and the priests who 
 excited the princes and people to take up arms and fight in the Holy 
 Land, to drive out the Saracens, had the full permission, and even the 
 command, of the Pope for what they said and did. They declared it 
 was a shame that the holy places where the Lord Jesus had lived and 
 died should be in the hands of heathens who knew not His name ; and 
 doubtless there was much truth in what they said. But they forgot, and 
 those who went to fight at their bidding forgot likewise, that a Christian 
 is bound to be merciful and just, kindly and long-suffering ; and that the 
 Saviour, who has said, “ They who take the sword shall perish by the 
 sword,” is never served by deeds of bloodshed and violence. Men in 
 those days were fierce and cruel ; and the Crusaders killed not only the 
 armed men who came out against them, but a great many peaceable 
 and unarmed people, and even women and children ; and some were so 
 foolish as to believe that by these wicked deeds they were doing God a 
 service. 
 
 There were seven Crusades in all. Over and over again, great armies 
 headed by brave and gallant nobles, princes, and kings, attempted the 
 task of conquering Palestine. Sometimes they almost succeeded, gaining 
 
 53 
 
THE CRUSADES AND THEIR RESULTS. 
 
 great battles, taking cities, and killing many people; but they were 
 never able to keep what they had won, and at last the endeavour to 
 conquer the Holy Land was given up as hopeless. 
 
 The first Crusade begun in 1096 and ended in 1099. Several great 
 armies started for the Holy Land ; but many began fighting with the 
 people of the towns through which they passed, and were killed on their 
 journey through Europe. In spite of this an immense number reached 
 the Holy Land, led on by a brave prince named Godfrey of Boulogne, 
 and by other chiefs, one of whom was Duke Robert of Normandy, son 
 of William the Conqueror. After winning some battles, and suffering 
 great hardships, they attacked Jerusalem, the Holy City, and captured it 
 in the year 1099, putting to death a great number of the people they 
 found there. Godfrey of Boulogne was made King of Jerusalem, and 
 a number of the Crusaders stayed to defend the new kingdom ; the rest 
 found their way back to Europe as best they could. 
 
 The second Crusade was undertaken by the Erench King Louis 
 VII., and by Conrad III., Emperor of Germany, who wished to win 
 back part of the kingdom that had been taken from the Crusaders. 
 Both leaders were very unfortunate ; and after losing a great part of his 
 army, each was very glad to get back to his own country. After this, 
 the Christians lost one place after another in Palestine ; and at last, the 
 great prize for which they had striven, the city of Jerusalem, was taken 
 from them. The news of the loss of the Holy City was received with 
 much grief in Europe ; and a third Crusade was commenced, in which 
 the three greatest monarchs in Europe took part, namely, Richard I. 
 of England, the Emperor Erederic Barbarossa of Germany, and King 
 Philip Augustus of Prance. But they had a greater monarch to fight 
 against than any of themselves, in the Emperor Saladin ; and though 
 many valiant deeds were performed, Jerusalem was not taken by the 
 Christians ; and this third Crusade, which began in 1189, ended in 1192, 
 with only some slight advantages to the Crusaders. 
 
 The fourth Crusade, in 1203 and 1204, had a strange end. The 
 Crusaders started full of zeal, and determined to effect great things ; but 
 they allowed themselves to be turned from their purpose, and besieged 
 and took, not Jerusalem, but Constantinople, where they founded an 
 
 54 
 
HENRY I. SEIZES THE CROWN OF ENGLAND. 
 
 empire which endured but a short time. Princes, nobles, and people 
 were now beginning to see that Crusades ended in failure — that it was 
 one thing to take cities, and another and a more difficult one to keep 
 them. Thus, though the Pope and the priests still continued to exhort 
 the nations to fight, by way of proving themselves followers of the Prince 
 of Peace, they no longer met with such willing listeners; and so the 
 last Crusades were undertaken each by only one monarch, and failed more 
 quickly and completely than the former attempts. A very pious King 
 of Prance, called Saint Louis, conducted the sixth and seventh Crusades. 
 The latter took place in the year 1270, and cost Saint Louis his life. 
 And after that the princes of Europe had had enough of crusading, and 
 gave up the idea of conquering the Holy Land. 
 
 During the Crusades many knights formed themselves into great 
 companies or brotherhoods. The three chief of these were the Knights 
 Templars the Knights of St. John, and the German Order of Knights. 
 
 CHAPTEE Y. 
 
 THE REIGN OE HENRY I. 
 
 Henry seizes the Crown and royal treasure — Persuades the Saxons to help him — Marries 
 Matilda of Scotland — Buys England from his brother Robert — Endeavours to purchase 
 Normandy — Defeats Robert at Tenehebray, and imprisons him for life. 
 
 While the corpse of the Eed King William lay on the ground beneath 
 the oak tree in the New Porest, uncared for and abandoned, William’s 
 brother Henry, who had been one of the hunting party on that fatal 
 day, and had quickly heard of the death of Eufus, was gallopping as fast 
 as his steed could carry him towards Winchester ; for in the town of Win- 
 chester was kept the treasure or store of money belonging to the English 
 king, and to seize this treasure was the first thought of the selfish 
 Henry. 
 
 65 
 
HENRY INGRATIATES HIMSELF WITH THE SAXONS— HIS MARRIAGE. 
 
 He had no right to this treasure ; for it belonged to his elder brother 
 Robert, who was now the real King of England, as next heir to his father 
 William the Conqueror ; but Robert had been long absent, and was not 
 yet returned from the Holy Land ; and the unjust and selfish Henry 
 determined to take for himself not only Robert’s treasure, but Robert’s 
 throne also. One of the nobles, Robert de Breteuil, was bold and honest 
 enough to oppose Henry’s design, saying to him, 64 Thou and I ought 
 loyally to remember the fealty we swore to the Duke Robert, thy brother : 
 he has received our oath of homage, and, absent or present, is entitled to 
 it.” But Henry was not to be turned from his purpose. Having seized 
 the treasure, he hastened to London, and persuaded the Norman nobles 
 and clergy whom he found there to elect and crown him king. 
 
 Henry did not yet consider himself safe in possession of his stolen 
 honours. He knew that Robert would be enraged, and with good 
 cause, when this treachery should be made known to him. He likewise 
 expected that many of the Norman nobles would take part with Robert 
 against him. Therefore he turned to the people of England, the despised 
 Saxons, and asked them for help. He told them that Robert was a 
 proud and haughty man, who would be certain to oppress them ; whereas 
 he, King Henry, would treat them with justice and favour. He even 
 made many promises in writing, declaring that the old laws of Edward 
 the Confessor should be restored, and that whatever was wrong and 
 unjust should be set right; and the English believed him, and hoped 
 that better times were coming at last, and declared themselves ready to 
 fight for King Henry. The king also took care to gain the clergy over 
 to his side, by giving them large estates and granting them many favours, 
 so that the clergy remained his friends ; and as Henry had more learning 
 than was usual in those times, when, indeed, few nobles could read and 
 write, they gave him the name of Beauclerc , or “Eine Scholar.” Still 
 more to secure the help and obedience of the English, Henry married a 
 princess of English birth, Edith, or, as she was afterwards called, Matilda 
 of Scotland, who was a niece of Edgar Atheling, the last descendant ol 
 the Saxon kings. Eor this the proud Norman barons laughed at Henry, 
 calling him and his wife “ Godrik and Godiva;” for even the names of 
 Saxons were then a reproach and a by-word among the Normans ; but 
 
 66 
 
Battle of Tencheeray 
 
 57 
 
HENRY BUYS ENGLAND OF ITS RIGHTFUL KING, ROBERT. 
 
 Henry was more clever than they, ana knew that this marriage would be 
 sure to please the Saxons, and make them take his part. 
 
 The Norman lords were not at all pleased at these actions of Henry’s; 
 and when Eobert at last landed in England, very angry to see his throne 
 taken from him by his faithless brother, many lords joined him and pro- 
 mised to drive Henry away. 
 
 It seemed as if there would be a great fight between Eobert’s Normans 
 and Henry’s Englishmen; but some of the Norman barons, who did not 
 care to fight against their own countrymen (for there were some Normans 
 on Henry’s side also), managed to make peace between the two brothers. 
 It was agreed that Henry should continue to rule over England, paying 
 Eobert two thousand pounds of silver every year ; and thus the English 
 saw themselves disappointed of the chance of fighting against their 
 Norman oppressors. The peace was disastrous for them in another way, 
 for the crafty king had bought England, and the English had to pay 
 the price he was to give to Eobert for it. The old unjust levying of 
 taxes began again, and all the king’s promises were forgotten. King 
 Henry’s Norman servants ill-treated the Saxons just as King William’s 
 had done ; and one of the chroniclers tells us, in simple, downright lan- 
 guage, that “ wherever the king travelled, the people in his train vexed 
 the poor people, and committed in various places murders, and set fire to 
 places.” King Henry may have been a fine scholar, but he had not 
 learned the great lesson that it is a king’s duty to protect his subjects, 
 and above all things to keep his royal word with them. 
 
 If Henry broke faith with his English subjects, he did not keep his 
 word with his own brother. Of the three sons of the Conqueror who 
 have played a part in history, Eobert of Normandy was, after all, the 
 best. He had certainly no talent as a ruler, and could not keep his 
 restless and turbulent barons in order; and he was of a light and 
 changeable temper, and often gave away great possessions for a very 
 small price to gratify the whim of the moment. But on the other hand, 
 he was a brave and gallant prince ; when he made a promise he kept it, 
 therein presenting a great contrast to his brother Henry; and even in 
 his quarrels with his brothers he had often behaved generously and well. 
 But Henry, always seeding his own advantage, wished still further to 
 
 -Jr 
 
 58 
 
BATTLE OF TENCHEBRAY— ROBERT A PRISONER. 
 
 profit by Eobert’s heedlessness. He had bought England of Eobert, 
 and now he could not rest until he had obtained Normandy also. He 
 therefore encouraged Eobert’s barons’ discontent and rebellion, and took 
 advantage of the presence of Eobert himself in England to extort from 
 the duke a resignation of the pension for which England had been ceded. 
 Afterwards he offered to purchase Normandy from Eobert for a sum of 
 money ; and when the duke, who had experience of the way in which 
 his brother broke faith, indignantly refused, the treacherous Henry de- 
 termined to take his brother’s territory by force. 
 
 Henry knew that he should require money to pay the expenses of the 
 invasion of Normandy. He therefore sent out his collectors among the 
 English, and thousands were ruined by having all they possessed extorted 
 from them in the king’s name ; and Henry crossed the Channel with a 
 large army, and began to attack Eobert’s cities. He took several ; but 
 the winter came on, and he was obliged to retire into England. 
 
 In the following spring he returned to Normandy, and a battle was 
 fought between him and Eobert near a castle called Tenchebray. Eobert 
 fought with great courage ; but one of his friends fled during the action, 
 taking with him many of Eobert’s men, and thus Henry gained the 
 victory. Eobert himself was taken prisoner, together with Edgar Athe- 
 ling, the descendant of the Saxon kings, and nearly ten thousand other 
 captives. Henry soon conquered Normandy after this, and returned to 
 England in triumph, carrying his prisoners with him. Edgar Atheling 
 was not dangerous, so Henry set him free, and even gave him a small 
 estate ; and Edgar at last died in England at a good old age. Very dif- 
 ferent was the king’s conduct towards his brother. The unfortunate 
 Eobert was shut up in Cardiff Castle : at first some little liberty was 
 allowed him, but he tried to escape, and after this he was guarded much 
 more strictly. In Cardiff Castle he was kept a prisoner by his ungrate- 
 ful brother till his death, which happened many years afterwards. Some 
 writers say that Henry caused Eobert’s eyes to be put out, but this is not 
 certain, and indeed seems too horrible to be believed. 
 
 59 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE KEIGN OF IIENltY I. CONTINUED. 
 
 Henry’s power and prosperity — His son William — Voyage to Normandy to receive the oath of 
 fealty — The wreck of the Blanche JSfef, and death of William — Henry’s grief — Maude 
 appointed his Successor — Death of Henry — His character. 
 
 After the victory at Tenchebray had put Robert into his power, every- 
 thing seemed to go prosperously with King Henry. The King of Trance, 
 indeed, tried to do him harm, and took up the cause of young William, 
 Robert’s son ; but Henry continued to maintain his power, both in 
 England and Normandy, and to bid defiance to his enemies. He had 
 a dispute with the Pope, who was then gaining more and more power, 
 concerning the right of electing bishops ; but he was clever enough to 
 make friends with the Church, which, indeed, was so powerful in those 
 days, that no monarch could stand up against it. The King of Trance 
 at last gave up fighting against Henry, and consented that Prince 
 William, Henry’s son, should receive Normandy, on condition that he 
 acknowledged himself the vassal or subject of the King of Trance. 
 Thus the young prince was taken into Normandy by King Henry, and 
 the lords and barons swore to be faithful to him as their duke. And now 
 that the great wish of Henry’s heart, the succession of his son, seemed 
 secured, the king prepared, in the beginning of the winter of the year 
 1120, to return to England with his son, and a number of lords and 
 vassals who had gone to Normandy with him. 
 
 A terrible misfortune now fell upon him, which crushed the hopes the 
 king felt sure of seeing fulfilled, and embittered all the rest of his life. 
 The fleet was to sail from the Norman port of Barfleur ; and just when 
 the king was ready to depart, a seaman named Thomas Titzstephen came 
 to him and made the following request. He said : “ Stephen, son of 
 Erad, my father, served thy father all his life upon the sea, and it was 
 he who commanded the vessel which bore thy father to the conquest. 
 Lord king, I entreat thee to grant me in fief the same office. I have 
 
 60 
 
Wreck of the Blanche Nef. 
 
 61 
 
THE WRECK OF THE “BLANCHE NEF ” 
 
 a vessel called La Blanche Nef fitly provided.” Now the king had 
 already chosen a ship for himself, but granted to Eitzstephen the honour 
 of carrying over Prince William and some other members of his family 
 in the “White Ship.” The Blanche Nef sailed later than the king’s 
 ship. Wine had been given to the sailors before they started ; and while 
 all on board were merry and joyful, and no one dreamt of danger, the 
 ship suddenly ran upon a rock, and began to fill with water. Then all 
 was terror and dismay. The prince and some of his companions got into 
 a boat and might have escaped ; but when they had pushed the boat off, 
 and had got clear of the crowd of struggling and drowning wretches in 
 the water, Prince William heard the shrieks of his sister, the Countess 
 of Perche. He generously resolved to save her, and insisted that the 
 boat should be rowed back to the sinking ship. But the perishing crew, 
 seeing a chance of life for them, clung in such numbers to the sides of 
 the boat that it overset, and all were drowned together. More than a 
 hundred and forty young lords perished with their prince in the wreck of 
 the “ White Ship.” Pitzstephen, the unlucky captain, rose to the sur- 
 face, and saw a butcher of Bouen, named Berouald, clinging to the 
 mast-head, which was still above water. He asked if the prince had 
 escaped ; and on hearing from Berouald that William and all his com- 
 pany had perished, threw up his hands, with a despairing cry of “Woe 
 is me!” and sank beneath the waves. It was in the evening that the 
 Blanche Nef had gone down ; and all through the cold December night 
 Berouald clung to the mast. In the morning some fishermen saw him, 
 and took him into their boat — the sole survivor of the gallant company 
 that had sailed out from Barfleur a few short hours before. Meanwhile 
 King Henry had concluded his voyage and arrived safely in England. 
 When the news of the terrible disaster came, for some days no one dared 
 to tell Henry what had happened. At length, when it could no longer 
 be hidden, a favourite little page was ordered to say what had happened. 
 The king fainted with grief ; and though he lived for fifteen years after 
 this terrible blow had fallen upon him, the happiness of his life was gone, 
 and we are told that never again was a smile seen upon his face. 
 
 The Saxon chroniclers or writers of history give this Prince William 
 a very bad character. They tell how he declared that if he ever came 
 
 62 
 
HENRY'S GRIEF— HIS DEATH— MATILDA HIS SUCCESSOR. 
 
 to govern England, he would yoke the Saxons, like cattle, to the plough ; 
 and they rejoiced with rather unseemly triumph over the sudden and 
 violent death which struck him down in the midst of his pride. But we 
 must remember that the prince was young and inexperienced, and that 
 it was not astonishing he should despise the English, inasmuch as it was 
 the custom of the Normans generally to speak of the English in terms 
 of contempt and derision, as if they had been altogether inferior beings, 
 fit only to carry burdens and to toil as slaves. Certain it is that his 
 death was a terrible example of the uncertainty of all human greatness 
 and prosperity. 
 
 Thus all King Henry’s hopes, bound up in this son, who was to suc- 
 ceed him and establish his family firmly on the throne of England, were 
 overthrown at a blow ; for William left no family, and King Henry’s 
 Saxon wife had not borne him any other son. But he had a daughter, 
 named after her mother, Matilda or Maude. This daughter had been 
 married to Henry Y., Emperor of Germany, and thus she is generally 
 known in history as the Empress Maude. 
 
 After the death of the emperor, who had no children, Matilda married 
 a Erench nobleman, Geoffrey, Count of Anjou; and by this second 
 marriage she had a son named Henry, and afterwards other children. 
 King Henry was now very anxious that his daughter should succeed 
 him. Therefore, at a great court which he held in Windsor Castle, he 
 obliged all the nobles to take an oath, that after his death they would 
 be obedient to Matilda, and acknowledge her as Queen of England and 
 Duchess of Normandy. When, after her marriage with Geoffrey of 
 Anjou, Matilda’s first son Henry was born, the old king caused all the 
 nobles, both of England and Normandy, to renew the oath of fidelity 
 they had taken ; and now he thought he had provided thoroughly for 
 the future rank of his favourite, and that Matilda would assuredly sit on 
 the English throne. But, as you will see, he was mistaken. 
 
 In the year 1135, Henry was preparing to go from Normandy into 
 England, to put down a revolt that had arisen among the Welsh. He 
 happened to eat too plentifully of some eels called lampreys, and fell 
 suddenly ill. In a few days he died, after a reign of nearly thirty-five 
 years. He left all he possessed to the Empress Maude. He had married 
 
 63 
 
CHARACTER OF BEAUCLERC— STEPHEN OF BLOIS. 
 
 again, after the death of Matilda of Scotland; but his second wife, 
 Adela, daughter of the Count of Louvain, brought him no children. 
 
 We cannot consider this king a good man, though he was undoubtedly 
 a clever and politic one. His conduct to his father and to his brother 
 Robert was heartless and treacherous, and to the English he showed 
 himself cruel and rapacious. But some allowance must be made for the 
 rough hard times in which he lived. In those days rulers had little idea 
 of right or justice : they chiefly sought their own advantage ; and con- 
 quered nations were generally treated as if they had no rights at all. 
 To kill one of the king’s deer was considered a far more serious matter 
 than to slay a mere Saxon peasant ; and the punishments inflicted were 
 cruel and merciless. Eor a very small fault a man might be condemned 
 to have his eyes put out, or his hands or feet cut off. Such was the 
 Norman rule; and, in general, Henry Beauclerc was no better and no 
 worse than those around him. 
 
 CHAPTER YII 
 
 KING STEPHEN. 
 
 Stephen of Blois — His relationship to the Conqueror — He seizes the Throne — Matilda and her 
 Partizans — The power of the Church — Stephen’s efforts to maintain his power — His 
 misfortunes. 
 
 At the court of King Henry I. there had been for some years a 
 handsome, gallant young noble, upon whom the king looked with great 
 favour. The name of this noble was Stephen. He was a grandson of 
 William the Conqueror, and consequently a nephew of King Henry. 
 He had vast possessions in Erance ; and King Henry, anxious perhaps to 
 secure the friendship of the powerful lord for his daughter Matilda, had 
 conferred many benefits upon him, and treated him almost like a son. 
 Little did King Henry think that he should hardly be dead before this 
 
STEPHEN USURPS THE THRONE. 
 
 Stephen would rise up, not to defend Maude and establish her title, but 
 to fight for himself, and assert a claim to the throne of England. 
 
 The method taken by Stephen to establish himself as King of England 
 seems in many respects to have been an almost exact copy of the means 
 taken by Henry himself, many years before, to oust his brother Eobert. 
 Like Henry, he seized the royal treasure at Winchester. It amounted to 
 a hundred thousand pounds, and spoke well for the late king’s talent in 
 taxing his subjects. Stephen knew that the possession of money would 
 be a powerful argument with many ; and he employed Henry’s treasure, 
 partly in bribing the wavering, partly in the equipment and provisioning 
 of troops. He also hastened to get to London, to cause himself to be 
 crowned ; and this he effected chiefly through the influence of his own 
 brother Henry, whom the late king had made Bishop of Winchester. He 
 likewise obtained the good word of the Pope — a very important point, 
 for in those days the Pope’s power was superior to that of any monarch 
 in Europe, and no king could quarrel with the head of the Church at 
 Borne, without feeling the consequences, by finding himself abandoned 
 by almost every vassal he had. As a further resource, lie brought over a 
 number of unemployed soldiers from Elanders and Brittany, to guard his 
 ill-gained throne. In Normandy likewise he gained to his side a number 
 of the nobility, who cared little for the oath of allegiance they had taken 
 to Matilda, and who thought it a disgrace that a woman should reign 
 over them. And now the ungrateful usurper thought himself strong 
 enough to resist any power that the Empress Maude and her friends might 
 bring against him. 
 
 But Stephen soon found his position to be far from agreeable. The 
 clergy and nobles who had acknowledged him as king, knew very well, 
 and indeed he himself knew also, that he had no right to the crown; 
 therefore they had only submitted to him upon conditions. The clergy 
 stipulated that they should uphold Stephen only so long as Stephen 
 upheld the rights of the Church, which in plain terms meant that they 
 required to have their own way in everything, and to place their power 
 above his. The nobles declared that they must have the right of fortify- 
 ing their castles ; and by doing this they made themselves petty kings, 
 carrying on war against each other, and ruling in their own districts, as 
 
 F 
 
 65 
 
BATTLE OF THE STANDARD-INSURRECTIONS. 
 
 if there were no king in England at all. The king on his part hoped to 
 keep up his authority by means of the bands of paid foreigners he had 
 brought from beyond the Channel ; and in the scenes of warfare, riot, and 
 spoliation which ensued, how miserable must have been the condition of 
 the defenceless English ! 
 
 Stephen was not satisfied with having merely the name of king ; but 
 so soon as he tried to make his power felt, a number of the barons 
 revolted against him ; and foremost among these was Robert, Earl of 
 Gloucester, a near relation and great friend of Matilda, who had probably 
 only submitted to Stephen that he might gain time to form a plan for 
 placing Maude on the throne. King David of Scotland and his son 
 Henry also took up arms for Maude. They led a large army into 
 England, and Stephen was obliged to march northward to meet them. 
 On the 22nd of August was fought the great battle of the Standard. 
 The English army raised a banner on a stout high pole, and, mounting 
 this pole on four wheels, placed it in the centre of their host ; and from 
 this circumstance the battle took its name. 
 
 The Scottish army was composed in great part of Highlanders, brave 
 and hardy men, but untaught in the art of war, and unused to the 
 Norman and English method of fighting. They were defeated with 
 great slaughter after an obstinate combat, in which the Norman lances 
 and the Saxon arrows did good service. An attempt at a general insur- 
 rection in England and on the borders of Wales also failed; and for a 
 time it seemed that Stephen’s ill-gotten power was too strong to be over- 
 thrown, and that he would maintain the throne he had usurped. 
 
 But Stephen was so imprudent as to quarrel with the churchmen. 
 Many of the bishops in those days were anything but peaceful men. 
 They had castles which they fortified strongly, and large troops of armed 
 vassals ; and in many cases they were more ready for war than for peace. 
 Stephen, who knew that he could not really have much power while his 
 nobles and clergy thus fortified themselves against him, resolved to begin 
 by making the Bishops of Salisbury and Lincoln give up the fortresses 
 they were building ; for he declared that priests had no need of fortified 
 castles. Accordingly he seized the two bishops, and did not set them free 
 until they had delivered up their strongholds into his hands. 
 
 63 
 
ANARCHY IN ENGLAND— STEPHEN A PRISONER. 
 
 This proceeding raised a storm of anger against King Stephen. His 
 own brother, the Bishop of Winchester, now opposed him. Many who 
 had before been afraid to attempt anything against the usurper, now took 
 up arms to dethrone him ; and the Empress Maude herself, hoping to gain 
 the crown by the aid of Robert of Gloucester and his numerous followers* 
 landed in England, and took up her residence at Arundel Castle. 
 Stephen was a bold man. At an earlier attempt at revolt he had already 
 said, “ They have made me king, and now they abandon me, but 55 (and 
 here he swore a great oath) “they shall never call me a deposed king.” 
 He called together his friends, and concealed, as he best might, his 
 chagrin and rage when he saw that every day some of his partisans were 
 deserting him to go over to the side of Maude. 
 
 And now the unhappy realm of England was in a worse condition 
 than at any time since the Conquest. Bands of armed men traversed the 
 country in every direction, plundering and insulting, and often even 
 torturing and slaying the people. There was no law, no justice to be had. 
 The barons waged war upon each other, each plundering the territories 
 of his rival, and taxing his own to maintain the cost of the war. In 
 mere despair, the husbandmen in many parts gave up cultivating the 
 land. Thus no corn. was sown, and no harvest reaped ; and soon there 
 was a grievous famine. At length a great battle was fought at Lincoln 
 on the 2nd of Eeburary, 1141. After fighting for a time, Stephen’s men 
 fled, and the usurper was left almost alone in the field, gnashing his teeth 
 with rage and vexation. Surrounded by his foes, he found flight impos- 
 sible. He was forced to surrender himself a prisoner, and was soon 
 loaded with chains and closely guarded. Matilda’s friends triumphed, 
 and proclaimed the Empress, Queen of England. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE XtEIGN OE STEPHEN CONTINUED. 
 
 Imprudent conduct of Maude — Its effect upon the people — Eelease of Stephen, and re- 
 commencement of the War — Maude’s disaster at Oxford — Stephen reinstated — His treaty 
 with Prince Henry — His death in 1151 — State of England during his reign. 
 
 Ip the Empress Maude had possessed temper and discretion, she 
 might probably have reigned over England to the day of her death, 
 leaving her son Henry to succeed to the throne ; but she was proud and 
 vindictive, and seems to have forgotten the precept that “ Pride goeth 
 before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fan.” Knowing that 
 the fall of Stephen had in the first instance been caused by his opposition 
 to the clergy, she fell into the error of supposing that with the Church 
 on her side she need not trouble herself to conciliate the good-will of any 
 other part of the nation. She put herself into the hands of Henry, the 
 Bishop of Winchester, Stephen’s brother, who summoned only the clergy, 
 instead of calling together the nobles, as he should have done, to crown 
 Matilda ; and this gave great offence to the barons, who were indignant 
 at seeing themselves thus neglected. Moreover, Henry of Winchester 
 never was a sincere friend of Maude ; and while he wished, it is thought, 
 to humiliate his brother and to punish him for opposing the clergy, he 
 never intended that Stephen should be kept in the close imprisonment in 
 which the fallen usurper was held by Maude and her friends. By a little 
 leniency, and by the display of good-will and mercy, Maude would have 
 further strengthened her position : by pride and haughtiness she lost all 
 she had gained. 
 
 The wife of Stephen offered that her husband should retire into a 
 monastery if Maude would set him at liberty, and many of the nobility 
 seconded her request ; but Maude refused. The citizens of London came 
 to beg the boon that had been promised to them by every king, and 
 never fulfilled — the restoration of the laws of Edward the Confessor; 
 but Maude sen 4 * them away with a contemptuous reply. Henry, Bishop 
 
 69 
 
WARS RETWEEN STEPHEN AND MAUDE— SHE QUITS ENGLAND. 
 
 of Winchester, came to request that Eustace, the son of Stephen, might 
 he allowed possession of the property that belonged to him in Erance, 
 and to which Maude certainly had no claim ; but again she haughtily 
 refused. And thus in a few weeks she offended three separate classes — 
 the nobles, the citizens, and the Church. 
 
 Thereupon Henry, Bishop of Winchester, disgusted at Maude’s ingra- 
 titude, went hack to his brother’s side. The Londoners revolted against 
 the queen, and Robert of Gloucester, the leader of Maude’s party, was 
 obliged to march with his army to Winchester to attack the bishop’s 
 fortified castle. In this enterprise he failed ; for the revolted Londoners 
 came down upon him with a large force. His followers were put to flight, 
 and Robert himself was taken prisoner ; so that now Matilda had lost 
 her best adviser and friend. There was no way to retrieve this disaster 
 but by exchanging the earl for Stephen ; and, now the opposite faction 
 had regained its leader, the civil war began again with renewed fury. 
 Sometimes Stephen’s followers gained an advantage, sometimes the 
 friends of Matilda. Towns and villages were burnt, and peasants slain, 
 and fields laid waste. Even the churches were converted into fortresses, 
 and the towers were attacked and defended as though the house of God 
 had been an abode of violence and bloodshed. 
 
 It would be tedious to go through all the details of this long strife, 
 which lasted during nearly all the remainder of Stephen’s reign. Once 
 Maude shut herself up in the city of Oxford during the absence of her 
 brother the Earl of Gloucester. Stephen besieged the place, and declared 
 that he would take Matilda prisoner. She managed, however, to escape 
 from the city during a snowy night by the expedient of dressing in white, 
 and slipping through a postern gate, with three followers clad like herself. 
 Soon afterwards she had the happiness of welcoming her young son 
 Henry, who came from Normandy with a small band of followers ; but 
 his arrival had no effect on the war ; and soon after, Maude, weary with 
 the long strife and disheartened at seeing her party grow weaker and 
 weaker, finally quitted England. With the death of the great Earl of 
 Gloucester, the leader of her party, and the chief counsellor and friend 
 of the Empress Maude, her hopes of being reinstated in her power in 
 England ended. 
 
 
Maude’s Escape from Oxford in the Snow. 
 
 71 
 
HENRY OF ANJOLJ — STEPHEN'S DEATH. 
 
 Indeed, the civil war which went on at intervals for years, might have 
 concluded altogether had it not been for Stephen’s efforts to reduce the 
 power of the nobles. He tried to make them surrender the castles they 
 had built ; but they refused, and many of them turned against him from 
 fear that he would rule them too strictly if they submitted. In the 
 meantime, the young Henry, Matilda’s son, who had been a mere infant 
 when his grandfather died, was growing in years and wisdom. He had 
 already been made Duke of Normandy, and on the death of his father, 
 Geoffrey of Anjou, he obtained still more power. Accordingly, in 1153, 
 he came to England with an army, and it seemed as if the terrible war 
 was to be renewed. But some of the barons on both sides managed to 
 bring about a treaty between Stephen and Henry. It was concluded 
 that the king should oontinue to wear the crown so long as he lived, and 
 that, at his death, Prince Henry should succeed him. Stephen’s son 
 Eustace, to whom he had wished to leave the crown, was dead ; there- 
 fore the arrangement was soon concluded, and the barons did homage 
 and promised obedience to Henry as the heir who should reign over them 
 after Stephen’s death. 
 
 That event soon happened. In the very next year (1154) Stephen 
 died after a short illness, and with him ended the rule of the Norman 
 kings in England. The nineteen years during which he had been some- 
 times really, sometimes nominally, King of England, were the most 
 disastrous that had passed since the fatal Hastings year. The crown, 
 unjustly snatched from the heir who had the right to wear it, had brought 
 him neither profit nor happiness. He was not allowed to wear it in quiet 
 himself, nor did it descend to his family after him. As Count of Blois 
 he had been rich, and prosperous, and honoured ; as King of England 
 he was harassed by continual danger, surrounded by false friends or open 
 enemies, and conscious of crime and dishonesty. Seldom in history Jiave 
 we a more complete instance of the fact that a man’s sin will find him 
 out, than we meet with in the life of Stephen. 
 
 When he died, the English had been under the Norman rule for nearly 
 ninety years. They had suffered every kind of injustice and wrong, and 
 had been oppressed and ground to the earth by their haughty and cruel 
 masters. The Normans considered themselves as beings of a superior 
 
 T 
 
 72 
 
THE NORMAN AND SAXON NATIONS Bf:GIN TO COALESCE. 
 
 race to those over whom they ruled ; and with them the very name of an 
 Englishman was a by- word and a reproach. They even kept their own 
 language quite apart from that of their subjects, disdaining to talk in the 
 Saxon tongue. But all this oppression and scorn only bound the Saxons 
 closer together : they never forgot how their ancestors had ruled in that 
 England where now they were brought so grievously low ; and through 
 all these dark days they preserved their love of justice and their longing 
 after freedom and right. 
 
 PART III. THE FIRST PLAXTAGEXETS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HENRY II. 
 
 Improved state of tRe country under the Plantagenet rule — Henry’s vigorous measures — 
 Thomas a Becket — His parentage and birth- — His influence with the King — Becomes 
 Chancellor of England — Story of Henry, Becket, and the beggar — Becket made Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury. 
 
 We now come to a reign that occupies a glorious and an important 
 position in English history ; for it marks the dawn of a better state of 
 things throughout the country. The story of the Norman kings and of 
 their rule is a sad record of oppression and wrong j of tyranny, borne 
 sometimes in sullen or despairing silence, sometimes resisted with a fitful 
 violence which produced no result to the insurgents but cruel punishment 
 and additional misery ; the rulers are tyrants, and the bulk of the people 
 slaves. But under the Plantagenet kings, whose history we now com* 
 mence, the dreary aspect of affairs begins to change for the better* 
 Gradually the old hatred between Saxon and Norman begins to die out* 
 and the two races try to work together, each bringing some benefit to 
 the other. Law and justice begin to assert their power against violence 
 
 73 
 
ORIGIN OF THE NAME “ PLANTAGENET” — HENRYKS POWER. 
 
 and wrong. The property of the quiet citizen or farmer is no longer 
 at the mercy of the robber baron or of his dishonest followers. With 
 security and protection for the weak, industry and invention begin to 
 prosper again. The land, wasted by long years of strife and famine, 
 gradually resumes the appearance it wore before those terrible scourges 
 came upon it ; and the Saxon inhabitants of England begin to believe 
 that happier times may yet come, when, according to the promise given, 
 but not kept, by the Conqueror, “ Every man shall be law-worthy ; and 
 every man shall be his father’s heir after his father’s death.” 
 
 Of this change much is due to the great king whose history I have 
 now to tell. Henry II. had all the quick wit and mental power, without 
 the cruelty and perfidy, of his grandfather Henry I. As Duke of Nor- 
 mandy and Count of Anjou he had given promise of rare qualities and 
 talents ; and his later years richly fulfilled the hopes entertained of him 
 in his youth. 
 
 The surname “ Plantagenet,” by which the line of kings commencing 
 with him is known in history, is derived from Geoffrey of Anjou, Henry’s 
 father, who took part in the second Crusade commenced by Louis VII. 
 in 1141. As a distinguishing mark by which his followers should know 
 him when he was encased in his armour, Geoffrey was accustomed to wear 
 in his helmet a branch of the planta genesta , or broom. Thus he was 
 called Geoffrey Plantagenet, or Geoffrey of the broom-plant ; and the 
 name was retained by his descendants. 
 
 The first of the Plantagenet kings certainly ascended the throne under 
 peculiar advantages — advantages which he knew how to employ to the 
 best purpose. His title to the crown was clear and unquestioned; he 
 had already become known as a prince of rare talent and capacity ; and 
 Englishmen and Normans, wearied with the strife and bloodshed of the 
 last twenty years, combined to welcome him joyfully to England. Henry 
 also possessed far greater power than Stephen could ever boast. A con- 
 siderable part of Erance belonged to him. He had Normandy, Anjou, 
 Touraine, and Maine ; and moreover he had, not long before Stephen’s 
 death, married Eleanor, the heiress of Aquitaine — an alliance which 
 brought him much land, much influence, and subsequently much un- 
 happiness. 
 
THOMAS a BECK ET— HIS ROMANTIC PARENTAGE. 
 
 Armed with this power, he began vigorously to set England in order. 
 Many of the strong castles, which were little better than dens of robbers, 
 he seized and demolished. He sent away the foreign soldiers and vaga- 
 bonds whom Stephen had summoned to England to support his ill-gotten 
 crown, and began to punish all robbers and law-breakers with a severity 
 which soon reduced their number and their boldness ; and restored to 
 England a degree of law and order that had been unknown for many 
 years. 
 
 I have now to speak of King Henry’s connection with a very remark- 
 able man, whose name has become celebrated in the history of his times. 
 This man is the famous Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, or, 
 as he is generally called, Thomas a Becket. 
 
 This celebrated man was the son of Gilbert Becket, a merchant of 
 London. His mother was a Saracen maiden, by whose assistance Gilbert 
 Becket had escaped from slavery among the infidels in Palestine ; she had 
 followed the Christian captive to England, though she knew but two 
 words of his language — his name “ Gilbert,” and “ London,” the place 
 where he dwelt. He actually found her in the streets of London, seeking 
 for him, and repeating, “Gilbert! Gilbert!” his name. He had her 
 baptized, and they were married. Thomas Becket was their eldest son. 
 Thomas received a good education — a rare advantage in those days — and 
 first became a favourite with some of the barons, and then with the 
 king, who made him his friend and companion, and bestowed various 
 offices upon him. At length Thomas a Becket became the king’s 
 chancellor, or keeper of the great seal, and was entrusted with the 
 education of Henry’s eldest son. 
 
 Becket belonged to the clergy, for he was a deacon ; but he lived as 
 gaily and expensively as any noble, took his share in all the king’s 
 pastimes and sports, and led a great troop of soldiers in person into the 
 field in the king’s wars. As a proof of the familiar terms on which 
 Becket lived with the king, it is told how one day they were riding 
 together, when they met a poor half-naked beggar. Henry asked 
 Becket if it would not be a good deed to supply this poor man with a 
 cloak; and on the chancellor’s replying “It would surely,” the king 
 exclaimed, “Then he shall have one;” and by main force pulled off 
 
 75 
 
HENRY'S QUARRELS WITH THOMAS a BECKET. 
 
 Becket’s rich cloak, though the chancellor struggled hard to retain it, 
 and bestowed the costly garment on the astonished beggar. 
 
 The Church at this time was at the height of its power. During the 
 turbulent reign of Stephen the power of the clergy had greatly increased, 
 and the Pope, considering himself placed high above all kings, taxed the 
 people on his own authority. Henry wished to reduce the pretensions 
 of the clergy to something like reason ; for they even refused to be tried 
 by the king’s judges, delaring that the Church alone had the power to 
 punish churchmen for any olfences. Therefore, when an opportunity 
 occurred, Henry thought he should increase his own power by giving 
 to Becket, whom he believed to be devoted to his interests, the highest 
 Church office in the kingdom. Accordingly he nominated him to the 
 office of Primate of England ; and Becket the courtier and favourite was 
 duly installed as Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE EEIGN OF HENEY II. CONTINUED. 
 
 Becket’s oppositionto Henry — The quarrel between the King and the Archbishop— The Council 
 of Clarendon — Becket’s flight to Trance — His return and death — Embarrassment and 
 danger of Henry — His acts of penitence — Conquest of Ireland — The King’s family 
 troubles — His death in 1189. 
 
 Hekey found himself completely deceived in the effect produced by 
 the elevation of Becket. He had imagined that the highest dignitary 
 of the Church would continue to be his humble servant and vassal ; and 
 fancied Becket the archbishop would still be Becket the courtier, fond 
 of splendour, proud of his wealth, and anxious to preserve his master’s 
 favour. But Becket adopted an entirely opposite course. He was, in- 
 deed, ready to work zealously for his master’s interest ; but he no longer 
 considered Henry, but the Pope, as the master whom he was bound to 
 serve. Eormerly his palace had been thronged with barons and lords ; 
 he now opened it to priests and monks, whose favour he worked hard 
 
 76 
 
RECONCILIATION BETWEEN THE KING AND THE ARCHBISHOP, 
 
 to gain, and to the poor, whose champion and protector he publicly 
 announced himself. The churchmen were delighted when they saw the 
 great statesman on their side, and upheld every word and every action of 
 Becket’s. The king at first was astonished and then enraged at the 
 proceedings of a man who, after being his servant for years, now dared 
 openly to thwart his will, and to assert that the power of the Church 
 was above that of the king. Outwardly the archbishop exhibited every 
 sign of deep humility. He resigned his office as Henry’s chancellor, 
 declaring that all his energies and talents must be henceforth devoted 
 to the fulfilment of his Church duties. The common people looked 
 upon him as a saint; for while he tried every expedient to put the 
 power of the Church above that of the king, he wore sackcloth next 
 his skin, put bitter herbs into the water he drank, and scourged his own 
 back with a whip to show his humility. At the same time he excited 
 the bishops under his authority to declare themselves above the king’s 
 law, and to stand up for the Church against the State. 
 
 The king insisted that all clergymen who were charged with offences 
 against the laws should be tried by his judges, like the rest of his sub- 
 jects. Becket insisted that they could only be tried by priests. The 
 king called together a great assembly of the nobles and clergy at 
 Clarendon, in Wiltshire, and published a number of ordinances, to which 
 he required all present to submit. The bishops consented ; but Becket 
 refused, though he was soon compelled to make a kind of submission. 
 Presently, when Becket found that he could not maintain himself against 
 the king in England, he fled to Prance, and appealed to the Pope ; Henry 
 also appealed to Borne; and the quarrel went on for years. At last 
 Henry came to Prance, and Becket met him in the presence of the 
 Prench king. Each spoke of his grievances. Becket made a partial 
 submission, and Henry became half reconciled to him ; but it was seen 
 that neither trusted the other ; and when Becket parted from Henry to 
 return to his see of Canterbury, he said, in a significant way, to the 
 king, “I believe that I shall see you no more.” Becket had been 
 absent from England for six years ; and it might be supposed that so 
 long a banishment would soften his spirit, and render him anxious for 
 peace. But so soon as he found himself surrounded by the populace in 
 
THE MURDER OF THOMAS a BECKET. 
 
 England, who looked upon him as the champion of the Saxon name, 
 and as a holy man suffering in the cause of the Church, he no longer 
 strove to restrain his haughty and revengeful spirit. Almost his first act 
 was to depose some bishops who had opposed him, and to excommunicate 
 a number of the king’s friends. The deposed bishops made the best of 
 their way to France, and told Henry of Becket’s conduct ; and the king 
 burst out in a fit of rage, declaring that he wondered there was not one 
 of his friends who would rid him of this turbulent priest. 
 
 The words were spoken in haste and in anger ; but they bore bitter 
 fruit. Four of Henry’s knights heard them, and swore among them- 
 selves that the proud archbishop should trouble the king no more. They 
 at once took ship ; and crossing the water to England, proceeded at once 
 to Canterbury. The archbishop received them in a calm and dignified 
 manner, and listened almost without reply to their reproaches. When 
 the bell rang for afternoon prayers, he went into the cathedral, but the 
 angry Normans followed him, and slew him on the steps of the altar. 
 
 Henry was greatly disturbed when he heard of Becket’s death. He 
 could scarcely have grieved much at the fate of a man who had for years 
 been his bitter enemy ; but he feared that the murder of Becket might 
 array both the Church and the people against him. Therefore, he was 
 obliged to humiliate himself in many ways. At the tomb which covered 
 the remains of the great archbishop, whom the people now worshipped 
 as a saint and martyr, the King of England was compelled to kneel, clad 
 in sackcloth, the garb of penitence, while monks scourged his shoulders 
 with whips. He paid an enormous sum of money towards an expedition 
 which the Pope was exhorting all the princes of Europe to undertake 
 against the Saracen’s in Palestine ; and by these and other concessions 
 he escaped the sentence he most feared from the Pope — a sentence of 
 excommunication. For in those days the Church enjoyed the confidence 
 and respect of the people in every nation, while the government was 
 looked upon with fear, generally mingled with hatred. Therefore the 
 people always took the side of the Church in every quarrel ; and as the 
 Church allowed the people of an excommunicated sovereign to revolt, 
 they seldom failed to avail themselves of the permission. 
 
 In quitting the subject of the king’s controversy with Becket, of which 
 
 78 
 
IRELAND CONQUERED BY STRONGBOW. 
 
 only a very scanty outline has been given, it would be wrong not to state 
 that Henry frequently erred, by introducing measures especially intended 
 to irritate and annoy his antagonist. As in most quarrels of the kind, 
 neither side was altogether right or quite wrong. 
 
 Henry was very fortunate in war. One of the greatest achievements 
 of his reign was the conquest of Ireland. Like England in the Saxon 
 times, Ireland was then governed by many chiefs and kings, the five 
 principal being the kings of Ulster, Munster, Leinster, Connaught, and 
 Meath. One of these acted as chief king, much as the Eretwalda had 
 done in England in the old days. Early in his reign Henry had con- 
 ceived the design of reducing Ireland to subjection ; and the Pope, who 
 declared that the right of disposing of kingdoms belonged to the Church 
 (it is astonishing how much was said to belong to the Church in those 
 days), had given Henry written permission to take possession of the 
 island. But Henry had been prevented, chiefly by the quarrels with 
 Becket, from following up the enterprise. Now it happened that Dermot 
 Mac Murrough, King of Leinster, was deposed for various crimes he had 
 committed; and, anxious to regain his dominions, he sent to Henry in 
 Prance, begging for aid, and promising to pay homage to the King of 
 England if his territory were re-conquered for him. Henry thereupon 
 gave permission to any of his knights who might choose, to help Mac 
 Murrough. Thereupon Bichard, Earl of Pembroke, called Strongbow, 
 went over to Ireland with some well-armed followers, and soon reinstated 
 Dermot in the government. He married Eva, the Irish king’s daughter, 
 and, on the death of Dermot, began to spread his own authority far and 
 wide. But now Henry became jealous of the progress made by Strong- 
 bow, who seemed inclined to found a separate kingdom. He recalled all 
 his subjects from Ireland, and was only appeased when Strongbow and 
 his followers offered to hold their conquests as vassals of the King of 
 England. Henry himself landed in Ireland with many knights and men- 
 at-arms ; and all the southern part of the island submitted to him. He 
 made Strongbow his deputy, and returned to England. At a later 
 period he sent his son John as viceroy into Ireland ; but John and his 
 vain companions made enemies of all whom they met, and very nearly 
 caused Ireland to revolt from the king. 
 
 80 
 
REBELLIONS OF HENRY'S SONS— HIS DEATH— RICHARD I. 
 
 In his own family Henry was very unhappy. His sons, to whom he 
 had generously given territories, proved ungrateful and revolted against 
 him. Henry, the eldest, whom the king had caused to he crowned, 
 listened to the bad counsed of Louis VII., King of France, and rebelled 
 against his father because Henry very naturally refused to yield either 
 the crown of England or Normandy to him. Henry died before his 
 father, and upon his death-bed repented of his crimes. Kichard, the 
 second son, Geoffrey, the third, and John, the youngest and the favourite 
 of his father, were all equally undutiful, and many of the barons sup- 
 ported them ; for they thought each chief would have more liberty to 
 rule as he chose, under young and weak princes, than under such an 
 experienced monarch as Henry. In their rebellion the young princes 
 were encouraged by their mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine. The King of 
 Scotland also invaded England ; but he was taken prisoner, in North- 
 umberland, by Henry’s famous baron, Ralph de Glanville. After this 
 triumph Henry made peace with his sons, and set the Scottish king at 
 liberty, after receiving an oatli of homage from him. 
 
 In 1189 Richard again revolted against his father: once more the 
 king triumphed, and Richard was obliged to make submission ; but when 
 the old king found in the list of the barons who had joined in this revolt 
 the name of his favourite son John, the perfidy and ingratitude of his 
 children broke his heart, and he turned his face to the wall and died. 
 He was fifty-seven years old, and had reigned over England thirty-four 
 years. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 RICHARD I. 
 
 Richard’s accession in 1189 — His character — The Third Crusade — Richard’s departure from 
 England — Quarrel with the French King — Richard’s deeds in Palestine — Failure of the 
 Crusade — Richard’s attempt to return in disguise — Taken prisoner by Leopold of Austria. 
 
 Richard, the eldest surviving son of Henry, succeeded to the throne 
 of England at his father’s death. He was distinguished for his bravery 
 
 82 
 
RICHARD'S BRAVERY— THE THIRD CRUSADE. 
 
 even in those warlike times, when even churchmen rode to the field of 
 battle, and every noble wielded the sword and lance. Thus he obtained 
 the surname of Cceur de Lion , or the Lion-hearted ; but he was not a 
 good king. More than mere courage is required to fit a man to bear 
 rule in a kingdom ; and except his undaunted courage, Bichard had few 
 kingly qualities. To obtain military fame was his highest ambition ; and 
 to this wish he sacrificed the good of his subjects, of whom, indeed, he 
 took little notice, using them merely as a means for gaining money. He 
 reigned ten years, and in all those ten years he did not spend ten months 
 in England. 
 
 Great preparations had been in progress for some time for a third 
 Crusade ; and three monarchs had bound themselves by an oath to take 
 part in its perils and glories. They were Erederic, called Barbarossa, 
 or the “ Bed Beard,” Emperor of Germany ; Philip, surnamed Augustus, 
 King of Erance; and Bichard the Lion-hearted of England. The 
 Emperor of Germany set out first with his army, and perished by 
 drowning on his way to the Holy Land. Bichard and Philip made 
 great preparations for carrying out their enterprise ; and Bichard at least 
 was determined to persevere until Jerusalem should be regained. He 
 sold a number of the royal manors or estates to obtain money for the 
 equipment of his troops. In some cases this was to the advantage of 
 the Saxon burghers, who bought the houses and farms in which they 
 lived, and thus raised themselves to a better position than any of their 
 ancestors had occupied since the Conquest. The eagerness of the king 
 to raise money was remarkable. He declared he would sell London 
 itself if he could only find a purchaser. 
 
 With a gallant company of knights and followers King Bichard set 
 sail for the Holy Land. At Messina he joined Philip, King of Erance, 
 and the two armies were to proceed together on their enterprise. A set 
 of rules had been drawn up for the conduct of the two armies during the 
 journey ; and to show the roughness of the times one of those rules may 
 be quoted. It declared that any sergeant-at-arms, labourer, or sailor 
 who presumed to play for money at any game whatever during the transit, 
 the former should be flogged once a day for three days, and the latter 
 should be plunged three times in the sea from the topmast. Priests and 
 
 83 
 
DISSENSIONS AMONG THE CRUSADERS— RICHARD A PRISONER. 
 
 knights might play, so long as they did not lose more than twenty sous 
 in one day ; the kings had the privilege of playing for what stakes they 
 chose. 
 
 But though the French and English were joined in the same enterprise, 
 there was no love or union between their leaders. Bichard often showed 
 himself arrogant and overbearing ; and Philip, who moreover longed to 
 be back in Prance looking after his own affairs, distrusted, or affected to 
 distrust, the King of England. When Conrad of Montferrat, a French 
 noble, was killed by some Saracens, Philip pretended to believe that 
 Bichard had hired the assassins ; presently he declared that his own life 
 was in danger, and retired from the Crusade, leaving some of his men 
 behind him. How he employed himself in France we shall see presently. 
 
 Abandoned by his treacherous ally, and left to finish the Crusade alone, 
 Bichard showed himself worthy of his surname of Coeur de Lion. He 
 took several towns in Palestine. His valour rendered his very name a 
 terror to the Saracens ; and when there was work to be done, no labourer 
 in the army wrought harder than the brave English king. But to take 
 Jerusalem was beyond his power. He had, indeed, sworn that he would 
 not quit the Holy Land 66 so long as there remained an ass for him to 
 eat but the crusaders were getting tired of the enterprise, and began to 
 return home in numbers. Sickness, moreover, appeared among them, 
 and attacked Bichard himself, who besides heard very startling and grave 
 news from Europe relative to the King of France, and to his own brother 
 John. Therefore he concluded with the great Saracen Emperor Saladin 
 a truce for three years, three months, three weeks, three days, and three 
 hours. He stipulated that the towns he had taken should remain in the 
 hands of the Christians, and that all pilgrims , should have free access to 
 the holy places. Then he turned his back upon Palestine, resolving to 
 get home as secretly and quickly as possible. But he was recognized as 
 he attempted to pass in disguise through the city of Vienna. The 
 Duke Leopold of Austria had a grudge against him, and therefore took 
 him prisoner, and shut him up in a strong castle. 
 
 84 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE REIGN OF HICHAM) I. CONTINUED. 
 
 State of England during Richard’s absence — Longchamp deposed — John’s treachery — Intrigues 
 of the French King Philip Augustus — Story of Richard and Blondel — Release and return 
 of Richard — John’s submission — Outlaws in English forests — Death of Richard I. in 1199. 
 
 Before he quitted Europe for the Holy Land, King Bichard had 
 appointed two clergymen, Hugh, Bishop of Durham, and William de 
 Longchamp, Bishop of Ely, as guardians of England. Upon his own 
 brother John (or Lackland, as that prince was called), upon whom he 
 had with great liberality bestowed the barony of Mortaigne, in Nor- 
 mandy, Bichard had little reliance. He therefore bound John by a 
 promise not to visit England till the king himself should return ; but 
 John, who never scrupled to break his word when falsehood suited his 
 purpose, did not keep faith on this occasion. 
 
 The two justiciaries were very active in levying taxes. William de 
 Longchamp especially signalized himself by exactions and oppressions; 
 and Prince John took advantage of a quarrel consequent upon Long- 
 champ’s tyranny to come to London, in defiance of the promise he had 
 given to Bichard. John convoked the barons and bishops, and in their 
 assembly accused William de Longchamp of having abused the power 
 intrusted to him by the king. Longchamp shut himself up in the Tower 
 of London. 
 
 The barons now determined to depose Longchamp ; and to make their 
 cause stronger, they summoned the citizens of London to deliberate in 
 the council with them. The citizens came joyfully, for this was an 
 honour they had not yet enjoyed. William de Longchamp was declared 
 deposed. 
 
 He tried to escape from England in disguise, with a woman’s skirt 
 over his clothes, and a thick veil on his head; and under his arm he 
 carried a roll of cloth, as if he had been a dealer. But he spoke no 
 English ; and when some women asked him the price of his cloth, his 
 
 85 
 
JOHN’S TREACHERY— THE STORY OF BLONDEL. 
 
 ignorance betrayed him. He was made prisoner, and prevented from 
 leaving the kingdom until he had given up the keys of all the king’s 
 
 castles. 
 
 The country was in a very unsettled state. Prince John began to 
 hope that he should be able to keep the power that he had seized on the 
 deposition of Longchamp, and strove to attach some of the barons to his 
 side. Especially was he anxious for the help of the King of Prance ; 
 and Philip was very glad of a chance to injure King Bichard. Thus a 
 compact was made between King Philip of Prance and Prince John of 
 England, the treacherous John promising that if he could gain possession 
 of England through Philip’s aid, he would give up nearly the whole of 
 Normandy and the rest of the territories in Erance; and hold England 
 itself as the vassal and liegeman of the Erench king. Considering that 
 it was for a long time a great matter of doubt in England what had 
 become of Bichard, John might have succeeded in his bad scheme had 
 he possessed energy and courage. But no one had any confidence in 
 him : and Bichard was right, when, on hearing of John’s designs, he 
 said, “ My brother John is not a man to conquer kingdoms.” 
 
 After a long time it became known in England that Bichard was held 
 captive in Germany. Leopold of Austria had been compelled to deliver 
 him up to Henry VI., Emperor of Germany ; and the King of Erance 
 tried every means to induce the emperor to keep Bichard in captivity, 
 and prevent him from returning to England. 
 
 There is a pretty story told by a Erench romancer, to the effect that 
 Bichard’s place of captivity was discovered by means of a favourite page 
 named Blondel, who travelled from castle to castle, singing, in front of 
 each, a song known only to the king and himself ; and that at last, on 
 singing the first verse of the song in front of the castle of Durrenstein, 
 on the Danube, he heard the voice of the Boyal prisoner singing the 
 second verse from his dungeon \ and thus the joyful Blondel knew that 
 his lion-hearted master was yet alive. But there are no proofs that this 
 pretty story is true. 
 
 Certain it is, however, that the Emperor of Germany made Bichard 
 appear as a captive before the Imperial Council in the city of Worms. 
 Many charges were brought against him $ but Bichard defended himself 
 
 8G 
 
Blondel discovers the place of Richard’s confinement. 
 
RICHARD’S RETURN TO ENGLAND— OUTLAWS. 
 
 with so much dignity and firmness, that many of his hearers were melted 
 to tears, and all present were convinced of his innocence. After this, 
 the emperor was obliged to promise that he would release Richard, on 
 the king’s paying a hundred thousand marks of silver. This ransom 
 was partly collected in England from the people, and partly raised by 
 gifts contributed by the clergy and by a number of ladies. 
 
 At length, after an absence of more than three years, Richard landed 
 in England, where he was received with shouts of welcome. Prince 
 John’s followers at once deserted their weak leader, who was glad to 
 throw himself at his brother’s feet, and entreat forgiveness for his 
 treachery. Richard generously forgave him, merely observing, 46 1 hope 
 I may as soon forget his offences, as he will my pardon.” It would have 
 been well had the king behaved with justice to the purchasers of the 
 domains he had sold before setting out on the Crusade, and whom he now 
 greatly astonished by taking back the lands he had sold ; declaring that 
 the buyers had repaid themselves for the money they had paid out of the 
 revenue of the estates. In those days the man who had most power 
 generally made his claim good ; in fact, Might was Right. 
 
 Richard had pardoned J ohn ; but he was not disposed to let his rival 
 Philip escape so easily. He waged a successful war in Prance, caused 
 Philip to rue the day when he allied himself with the weak and vicious 
 John, and severely punished those who had risen against their liege lord 
 during his captivity. 
 
 Thus King Richard passe.d his time in wars abroad ; and things wore 
 an unquiet aspect at home. The country was oppressed by tax-gatherers, 
 who wrung from the people large sums for the payment of the king’s 
 expenses, and for the part of his ransom that remained unpaid. In 
 London itself there were frequent fights in broad daylight; and after 
 curfew no man could walk the streets without danger of being robbed 
 and murdered. In the forests were still to be found bands of outlaws, 
 who determined not to submit to the Norman oppressors, and who lived 
 in the greenwood, plundering the rich abbots and the king’s officers who 
 fell into their power, while the people secretly rejoiced at their successes, 
 and made heroes of them. The most famous of these outlaws was 
 Robin Hood, who dwelt with his men in Sherwood Eorest, and about 
 
Richard pardons John. 
 
DEATH OF RICHARD — JOHN’S ACCESSION. 
 
 whom many ballads have been written. Others were Adam Bell, Clym 
 of the Clough, and William Cloudesley, who dwelt in Inglewood Forest. 
 William, called “ Longbeard,” was another hero, who took the part of 
 the Saxons in London, where he was at length cruelly put to death. 
 
 Bichard’s reign had been passed in deeds of violence, and it came to 
 a violent end. In the year 1199, the Count of Limoges, one of his 
 vassals, found a treasure, of which he sent Bichard a part. But the 
 avaricious king swore he would have the whole, and attacked the count’s 
 castle of Chaluz, declaring he would put the whole garrison to death. 
 An archer named Bertrand de Gourdon shot him in the arm with an 
 arrow. The wound grew rapidly worse ; and in a few days Bichard died. 
 He was a brave man, but one totally devoid of that higher and nobler 
 kind of courage which would have enabled him to conquer his own 
 passions and vices. 
 
 CHAPTEB Y. 
 
 KING JOHN. 
 
 John’s defective title — Arthur of Bretagne and Philip of France — Arthur taken prisoner — His 
 death — Loss of Normandy — Disgust of the Barons — John’s extortions — Quarrel with Pope 
 Innocent III. — The Interdict. 
 
 King Bichakd I. left no son to succeed him ; for his marriage with 
 the Princess Berengaria of Navarre had brought him no children. The 
 next heir to the throne, therefore, was young Arthur of Bretagne, the 
 son of Bichard’s dead brother Geoffrey ; for according to the feudal law, 
 the son of an elder brother succeeded to an inheritance before a younger 
 brother. Bichard had, in the early part of his reign, solemnly declared 
 young Arthur to be his heir ; but in a will he made a year before 
 his death, he named his brother John as his successor. It is thought 
 his will was made on the persuasion of his mother, the old dowager 
 Queen Eleanor, who detested Constance of Bretagne, the mother of young 
 Arthur. 
 
 90 
 
ARTHUR CLAIMS THE THRONE— HIS DEATH. 
 
 If John had possessed the respect and good-will of his vassals, they 
 might have given him their obedience cheerfully, on the strength of his 
 brother’s will. But John had made himself detested by all classes ; and 
 the foreign barons refused him their homage, and appealed to the King 
 of France to support Arthur’s claim. Philip, who saw a prospect of 
 advantage for himself in this affair, took up Arthur’s cause against the 
 King of England. But John appeased him by advantageous offers; 
 and Philip, who in reality cared little for Arthur or his claims, was but 
 a false friend to the young prince, and deserted him in his utmost need. 
 But while he despoiled Arthur of his heritage, Philip was profuse in 
 words of endearment. He caused Arthur to be educated with his own 
 son Louis, and seemed to be acting in his interests. And when, in the 
 year 1202, the tyranny and falsehood of John raised a general revolt in 
 Poitou and his other French provinces, Philip broke the peace he had 
 concluded, and prepared actively to combat the English king. 
 
 At first the Poitevins seemed likely to be successful ; and young 
 Arthur, joining them with a number of soldiers, attempted to take the 
 town and castle of Mirebeau, where the old dowager Queen Eleanor 
 dwelt. She had never been friendly to him, and he hoped to take her 
 prisoner. But, for once, John showed something like energy. He fell 
 upon Arthur with an army, routed the young prince’s men, and took 
 him away captive to Normandy. What became of Arthur was never 
 precisely known. It was asserted by the Normans that the Prince of 
 Bretagne fell sick at Rouen, and died ; while others spread a rumour of 
 his having been dashed to pieces in attempting to clamber over the walls 
 of his prison. But the Bretons, Arthur’s subjects, told a very different 
 story of his death; and as John was known to be capable of every kind 
 of wickedness, their account gained the greater amount of belief. They 
 declared that Arthur was shut up in the castle of Falaise, whither his 
 cruel uncle dispatched a murderer to slay him. But Hubert de Burgh, 
 the governor of the castle, wished to save the young prince, and there- 
 fore undertook to execute John’s commands. He pretended that he 
 had killed Arthur, and even had a mock funeral celebrated ; but the 
 reproaches of the Bretons, who were furious at the murder of their 
 prince, induced him to tell the truth, and avow that Arthur yet lived. 
 
 91 
 
NORMANDY LOST TO THE ENGLISH. 
 
 Unfortunately, the fact reached the ears of John, who* forthwith removed 
 Arthur to Rouen. Thither he came in the night-time ; and it is said 
 that he stabbed his nephew to the heart with his own dagger. Such was 
 the tale told in Trance ; and, true or false, it brought great advantage to 
 the cunning King Philip. 
 
 Por the Trench vassals of King John were enraged at the wickedness 
 of the man who could with his own hand slay his brother’s son. The 
 times were rude and cruel ; but this action inspired horror even then. To 
 avenge the death of their unfortunate prince, the Bretons took up arms, 
 at the invitation of King Philip, who himself appeared with an army in 
 John’s province of Poitou. The inhabitants joined him, and he next 
 marched to attack Normandy itself. Towns were taken and villages 
 burnt, and one place after another fell into Philip’s hands ; but King 
 John seemed satisfied with his possession of England; and, to the disgust 
 of his barons, left his vassals in Normandy to shift for themselves, show- 
 ing not the slightest disposition to march to their assistance. At last 
 even Rouen, the Norman capital, was attacked. John had already fled 
 from Normandy, like a coward ; but the citizens of Rouen were still 
 ready to fight for him, if he would only send them some assistance. 
 They therefore proposed to Philip to surrender, unless they obtained 
 relief within thirty days ; and sent a pressing embassy to England, 
 entreating John to send them, aid without delay. The envoys found the 
 king playing at chess. He finished his game, and then coolly informed 
 them that he could send them no assistance within the time they named, 
 and that, therefore, they must do as best they could. Hereupon they 
 surrendered to the Trench king ; and Philip had the great satisfaction 
 of seeing the rich and flourishing province of Normandy, which had 
 been a powerful separate government for three hundred years, reduced 
 to subjection under the Trench crown. Certainly no English king but 
 J ohn would have given up such a possession so easily. 
 
 The barons were justly angry with John for his conduct in this Trench 
 war. He was continually extorting large sums from them, and, indeed, 
 from all classes of his subjects, under pretence of regaining what had 
 been lost in Trance ; but from every expedition on which he embarked, 
 he returned covered with shame and disgrace ; so that his vassals and 
 
 92 
 
ENGLAND LAID UNDER AN INTERDICT. 
 
 subjects lost whatever small remains of respect they might have had for 
 him. His predecessors had oppressed their subjects, but at least they 
 had been brave and warlike men ; and in those days bravery covered a 
 great deal of injustice, as has been seen in the case of Coeur de Lion, 
 who was always respected and honoured, however rapacious he showed 
 himself. But John took his subjects’ money, and gave them nothing 
 but defeat in return. 
 
 In the year 1207 a quarrel commenced between John and the great 
 Pope Innocent III. The strife lasted some years. Its origin was in 
 John’s refusal to acknowledge a priest named Stephen Langton, whom 
 Innocent had appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. The Pope laid the 
 kingdom under an interdict. All religious services except baptism and 
 marriages were interdicted or forbidden. The churches were shut up, 
 and the bells were taken from them. The dead were buried in ditches 
 and fields, instead of in the churchyards ; and everything wore an 
 appearance of gloom and dejection. Still John remained obstinate, 
 and at length the Pope excommunicated him. A man excommunicated 
 was in those days considered as shut out from all society or communion 
 with Christians ; his possessions might be taken away from him, and he 
 could not appeal to the law to protect him ; and if he were a king, his 
 subjects were commanded to obey him no longer. 
 
 CHAPTEB YI. 
 king John’s reign concluded. 
 
 Continued quarrel between Innocent III. and tbe King — Philip Augustus invited to invade 
 England — John’s submission to the Pope — His renewed tyranny — Revolt of the Rarons 
 under Eitz waiter — Signing of Magna Charta — Eury of the King — His oppressions — His 
 death. 
 
 Por some years the quarrel between the Pope and King John remained 
 unsettled. John disregarded the menaces of the Pope, procured some 
 priests who celebrated divine service in spite of the interdict, and sought 
 
 93 
 
JOHN DEPOSED BY POPE INNOCENT III. 
 
 to distract the attention of nobles and people from the question at issue 
 by expeditions against the Welsh, Irish, and Scotch. But Pope Inno- 
 cent was a dangerous enemy. Even Philip Augustus, the wily and 
 energetic King of Prance, had been obliged to submit to his power ; and 
 he was determined that the King of England should not defy him 
 unpunished. John, moreover, contributed greatly to his own ruin by his 
 senseless tyranny and extravagance. He made enemies of the nobles, 
 who might have upheld his authority, robbing some and imprisoning 
 others ; and, thus, when the sentence of excommunication was passed 
 upon him, he had no friends left ; and when the Pope followed up this 
 sentence by declaring John deposed, no man raised his hand in favour of 
 the wicked king. Innocent III., who declared that, as Pope, he had a 
 right to dispose of the territories of excommunicated princes, formally 
 bestowed John’s kingdom upon Philip Augustus of Prance, who called 
 together a large army to take possession of the gift thus granted to him. 
 Then John lost heart, and made an abject submission to the Pope. He 
 resigned his crown into the hands of Pandulph, Cardinal of Milan, whom 
 Innocent had sent over as his ambassador or legate, and promised, if the 
 Pope would be reconciled to him, to hold England as the vassal or servant 
 of the Roman pontiff, to recall all the priests he had sent away, and to 
 pay an immense sum as satisfaction for the money he had extorted. 
 Thereupon Innocent pardoned him, and recalled the gift he had made to 
 Philip of Prance. 
 
 You may imagine that Philip was very angry at being thus thwarted. 
 He declared that he would not be a mere tool in the hands of the Pope, 
 and prepared to invade England on his own account. But his fleet was 
 partly destroyed by the Earl of Salisbury ; and with a heart full of bitter- 
 ness and wrath the Prench king was obliged for the time to give up the 
 project of conquering England, and to wait till John’s tyranny and 
 oppression should give him another chance. These events occurred in 
 the year 1213. 
 
 Believed for a time from his fears, and fancying that the Pope was 
 strong enough to protect him from all foes, John now entered upon a new 
 and more aggravated course of tyranny and oppression, treating his sub- 
 jects generally as if they were his natural enemies, and drawing upon liini- 
 
 91 
 
95 
 
THE GREAT CHARTER. 
 
 self the hatred of all classes alike. During the whole of the year 1214, 
 the discontent in England was increasing, and the barons at length began 
 to form a strong league against the wicked king. One baron, Eitzwalter 
 by name, whom John had deeply injured, acted as leader ; and Stephen 
 Langton, the new Archbishop of Canterbury, gave all his influence to 
 aid the barons, who now called themselves the Army of God and of Holy 
 Church. John tried to set the league at defiance, but found himself 
 deserted. The Londoners took part with the nobles, and the king was 
 left at Odiham, in Hampshire, with only seven knights to attend him. 
 Then, at last, he consented to a conference with the barons, to discuss 
 and redress the grievances of which they complained. 
 
 This meeting of the king and the barons is a very important event in 
 the history of England. It was held in a meadow called Eunnymede, 
 near Windsor ; and here the barons compelled the king to sign a memo- 
 rial, which is known in history as the Great Charter. 
 
 The importance of this document lay in the fact that it contained 
 certain conditions which the king was bound to observe in government, 
 and which prevented him from ruling entirely according to his own will 
 and caprice. It prevented the king from exacting, as he had frequently 
 done, any sum he chose to levy upon a son who wanted to inherit his 
 father’s estate ; or upon a widow who wished to marry again, or to avoid 
 marrying any one whom the king had chosen to be her husband. The 
 liberties and privileges granted to the cities were insured to them. The 
 courts of justice were to try the cases of all men who appeared before 
 them. Punishments were to be in proportion to the faults committed. 
 No freeman was to be imprisoned, or to suffer damage by fine or other- 
 wise, contrary to the law. Euinous fines were to be levied no longer ; 
 and even the poor peasant or villain was not to be deprived of his 
 implements of husbandry. These are a few of the enactments of the 
 Great Charter, which was a great step towards restoring to the English 
 that freedom which their ancestors had enjoyed under the Saxon Alfred, 
 and of which the Norman rule had deprived them. 
 
 John tried in several ways to avoid signing the Great Charter ; but 
 the barons were firm, and would accept no compromise. So he put his 
 name to the document, and then went away to Windsor in a rage. From 
 
King John Signing Magna Charta. 
 
 A 
 
FRESH REVOLT OF THE BARONS— DEATH OF JOHN. 
 
 thence he retired secretly to the Isle of Wight ; and, on the arrival of 
 some foreign troops, whom he had found means to hire, he commenced 
 a march across the kingdom, treating it as if it were an enemy’s country, 
 plundering and burning wherever he went, and actually setting fire in 
 the morning to the house that had sheltered him at night. 
 
 The natural consequence of this proceeding was that the barons 
 revolted anew. A number of them invited Louis, the eldest son of the 
 Trench King Philip, to come to England, and claim the crown which 
 John had so often shown himself unworthy to wear. Louis came to 
 England accordingly, and actually entered London ; hut he did not trust 
 the barons, nor had they any real confidence in him. Erance and 
 England had so often been enemies, that it was difficult for them to 
 unite in friendship at a moment’s notice. The alliance with Louis was 
 a desperate measure, induced by the unbearable tyranny of the king. 
 Louis, like the Empress Maude in the old days, began to carry matters 
 with too high a hand, and affected to dispose of England before he had 
 conquered it, like the man who sold the bear’s skin while the beast was 
 yet alive. Many nobles quitted him in disgust, and prepared to join the 
 king. 
 
 But John’s career of wickedness was near its close. He had retired 
 into the eastern counties, carrying with him the old records of the 
 kingdom, and his crown and the most valuable of his jewels. As he 
 attempted to cross the Wash, on the borders of Lincolnshire, the tide 
 rose and carried away all his baggage and treasures. The king escaped, 
 and hurried on to Swinstead Abbey, where he stopped to dine. It is said 
 that a monk poisoned him. Be this as it may, he was seized with 
 sudden and violent sickness, of which he died, at Newark, in 1216, after 
 a wretched reign of about seventeen years. 
 
 King John is esteemed the worst king who ever sat on the English 
 throne. But Providence frequently brings forth good out of evil, and 
 thus it was in the case of this bad king. Ordinary tyranny might have 
 been patiently endured ; but the unparalleled cruelty and wickedness of 
 John was the immediate cause that gave to England the invaluable boon 
 of the Great Charter. 
 
 98 
 
CHAPTER YII. 
 
 HENRY III. 
 
 Importance of Henry’s reign — Parliaments — Eegeucy of Pembroke — Henry governs for 
 himself — His foolish proceedings — Preference for foreigners — Exactions and extravagance 
 — The throne of Sicily — Simon de Montfort — His discontent — Injustice towards the 
 citizens of London and towards the Jews 
 
 The reign of Henry of Winchester, John’s eldest son, shows us the 
 picture of a weak foolish king, utterly unfitted to rule a great nation, or 
 to keep in subjection a turbulent nobility and discontented citizens. 
 Consequently the nobility rise up against him, and the country is filled 
 with violence and bloodshed. Yet great importance is rightly attached 
 to this dreary reign ; for now we find that the feudal government has 
 ceased. Parliaments , which give to the gentry and the burghers a share 
 in the government of the country, are summoned, as the old Witenage- 
 mote used to be palled together in Saxon times; and the dawn of a 
 happier and brighter day chases away the clouds of the gloomy feudal 
 period, when might had been mis-named right, and oppression was 
 called government. 
 
 Thus from evil came forth good ; from the imbecility of the king and 
 the discontent of the nobles, the reconstruction of Parliament and the 
 commencement of the power of the English House of Commons . 
 
 King Henry III. was only eight years old when his father John died, 
 unloved and unregretted, at Newark. It was requisite, therefore, to 
 appoint a regent, who should rule in the young monarch’s name. 
 William, Earl of Pembroke, filled this office with honour and advantage 
 for four years. A great council of the barons chose him Protector 
 of the realm; and by his death, which happened in 1319, the young 
 Henry lost a wise counsellor and a true and faithful friend. Eor it was 
 Pembroke who appeased the discontented barons who had revolted 
 against John, by promising that the young prince who had now suc- 
 ceeded to the throne should be taught to rule with justice and equity. 
 
 99 
 
THE REGENT PEMBROKE— UNPOPULARITY OF HENRY. 
 
 It was Pembroke who caused the Great Charter and the Porest Charter 
 to be confirmed, and thus removed a great cause for hatred and rebellion. 
 It was Pembroke, finally, who routed with great slaughter the French 
 army of Louis the Dauphin, son of Philip Augustus, who had invaded 
 England with the avowed intention of seizing the crown. This defeat, 
 which took place at Lincoln, compelled Louis to quit the country : and 
 since that time no attempt has ever been made from France to conquer 
 England. 
 
 In 1223 Henry took the government of the country into his own 
 hands ; and weak hands they were to rule a great nation. Though he 
 had not the more cruel and odious of the vices of his father John, 
 Henry often rendered himself hateful by his rapacity and extravagance. 
 He was fond of fine clothes and costly entertainments; and his wife, 
 Eleanor of Provence, whom he married in 1236, was as wasteful as he. 
 When the king found himself embarrassed for money (and he was 
 almost always in embarrassment), he often resorted to harsh and unjust 
 means to supply his wants. Sometimes he extorted large sums, under 
 the name of presents, from the citizens of London. Sometimes he 
 plundered the Jews, herein following the example of his father John, 
 who had robbed that unfortunate community to a large extent ; and on 
 one occasion he obtained much money by announcing that he was going 
 to set out on a Crusade ; but when he had collected all he could, he said 
 nothing more concerning his project. This conduct could not fail to 
 give rise to discontent among the barons and people ; and at last this 
 discontent ripened into a rebellion. 
 
 Henry was foolish enough to show a great preference for foreigners, 
 especially for some friends whom his wife, Eleanor, brought with her 
 from Provence. Offices and dignities were heaped upon these strangers, 
 and the native nobility found themselves neglected. They addressed 
 strong remonstrances to the king, and even threatened to depose him ; 
 but Henry was too weak to learn wisdom by experience ; and though the 
 first discontents were quelled, the cause remained, and every year his 
 government became more odious to almost every class. 
 
 The Pope was at this time the most powerful prince in Europe, and 
 claimed the right of giving away thrones and sceptres at his will. 
 
 100 
 
HENRY ACCEPTS THE CROWN OF SICILY FOR HIS SON. 
 
 Accordingly, he offered the crown of Sicily to Henry’s second son, 
 Edmund; and Henry, thinking this would be a desirable possession, 
 eagerly accepted the offer for his son. But here the proverb held good 
 — “All is not gold that glitters.” The prince met with such powerful 
 opposition, that he could never take possession of his throne; and 
 Henry, instead of gaining, found himself a considerable loser, having to 
 pay a large sum of money for an expedition which ended in failure. 
 But, by an ingenious device, King Henry extorted the necessary money 
 from the English clergy ; so that, personally, he lost little by his foolish 
 scheme. 
 
 All this misgovernment and favouritism could not fail to produce dis- 
 turbances sooner or later. But it was hardly to be expected that, when 
 rebellion at last broke out, one of the king’s prime favourites would be 
 at its head. Such was, however, the case. Among the foreigners whom 
 Eleanor of Provence brought to England, when she came to marry the 
 king, was a young nobleman named Simon de Montfort. King Henry 
 took a great liking to this stranger, created him Earl of Leicester, and 
 put him into a place of trust. In 1252 De Montfort was sent to 
 Gascony, where disturbances had broken out. The haughty baron be- 
 haved very tyrannically, oppressing and plundering the people. Com- 
 plaints of his conduct reached the ears of the king, and on De Monfort’s 
 return, Henry reproached him with his evil doings. But Simon de 
 Montfort had been too quickly raised to power to be able to receive 
 rebuke. He replied, boldly and rebelliously, “ If thou wert not my 
 sovereign, I would make thee eat thy words;” and quitted the court, 
 determined to have his revenge upon the king sooner or later. 
 
 It is related that, not long after this, the king was one day overtaken, 
 during a progress up the Thames, by a violent thunder-storm ; and in 
 great alarm he ordered the rowers to pull to the nearest landing-stairs. 
 It chanced that they landed him close by the castle of the discontented 
 De Montfort. Henry was still more perturbed when he found himself 
 in his enemy’s power, and said to the baron, “ I fear thee more than all 
 the thunder and lightning in the world.” De Montfort, who was not 
 wanting in generosity, emphatically warned the king against the evil 
 counsellors who were ruining him, and then sent him away unharmed. 
 
 101 
 
EXACTIONS OF THE KING— SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 The citizens of London had become powerful by their industry and 
 wealth, and might have proved good friends to the king; but he con- 
 verted them into enemies by his folly and his exactions. He was con- 
 tinually extorting money from them on one pretence or another; and 
 the more they gave him, the more he craved. He spent enormous sums 
 in dress and jewelry, setting a bad example to his courtiers, who were 
 only too ready to imitate him; he gave the queen a wharf, or liythe, 
 on the banks of the Thames, at which all ships were expected to unload, 
 paying a heavy toll to the queen : and thus, in various ways, he lost the 
 affection of all classes of the English. The Jews, on whom fell the 
 chief share of suffering in those days of bad government, were cruelly 
 persecuted ; heavy fines were continually extorted from them, and 
 frequently they had to endure personal ill-usage. Indeed, on one occa- 
 sion, a number of them were murdered in London. Rapacious and yet 
 feeble, foolishly partial to a few favourites, while he treated his real 
 friends with ingratitude and Neglect, King Henry gradually drew upon 
 himself a storm, which burst upon his head with such violence as for a 
 time to sweep him from the throne he disgraced. 
 
 CHAPTER Yin. 
 
 THE EEIGN OE HENEY III. CONCLUDED, 
 
 Discontent of the Nobles — Eevolt of Simon de Montfort — The battle of Lewes — Imprison- 
 ment of the King and the Prince of Wales — Escape of the Prince — Battle of Evesham 
 — De Montfort slain — Progress in England — Prince Edward departs for the Holy Land 
 — Death of the King. 
 
 By the oppression exercised by Henry III., and his continual in- 
 fringement of the Great Charter that had been won from his father 
 John, the patience of the English was at length fairly wearied out. 
 Many were ready to revolt from the weak and worthless king ; and there 
 
 102 
 
II ENRY III. A PRISONER AT LEWES 
 
 103 
 
REVOLTS OF THE BARONS— BATTLE OF LEWES. 
 
 was one man who watched eagerly for an opportunity of bringing about 
 a thorough change in the government. This man was Simon de Mont- 
 fort, Earl of Leicester. 
 
 When he considered the time had come for action, he called together 
 some of the principal nobles in the kingdom ; and they determined that, 
 as the king knew not how to rule alone, they would help him to the best 
 of their power. They came in complete armour to the king’s council, 
 and Henry thought they intended to take him prisoner ; and, alarmed 
 at their appearance, he consented to call a parliament at Oxford for the 
 redress of grievances. To this parliament the barons brought their 
 military vassals, and the king was really a prisoner in their hands. Eor 
 some time England was governed by twenty-four nobles. But these 
 barons themselves soon showed an intention to tyrannize over the people ; 
 and at length, in the year 1263, a civil war broke out between the king 
 and a number of the barons. Louis IX., King of Erance, a very pious 
 and virtuous prince, offered to play the part of peacemaker, and tried to 
 bring about a reconciliation between Henry and the rebellious barons ; 
 but it was in vain, for the barons who were for the king, and those who 
 stood against him, were both so angry that nothing but the sword could 
 end their quarrel. 
 
 The best leader on King Henry’s side was his young son, Prince 
 Edward; while He Montfort took the command of the revolting barons. 
 The Londoners, who had been subjected for a long time to the king’s 
 extortion and tyranny, almost all took Simon de Montfort’s side in the 
 quarrel ; the barons of the north, on the other hand, generally remained 
 faithful to Henry. Thus, each side raised an army ; and on the 14th of 
 May, 1264, was fought the memorable battle of Lewes, in Sussex. 
 
 At first it seemed as if King Henry would gain a great victory over 
 his foes ; for Prince Edward, who led the royal forces, attacked a great 
 body of Londoners, who formed part of De Montfort’s army, and chased 
 them from the field. But while Prince Edward and his men were pur- 
 suing the flying foe, De Montfort himself advanced with a second body 
 of troops, and attacked King Henry in the absence of his son, threw his 
 army into confusion, and took the weak king prisoner. When Prince 
 Edward returned from pursuing the Londoners, he found his father’s 
 
 104 
 
THE FIRST HOUSE OF COMMONS. 
 
 army routed, and the king himself in the hands of the enemy. His 
 own followers were too much astonished at what had taken place, to 
 think of renewing the combat. Some of the chief of Edward’s friends 
 at once rode down to the coast, and embarked for Erance; and the 
 young prince was obliged to deliver himself as a prisoner into the hands 
 of De Montfort. Thus, by the disastrous defeat at Lewes, the hopes of 
 the king and his party seemed crushed at one blow. 
 
 Leicester was now the most powerful man in England. The great 
 success at Lewes had left him without an enemy fit to appear in the 
 field ; and he began to lord it over the country as if he were indeed the 
 king. But the earl was wise enough to see that he must cover his power 
 with some show of justice, if it was to continue. The burghers of 
 London had been his great friends, though they ran away at Lewes. 
 Accordingly, Leicester determined to do something for the class to which 
 they belonged, by summoning a parliament, at which not only the nobles, 
 bishops, and knights, but also a certain number of burgesses or citizens, 
 were invited to attend. Many of those citizens were rich men, and 
 could get their companions to supply the government with money. 
 Thus, even after the death and defeat of Leicester, of which I shall 
 presently have to tell you, they were retained in parliament, where they 
 gave their advice, and voted supplies of money to the king, and were 
 so useful, that they became a great and a very important part of the 
 parliament. So, as good frequently comes out of evil, we find that to 
 the weak reign of the foolish and unstable Henry III. we owe the 
 establishment of what is now the most powerful assembly in the world 
 — the Commons House oe Parliament. 
 
 Leicester now began to disgust even the barons, his friends, by his 
 tyranny. Trusting to the help of his parliament, and to the support of 
 the rich Londoners in particular, he behaved haughtily and unjustly 
 to several great nobles, who quitted his party in disgust. The king’s 
 friends, on the other hand, took heart when they saw matters going 
 badly with Leicester. Prince Edward was provided with a fleet horse, 
 on which he managed to escape from the custody of De Montfort. The 
 Earl of Gloucester raised an army for the prince, and Edward marched 
 against Simon de Montfort before that nobleman knew that any danger 
 
 105 
 
DEFEAT OF SIMON DE MONTFORT AT EVESHAM. 
 
 was threatening him. Prince Edward encountered the Londoners, and 
 defeated them. Then, bearing the banners he had taken from them in 
 front of his army, he marched onward against the Earl of Leicester, 
 who at first, deceived by the stratagem, thought his good friends the 
 Londoners were coming to his assistance. On finding his mistake, he 
 exclaimed, “ The Lord have mercy on our souls, for I find our bodies 
 are the prince’s.” With a weakened and famished army he was obliged 
 to encounter the victorious forces of the prince at Evesham ; and this 
 battle was even more disastrous to Leicester than that of Lewes had been 
 to King Henry. His troops gave way almost at once. Great was the 
 slaughter among his friends and followers ; and Leicester himself, and 
 his son, were slain in the heat of the combat. The old king narrowly 
 escaped a similar fate, by crying out that he was Henry of Winchester. 
 This battle was fought in 1265. 
 
 Thus ended Simon de Montfort’s rebellion. But though the king 
 regained his authority, the people had gained a great point in the fact 
 that burgesses were admitted to parliament. The government could 
 now no longer be carried on merely by the king and nobles, in the old 
 feudal style. The Commons were not slow to find out that by refusing 
 to grant money to the king, they could exert a great power in the state ; 
 and to this right they held fast ; gaining one step after another, until, as 
 you will find when we get further on in history, their power equalled that 
 of the king and the nobles. The English nation was now also beginning 
 to free itself from the tyranny of the Pope at Borne, whose interference 
 in the affairs of the state the government would no longer endure : and 
 this was another good feature in Henry’s long and dreary reign. 
 
 Prince Edward now left his father to govern alone, and departed for 
 the Holy Land, to take part, with Louis IX., King of Erance, in the 
 last Crusade. He nearly lost his life in that expedition, for a murderer 
 stabbed him with a poisoned dagger ; and we are told that Edward’s 
 devoted wife Philippa saved his life by sucking the poison from the 
 wound. Under the rule of the aged and feeble Henry, the country 
 again fell into a state of great confusion and misery. Even knights 
 and esquires were among those who lived by robbery; and justice and 
 law were rarely to be had. The old king himself, heavily in debt, was 
 
 106 
 
EDWARD I.— HIS CHARACTER. 
 
 accustomed to lay the counties, towns, and cities under contribution for 
 the provisions his household consumed ; and it is a had thing for a nation 
 when the king cannot pay for his dinner. At length, in 1272, King 
 Henry died after a long hut inglorious reign ; and on the accession of 
 his brave son Edward, the English soon found they had a very different 
 kind of king — one who had a strong head to plan, and a stout heart to 
 fight, and who could prove himself in character, as well as in name, a 
 worthy member of the brave house of Plantagenet. 
 
 PART IV. THE EDWARDS. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 EDWAKD I. 
 
 The King’s energy and courage — The peace of the country secured — Persecution and banish- 
 ment of the Jews — Wars with the Welsh — Death of Llewellyn — Conquest of Wales — 
 Edward of Carnarvon first English Prince of Wales — Edward’s contempt for finery. 
 
 In the two hundred years that had elapsed since the Norman Conquest, 
 no prince had brought to the throne so high a character as Edward I. had 
 now already earned for himself. He was so well known as a man of 
 courage and energy, that though he was absent from England when the 
 old king died, barons and people alike prepared to submit to his authority, 
 and no attempt was made to disturb the young king or to dispute his 
 succession to his father’s throne. 
 
 The feeble reign of Henry III. had left the country in a very lawless 
 state 5 but Edward fell to work to set matters right. He sent some of 
 his lords into the western counties, with a commission to hear the com- 
 
 108 
 
THE KING’S OPPRESSION OF THE JEWS. 
 
 plaints of all who had been wronged, and to execute justice upon all 
 offenders.* People in those times had rather rough ideas of justice, and 
 it is probable that sometimes the innocent were made to suffer with the 
 guilty ; but even the hasty sentences pronounced by Edward’s commis- 
 sioners were better than the utter lawlessness that had spread everywhere 
 during the last reign ; and in a short time the evildoers were so terrified 
 at the king’s swift and strong measures, that the kingdom was brought into 
 something like order. Everywhere the heavy hand and the keen courage 
 of Edward made themselves felt ; and for the first time since the death 
 of Henry II. the English had a monarch who was really at the head of 
 the nation. 
 
 Unfortunately, in his dealings with one class of his subjects, the king 
 seems to have entirely forgotten justice and mercy. The Jews, who in 
 former reigns had often been made to suffer oppression and wrong, had 
 still contrived to maintain themselves in England, and even to grow 
 rich; but Edward attacked them with merciless rigour. The unhappy 
 Hebrews were accused of defacing the coin of the realm; and 280 of 
 them were hanged at one time in London. The others were deprived 
 of their possessions, and banished from the kingdom. Fifteen thousand 
 of the Jewish nation left the shores of Britain ; the king seized their 
 wealth, leaving them, only a small sum to pay expenses; and of even this 
 they were in many instances robbed ; for the people of the seaport towns 
 faithfully imitated their master. 
 
 Edward’s ancestors had at one time been masters of more than half 
 of Erance ; but these foreign possessions had been lost, and only Guienne 
 remained under the English rule. Edward determined to make up for 
 this loss of territory abroad, by increasing his power at home. His object 
 was, doubtless, to make himself king over the whole of the British isles ; 
 and the wealth obtained from the plundered Jews gave him the means 
 of furnishing an army. And now he turned his ambitious thoughts to 
 the conquest of Wales. 
 
 The Welsh had been for many centuries under the rule of princes of 
 their own, and had seldom been molested in their mountains. Some- 
 times there was fighting on the borders of their rocky land, with some 
 great Norman noble whose estates reached to the Welsh borders; but 
 
 109 
 
EDWARD'S CONQUESTS — THE FIRST PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 beyond this there had been no warfare. The Welsh were a brave, fiery 
 people, strong, active, and fond of fighting, but quite unable to with- 
 stand such an army as Edward could bring against them. The king soon 
 found a cause of quarrel against Llewellyn, the Welsh prince. Llewellyn 
 was defeated by Edward’s army and forced to make submission ; but soon 
 afterwards he revolted. Then Edward marched against him with such 
 a force as had never before been seen in Wales. The Welsh fought 
 bravely, and their bards or minstrels urged them on to resist the op- 
 pressor. b But Edward’s power was too strong for them ; and at length 
 Llewellyn was slain, and the Welsh were at the conqueror’s mercy. 
 
 Mercy was not among the English king’s good qualities ; and wise and 
 brave though he was, he never hesitated to shed blood when an advan- 
 tage was to be gained. He knew that the Welsh bards loved freedom, 
 and that they would probably excite their defeated countrymen to revolt. 
 Therefore he summoned them to assemble together, and caused his men 
 to fall upon the defenceless minstrels and slay them. It was a cruel 
 and ruthless deed ; but those were hard, rough times, and all means were 
 considered fair by which an enemy could be subdued or a discontented 
 vassel kept in subjection. 
 
 A second scheme of Edward’s, for keeping the Welsh from revolt, 
 was more ingenious, and had the advantage of being free from cruelty. 
 He knew the objection the Welsh entertained to being governed by a 
 stranger ; he therefore called their chief men together, and promised 
 to give them a prince born in Wales, and who could not speak a word 
 of English. The vanquished Welshmen were delighted at the prospect 
 of obtaining such a ruler ; when, behold, the cunning conqueror pre- 
 sented to them his own son Edward, an infant, who had been born at 
 Carnarvon Castle some time before, and who certainly could not speak 
 English, or indeed any other language, by reason of his tender age. The 
 Welsh, however, made the best of their bargain; and indeed, the union 
 of their country with England proved after a time very advantageous to 
 them. Since that day the eldest son of the King of England has always 
 borne the title of Prince of Wales. 
 
 This conquest greatly heightened the respect the English had for their 
 king. Courage and skill in war had always been highly prized among 
 
 no 
 
EdWRAD I. PRESENTING HIS Son TO THE WELSH. 
 
 Ill 
 
EDWARD RESOLVES TO CONQUER SCOTLAND. 
 
 them, and could make even a Bichard Coeur de Lion popular; but in 
 Edward’s case those qualities were joined to a real wish for the welfare 
 of the state, and for the improvement of the law. On one occasion, 
 when he found the judges had been receiving bribes, he punished them 
 very severely ; on another, when a bishop found fault with him for going 
 about dressed in plain clothes, in contrast to his father Henry III., who 
 had always been famous for the costly jewels with which he decked him- 
 self out, Edward replied, “ What more could I do in royal robes than I 
 can do in this plain gaberdine ? ” 
 
 CHAPTEB II. 
 
 THE REIGN OE EDWARD I. CONTINUED. 
 
 Edward interferes in the affairs of Scotland — Baliol and Bruce — Abdication of Baliol — Victories 
 of Edward in Scotland — Sir William Wallace — His valiant exploits — Victory at Cambus- 
 kenneth — Wallace betrayed and executed— Rise of Robert Bruce — Death of Edward I, 
 
 Edward was not satisfied with the conquest of Wales. Scotland 
 offered a greater prize to him ; and on this his ambitious mind was fixed. 
 A favourable opportunity soon presented itself for interference in the 
 affairs of the northern kingdom. The King of Scotland was dead, and 
 the young Princess of Norway, who was his heir, died soon after him. 
 There were now several nobles, each of whom had some claim to the 
 crown ; and the chief among these were John Baliol and Bobert Bruce. 
 The claims of these two men were almost equal ; and the question as to 
 which of them was to have the throne was referred to Edward. 
 
 The English king was rejoiced at this reference ; and he began by de- 
 claring that he, as King of England, was feudal lord or sovereign of the 
 King of Scotland ; and, though most of the nobles indignantly denied 
 that he possessed any such right, he bestowed the crown upon Baliol, 
 who was weak enough to promise that he would wear it as Edward’s 
 vassal. The feeble Scottish king was thereupon compelled to follow 
 
 112 
 
BATTLE OF DUNBAR— SIR WILLIAM WALLACE. 
 
 his patron to London, and to appear as a private person before the peers 
 at Westminster. In fact, Edward took every means to degrade him in 
 the eyes of the Scotch, in hopes that they might he induced to prefer a 
 valorous English king to a feeble Scotch one. 
 
 At length Baliol, wearied out by the insults he was made to undergo, 
 took advantage of a quarrel which had occurred between Edward and 
 Philip, the fourth King of Erance, to form an alliance with the Erench 
 king. When Edward heard of this, he summoned Baliol to do homage 
 to him ; and upon the Scottish king’s refusal, marched northward with 
 a great army. Baliol did his best to oppose the invader. The armies 
 met at Dunbar, in Southern Scotland, April 27th, 1296, and the Scotch 
 under Baliol were completely defeated, and a great number of them 
 were slain. One castle after another fell into Edward’s hands ; and John 
 Baliol, finding all was lost, made submission to the English king, for- 
 mally abdicated the crown of Scotland, and retired to a foreign land, 
 whence he never returned. The whole of Scotland was now at Edward’s 
 mercy, for not an army could he raised to oppose him. He, for his 
 part, considered the conquest complete, and prepared to return with his 
 army into England, leaving a great nobleman, Earl Warrenne, in Scot- 
 land as governor. He carried away with him the great stone on which 
 the Scottish kings sat when they were crowned. . This stone is now in 
 the coronation chair in Westminster Abbey. 
 
 Eor some time the Scotch remained quiet ; hut soon the tyranny of 
 two men, Ormesby and Cressingham, filled them with anger and hatred; 
 and just when they were thinking whether it were possible to break the 
 chain wherewith the conqueror had bound them, there arose a man who 
 showed them how men should fight for their country. This man was 
 Sir William Wallace. 
 
 The great hero of Scotland, whose memory is still revered among his 
 countrymen, chanced to he involved in a quarrel with an English soldier, 
 who insulted and attempted to rob him, and whom he slew. Thereupon, 
 placing himself at the head of a band of daring men, he became for- 
 midable to the English by his valiant exploits. Gigantic in stature, and 
 as brave and hardy as he was tall, he was also distinguished by skill 
 and aptitude in the art of war ; and at length, in sheer wonder and 
 
 I 
 
 113 
 
CAPTURE AND EXECUTION OF WALLACE— ROBERT BRUCE. 
 
 delight at his successes, many noblemen joined him with their fol- 
 lowers. At Cambuskenneth he gained a great victory over the English ; 
 and among the dead was the odious Cressingham, whom the Scots 
 actually flayed, that they might make his skin into girths for their 
 horses. Wallace then marched southward into England, laid waste the 
 country as far as Durham, and retreated into Scotland laden with spoil. 
 
 But in the meantime, at the news of these unexampled successes of 
 Wallace, Edward had returned from Elanders. At this time, when 
 everything depended upon union among the Scottish nobles, many of 
 them, jealous of the great fame of Wallace, refused to serve under him; 
 and the hero resigned his command, though he remained with his troop 
 to help his ill-judging and ungrateful countrymen. Edward marched 
 rapidly northward with his army; and at Ealkirk a great battle was 
 fought on the 22nd of July, 1298. The Scotch were routed, chiefly 
 through the skill of the English bowmen, who were already becoming 
 famous. The Scotch fled in confusion, but Wallace still managed to keep 
 his band together. Eor a long time he eluded all the efforts of Edward 
 to capture him; until at length he was betrayed into the conqueror’s 
 hands by his trusted but treacherous friend, Sir John Menteith, after the 
 Scotch had a second time submitted to the English rule. Edward be- 
 haved cruelly and ruthlessly towards his gallant foe. Wallace was 
 carried to London, and treated with great indignity, the king endea- 
 vouring to brand him as a traitor. He replied, “ that he could not be 
 a traitor to the King of England, because the King of England had 
 never been his master.” . He was executed with great cruelty in the 
 year 1305. 
 
 But another champion had now arisen for Scotland in the person of 
 Bobert Bruce, grandson of the Bruce who had been a rival of the weak 
 John Baliol. This Bobert Bruce, who had been induced to submit to 
 Edward, suddenly appeared in Scotland in 1306, and excited the nobles 
 to take up arms against Edward, who would, he declared, reduce them 
 to the condition of slaves, if they did not stand up for their liberties. 
 Eor a third time Scotland revolted. Edward, who was now in his sixty- 
 ninth year, once more marched northward with his army, to subdue 
 the rebels; but at Carlisle he was seized with an illness of which he 
 
 114 
 
Wallace taken to Execution 
 
 115 
 
DEATH OP EDWARD I.— EDWARD II.' 
 
 died, after exhorting his son Edward never to desist from the Scotch 
 war until the country should be entirely subdued. He was a great 
 and politic king, hut cruel and merciless, in an age when, indeed, mercy 
 was almost unknown. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 -V ■. / ‘ 
 
 EDWARD II. 
 
 State of England in the time of Edward II. — Firmness the most necessary quality of a king — 
 Character of Edward — He desists from the conquest of Scotland — Edward’s affection for 
 Piers Gaveston — Banishment of Gaveston — His return and execution. 
 
 The times of which we are now speaking were rough and rude. 
 War was the chief occupation of the barons, who could not easily be 
 made to submit to control ; and a strong hand was required to keep any- 
 thing like order among them. In their own castles, and surrounded by 
 their vassals and dependents, they were so powerful that the king could 
 not do much against them. ; ■ They possessed great herds of cattle and 
 swine, and large flocks of sheep ; and many of their serfs or slaves were 
 employed as herdsmen, to drive these creatures to pasture, the oxen and 
 sheep on the thin grass of the vast commons, the hogs in the wide 
 forests that covered a great part of the country ; and a number of men- 
 at-arms lounged about in the great halls, leading an idle kind of life, but 
 ready at all times to grasp their bows and battle-axes and broadswords, 
 and follow their lords to the field, and fight as Englishmen have known 
 how to fight from the old Saxon times down to the present day. When 
 autumn came, a great number of oxen, sheep, and hogs were killed and 
 salted ; for there was no grass for them, nor were root crops grown to 
 serve them for food during the winter. There was but little com, for 
 the fields were cultivated in a very rough way. So, till the spring came 
 round again, nearly all the people lived upon salted meat during more 
 than half the year. But there was good store of all in the baron’s 
 castle for the retainers, and plenty of red wine for the baron himself and 
 
 iic 
 
CHARACTER OF EDWARD II. 
 
 his friends; and the poor wayfarer, who was without a home and with- 
 out a meal, was sure of food and shelter in the convents. So the people 
 managed to live in a rough way, except when the weather was wet for a 
 long time together, so that the cattle died, and the harvest failed ; and 
 then would come a famine, and the people would suffer terribly, many 
 dying of hunger, and still more of diseases brought on by bad and in- 
 sufficient food. 
 
 In such an age, * weakness of character was far more likely than 
 tyranny to bring misfortunes upon a king. A monarch who had a heavy 
 hand and a stout heart was certain to be respected, even though his rule 
 might be hard and harsh. If he punished severely and sternly, his sub- 
 jects would take care how they offended him. If he bravely led them to 
 war, the barons would follow him and admire his courage, while they 
 troubled themselves very little about the justice or injustice of his cause. 
 Eut a monarch who was weak and yielding had no chance of preserving 
 order among his turbulent vassals. These were certain to begin to despise 
 their king as soon as they ceased to fear him. 
 
 All this has been said, that my readers may understand how it was 
 that the reign of Edward II., the king of whom we have now to speak, 
 proved as disastrous as that of his father, the first Edward, had been 
 glorious and renowned. 
 
 This poor Edward of Carnarvon could not be called a bad king. He 
 was not rapacious, like Henry III., nor cruel and perfidious, like the 
 tyrant John ; but he was indolent and weak, and left liis favourites to do 
 the work he should have done himself ; and so it came to pass that his 
 favourites were looked on by the nobles with jealousy and hatred, while 
 Edward himself was regarded as a contemptible imbecile, who was unfit 
 to rule, and whom, therefore, no man was bound to obey. 
 
 Edward II. was twenty-three years old when he came to the throne. 
 His father had made him promise that he would not cease from warring 
 against the Scots until they were entirely subdued; and Edward had 
 even been made to promise that the corpse of his valiant father should 
 not be buried until Scotland had submitted to the English rule. But 
 Edward forgot his promise so soon as his father’s eyes were closed in 
 death ; and after marching a little way into Scotland* he suddenly turned 
 
 117 
 
THE KING’S FAVOURITE, PIERS GAVESTON. 
 
 back, made the best of his way to London, and there dismissed his army. 
 The barons were greatly displeased at this strange conduct; and the 
 heroic Bobert Bruce, who had determined to persevere until he should 
 gain the crown of Scotland, now saw that the new King of England was 
 a contemptible foe, in* comparison to the valiant monarch who had driven 
 him to take refuge in the mountains among the wild beasts. 
 
 A weak man who cannot fulfil his duties generally leans for support 
 on some favourite ; and, in nine cases out of ten, the favourite he thus 
 chooses is a bad one. Edward was no exception to this rule. Already, 
 as Prince of Wales, he had shown a foolish liking for Piers Gaveston, a 
 Gascon knight ; and Edward I. had banished this Gaveston from Eng- 
 land, and made the prince promise never to recall him ; for he saw that 
 Gaveston was a bad . companion for his son. As soon as Edward was 
 seated on the throne, he sent for his dear friend, received him on his 
 arrival with open arms, and bestowed so much wealth and such broad 
 lands upon him, that the nobles were very angry ; and not without cause ; 
 for they saw a young stranger, who had not yet done anything for Eng- 
 land, preferred before the oldest and the best of themselves. Gaveston, 
 by his haughty and insolent behaviour, embittered them still more. The 
 king was now obliged to go over to Erance to marry Isabella, the sister 
 of the Erench king ; and he appointed Gaveston, the stranger, guardian 
 of England in his absence. 
 
 Thereupon the nobles united against the favourite ; and the new queen, 
 who saw that her husband preferred Gaveston’s company to hers, joined 
 them with right good-will. The Earl of Lancaster, the king’s cousin, 
 came to Parliament with a number of nobles, each bringing with him 
 many armed retainers ; and they forced the king to consent that Gave- 
 ston should be banished the kingdom. Edward promised that Gaveston 
 should go, but evaded his promise by sending him as Lord Lieutenant of 
 Ireland, while the barons had intended that their enemy should be sent 
 away to Erance. In a short time he returned, more insolent than ever, 
 and the foolish king raised him to still greater honours. 
 
 Then the barons resolved to rid themselves, once and for ever, of their 
 master’s unworthy favourite. As they found the king’s word was not to 
 be trusted, they assembled their vassals, and commenced a war against 
 
 118 
 
DEATH OF GAVESTON— WAR IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 him, with the Earl of Lancaster for their commander. At last Gaveston 
 was taken prisoner at Scarborough, in Yorkshire, in the year 1312, by 
 the Earl of Pembroke. He was carried off in great haste to Warwick 
 Castle, where, by order of the barons, his head was cut off. Edward 
 vowed vengeance for his favourite’s death. But he was too weak to 
 cherish his purpose long, and soon pardoned the barons ; so peace was 
 for a time restored. 
 
 CHAPTER IY. 
 
 THE REIGN OE EDWARD II. CONCLUDED. 
 
 Renewal of the war with Scotland — Battle of Bannockburn, and defeat of the English — The 
 De Spencers — Discontent of the barons — Queen Isabella and Roger Mortimer, Earl of 
 March — Conspiracy against the King — His deposition and death. 
 
 Robert Bruce, the Scottish hero, had made good use of his time 
 between the years 1307 and 1312. He had gained great power in 
 Scotland, and found two good and trusty friends in his own brother 
 Edward, and Sir James Douglas, whose family afterwards became very 
 famous in Scotland. Edward II. now determined to make war upon 
 Bruce ; and as, after the death of Gaveston, he found the barons willing 
 to follow him once more, he contrived to bring together an army of 
 100,000 men, and considered himself certain of success. The greatest 
 force Bruce could muster did not amount to a third of the number of 
 Edward’s men ; but his followers were hardy Scotsmen, whereas many 
 of Edward’s followers were savage fellows from Ireland and Wales; and 
 Bruce was a skilful soldier, whereas Edward was as unfit to lead an army 
 as he was to govern a kingdom. The Scottish leader resolved to fight 
 the English army at Bannockburn, near Stirling ; and at once took mea- 
 sures to prevent his little army from being surrounded by Edward’s great 
 one. He posted his men in such a way that they had a hill to protect 
 them on their right hand, and a morass on their left. In front ran a 
 
 119 
 
BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN— GREAT DEFEAT OF THE ENGLISH. 
 
 rivulet ; and Bruce had caused his soldiers to dig pits near this brook, 
 and to plant in them sharp stakes, and then cover the whole with turf, 
 so that the English horsemen might ride into these pits when they came 
 to attack the Scots. It was already evening when the English came up 
 to where the Scotch army lay encamped. : v A fight at once took place, 
 in which the Scots had the advantage ; and Bruce killed with his battle- 
 axe Sir Henry de Bohun, a valiant English knight. 
 
 On the next day, 25th June, 1314, was fought the celebrated battle 
 of Bannockburn. The measures Bruce had taken were crowned with 
 complete success. Headlong into the covered pits fell the English 
 cavalry, writhing among the sharp stakes : the Duke of Gloucester, who 
 led them, was slain ; and while the English army gazed with dismay at 
 the slaughter that was being made of their comrades, they saw what 
 they thought to be a new army, with waving standards, coming to attack 
 them. This was another stratagem of Bruce’s, who had provided the 
 waggoners and horseboys of the army with banners, so that at a distance 
 they looked like fresh soldiers coming to the assistance of the Scotch. 
 The English were completely deceived by this trick. Thinking a new 
 army was upon them, they threw down their arms and fled. Eor eighty 
 miles did the Scotch pursue them, killing all the common soldiers they 
 overtook, and taking prisoners the knights and nobles from whom a 
 ransom was to be expected. Edward fled as fast as the rest, and took 
 refuge in the castle of Dunbar, from whence he hurried home to England. 
 He had had enough of fighting to last him for a long time. 
 
 Scotland was now free. Bruce even invaded the northern parts of 
 England; and the weak Edward, far from conquering another kingdom, 
 w T as not even able to defend his own. Moreover, the defeat at Ban- 
 nockburn had cost the English a fearful price. Thirty thousand men 
 are said to have been slain on the English side. * In addition, Edward 
 lost the money he carried with him for the payment of his soldiers, and 
 all his baggage. *-■ 
 
 Unable to govern the country or himself, the poor king looked round 
 for a new favourite on whom he could lean in his weakness. The friend 
 lie now chose, a young English nobleman named Hugh Spencer, was a 
 far more suitable companion than ever the frivolous Gaveston had been ; 
 
 120 
 
Bruce at Bannocjcbur^. 
 
THE SPENCERS— ISABELLA CONSPIRES AGAINST HER HUSBAND. 
 
 and his father, the elder Spencer, was a man respected for his wisdom 
 and valour. But by foolishly lavishing immense favours upon the 
 Spencers, Edward excited the jealousy of the barons, who turbulently 
 appeared in arms, and demanded that the favourites, father and son, 
 should be dismissed, The two Spencers were absent when the barons 
 came to London to make this demand of the king. T Edward answered 
 that he would not condemn men who were not present to speak for 
 themselves, f In this case the barons were in the wrong. !! They were 
 too angry to listen to reason; and soon after one of them insulted the 
 queen by refusing to let her into his castle, and by killing some of her 
 attendants. Hereupon war broke out between the barons and the king. 
 The Earl of Lancaster was at the head of the barons, and a brave knight, 
 Sir Andrew Harola, commanded the king’s army A On the 16th March, 
 1322, a battle was fought at Borouglibridge, in which the Earl of 
 Lancaster was taken prisoner. • Edward caused him to be put to death, 
 in the same manner as the earl had put Gaveston to death years before. 
 Other rebellious nobles were soon afterwards executed. 
 
 Eor a time it seemed as if the king had regained his power in England; 
 but he was too weak to keep it long. combination of the nobles 
 against him was certain to be the result of Jiis obstinacy in persisting 
 to keep the Spencers about his person but it is sad to tell that the 
 blow which cost the unhappy king his throne and his life was struck 
 by his own queen, Isabella of Erance. 
 
 In 1324 the King Charles of Erance summoned Edward to Paris, to 
 do homage, according to the feudal law, for the province of Guienne, 
 which he held in Erance as a vassal of the Erench king, f The Spencers 
 were very unwilling to let the king depart out of the country ; and at 
 last it was arranged that the Queen Isabella and her son the young 
 Prince of Wales should go in Edward’s place. 
 
 In Paris Isabella saw Roger Mortimer, a nobleman who had been 
 banished by Edward. This Mortimer became a great favourite of the 
 queen, who was wicked enough to form a plot with him, that they might 
 dethrone the king her husband. The assistance of the Count of Hainault 
 was procured, through the promise of the queen that her son Edward 
 should marry Philippa the count’s daughter ; and with a band of armed 
 
 122 
 
EXECUTION OF THE SPENCERS— MURDER OF THE KING. 
 
 men, supplied chiefly by the count, she landed in England. Here she 
 asserted that her object was to relieve her husband from the cares of 
 government ; and as she was known to be an open enemy of the hated 
 Spencers, she found many followers. The elder Spencer was besieged 
 in the castle of Bristol, and fell into the hands of his enemies. Though 
 he was nearly ninety years old, and had never done any real wrong, 
 he was barbarously hanged; and his son, who was shortly afterwards 
 captured with the king while attempting to escape from England, was 
 likewise put to death. Edward was sent to Kenilworth castle, where 
 he was compelled to resign the crown. No very grave accusations were 
 brought against him. Indeed, he was unfortunate rather than wicked, 
 the chief thing that could be alleged against him being that he could 
 not govern the country, and gave his power to others, while he indulged 
 in foolish and frivolous amusements. He was first placed as a prisoner 
 in the hands of the Earl of Lancaster ; but as that nobleman seemed to 
 pity the fallen king’s misfortunes, the Queen Isabella and her friend 
 Roger Mortimer were afraid that the earl might wish to replace him on 
 the throne, and therefore removed him to Berkeley Castle, where soon 
 afterwards they caused him to be cruelly murdered. 
 
 This unhappy king perished on the 21st of September, 1327, in the 
 forty-third year of his age. He had reigned over England during twenty 
 miserable, turbulent years. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 EDWARD III. 
 
 Chivalric time of Edward III. — The King’s accession — Regency of Isabella and Mortimer — 
 War with Scotland — Death of Mortimer — Renewed war with Scotland — Battle of 
 Halidon Hill — War with France — Battle of Sluys — Battle of Crecy — Siege of Calais. 
 
 We have now to begin a reign full of stirring events — full of danger 
 and valour, of war and bloodshed. The time of Edward III. forms the 
 very best part of the knightly period, when men fought for fame and 
 
 123 
 
BORDER FIGHTING— EDWARD ASSUMES THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 honour even more than for profit, and when the courtesy of the gentle- 
 man softened the rude valour of the soldier. In this reign was founded 
 the Order of the Garter, which is considered the highest and noblest of 
 all knightly companies ; and the time is ever memorable for the com- 
 mencement of the long and terrible war with France which was continued 
 through the reigns of several kings for the period of a hundred years. 
 
 When Edward came to the throne, on the abdication of his unhappy 
 father, he was only fourteen years old. His mother, the wicked Queen 
 Isabella, and her favourite Koger Mortimer, ruled the country ; and very 
 soon they made themselves hated by all the people, for their greediness 
 of money and their oppression and tyranny. 
 
 In those days there was almost always fighting going on between the 
 English and Scotch, on the borders, where the two countries joined; 
 and now the famous King Bobert Bruce, who had grown old, assembled 
 an army and marched into England. Edward was only fourteen years 
 old; but he would not allow a stranger to invade his country. He 
 collected an army, and marched northward. The Scots retreated before 
 him, and would not fight a battle, so Edward was obliged to return to 
 York and dismiss his army; and then Boger Mortimer and the queen 
 granted Bruce a peace in return for a sum of money. 
 
 Mortimer became insolent and overbearing as his power and wealth 
 increased, and at last his tyranny could be borne no longer. In a few 
 years, when the young king had married Philippa of Hainault and was 
 old and wise enough to rule for himself, he took Mortimer prisoner, 
 and caused him to be executed; nor were there many in England to 
 pity that nobleman’s fate, for he was hated everywhere. The queen 
 was allowed a pension, and remained in her house of Castle Bising, but 
 she was never again permitted to interfere in matters of state. 
 
 In 1331 died the great and wise Bobert Bruce, King of Scotland; and 
 soon after war broke out once more between that country and England. 
 Edward gained- a great victory over the Scotch at Halidon Hill, 19th 
 July, 1333. Nearly 30,000 Scotchmen fell on that fatal day, and their 
 chief, the great Douglas, was slain. Eor a time it seemed as if the third 
 Edward would succeed in the task of conquering Scotland, in which his 
 weak father and his warlike grandfather had alike failed ; but though 
 
 121 
 
WAR WITH FRANCE— BATTLE OF CRECY. 
 
 he subdued the southern counties, the Scots were determined to resist 
 him to the last, and retreated into their mountains, whither he could 
 not follow them. 
 
 A very important war now broke out with France : from the long 
 time it lasted, it is often known in history as the “ great,” or “ hundred 
 years’ war.” Many thousands of lives did it cost, and much treasure 
 was spent, and many fields were laid waste and villages and towns burnt, 
 before it came to an end, and at the last neither side gained much by 
 the long and cruel strife. 
 
 The quarrel began by Edward’s setting up a claim to the throne of 
 Erance. He declared that he had a right to rule, because he was the 
 nephew of the Erench king, Philip IV., and all Philip’s sons were dead. 
 But another Philip, named Philip de Valois, a cousin of the old King 
 Philip, now sat upon the Erench throne ; and there is no doubt that 
 Edward had not much right to claim the crown of Erance. In those 
 days, however, when men were ever ready for war, a very small cause 
 was enough to set them fighting ; and thus Edward began to make great 
 preparations for going to Erance with a large army. 
 
 The first great battle was fought at sea, off the town of Sluys, in 
 Elanders, between the fleets of Edward and of Philip, in 1340. The 
 Erench king had the greater number of soldiers and sailors, but the 
 English gained the victory ; and so great was the defeat that for many 
 days no one in the Erench court dared tell King Philip how great a loss 
 he had suffered. To carry on this war, Edward wanted a great deal of 
 money; and the Parliament gave him supplies, but made him grant 
 them some privileges in return, so that the people became more free 
 and independent than they had been. 
 
 During the next few years little was done in the war ; but, in 1340, 
 Edward invaded Erance with an army, and the famous battle of Crecy 
 was fought on the 25th of August in that year. 
 
 The English army amounted only to about 8,000 men; the Erench 
 force was seven or eight times as large. But just as Bruce at Bannock- 
 burn probably gained his victory by the skilful disposition of his men, 
 so did Edward now seek to make up by skill for the smallness of his 
 numbers. He posted his men so that they could not be surrounded, 
 
 126 
 
Queen Philippa and the Bugesses op Calais. 
 
 127 
 
SIEGE OF CALAIS— THE SIX BURGESSES. 
 
 and divided them into three bodies, one of which he entrusted to his 
 young son Edward, called the Black Prince, who behaved very valiantly 
 in this battle. He rode through the ranks to encourage his men ; and 
 before the battle began, each of them was ready and willing to do his 
 best for the glory of the king and for the honour of England. The 
 Erench army, on the other hand, was too numerous to be easily managed. 
 One division crowded upon another ; the words of command were not 
 heard or heeded ; and the great force was in confusion from the very 
 first. 
 
 At three o’clock in the afternoon the battle began. The English 
 archers shot their long arrows with terrible effect among the Erench, 
 and the Welsh and Irish slew many with their long knives. The Prince 
 of Wales was at one time in danger; but the king forbore to send him 
 assistance, declaring that the honour of saving the day should belong to 
 “ the boy.” Soon the Erench began to fly from the field : the English 
 pursued them, putting them to death without mercy ; and when evening 
 fell, a vast number of nobles and knights, and 30,000 fighting men, 
 lay dead upon the trampled and blood-stained grass. The English lost 
 but few men, and the victory of Crecy is considered one of the greatest 
 they ever gained. 
 
 Edward followed up this great success by laying siege to the seaport 
 of Calais, opposite Dover. The Erench citizens and soldiers defended 
 themselves valiantly for many months ; but as Edward’s army lay en- 
 camped all round their city, they could get no food, and were at last 
 obliged to eat dogs, cats, and rats, and devour anything that would 
 satisfy their hunger. At last they could not hold out any longer, and 
 offered to surrender the city. Edward was angry at the trouble they 
 had given him, and declared he would put every one in the town to 
 death, unless six of the principal citizens came into his camp, barefoot, 
 with ropes round their necks, and consented to die for the rest. This 
 news caused much grief in Calais ; but a brave burgess called Eustachc 
 de St. Pierre, and five other citizens, generously said they would fulfil 
 the condition. When they came into Edward’s camp, the king would 
 have had them hanged at once. But the good Queen Philippa fell on 
 her knees before him, and begged so earnestly for the lives of, the brave 
 
 128 
 
PESTILENCE IN ENGLAND— RECOMMENCEMENT OF FRENCH WARS. 
 
 men, that Edward consented for her sake to spare them. Philippa then 
 caused them to receive a good meal, and sent them away with presents ; 
 and she thus gained as much love and respect through her kindness and 
 mercy as Edward had won fame by his great deeds in this Erench war. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE BEIGN OE EDWARD HI. CONCLUDED. 
 
 Philippa’s victory at Nevill’s Cross — The “ Black Death ” — The war with France renewed — 
 Battle of Poictiers — John of France taken prisoner — His death in England — Treaty of 
 Bretigny — Death of the Black Prince, and of Edward — Eenown of England during his reign. 
 
 While King Edward was gaining renown in France, Queen Philippa 
 had upheld the honour of England at home. When she came into 
 Edward’s camp before Calais, in time to save the poor citizens’ lives, she 
 brought with her the news of a great victory gained over the Scots at 
 Nevill’s Cross, near Durham. In this battle the King (David Bruce) of 
 Scotland had been taken prisoner, and was now safely lodged in the 
 Tower of London. Thus the year 1346 was a glorious and successful 
 one for Edward. He now concluded a truce with Prance, and returned 
 to England, where he was most joyfully received by his people. 
 
 A heavy calamity now came upon England. There came stalking 
 across Europe, from the wilds of Asia, a pestilence so terrible that it was 
 known by the name of 44 the Black Death.” The art of healing the 
 sick was but little understood in those days. The coarse food on which 
 the mass of the people lived laid them open to the attacks of plagues 
 like this, and the towns were generally dirty and unhealthy. Thus it 
 happened that in London alone the 44 Black Death” destroyed 50,000 
 persons; and it is said that in all the countries through which the 
 disease took its baneful way, one person in every three died beneath it. 
 
 In 1355 the war between England and Erance was resumed. King 
 Edward invaded Erance from Calais, and sent the Black Prince to effect 
 a landing farther south. After a short time, Edward was recalled to 
 
BATTLE OF POICTIERS — THE FRENCH KING A CAPTIVE. 
 
 Engand by some disturbances in Scotland. He left the Prince of Wales 
 to carry on the war with Erance, taking care to send over some troops to 
 strengthen his son’s army. 
 
 In the next year, 1356, ten years after the battle of Crecy, the Black 
 Prince fought the battle of Poictiers against the Prench. The King 
 Philip of Yalois had died some years before ; and his son John, who now 
 occupied the throne of Erance, collected a large army and came suddenly 
 on the brave young prince, thinking to crush him by superior numbers. 
 His large army enabled him to surround the small force of the Black 
 Prince ; and young Edward, who, though brave as a lion, was yet prudent 
 and far-seeing, understood his own danger, and would have been glad to 
 come to terms with John and to leave Erance. But the Erench monarch 
 thought himself so certain of victory, that he would only offer the very 
 hardest conditions ; and rather than yield himself a prisoner, the Prince 
 of Wales bravely determined to fight it out. 
 
 The battle of Poictiers greatly resembled that of Crecy in many of its 
 events. Again a great army came, as it had come ten years before, to 
 attack a small force with too great confidence of victory. Again did the 
 English archers pour into the ranks of the enemy those terrible arrows, 
 that flew like hail, and pierced alike through tough steel corslet and 
 lissom hauberk of ringed iron. Once more did the Prince of Wales 
 charge, as he had done at Crecy, upon foes already astonished and dis- 
 mayed by the hail of arrows ; and once more did the great army, seized 
 with a general panic, turn to fly. King John of Erance was left almost 
 alone upon the field, fighting like a brave knight. He was received by 
 the Black Prince as a brave enemy should be received in misfortune — 
 with all respect and honour. Edward caused a repast to be prepared for 
 the captive king in his own tent, and stood respectfully while the royal 
 guest supped, refusing to sit down, lest he might seem to show a want of 
 respect. The Erench captives could not refrain from admiration at the 
 chivalric conduct of their brave young foe. 
 
 A truce was now concluded with Erance, and the Prince of AYales 
 brought John over to England; but the Erench king was treated rather 
 as an honoured guest than as a prisoner. And the prince, when lie 
 entered London, rode on a palfrey, while John was mounted on a splendid 
 
 130 
 
The French King brought as a prisoner to London. 
 
 13 L 
 
DEATH OF THE BLACK PRINCE— DEATH OF THE KING. 
 
 horse and dressed in royal robes. John lived in London, in the Savoy 
 Palace in the Strand, and at last died there ; for during his absence the 
 government of Prance fell into confusion : there were ceaseless quarrels 
 among the chief men, and the sum required for the ransom of the 
 captive king could not be raised. 
 
 Once more did King Edward invade Prance ; but the misery of the 
 country and, it is said, a terrible tempest that one day arose and killed 
 a thousand of his men, touched his conscience ; and he concluded a 
 treaty with the French at Bretigny. 
 
 The Black Prince again quitted England, and engaged in a foreign 
 war, in which he performed great deeds, but gained little besides honour. 
 His health gave way, and he was compelled to return to England with 
 his wife, a beautiful lady, called “ Joan, the Pair Maid of Kent,” and 
 with his young son Richard. His health failed more and more, and in 
 1376, to the great grief of the English people, he died. 
 
 The last days of Edward III. were embittered by the death of this 
 noble son. The good Queen Philippa was also dead. She had been a 
 faithful wife to Edward, and a kind and generous queen to the English, 
 who loved her while she lived, and held her memory in deep respect 
 after she was dead. These losses crushed the spirit of the old king ; and 
 a year after the death of the Black Prince he sank into the grave, after 
 a reign of fifty years. His conquests in Prance and Scotland were all 
 lost, except the towns of Berwick and Calais. Still his reign had been 
 of great advantage to the English. Crecy and Poictiers had gained 
 them a great name abroad, and at home the English obtained better 
 laws and more justice than they had ever yet enjoyed. 
 
 \ 
 
 132 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 RICHARD II. 
 
 Minority of Bichard II. — Successes of the Scotch — Discontent among the peasants — Wat 
 Tyler’s Bebellion — Courageous conduct of the King — Death of Wat Tyler, and dispersion 
 of the rebels — Weakness of the King — He loses the affection of the people. 
 
 By the law of England the crown always descends from father to son. 
 The young Prince Bichard, the son of the Black Prince, therefore be- 
 came heir to the English throne when his father died ; and on the death 
 of his grandfather, the old King Edward, he was proclaimed King of 
 England. . He was then only ten years of age. This was a great mis- 
 fortune, for in those times the enemies of a country were always ready 
 to take advantage of the youth and inexperience of its king; and 
 accordingly we find that the Erench landed in the Isle of Wight, and 
 the Scotch took the first opportunity of invading the northern counties. 
 
 The king was too young to take any active part in governing the 
 country in the beginning of his reign ; and the successes of the Scotch 
 made the people very angry. No doubt they thought with regret of the 
 days of the last king and of the heroic Black Prince, when no invader 
 could come into England without meeting quick and severe punishment. 
 One advantage, however, arose from the minority of the king — the 
 House of Commons rose in power, and now for the first time chose a 
 Speaker or chairman to preserve order during their sittings. 
 
 Though the cities had gained some amount of freedom, the English 
 peasants and the dwellers in the villages and small towns, the husband- 
 men, labourers* and artizans of various sorts, were still in a state of 
 slavery. In the last reign they had seen something of the state of things 
 in Flanders and other countries, where the class to which they belonged 
 had more power and greater privileges than they possessed ; and so they 
 began to think of rising against their masters. John Ball, a priest of 
 
WAT TYLER'S INSURRECTION— HIS DEATH. 
 
 Kent, went about the country telling the people they ought to he free, 
 for that all men had been created equal ; and the people were very ready 
 to listen to him. 
 
 In 1381 a tax of a shilling on every person above fifteen years of age 
 was levied upon the people. In those days a shilling was more than 
 many a poor Englishman possessed ; and as the tax-gatherers were very 
 rough and rude in their way of collecting the tax, the people became 
 very angry. One of the collectors insulted the daughter of Wat Tyler, 
 a blacksmith, of Dartford in Kent, whereupon Wat Tyler raised his 
 great hammer, and killed the tax-gatherer by a blow on the head. The 
 neighbours, who came crowding up, declared that the tax-gatherer had 
 been rightly served; and they determined to march to London, and get 
 their grievances redressed. Their numbers increased greatly as they 
 approached the capital, until they amounted to some ten thousand men. 
 Tyler and his forces soon entered London. There they behaved riotously, 
 burning the palace of the Duke of Lancaster and various other build- 
 ings. At last they encamped in Smithfield, and here the young King 
 Richard gave the only instance of courage we find recorded of him during 
 all his reign. 
 
 He was only fifteen years of age ; but when he heard the rebels were 
 posted in Smithfield, he rode boldly forth, surrounded only by the Mayor 
 of London and a few attendants, to parley with them. He rode forward 
 alone to speak to Wat Tyler, who presently left his own men, and came 
 towards the king’s retinue. It is said that the unfortunate smith laid 
 his hand in a threatening way on the hilt of his dagger. Be this as it 
 may, William Walworth, the Mayor of London, angry at what he termed 
 the rebel’s insolence, smote him on the head with his mace. Wat Tyler 
 rolled to the ground, and some of the attendants at once killed him with 
 their daggers. The insurgents, when they saw their leader fall, bent 
 their bows to avenge his death; but the young king rode forward to 
 them with great presence of mind, told them that Tyler was a traitor, 
 and that he himself would be their leader. He then placed himself at 
 their head, and led them away into the fields towards Islington, the 
 rebels following him in a bewildered way. In the meantime, the rumour 
 had gone abroad that the king was in danger, and some thousands of his 
 
 134 
 
Richard II. and Wat Tyler 
 
 135 
 
THE REBELLION QUASHED— FACTIONS AMONG THE BARONS. 
 
 friends came marching up. On seeing this body moving towards them, 
 the insurgents fell on their knees, and begged the king to pardon their 
 
 rebellious conduct. He promised to do so, and they retired to their 
 
 homes. 
 
 The demands that these poor people made were not extravagant. 
 They required to be set free from their state of slavery, to be allowed to 
 buy and sell freely in the market towns, and to pay a fixed rent for the 
 land they cultivated, instead of being compelled to work without pay 
 
 for their feudal lords. Though the king promised pardon to all, he broke 
 
 his word, and many were hanged ; and the charters or letters of liberty 
 that had been given to some of the rebels to appease them while the 
 danger lasted, were taken from them as soon as it was over. 
 
 In the matter of Wat Tyler’s rebellion the young king had shown so 
 much courage and presence of mind, that great hopes were entertained 
 that he would grow up to be a great and gallant hero, like his father 
 and grandfather. But he did not improve as he grew older. He wa& 
 fond of luxury and splendour, kept a great retinue of people about him, 
 and was idle and careless in affairs of state. Like Edward II., he made 
 favourites among his courtiers, and chose them badly. One of these 
 favourites, Eobert de Yere, Earl of Oxford, he sent to Ireland as Lord 
 Lieutenant, just as Edward II. had sent Gaveston ; and the new lord 
 of Ireland was as much hated as Edward II. ’s favourite had been. 
 
 This conduct roused the anger of the barons, and two parties were 
 formed, one consisting of the favourites of the king, and the other of 
 the principal nobles, among whom were the Dukes of Lancaster and 
 Gloucester, Bichard’s uncles, who held him in contempt, and tried to 
 carry out their own ambitious designs without consulting his interests. 
 Lancaster had a claim to the throne of Castile in Spain, for he had 
 married the daughter of Pedro the Cruel, former king of that country ; 
 and the English were called upon to pay heavy taxes to furnish men and 
 ships, that Lancaster might win the Spanish crown. He failed, how- 
 ever, and after wasting much time and treasure, was obliged to give up 
 his attempt. 
 
 Bichard now took the government of the kingdom into his own 
 hands, and matters went worse than before. He made enemies of the 
 
 13G 
 
RICHARD MAKES HIMSELF HATED— TRIAL BY COMBAT. 
 
 Londoners by demanding a large sum of money of them, and taking 
 away their charter on its refusal ; he raised illegal taxes, and thus lost 
 the affection of the people generally ; and he took cruel revenge upon 
 those nobles of the opposite party who fell into his power, and thus 
 drew down upon himself the hatred of all the barons. The one useful 
 point in his government was the signing of a peace with Trance, which 
 was kept unbroken till his death. 
 
 CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 THE REIGN OE RICHARD II. CONCLUDED. 
 
 Quarrel between Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, and Henry Bolingbroke — Banishment of Boling- 
 broke and Norfolk — Death of John of Gaunt — Iujustice of Richard — Return of Boling- 
 broke — Richard’s deposition and death — Short account of changes in this reign. 
 
 In the year 1398 a quarrel arose between two great English nobles. 
 Henry of Hereford, surnamed Bolingbroke, the son of the old Duke 
 of Lancaster and cousin to the king, accused the Duke of Norfolk of 
 having committed treason, by saying false and slanderous things of the 
 king. Norfolk denied the charge, and asserted that Hereford’s words were 
 false. Both then asked leave to fight out the quarrel in single combat. 
 In those times such contests were not unusual. The king gave his per- 
 mission, and preparations were made for thus settling the question in 
 presence of the whole court. 
 
 On the appointed day, Hereford and Norfolk appeared in complete 
 armour before the king and court, who came together to be present at the 
 combat. But when the signal had been given for commencing and the 
 knights were preparing to encounter, the king suddenly stopped the 
 proceedings, and ordered them both to appear before his throne. Then 
 he told them that he would banish them from England, Norfolk for life 
 and Hereford for ten years ; but Hereford took his leave of the king in 
 such respectful terms, and appeared so submissive, that Eichard at once 
 
 137 
 
RAPACITY OF RICHARD — BOLINGBROKE — RICHARD DEPOSED. 
 
 altered his sentence to only six years’ banishment, and promised that if 
 Hereford became heir to any estates before he could return to England, 
 they should be kept for him until the sentence of banishment was 
 fulfilled. 
 
 So Henry Bolingbroke went to Erance, to pass away the six years as 
 best he might ; and if Bichard had only kept his word, the matter might 
 have ended there. But old John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the 
 father of Henry Bolingbroke, died soon after ; and Bichard, in defiance 
 of the promise he had given to his cousin, seized upon the dukedom of 
 Lancaster which Henry Bolingbroke should have inherited. After this 
 act of injustice he embarked for Ireland, on a warlike expedition ; and 
 in the meantime the news of his unjust act travelled to Erance, and 
 Henry Bolingbroke heard how the faithless Bichard had deceived him. 
 Then he determined upon revenge. With a few followers he embarked 
 for England, and landed in Yorkshire, at a place called Bavenspurg, 
 which has long since been washed away by the sea. He declared that 
 he had come to obtain his rights in the matter of the Duchy of Lan- 
 caster, which was withheld from him ; and so many flocked to join him, 
 that in a short time he was at the head of an army of 60,000 men. 
 Bichard, on the contrary, found his army melting away like snow, though 
 on his return from Ireland he brought with him 20,000 men. The Earl 
 of Northumberland, who was on Henry Bolingbroke’s side, persuaded 
 him to trust himself in his cousin’s hands ; and Bolingbroke brought 
 Bichard to London, the last place in the kingdom where the king could 
 expect to find friends, for the citizens hated him for his exactions. A 
 Parliament met at Westminster, and at Bolingbroke’s suggestion the 
 king was desposed. Bichard had no children, and accordingly Boling- 
 broke declared that the throne was vacant, and claimed it for himself as 
 a grandson of Edward III., and still more as descended directly from an 
 older king, Henry III. 
 
 No one was found to dispute the claim, and thus the banished Here- 
 ford became King of England, under the title of Henry IY. The next 
 question was, what should be done with the deposed Bichard. It was 
 decided that he should be sent away to some prison, where none of his 
 friends could come, so that no attempt should be made to put him on 
 
 138 
 
139 
 
MURDER OF RICHARD— PROGRESS IN ENGLAND. 
 
 the throne again. So the unhappy king was carried off to Pontefract 
 Castle ; and no one knows exactly how he came by his death, which 
 happened soon after. One account says that Sir Piers of Exton, his 
 keeper, and some of his guards, attacked Richard and slew him ; another 
 story tells us that the king was broken-hearted, refused all food, and 
 thus starved himself to death. One thing only is certain, that his death 
 was not unexpected, for no one believed he would live long after he fell 
 into the hands of his enemies. He was only thirty-three years old, and 
 had reigned in England twenty-two years. 
 
 In Richard’s time the English were making great progress in many 
 ways. Their language, their dress, and their mode of living were all im- 
 proving. Till the days of Edward III., though they had many sheep, 
 which yielded them abundance of wool, they were obliged to send the 
 wool across the seas to Elanders to be made into cloth; for, as an old 
 writer tells us, they knew no more how to prepare it than the sheep 
 that had first worn it. But, in Edward’s days, a number of skilled 
 weavers were brought to England from Elanders, who taught the English 
 the art of manufacturing cloth ; so the people were now better dressed 
 than their forefathers had been. In the time of Edward III. and 
 Richard II. there lived a poet named Geoffery Chaucer, who is called 
 the father of English poetry, for his poems are the first we have in the 
 real English language. They are so well written that they are read with 
 pleasure even now. Clock-making was also practised in England at this 
 time ; and an invention of a very different kind was that of gunpowder. 
 Cannon are said to have been first used by the English at the battle of 
 Crecy. They were very clumsily made of rods of iron like the staves of 
 a cask, fastened together with hoops ; and great stones were shot from 
 them, instead of the iron balls now in use. The dress of the nobles 
 was far more costly in Richard’s time than in the days of the warlike 
 Edward III. The extravagant and wasteful king set the example of 
 profusion, which was pretty generally followed by his courtiers ; and of 
 one of the lords it is told that he possessed fifty suits of cloth of gold. 
 
 The only battle of importance fought in Richard’s time was that of 
 Otterbourne against the Scots, in which the English gained the victory, 
 and the Earl of Douglas was slain. 
 
 140 
 
PART y. 
 
 THE LANCASTRIAN KINGS. 
 
 o-~ 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HENRY IV. 
 
 Henry not the real heir to the throne — Rebellions — Owen GTendower — Scottish invasion of Eng- 
 land — Battle of Holmedon Hill — Revolt of the Percys — Battle of Shrewsbury — Death 
 of Hotspur — The Lollards — A plague — Pollies of the Prince of Wales — Death of Henry. 
 
 Though Henry Bolingbroke had made himself King of England, he 
 was not the real heir to the throne. According to law the crown be- 
 longed to Mortimer, Earl of the March, or border country on the frontier 
 of Wales; and in the very next year, 1400, a number of noblemen 
 made a conspiracy to place Mortimer on the throne. Some other dis- 
 contented barons got up a rebellion in another direction, and pretended 
 that one Maudlin a priest, who closely resembled Eichard in appearance, 
 was the deposed king himself, who, they said, had escaped from his 
 prison at Pontefract; but they were defeated by Henry’s friends, and 
 several of them were beheaded. 
 
 The new king was brave and active ; but all his bravery and activity 
 were scarcely sufficient to maintain him on the throne he had seized. 
 Hardly was one insurrection put down, when another arose on the 
 borders of Wales, headed by a Welsh hero named Owen Glendower, 
 who had been attached to Eichard, and who valiantly protected himself 
 for years against the friends of Henry, who sought to deprive him of 
 his estate. The Scotch also made incursions into England. Henry was 
 obliged to march northward, and actually took Edinburgh. But not- 
 withstanding this, the Scottish King Eobert III. would not do him 
 homage, nor would the Scottish nobles submit to him. Pressing busi- 
 
 141 
 
REVOLT OF THE PERCYS— BATTLE OF SHREWSBURY. 
 
 ness required his presence in England, so he was obliged to march back 
 to London, without having gained much by his Scottish invasion. The 
 Crown of England was a thorny one to Henry Bolingbroke. 
 
 In 1402 the great Scottish Earl of Douglas invaded England. The 
 Earl of Northumberland, and his brave son Henry Percy, generally 
 called Harry Hotspur, marched against him, and at the battle of 
 Holmedon Hill, in 1402, the Earl of Douglas was taken prisoner. King 
 Henry, who distrusted the two Percies, was anxious that they should not 
 release the Douglas for ransom, as was the usual custom of those days, 
 and therefore sent word to them, desiring them to detain the Scottish 
 nobleman in custody. They were greatly offended at this, especially 
 young Harry Plotspur, who remembered how differently the king had 
 behaved to them when he was only Henry Bolingbroke, coming home 
 from exile, and how he had sought their help and favour, who now 
 sent his commands with haughty insolence. Both father and son de- 
 termined to be revenged ; and accordingly they made an agreement with 
 the Welsh chieftain, Owen Glendower, to drive Henry from the throne 
 by force, and set up the Earl of March in his place. They brought an 
 army together with all speed ; but just when they were ready, the Earl 
 of Northumberland fell sick, so that young Harry Hotspur was obliged 
 to take the command of his father’s forces. 
 
 The king’s army came upon the .rebels at Battlefield, near Shrews- 
 bury. Hotspur behaved like a brave knight, and was killed, fighting 
 valiantly in the thickest of the throng ; Prince Henry, the king’s eldest 
 son, also earned much fame by his valour on this memorable day. The 
 rebels were completely defeated, and their army was dispersed. The 
 king, who had probably seen more than enough of bloodshed, showed 
 himself disposed to act mercifully towards his beaten foes. The Earl 
 of Northumberland’s sickness probably saved that nobleman’s life, for 
 as he had not been present in the field, the death of his son was con- 
 sidered sufficient punishment for him, and he was pardoned. 
 
 The young Prince of Wales was only sixteen years old when he 
 fought at Shrewsbury, Yet he refused to leave the field when he was 
 wounded, declaring that a king’s son ought to set a good example and 
 show his men how to fight. 
 
 
 112 
 
Death of Hotspur. 
 
 143 
 
THE LOLLARDS— THE PLAGUE— PRINCE HENRY. 
 
 The Earl of Northumberland could not long remain quiet, In 1405 
 he was again in rebellion against the king, and had allied himself with 
 Scrope, Archbishop of York, and the Earl of Nottingham ; and these 
 nobles raised the standard of revolt. The Earl of Westmoreland was sent 
 against them, and with seeming frankness made them an offer for peace. 
 He proposed that both sides should disband their armies, and promised in 
 the king’s name that the demands of the discontented nobles should be 
 considered, and what was wrong set right. Trusting to his word, the 
 rebels dismissed their forces ; but Westmoreland, who had kept his army 
 together, set upon Scrope and the earl, took them prisoners, and had 
 them instantly beheaded on Shipton Moor. Again the Earl of Northum- 
 berland escaped, by flying from England without loss of time. In 1408 
 he returned, again assembled an army, and tried his fortune once more 
 against the king. Again he was defeated, at Barham Moor in York- 
 shire ; and this time there was no escape for him, for he was slain in the 
 battle. 
 
 In the last reign certain persons had arisen who found fault with the 
 state of religion, and wished to see the Church cleansed of some faults 
 that many saw and deplored. They were led by a priest named Wycliffe. 
 They are known by the name of Reformers, because they desired to 
 amend or reform matters of religion ; but in those days people called 
 them the Wycliffltes or Lollards ; and as the priests were very angry at 
 being interfered with, the Lollards were looked upon as criminals, and 
 treated with great severity. Many of them were imprisoned, and some 
 put to death, in this reign. The prison in which they were shut up in 
 the palace of the Archbishop of Canterbury, at Lambeth, near London, 
 is still shown, and has kept its name of the Lollard’s Tower to this day. 
 
 A great plague or pestilence broke out in the year 1407, and many 
 thousand people died. The country was in an unsettled state, and great 
 crimes were committed. Among the most disorderly of Henry IY.’s sub- 
 jects was his own son, the Prince of Wales, who made friends of some 
 thoughtless, dissolute companions, and indulged in all kinds of riot and 
 lawlessness. At one time he even took to robbing on the highway, 
 plundering the men who had received money for his father; and one 
 day* when a follower of his had been arrested for some crime and taken- 
 
 iw 
 
THE PRINCE AND THE JUDGE— THE KING'S DESPONDENCY. 
 
 before Sir William Gascoigne, the Chief Justice, young Harry so utterly 
 forgot his duty as to strike the judge a blow in open court. Hereupon 
 Gascoigne, who would not be treated with disrespect even by the king’s 
 son, ordered the Prince of Wales into custody. The prince, who was 
 thoughtless rather than wicked, felt himself in the wrong, and submitted 
 quietly to his sentence; and when the king heard of it, he said he 
 esteemed himself happy in having an upright judge in his service who 
 would do justice on such an offender; and still more in having a son 
 willing to submit to such punishment. 
 
 In spite of all his madcap tricks and follies, this Prince Harry often 
 showed signs of a great and noble soul. His father had once been 
 incensed against him by evil counsellors, and thought so badly of the 
 young prince that he even believed Harry wished to take his life. But 
 the prince came to Westminster Hall, quite unattended, and tendered 
 his duty to his father ; and on their retiring to a private room, he fell 
 on his knees, and begged his father would stab him to the heart rather 
 than believe him capable of treachery and ingratitude. The poor king, 
 weak and broken down by care and anxiety, and sorely burdened by the 
 crown he had sinned so deeply to win, was touched by his brave son’s 
 simple faith. He embraced the prince tenderly, and the two became 
 excellent friends. 
 
 As time progressed, the health of King Henry IV. gave way more 
 and more. He became subject to fits, and sank into a state of deep 
 despondency. Perhaps he thought of the poor foolish cousin who had 
 been his king, and whose life had ended so darkly in the gloomy 
 dungeon at Pomfret. Certain it is, that a secret grief destroyed his 
 rest, and brought him to the grave at the early age of forty-six. In his 
 last illness the prince entered the room where the king was lying help- 
 less and unconscious in bed, with the crown by his pillow ; and thinking 
 Henry was dead, Prince Harry took away the crown. The king woke 
 up presently, missed it, and asked what had become of it; and when 
 the prince returned, and explained the matter, the dying Henry shook 
 his head sadly, asking the young prince what right he had to the crown, 
 when his father had none. Harry replied, “ My liege, with the sword 
 you won it, and with the sword I will keep it.” “ Do as you think best,” 
 
 146 
 
DEATH OF HENRY IV. — HENRY V.— HIS REFORMATION. 
 
 said the king in a feeble voice. “ I leave the issue to God, and may He 
 have mercy on my soul.” 
 
 Soon afterwards he died. His reign had been restless and unhappy. 
 He had sinned deeply in revenging himself on Bichard, who, though 
 a weak bad man, was still the king to whom Bolingbroke had sworn 
 obedience. He had gained a crown, but with it had come remorse, and 
 wakeful nights, and unquiet days, and mistrust and misery. He had 
 attempted to right himself by doing wrong, and had been punished by 
 Him who has told us in His Word that 4 4 Mischief shall hunt the violent 
 man.” 
 
 CHAPTEB II. 
 
 HENRY V. 
 
 Mistaken opinions concerning Henry’s character — Quarrel with France — Re-interment of the 
 corpse of Richard II. — Cruelties towards the Lollards — Invasion of France — Siege of 
 Harfleur — Distress in the King’s army — Dangerous position of Henry. 
 
 When Henry V. came to the throne, many who had known him only 
 as the madcap Prince of Wales, consorting with idle companions and 
 brawling in the streets, expected that he would prove but a weak king, 
 led by favourites and incapable of great actions. Among those who 
 thought thus lightly of him was Louis the Dauphin, the eldest son of 
 the French King Charles VI., who, on learning that Henry intended 
 invading Prance, sent him in derision a number of tennis-balls, saying 
 that these were the best tribute to pay to a king who had always shown 
 himself fond of playthings. But Henry replied that he would play such 
 a game at tennis in Prance as should astonish the Dauphin and the 
 French king too ; and he kept his word right royally. 
 
 On the death of his father, in 1513, he at once dismissed the idle 
 companions with whom he had wasted his youth, and resolved to devote 
 himself henceforth to the fulfilment of his duties as King of England. 
 The English in those days were always restive and turbulent under a 
 
 147 
 
HENRY INVADES FRANCE — TAKES HARFLEUR. 
 
 weak king, and nothing was so sure to please them and gain their cheer- 
 ful obedience as evidence of strength and warlike skill in their sovereigns. 
 This was probably one reason why Henry, immediately on ascending the 
 throne, resolved to revive the old claim which his ancestor, Edward III., 
 had set up to the Erench throne ; and he prepared to lead an army into 
 Erance, and undertake the conquest of that country. 
 
 The memory of the violent means by which his father had gained the 
 crown of England, and, perhaps, also a feeling of pity for the fate of 
 the unhappy Richard II., caused Henry to have the murdered king’s 
 corpse removed from King’s Langley, where it had been buried, and 
 conveyed to Westminster, where it was solemnly interred among the 
 kings ; so that poor King Richard, though he had not been allowed to 
 retain the station of a monarch while he was alive, came at last to rest 
 among his kindred now that he was dead. - 
 
 The Lollards or Wycliffites, who had been much persecuted during 
 the last reign, had become more numerous than ever. The priests were 
 very angry with them, and persuaded King Henry to treat them with 
 great cruelty ; and Sir John Oldcastle, one of their leaders, was burnt to 
 death in Smithfield. 
 
 In 1415 Henry sailed from Southampton to invade Erance. That 
 kingdom was then in a very bad state. The king, Charles VI., called 
 “ the Simple,” was subject to fits of madness, which made him quite 
 unable to govern ; and some of the great nobles took advantage of this 
 to fill the country with their brawls and quarrels. Henry landed with 
 his army, and besieged Harfleur, which he took. But soon afterwards 
 misfortune began to lower upon his enterprise. The fleet, on whose arrival 
 the forces depended for provisions and reinforcements, was scattered by 
 a storm. The season was unhealthy ; and the army, being reduced to 
 great straits for want of food, began to despond. Sickness broke out in 
 the camp, and many of the soldiers died. The rest were enfeebled by 
 anxiety and toil, and the season w~as far advanced ; for Harfleur had not 
 been taken till the 18th of September, 1415. Henry, therefore, deter- 
 mined to march to Calais, and thence return to England for the winter. 
 Well would it have been for the Erench had they permitted him to retire 
 unmolested. But this seemed a favourable moment to crush the invaders 
 
 148 
 
Henry V. at /Vgincourt. 149 
 
MISERABLE CONDITION OF THE ENGLISH ARMY AT AGINCOURT. 
 
 by one great blow ; for sickness and privation had thinned Henry’s ranks 
 till there were not 10,000 men left in his army. The Dauphin Louis, 
 who had sent him the tennis-balls, had by this time assembled an army 
 of 100,000 men. He made sure that the English were in his power 
 and could not escape, and already, no doubt, calculated on the ransom 
 he should obtain for the King of England, whom he looked upon as his 
 prisoner. 
 
 But Henry was not the man to yield himself a prisoner or to lose his 
 army without a fight. He sent a message to the Dauphin, declaring 
 that if he was molested in his march he would try the issue of battle. 
 This was just what the Erench wished. And thus, not many miles from 
 Crecy, where Edward III. had gained his great victory nearly seventy 
 years before, an English army once more lay in nearly the same position 
 in which Edward’s army had been at the time of that famous fight — ■ 
 weakened in numbers, toilworn and weary with marching, surrounded 
 by an enemy many times more numerous than itself, and cut off from 
 all hope of succour ; but led on by a king in whose valour and skill every 
 man could trust, and determined to fight to the last for King Harry and 
 for the honour of England. 
 
 CHAPTER III.' 
 
 THE REIGN OE HENRY V. CONCLUDED. 
 
 Battle of Agincourt — Henry’s triumphant return to England — State of affairs in France-^ 
 Treaty of Troyes, in 1520 — Henry appointed Regent on his marriage with Catherine of 
 Erance — Birth of a Prince — Death of the King — State of London in this reign. 
 
 On the 25th of October, 1415, was fought the famous battle of 
 Agincourt, or Azincour. On the night before the combat, the king 
 went the round of the tents, showing his men a cheerful countenance, 
 encouraging them by hearty words, and exhorting them to fight bravely. 
 He declared that though his army was small, he did not wish for one 
 
 150 
 
THE BATTLE— GREAT VICTORY — HENRY'S RETURN TO ENGLAND. 
 
 man more ; for “ there were men enough,” he said, “ to die for their 
 country ; and if they were to gain the victory, the smaller the number of 
 men, the greater would he the share of honour that each would gain.” 
 The story of the great battle of Agincourt is like that of Crecy and 
 Poictiers told over again. Once more a few determined men, led on by 
 a gallant king, stood boldly up to face an immense army under various 
 leaders, strong in numbers, but wanting in unity. The French were 
 crowded together in such a way that their numbers were rather a 
 hindrance than a help to them. The English archers, whose arrows 
 flew like snow and struck like hailstones, rained confusion among them. 
 The king fought like a hero in the thickest of the fray, conspicuous to 
 all by the crown on his helmet ; and no man could fail to do his best 
 under such a chieftain. The French, on their part, fought with great 
 gallantry. The Duke of Alengon, one of their leaders, engaged in a 
 hand-to-hand combat with Henry, and struck the English king a blow 
 on the head, which would have killed him but for the crown he wore, 
 part of which was cut off by the stroke. Alengon was himself slain 
 soon afterwards. The English yeomen did gallant service. After a 
 tremendous struggle, the French began to give way, and at length they 
 were drawn from the field. The French herald, Montjoy, was brought 
 before Henry, and acknowledged that the victory was with the English. 
 “ How call you that castle,” asked the king, “ that stands on yonder 
 height ? ” On being informed that it was named Agincourt, he said, 
 “ Then call we this the field of Agincourt, fought on St. Crispin’s Day.” 
 In this great battle the French lost many thousands of men. Two 
 royal princes and a great number of knights, nobles, and gentlemen 
 were taken prisoners ; and when the sun set on that 25th of October, a 
 glorious page had been added to the history of England. 
 
 After this great victory, Henry marched on to Calais, and thence 
 embarked for England, where the news of his victory ensured him and 
 his men a right royal welcome. The English were proud of their gallant 
 young king, and no one now thought of asking what right he or his 
 father had to the crown. He had fulfilled his words spoken to the dying 
 Henry IY., that “ he would keep the crown by the sword.” 
 
 Meanwhile, things in France became worse and worse. The king was 
 
 in 
 
TREATY OF TROYES— HENRY MADE REGENT OF FRANCE. 
 
 quite imbecile, and the country fell into utter confusion and ruin. Thus, 
 when in 1418 Henry again led an army into France, no real resistance 
 could be made by the French. There was no thought now of sending 
 him tennis-balls. On the contrary, the French were obliged to accept 
 any terms he chose to offer. 
 
 The King of France, Charles VI., was quite helpless and foolish. 
 The most powerful nobleman in his court was the Duke of Burgundy, 
 whose father had been murdered a few months before Henry’s second 
 invasion of France. Upon condition that the murderer of his father 
 should be brought to justice, the Duke of Burgundy agreed to forward 
 Henry’s views to the French crown, to the exclusion of the Dauphin, the 
 French king’s son, who was the rightful heir. A treaty was concluded, 
 called the Treaty of Troyes, in 1420, in which it was arranged that 
 Charles, the present king of France, should keep his dignity as long as 
 he lived ; but that Henry should be made Regent, and become King of 
 France at Charles’s death, so that the two kingdoms might be converted 
 into one ; and that Charles of France, Henry of England, and the Duke 
 of Burgundy should unite their forces to carry out this arrangement. 
 
 Henry thereupon married the Princess Catherine of France, daughter 
 of King Charles VI. The Dauphin of France, who saw that his rights 
 were entirely disregarded in the Treaty of Troyes, gathered an army 
 together, and tried to conquer the kingdom for himself. But Henry 
 was too strong for him, though the Dauphin, who was named Charles, 
 like his father the poor imbecile French king, at first gained some 
 advantages. He was obliged to retreat with his forces, and leave all 
 the northern portion of France entirely in the hands of the English 
 king. 
 
 Towards the end of the year 1421 Queen Catherine brought her war- 
 like husband a son. Henry’s prosperity and good fortune now seemed 
 complete, and the birth of the little Prince Henry was celebrated with 
 great pomp and rejoicing, alike in London and in Paris. But at the 
 very height of his fortune, Henry V.’s career of prosperity was cut short. 
 He fell suddenly and dangerously ill, at Vincennes, near Rouen, and his 
 physicians were obliged to tell him that he would surely die. 
 
 Then he set about arranging his affairs as speedily as possible. He 
 
DEATH OF HENRY V. — HIS CHARACTER, 
 
 named his brother, the Duke of Bedford, Eegent of Trance, in his 
 infant son’s name ; the Duke of Gloucester was to be Eegent of Eng- 
 land; and to the Earl of Warwick was entrusted the safe keeping of 
 the little prince who was soon to be a baby king. 
 
 After making these arrangements, the valiant King Henry died. He 
 was thirty-three years old, and had reigned nine years over England. 
 His subjects mourned for him with a sincere grief ; for, in spite of the 
 faults of his youth, he had been a great and a gallant king, with just 
 those shining qualities which the English admired most, namely, courage, 
 perseverance, and a hearty desire to work. Among the greatest of his 
 virtues must be mentioned his scrupulous regard for truth. Friends and 
 enemies could alike depend upon his word, which, once given, was never 
 broken ; a rare virtue in those days, when many promises were made, 
 but few kept. The Earl of March, who had a better right to the throne 
 than Henry could boast, and whom a weak king would therefore have 
 hated or feared, lived in complete friendship with Henry; for he felt 
 himself safe in the assurance that the noble Harry was incapable of 
 treachery. Thus it is that this king was loved and trusted during his 
 lifetime, and regretted after his death. 
 
 The young Queen Catherine, who was thus left a widow by her brave 
 husband’s early decease, afterwards married a handsome Welsh gentle- 
 man named Owen Tudor ; and the descendant of Catherine and Owen 
 became Kings of England after many stormy years, as you will read 
 further on in this history. 
 
 Up to the time of Henry, no one thought of walking in the streets 
 of London after dusk ; for thieves and robbers lurked about, plundering 
 all who fell into their hands. But in this reign it was enacted that the 
 citizens should hang up lighted lanterns at their doors, so that the streets 
 might not be quite dark ; and every evening the watchmen went their 
 rounds, to see that this command was obeyed; and to remind those 
 citizens who would have spared their candles of their duty, the cry was 
 raised, “ Lantern, and a whole candle light ! Hang out your lights ! — 
 hear ! ” 
 
 The Parliament often gave Henry large sums of money to pay for his 
 wars in France ; but these contests were so expensive that the king was 
 
 153 
 
HENRY VI. PROCLAIMED KING OF FRANCE— JOAN OF ARC. 
 
 obliged to pawn his crown jewels to obtain funds to pay his archers, each 
 of whom received sixpence a day ; a large sum for foot soldiers in those 
 times. 
 
 CHAPTEE IY. 
 
 HENRY VI. 
 
 The Beauforts — State of affairs in France — Battle of Yerneuil — Joan Dare, the Maid of 
 Orleans — Her exploits and misfortunes — Beverses of the English — Gradual loss of France 
 — Quarrels among the English nobles — Henry marries Margaret of Anjou — Jack Cade’s 
 rebellion — His defeat and death. 
 
 A few months after the death of the valiant Henry V., the poor 
 imbecile King Charles VI. of Prance died too. Then the baby King 
 Henry YI. was proclaimed monarch of Prance as well as of England. 
 The arrangements that Henry Y. had made for the government of the 
 kingdom, until his son should he of an age to rule for himself, were in 
 some respects altered. The great family of the Beauforts wished to take 
 part in the government of England ; and thus began a series of quarrels 
 which had very bad consequences for the peace and prosperity of the 
 country. 
 
 You will remember that when the Treaty of Troyes was concluded, the 
 rights of the Dauphin, the heir to the Prench crown, were quite over- 
 looked. Now that King Charles YI. was dead, the Dauphin again took 
 up arms, to try and wrest Prance from the English, but for many years 
 he had very little success. The great battle of Yerneuil was fought on 
 the 27th of August, 1424, and the English gained another great and 
 brilliant victory. But from the year 1428 things began to turn against 
 them, for then the brave Earl of Salisbury was slain, in besieging the 
 city of Orleans ; and at the same time there arose a powerful champion 
 for the Prench cause. 
 
 This champion was a young girl, named Joan Dare, the daughter of 
 a peasant. She suddenly conceived the idea that she was destined by 
 
 154 
 
SUCCESSES OF JOAN— SHE IS BURNT— ENGLISH LOSSES IN FRANCE. 
 
 Heaven to drive the English out of France, and to have the French 
 Dauphin Charles crowned king at Eheims. 
 
 Some of the French commanders listened to her tale, and brought her 
 to the Dauphin, who was much impressed by her confidence and evident 
 belief in her own power. The common soldiers received her with delight, 
 and regarded her as one sent from heaven to help them. They drove 
 the English from Orleans ; and from this time the tide of battle turned 
 in their favour. 
 
 The French soldiers acquired new courage when they heard with what 
 certainty Joan predicted that the victory would be theirs. They fought 
 with double vigour, and in a short time the siege of Orleans was really 
 raised, and the Dauphin was crowned at Eheims, the Maid of Orleans, 
 as she was now called, saluting him by the title of Charles VII., 
 monarch of France. The heroic Joan, having now fulfilled her promises, 
 wished to retire to her native village of Domremy. Charles, however, 
 persuaded her to remain in his service and lead his army. But her con- 
 fidence in herself was gone. In 1431 she was taken prisoner by the 
 Burgundians at the siege of the town of Compeigne. The Burgundians 
 delivered her up to the English, and soon afterwards the brave Maid of 
 Orleans was publicly burnt as a witch at Eouen. 
 
 The English still possessed a great part of France; but from this 
 time their territory decreased year by year. The brave Duke of Bed- 
 ford, the brother of the heroic Henry V., died at Eouen, and the 
 English soldiers in France gradually lost heart, and were driven from 
 one place after another, until at last the whole of France was lost, with 
 the sole exception of the town of Calais, which remained in the hands 
 of the English for two hundred years longer. 
 
 As King Henry VI. grew to man’s estate, he began to show himself 
 very unlike his heroic father in character. He was weak and yielding, 
 and of such a feeble mind that frequently he could not attend to affairs 
 of state at all. Meanwhile the nobles began quarrelling with each other* 
 as it was their wont to do when no strength of the king’s held them in 
 check ; and the great Beaufort family began to increase its own power 
 at the expense of those nearest to the king, especially of his uncles 
 the Duke of Gloucester and the Duke of York. The latter was 
 
WEAKNESS OF THE KING— DISCONTENTS— JACK CADE. 
 
 deprived of the regency of Prance, and the former, whom they dared not 
 openly put to death for fear of the people, who loved him, was accused 
 of treason, and before the day of trial came, was found murdered in his 
 bed. 
 
 King Henry had married Margaret, daughter of the Duke of Anjou, 
 in Prance. This queen was as bold and determined as her husband was 
 weak and wavering. As for Henry, his imbecility threw the govern- 
 ment of the country into the hands of men who ruled for their own 
 advantage, and not for the people’s. The expenses of the king’s house- 
 hold increased so greatly, that in a few years Henry YI. was hundreds 
 of thousands of pounds in debt. To meet this expenditure, the people 
 were unjustly taxed, or rather robbed; and soon there was discontent 
 and murmuring from one end of the kingdom to the other. The Duke 
 of Suffolk, a great friend of Queen Margaret, was the first person upon 
 whom the anger of the people and the nobles fell. He was banished 
 the kingdom, and murdered at sea on his way to Prance. 
 
 And now the English, who had cheerfully submitted to the rule of 
 Henry V., and had never thought of inquiring whether a prince, who 
 led them to victory and honour, had a good title or a bad one to the 
 throne, began to ask that question very loudly concerning Henry YI., 
 with whose weakness they were disgusted. They remembered that the 
 family of the Duke of York were the descendants of an elder son of 
 Edward III., while the Duke of Lancaster, old John of Gaunt, from 
 whom Henry derived his claim, was only a younger son of the same 
 monarch ; and nobles and people began very seriously to consider whether 
 the House of York might not furnish them with a far better king than 
 was the sluggish Lancastrian who now dozed on the throne, while his 
 barons quarrelled and maligned each other around him. Thus, from 
 the foolishness of Henry, arose a quarrel, which grew hotter until it broke 
 out into a great and disastrous war. 
 
 In 1450 a peasant named Jack Cade gathered a number of followers 
 in Kent, and marched with them towards London, declaring that he 
 would obtain redress for the grievances of the people. To make him- 
 self respected by the people, he pretended to belong to the family of 
 Mortimer, whose claim to the throne was suspected by many ; and when 
 
Jack Cade at London Stone. 
 
 157 
 
COMMENCEMENT OF THE WAR OF THE ROSES. 
 
 he came to London, he struck his sword upon the famous milestone 
 called “ London Stone,” which then stood in the centre of the city, and 
 cried out, “ Now is Mortimer lord of London.” Lord of London in- 
 deed he was for a short time ; and his followers took vengeance upon 
 Lord Say, the Treasurer, and Cromer, Sheriff of Kent, whom they hated, 
 by putting them to death. But when the rebels began to plunder the 
 merchants, and to set fire to the houses, Lord Scales, the Constable of 
 the Tower, collected a force, marched out against them, and slaughtered 
 many; whereupon the rest retreated to Bochester, and then dispersed. 
 Cade himself was slain by the sheriff, Alexander Eden, after wandering 
 about in the woods till he was half starved. 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 THE REIGN OE HENRY VI. CONCLUDED. 
 
 The factions of York and Lancaster — Beginning of the War of the Roses — Battles of St. 
 Alban’s, Bloreheath, and Wakefield — Death of the Duke of York — Battle of Mortimers 
 Cross — Second Battle of St. Alban’s — Edward of York proclaimed King of England. 
 
 « 
 
 After the rebellion of Jack Cade had been suppressed, the discontent 
 and quarrelling among the nobles became worse and worse ; and at last 
 they banded themselves into two parties — that of the Lancastrians, headed 
 by King Henry, or rather by Queen Margaret, and that of the Yorkists, 
 headed by the Duke of York. The quarrelling at last led to a war which 
 lasted thirty years, and is known in history as the struggle of York and 
 Lancaster, and sometimes as the War of the Roses. 
 
 This last name proceeded from the fact that, one day when a number 
 of noblemen were walking in the Temple gardens in London, -they began 
 disputing as to the rights of the Duke of York and of King Plenry to 
 the throne. Those who held with King Henry gathered a red rose and 
 put it in their caps, while those who considered the Duke of York’s claim 
 the better gathered a white rose, and wore it in token that they were of 
 
 158 
 
The Duke op York slain at Wakefield, 
 
 159 
 
DEFEAT OF THE LANCASTRIANS— DEATH OF THE DUKE OF YORK. 
 
 the duke’s party ; and from that day the red rose became the token of 
 the House of Lancaster, and the white rose that of the House of York. 
 
 For a time the king was attacked by mental illness, which rendered 
 him more incapable than ever of ruling. During this period the Duke 
 of York was made Protector of England, and ruled in King Henry’s 
 name ; but when the king, on recovering his health, not only took the 
 government into his own hands again, but made an especial favourite 
 of York’s great enemy, the Duke of Somerset, the Duke of York de- 
 termined to dethrone Henry by force of arms, and the wars of the Eoses 
 began. 
 
 The first battle was fought at St. Alban’s on the 22nd of May, 1455. 
 The Duke of York gained the victory. Somerset was slain, and Henry 
 was taken prisoner. But the Duke of York treated him with great 
 respect ; and the duke was again made Protector. Por a short time it 
 seemed as if the quarrel was at an end. The king resumed his power, 
 and the Lancastrian and Yorkist lords walked side by side in solemn 
 procession to the cathedral of St. Paul’s, in London, as a sign that they 
 were friends. But the truce did not last long. In 1459 the rival Houses 
 were fighting again, and at Bloreheath, in Shropshire, the Lancastrians 
 sustained a defeat. The Lancastrian party became very unpopular after 
 this, and their cruelty towards many of their prisoners rendered them 
 more odious than ever. Another truce was made, the weak Henry con- 
 senting that the Duke of York should reign after him, instead of his 
 own son Edward. 
 
 Erom this time Queen Margaret, who was justly angry at seeing her 
 son’s rights thus passed over, became the real leader of the Lancastrians, 
 while her feeble husband took little part in public affairs. The queen 
 marched with a large army to the Duke of York’s castle at Sandal, near 
 Wakefield, in Yorkshire, and defied him, with many insults, to come out 
 and fight her. Stung by her taunts, the duke at last took Margaret 
 at her word, and drew out his army on Wakefield Green. Margaret’s 
 troops, commanded by Lord Clifford, gained the victory. York was 
 slain, and Clifford had the barbarity to kill the old man’s son, the little 
 Duke of Eutland, after the fight was over. The old duke’s head was 
 cut from his dead body, a paper crown was placed upon the brows, in 
 
 160 
 
EDWARD DUKE OF YORK PROCLAIMED KING. 
 
 mockery of York’s claim to the throne, and the horrible trophy was then 
 brought to Margaret, who commanded her men to fix it up on the gate 
 of York, together with the head of Lord Salisbury, York’s friend, who 
 had fallen into her hands, and was executed immediately after the battle. 
 This cruelty is a great stain on Margaret’s character, and lost her many 
 friends, while it embittered her enemies against her. 
 
 Many other battles were fought between the partisans of York and 
 Lancaster during this strife. The queen did a foolish thing by dividing 
 her army, sending half of her men under Jasper Tudor against Edward, 
 the eldest son of the late Duke of York, while with the rest she hastened 
 towards London. Tudor was defeated by Edward at Mortimer’s Cross, 
 in Herefordshire, on the 2nd of February, 1461 ; while Margaret gained 
 a victory over the Earl of Warwick in the second battle of St. Alban’s, 
 on the 17th of January; but the victory was of little use to her, for 
 Edward was advancing against her, and she was not strong enough to 
 meet him. Therefore she retreated in haste towards the north, while 
 young Edward pushed on towards London. On his arrival there, he 
 made a speech to the people, explaining his rights, and declaring that 
 Henry VI. was an usurper. The people, charmed by his martial and 
 handsome appearance, and contrasting his spirited bearing with the meek 
 downcast aspect of the gentle Henry, who had not one kingly sign 
 either in his appearance or character, were unanimous in favour of the 
 young duke, who was accordingly proclaimed King of England on the 
 5th of March, 1461. 
 
 Here ends the unfortunate reign of Henry VI., though he lived for ten 
 years longer, during the latter part of his life a prisoner in the Tower. 
 As incapable of governing in troublous time^ as ever Kichard II. or 
 Edward II. had been, he shared the fate of those unhappy princes, and 
 was buffeted to and fro, until at last the turbulent factions drove him 
 from the throne. In peaceful times he might have preserved his crown, 
 but never could have been a very active or useful king. 
 
 M 
 
 161 
 
CHAPTER YI. 
 
 EDWARD IV. 
 
 Queen Margaret’s struggle for the throne — Great battle at Towton, and defeat of the Lancas- 
 trians — Battles of Hedgley Moor and Hexham— The Queen’s escape — Henry YI. shut up 
 in the Tower of London — Tyranny of Edward IY. — Discontent of the Earl of Warwick — 
 Battle of Barnet — Battle of Tewkesbury — Death of the Duke of Clarence, and of the King. 
 
 Though Edward had been proclaimed King of England, the struggle 
 between the Houses of York and Lancaster was by no means ended. It 
 continued for many years more, and cost many thousands of lives. As 
 the war proceeded, the combatants became more cruel; and at last it 
 became quite customary that the noblemen taken prisoners in the various 
 battles should be at once executed. Hundreds of men of high birth 
 lost their lives in this way. 
 
 Though Queen Margaret’s fortunes seemed now at a low ebb, that 
 princess was far too spirited to give up the contest ; indeed, throughout 
 the whole war she fought with a perseverance and courage that would 
 have gained her great honour had they been joined to a little womanly 
 mercy and kindness towards the foes who fell into her hands. She was 
 now in • the north, surrounded by an army, and determined to fight to 
 the last. The powerful Earl of Warwick, called the “King-maker,” 
 marched with his forces against her ; and at Towton, in Yorkshire, on 
 the 29th of March, 1461, the Lancastrians sustained the most cruel 
 defeat that had yet been inflicted upon them. King Edward, who was 
 as cruel as he was handsome, had given orders that no mercy should 
 be shown to the enemy, and many thousands of the Lancastrians were 
 slaughtered in the pursuit after the battle was over. When King Henry 
 and Queen Margaret, who were at York, heard of the destruction of 
 their army, they fled into Scotland, where King James received his 
 unfortunate brother king hospitably ; and Henry, who seemed always to 
 be drawn into the contest against his will, appeared glad enough of this 
 interval of quiet. Margaret afterwards passed over to Elanders, whence 
 she obtained assistance from the Duke of Burgundy, whose duchess was 
 
 162 
 
QUEEN MARGARET AND THE OUTLAW. 
 
 descended from the House of Lancaster ; and Louis XI. of France, a 
 crafty and cunning king, was induced to send her a small body of men, 
 by the promise that Calais should be given up to him if Henry were 
 restored to the’ throne. Thus, in 1464, the war broke out again ; but 
 Margaret’s usual ill fortune attended her. She suffered a slight defeat 
 at Hedgley Moor, and her army was completely scattered at the battle 
 of Hexham, on the 15th of May. Flying from the battle-field, with her 
 little son Edward, Prince of Wales, a boy of eleven years old, the queen 
 fell into the hands of robbers, who plundered her and threatened her 
 with death. She escaped, however ; and, wandering in the woods with 
 her boy, met an outlaw — a savage-looking man — who dwelt like a wild 
 beast in the depths of Hexham Forest. Margaret’s courage did not 
 forsake her. She advanced boldly towards the outlaw, and presenting 
 the little prince to him, said, “ I commit to your care the son of your 
 king.” The wild outlaw was touched at the sight of her distress. He 
 took the prince in his arms, and carried him to the cave where he dwelt, 
 followed by Margaret. Some of the queen’s followers found her in that 
 place of refuge ; and the faithful outlaw guided his guests on the way to 
 Carlisle, whence they escaped into Scotland. Thence she crossed the 
 seas, and did not reappear in England for some years, Henry, mean- 
 while, fell into the hands of King Edward, and was closely shut up in 
 the Tower of London. 
 
 For a time King Edward IY. was a favourite in England ; but his 
 cruelty and tyranny soon began to change the feelings of the people 
 towards him. He was so haughty that he fined the Sheriff of London 
 for kneeling too near him. He caused a tradesman of London to be 
 hanged for saying in jest, “ My son is heir to the Crown” meaning, not 
 the crown of England, but the sign by which his house was known. He 
 exacted heavy taxes from the people, and offended his own most powerful 
 friend, the great Earl of Warwick. His marriage with Lady Elizabeth 
 Grey, the widow of a brave knight, gave offence to many of the nobility, 
 who thought the king should have allied himself with some foreign 
 princess; and their anger, and that of Warwick in particular, was 
 increased by the dignities and honours Edward heaped on the relations 
 of his queen, one of whom he made a marquis. 
 
 164 
 
BATTLE OF BARNET— DEATH OF HENRY— EFFECTS OF THE WARS. 
 
 Thus it happened that, in the year 1470, Warwick, who had been 
 banished from England, returned as the champion of Queen Margaret 
 and her son ; and his power was so great, that Edward was obliged to fly 
 from England for a short time. He returned in the following year, 
 however; and on the 14th of April, 1471, was fought the great battle 
 of Barnet, between the troops of Edward and those of Warwick. In this 
 battle, the great King-maker was slain, fighting on foot in the thickest 
 of the throng ; and with him died the last powerful friend poor Mar- 
 garet possessed. She had just landed in Dorsetshire when the news of 
 this great disaster reached her. She resolved to strike another blow 
 before she gave up the cause as lost; and thus, on the 4th of May, 
 1471, was fought the last battle of the War of the Boses, in the field 
 of Tewkesbury, in Gloucestershire. Margaret lost the battle mainly 
 through the treachery of Lord Wenlock, one of her partisans; and both 
 she and her son, the Prince of Wales, were taken prisoners. King 
 Edward had the young prince brought into his tent, spoke cruel words 
 to him, and struck him on the mouth with his iron gauntlet ; whereupon 
 the attendants, and, it is said, the king’s brothers (Gloucester and Cla- 
 rence) also, dragged the boy into another apartment, and slew him with 
 their daggers. Queen Margaret was sent to the Tower, where she re- 
 mained for some years a prisoner. On the night after the battle of 
 Tewkesbury, King Henry died in that gloomy fortress. He had been 
 ailing for some time, but many said that he was murdered; and some 
 even declared that the Duke of Gloucester was the man who committed 
 the crime. The truth, however, was never known. 
 
 And now the war of York and Lancaster was at last ended. Eor 
 thirty years it had kept the country in an uproar, setting men against 
 each other, costing thousands upon thousands of lives, and spreading 
 desolation everywhere. The nobles were the class who suffered most; 
 for besides the numbers slain on the battle-field, a great many perished 
 on the scaffold. As the strife went on, the leaders on both sides had 
 become cruel ; and the object of each seemed to be, to put to death every 
 chief of the opposite party who fell into their hands. Even when the 
 combat was over, the jealousies atid distrust to which it had given rise did 
 not cease. Years afterwards* in 1478, King Edward, who had never 
 
 165 
 
DEATH OF EDWARD— INVENTION OF PRINTING. 
 
 forgiven his brother Clarence for having deserted him during the war, 
 caused the duke to he imprisoned in the Tower, where he was privately 
 put to death ; and the court of England was a scene of cunning, distrust, 
 and envy. 
 
 Edward died of a fever in 1483, aged forty-one years. He was a 
 cruel and ungrateful king, and few of his subjects had reason to regret 
 him. He left several young children, the eldest of whom became King 
 of England, with the title of Edward Y. 
 
 In the reign of Edward IV., William Caxton, a mercer, brought into 
 England the then newly-discovered art of printing. Caxton established a 
 printing-press in Westminster, and began to translate and print books 
 for the English people. This invention of printing was a very important 
 event, for now the people had a chance of getting books, which till that 
 time had been far too expensive for them ; and now knowledge began to 
 spread, especially the all-important knowledge of the Bible. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 EDWARD V. 
 
 Unhappy circumstances of Edward’s accession — Ambition and cunning of the Duke of Glou- 
 cester — Edward and his brother shut up in the Tower — Gloucester proclaimed King by 
 means of the Duke of Buckingham. 
 
 Thirty years of strife and bloodshed had but just passed away. The 
 great storm of war, that had shaken England as a tempest shakes the 
 sturdy oak, had hardly subsided. The nobles and chiefs who survived 
 the fearful carnage were still angy with, and jealous of, each other ; and 
 now, of all times, the sceptre of England was to be held by the hands of 
 a child. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that the reign of the 
 fifth Edward should have been brief and disastrous. What chance had 
 a poor boy, in those troublous times, of overcoming the perils which the 
 strongest men were scarcely able to encounter ? 
 
 16 G 
 
Gloucester conducting Edward V. into London. 
 
 1G7 
 
AMBITIOUS DESIGNS OF THE PROTECTOR GLOUCESTER. 
 
 Of the sons of the old Duke of York, the father of Edward IV., only 
 one now survived — the boldest and craftiest of them all, Eichard, Duke 
 of Gloucester, called 46 Crook-back ” on account of his deformed shape. 
 This Eichard was named Eegent of England, and guardian of the little 
 Edward V. and of Eichard, Duke of York, Edward’s younger brother. 
 But his ambition was not satisfied with being Eegent ; he determined 
 that he would be king. 
 
 Gloucester’s first act was to get rid of the friends of the young king, 
 who might oppose his design. Accordingly, at a council, he accused the 
 Lord Hastings, a powerful nobleman, of conspiring against him, and 
 caused Hastings to be beheaded there and then on a charge of sorcery ; 
 but the real reason was, that Hastings, though he disliked the queen 
 and her relations, was a faithful friend of the young king. The Earl of 
 Eivers, Lord Grey, and some others of the queen’s party, were put to 
 death at Pomfret by the Protector’s orders. The queen had taken sanc- 
 tuary at Westminster, with her young son Eichard, Duke of York; but 
 Gloucester sent the Archbishop of Canterbury to demand that Elizabeth 
 should give up the young duke, on pretence that his brother Edward 
 wanted him for a playfellow in the Tower. The queen gave him up very 
 reluctantly, and he was confined in the Tower with the desolate young 
 king. 
 
 And now the Protector determined to seize the crown for himself. 
 He employed some of his friends to spread a report that King Edward 
 IV. had been married to another lady before he made the acquaintance 
 of Elizabeth Grey, the mother of the young princes. Consequently, 
 they argued, Elizabeth was not the late king’s real wife, nor were the 
 young princes his legal heirs. The powerful Duke of Buckingham was 
 Eichard’s friend at that time. He went to the Guildhall in London, where 
 the Lord Mayor and some of the citizens were assembled, used every art 
 to persuade them to choose Eichard for their king, and at last asked 
 them in plain words whom they would have. The citizens kept silence ; 
 but some servants of Buckingham’s, at the lower end of the hall, and a 
 few young apprentices, raised a feeble cry of 44 Long live King Eichard !” 
 Then Buckingham declared that Eichard was duly chosen by the voice 
 of the people, and went immediately to Baynard’s Castle, where the 
 
 168 
 
MURDER OF EDWARD V. AND THE DUKE OF YORK IN THE TOWER. 
 
 Protector was then lodging, to acquaint him with the fact and offer him 
 the crown. 
 
 The crafty Gloucester knew perfectly well what was going to happen, 
 for he had planned it all beforehand with his friend Buckingham. But 
 he pretended to be much surprised and disturbed when the duke offered 
 him the crown. But at last he affected to be overcome by the argu- 
 ments of Buckingham and those who came with the importunate duke, 
 and consented to accept what he had been intriguing for years to gain 
 — namely, the royal crown of England. And thus ended the six weeks’ 
 reign of Edward Y. 
 
 CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 RICHARD III. 
 
 The murder of Edward V. and of the Duke of York — Richard’s laws — Buckingham’s revolt — 
 Death of the Duke — Landing of Henry of Richmond at Milford Haven — Stanley deserts the 
 King — Battle of Bosworth, and death of Richard — End of the Plantagenet rule in England. 
 
 Gloucester was now seated upon the throne of England, and saluted 
 as Eichard III. ; hut he did not feel himself secure. In the gloomy 
 Tower of London there still lived the poor little Edward, whom he had 
 robbed of a kingdom, and the still younger Eichard, Duke of York, who 
 would be the next heir after Edward ; and while these two poor boys 
 lived, the new king feared that some powerful friends of the House of 
 York might arise to set up one of them, and pull down the usurper who 
 wrongfully filled the English throne. Therefore, it is said, he com- 
 manded Sir Eobert Brackenbury, the Governor of the Tower, to put the 
 two young princes to death ; but Brackenbury was an honest man, and 
 would not undertake the wicked business. So Eichard compelled him to 
 give up the keys of the Tower for one night to a bad man named 
 Tyrrell ; and Tyrrell hired two murderers to kill the harmless lads while 
 they slept. Edward and Eichard were smothered by pillows piled upon 
 
 169 
 
THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM INVITES RICHMOND TO ENGLAND. 
 
 their faces, and the murderers buried them under a heap of stones beneath 
 the staircase. There is some doubt as to the truth of this story, but 
 certain it is that the royal lads were never heard of from that time ; and 
 when, nearly two hundred years afterwards, two dead bodies of boys were 
 found beneath the very staircase where the princes were said to have 
 been buried, most people thought that these were the remains of Edward 
 Y. and of his brother, the little Richard of York. 
 
 As the life of King Richard III. seemed to consist of hardly any- 
 thing but crimes, it is only fair to mention what little good we know 
 concerning him. Therefore it should be remembered that, directly after 
 he came to the throne, he passed some excellent laws for the encourage- 
 ment of commerce and the prosperity of England ; nor must we forget 
 that all the accounts we have of him were written under the Tudor 
 kings, of whom you shall presently hear, and who had their own reasons 
 for making Richard’s memory appear as black and odious as possible. 
 
 The Duke of Buckingham had been very active in placing Richard 
 on the throne, and the king rewarded him with wealth and honours. But 
 Buckingham was discontented ; perhaps because he thought Richard did 
 not give him enough — perhaps because he suspected the new king might 
 treat him as Lord Hastings and many other noblemen had been treated. 
 Therefore he withdrew from court, refused to come when summoned, 
 and at length determined to pull Richard from the throne, and set up a 
 king of the Lancastrian party. 
 
 But who was this king to be ? All the direct heirs of the Lancastrian 
 line were dead, and it was difficult to find a member of that House whom 
 the people could be induced to accept. Still, as there was no direct 
 heir, Buckingham fixed upon a man who had very little right to the 
 throne, trusting for success to fortune, and the known hatred the people 
 bore to King Richard. Among the nobles who had escaped to Flan- 
 ders during the wars of the Roses was young Henry Tudor, Earl of 
 Richmond, grandson of the Owen Tudor who had married Catherine, 
 the widow of King Henry V. This Henry Tudor’s mother was a de- 
 scendant of old John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster; and Buckingham 
 invited Henry to come into England, and strike a blow for the crown, 
 proposing that he should marry Elizabeth, the daughter of Edward IV., 
 
 170 
 
BUCKINGHAM'S PLAN FAILS— ENERGY OF RICHARD. 
 
 and thus unite in himself the claims of the rival Houses of York and 
 Lancaster. 
 
 The scheme was full of danger to King Richard ; hut at that time it 
 failed. Buckingham was deserted by his followers, and compelled to hide 
 himself from the vengeance of Richard, who promised a thousand pounds 
 to any one who should deliver him up. Tempted by this great reward, 
 Banister, a servant of the duke’s, betrayed Buckingham into the king’s 
 hands ; and the duke was beheaded without a trial at Salisbury. Thus 
 Richard was enabled to wear his ill-gotten crown a little longer. 
 
 But Richard’s fall was only delayed for a time. In 1485 Henry of 
 Richmond landed at Milford Haven, in Wales, with some foreign troops, 
 with the intention of risking a battle with King Richard. He hoped 
 that the Welsh, his countrymen, would join him, and still more that the 
 powerful Lord Stanley, his father-in-law, would come to his aid. Richard, 
 who was as brave as he was wicked, at once collected an army, and 
 posted himself at Leicester, in the centre of the island, ready to march 
 against Richmond, wherever the earl might land. Lord Stanley, wIiq 
 had raised an army of his own retainers, kept up an appearance of 
 friendship to Richard, who had Stanley’s eldest son, Lord Strange, in 
 his power, and threatened to take vengeance on the young lord if the old 
 one showed any signs of treachery ; but, in his heart, Stanley wished 
 that Richmond might succeed, and resolved to join him at the first 
 opportunity. 
 
 On a bright August evening, in 1485, Richard marched into Leicester 
 with his army. He slept at the Bear Inn ; and it was afterwards found 
 that he kept his money in his bed ; for that piece of furniture remained 
 in the inn, and three hundred pounds in gold were discovered concealed 
 in the bed-posts a century after these events. On the morning of the 
 21st Richard departed with his army from Leicester, and encamped on 
 Redmore Heath, where Richmond was awaiting him, Lord Stanley’s 
 army being posted at some distance from the other two forces ; and on 
 the 22nd, early in the morning, began the famous battle of Bosworth. 
 
 The king fought like a lion, and showed, whatever his crimes might 
 be, that he was a gallant soldier. But in the decisive moment, Lord 
 Stanley appeared with his men, and declared in favour of Richmond* 
 
 172 
 
BATTLE OF BOS WORTH— DEATH OF RICHARD— THE TUDORS, 
 
 Then King Richard, seeing all was lost, resolved not to survive his fall 
 from the height to which he had climbed. With a wild shout of “ Treason ! 
 treason !” he threw himself into the thickest of the fray, making directly 
 for the spot where Richmond’s standard was set up. He slew with his 
 own hand Sir William Brandon, Richmond’s standard-bearer. Others 
 fell under the furious blows he dealt ; but at length, exhausted and over- 
 powered, he sank down covered with wounds, and was slain by the men- 
 at-arms who came crowding up. His crown was found in a bush, and 
 brought to Lord Stanley, who placed it on the brows of Richmond, 
 saluting the earl by the title of King Henry VII. ; and the rule of the 
 Plantagenets in England was a thing of the past. 
 
 PART VI. THE TUDOR KINGS, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HENRY VII. 
 
 Changes in England — Advance of law and justice in Tudor times — Effects of the "Wars of the 
 Roses — Policy of Henry VII. towards the nobles — Encouragement of commerce — Alliance 
 with Scotland— Henry’s marriage with Elizabeth of York — Avarice of the King — Troubles 
 during his reign. 
 
 A great change now came over the whole of England — a change that 
 soon showed itself in every class — in the Parliament, the nobles, and the 
 people, and in the power of the king himself. Let us endeavour to 
 understand in what this change consisted. 
 
 Eor many unhappy years there had been war and strife in England. 
 Kings had been alternately set up and put down. Great armies had 
 continually been marching to and fro in the land, trampling down the 
 
 173 
 
GREAT POLITICAL CHANGES IN ENGLAND. 
 
 corn in the wasted fields, and leaving behind them traces of their path 
 in plundered towns and burning villages. Great nobles, who one day 
 appeared at the head of hundreds or even thousands of followers, were 
 led to the scaffold on the next. Thousands upon thousands of people 
 had been kept in idleness by the great barons, living in a kind of rough 
 plenty in and about the fortified castles, supported by the masters for 
 whom they fought; and as battle after battle dyed the English earth 
 red, and fortune changed from side to side, the pillage and bloodshed 
 grew more and more horrible. 
 
 And now came the change. With Henry YII.’s accession the war 
 ceased, and a new era of peace and progress began in England. Law 
 and justice, whose voice had been too weak to be heard in the din of 
 battle and in the brawling of factions, now begin to show themselves 
 stronger than armed tyranny and oppression. No Warwick the “ King- 
 maker ” is strong enough, by the mere number of the armed men who 
 follow him and do his bidding, to set up and pull down kings at his will. 
 No wicked king can murder his brother or his nephews in the gloomy 
 Tower, as Edward IY. and Richard III. had done; for the times are 
 past in which such deeds could be done without soon bringing down 
 swift and certain vengeance upon the doer. The personal safety and 
 the very life of a king no longer depend, in the times of which we 
 have now to speak, on his ability to keep down the factious barons with 
 a strong hand. No Edward II. or Richard II. could now be dethroned 
 and secretly put away at the behest of a single wicked man or woman, 
 for the dark and evil days of the middle ages are gone by. With 
 greater enlightenment, with the spread of knowledge, and the love of 
 what is good, arise the two words justice and liberty ; and from the com- 
 mencement of the Tudor rule until the present time, the meaning of 
 these two great words have been better and better understood in our 
 country, and Englishmen have learned to love justice and hate oppression. 
 And as we are told that the service of the greatest Master whom a 
 man can obey is “ perfect freedom,” so we have learned that in earthly 
 things true liberty is found in cheerful and ready submission to good laws, 
 and in heartily upholding what is right against what is wrong. 
 
 All classes had suffered from the wars of York and Lancaster ; but 
 
 174 
 
HENRY’S POLITIC MEASURES— HIS AVARICE. 
 
 the great nobles had suffered by far the most. Many of the old baronial 
 houses had quite vanished, and the survivors of others had become poor 
 and weak. 
 
 Henry VII. took care that they should not regain sufficient power to 
 become dangerous to him or to the nation. He wanted no Dukes of 
 Buckingham, no king-making Earls of Warwick, around his throne. 
 Therefore he took care to allow only a few retainers to each baron, and 
 severely fined those who disobeyed. He saw that trade and commerce 
 would make the people rich, and render them independent of the nobles ; 
 therefore he encouraged trade and commerce in every way, and built 
 ships of war to protect the English merchantmen. He knew that the 
 establishment of a friendly feeling with Scotland would be a boon to the 
 English, as well as a security to his own throne ; accordingly he gave his 
 daughter Margaret in marriage to the Scottish King James IV. 
 
 Wise and politic as Henry was, he had unfortunately one great fault, 
 which led him to commit much injustice, and lost him the love and 
 respect of his subjects. He was excessively fond of gain. In order to 
 increase his hoard, he often extorted great sums of money from any 
 of his subjects whom he suspected of conspiring against him. He was 
 especially distrustful of the House of York, though he strengthened his 
 title by marrying the Princess Elizabeth, the daughter of Edward IV. 
 By the end of his reign he had heaped together a vast mass of wealth. 
 But he could not take it out of the world with him ; and was fain, when 
 he came to die, to beg his son and heir to make restitution to all whom 
 he had wronged, and to release all poor debtors who were in prison for 
 being unable to pay small sums. It is when a man is about to leave this 
 world, and to give an account of his actions, that his sins most commonly 
 “ find him out.” 
 
 On the whole, this Henry VII., if not a very estimable, was a very 
 useful king to England. He was more clear-sighted than any of his 
 predecessors, and saw not only what was good for England in the present, 
 but what would be useful in the future. 
 
 Two insurrections, that troubled the peace of England in Henry’s 
 time, formed the chief events in his reign. Of these we must speak in 
 the next chapter. 
 
 175 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE REIGN OE HENRY VII. CONCLUDED. 
 
 Discontent of the Yorkist party — Lambert Simnel personates the Earl of Warwick — Battle of 
 Stoke — Simnel pardoned — Perkin Warbeck’s rebellion — Warbeck kindly received in Scot- 
 land — Bising of the Cornishmen — Warbeck retires to Ireland — Invades England — Is 
 defeated and hanged at Tyburn — Katharine of Arragon married to Prince Arthur, and 
 afterwards to Prince Henry — Death of Henry VII. 
 
 The manifest jealousy displayed by the king in his dealings with the 
 Yorkists soon created discontent in England. Henry was continually 
 in terror of plots against his rule or against his life ; and, indeed, it can- 
 not be said that his fears were altogether groundless, though they caused 
 him to commit many acts of injustice. Therefore some of the Yorkist 
 party — and the Queen Dowager Elizabeth, it is said, among them — 
 determined to revenge themselves on Henry, by endeavouring to drive 
 him from the throne of England. 
 
 There had been for a long time one prisoner in the Tower of London, 
 whom Henry guarded with especial strictness. This prisoner was the 
 young Earl of Warwick, son of the murdered Duke of Clarence, and 
 grandson to the King-maker. He was the real heir to the throne of 
 England, and therefore Henry was afraid of him. Now certain. Yorkists, 
 under the direction of Simon, a priest, brought forward a youth named 
 Lambert Simnel, the son of a baker, and declared that this youth was 
 the young Earl of Warwick, who, they said, had escaped from the Tower, 
 and should be acknowledged as the true King of England. Simnel was 
 first brought out in Ireland, where many were deceived into thinking 
 he was really Richard Plantagenet. Erom thence he invaded England, 
 with an army chiefly consisting of Irishmen, and some Germans sent over 
 by the old Duchess of Burgundy, a sister of Edward IY. King Henry 
 marched out boldly against him; and on the 6th of June, 1487, a battle 
 was fought at Stoke, in Nottinghamshire. 
 
 Lambert Simnel’s troops were completely defeated ; their leaders were 
 
 176 
 
LAMBERT SIMNEL AND PERKIN WARBECK CLAIM THE CROWN. 
 
 slain, and the youth himself fell into the king’s hands. Henry acted 
 with a leniency very rare in those times. He contented himself with 
 levying heavy fines upon those Yorkists who had favoured the rebels ; as 
 for Simnel, he was contemptuously pardoned, and made a scullion in the 
 king’s kitchen, from which low office he rose in time to that of falconer, 
 
 A quarrel broke out with Prance, and war was declared. Henry per- 
 suaded Parliament to vote him a large sum of money for the expenses of 
 the contest ; and, as soon as he had it, made peace with the Prench king, 
 on condition of receiving a great sum more ; so that his subjects declared 
 Henry made the English pay for the war, and the Prench for the peace. 
 
 A far more dangerous rebellion than that of the baker’s boy, Lambert 
 Simnel, soon arose. A young man, whose real name is supposed to have 
 been Peter or Perkin Warbeck, the son of a Flemish Jew, gave out that 
 lie was Richard, Duke of York, the younger of the two princes whom 
 Richard III. had sent to the Tower. He declared that he had escaped 
 from his prison, and called upon all true Englishmen to assist him, as he 
 was the undoubted heir to the English throne. The old Duchess Mar- 
 garet of Burgundy acknowledged Perkin for her nephew, and gave him 
 every assistance ; and as he happened to have features greatly resembling 
 those of Edward IV., many people honestly believed that he was really 
 the Duke of York, and were ready to help his enterprise. 
 
 Warbeck was welcomed in Prance. Thence he proceeded to Scotland, 
 where James IV. not only received him with kindness, but gave the Lady 
 Catherine Gordon to him in marriage, and led an army into the north of 
 England to support Warbeck’s claims. The English did not, however, 
 show any great readiness to come forward for Warbeck; so James IV. 
 sent him away into Ireland. 
 
 A number of Cornishmen, angry at being taxed by the king on the 
 pretext of a Scottish war, marched towards London, armed and ready for 
 mischief. The king’s troops met them at Blackheath, near Greenwich ; 
 and the Cornishmen, who, though brave, had no chance of standing 
 against disciplined soldiery, were completely defeated. Henry, who was 
 not cruel, except where his fears or his jealousy had been aroused, be- 
 haved mercifully to the rebels. He only punished their leaders, and then 
 set all the common men free, and sent them home sadder and wiser men. 
 
 178 
 
VVARBECK EXECUTED — KATHARINE OF ARRAGON — HENRY'S DEaTH. 
 
 Perkin Warbeck now landed again in England, in 1496, with a large 
 army; but when Henry marched against him, he was seized with fear, 
 deserted his friends, and took refuge in the Abbey of Beaulieu, in Hamp- 
 shire. He was persuaded to trust himself to the king’s mercy ; and after 
 having been paraded through London, exposed to the insults and laughter 
 of the populace, was sent a prisoner to the Tower. Here he formed a 
 friendship with the young Earl of Warwick, whom Simnel had personated; 
 and it is said that the two prisoners formed a plot to escape from prison. 
 Perhaps Henry had determined to get rid of both his prisoners. Be this 
 as it may, in 1499 Warwick was beheaded and Warbeck hanged. 
 
 Henry had caused his eldest son Arthur to marry the Spanish Princess, 
 Katharine of Arragon, daughter of the great monarchs Eerdinand and 
 Isabella ; and the parents of the princess, who were very wealthy, had 
 given her a large dowry. In a few months Prince Arthur died, and his 
 younger brother, Prince Henry, became heir to the throne ; so there was 
 some talk of sending the widowed Katharine home to her own country. 
 In this case it would, however, have been necessary to give back her 
 dowry; and King Henry VII. was notably quick to receive money, but 
 very slow to pay it back. He accordingly proposed that Katharine 
 should marry Henry, the new Prince of Wales, and that both she and 
 her money should remain in England ; and, to his great satisfaction, this 
 arrangement was carried into eifect. Indeed, Henry’s avarice gained 
 upon him as he grew older ; and the Princess Katharine wrote to her 
 father, complaining bitterly that she had not a farthing allowed her, 
 except the sum necessary for food; and even this allowance was so 
 niggardly, that she could not keep out of debt. 
 
 Henry VII. died in 1509. He was by far the wealthiest of the English 
 kings, and left an enormous sum in the treasury at his death. His system 
 of making fines the punishment for almost every crime committed by 
 the rich had filled his coffers; and he had, moreover, employed two 
 lawyers, named Empsom and Dudley, to extort as much money as possible 
 from all those holders of estates in whose title they could find any fault. 
 These two men became so odious to the people by their exactions, that 
 they were put to death early in the next reign. 
 
 The splendid discovery of the continent of America was made by the 
 
 179 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA— PROSPERITY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Genoese navigator, Christopher Columbus, in Henry’s reign. Columbus 
 made four voyages to the West. During the first and second he dis- 
 covered the West India Islands. It was on his third voyage, in 1498, 
 that he first landed on the coast of South America. Spain and Portugal 
 were greatly enriched by these discoveries ; and soon the English began 
 to send out navigators on their own account, as you shall hear presently. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 HENRY VIII. 
 
 State of affairs at the King’s accession — Character and appearance of Henry VIII. — The 
 Reformation in Germany — Cardinal Wolsey — His power and arrogance — Francis I. and 
 Charles V. — The Field of the Cloth of Gold — The King’s divorce from Katharine of 
 Arragon — His marriage with Anne Boleyn — Death of Katharine of Arragon. 
 
 The reign of Henry VIII. began so prosperously, that the English 
 looked forward to happier times than the country had enjoyed for many 
 a long year. There was no one to question the king’s right to the throne. 
 The avarice of the late king had filled the treasury with an enormous 
 sum of money. England had, during the last reign, attained a wealth 
 and importance it had never before possessed ; and everything seemed to 
 give tokens of peace, comfort, and prosperity. 
 
 The king himself was just the man whom the English loved to see on 
 the throne. He had a thorough English look about him — a large hand- 
 some form and a rosy face, with clear blue eyes, and an expression of 
 frankness and good humour. “ Brave King Hal — Bluff King Hal,” as 
 the people delighted to call him — was a favourite from the very day on 
 which he mounted the throne ; and not all the tyranny and wrong of his 
 thirty-eight years’ rule could wean the faithful hearts of the English 
 from him. 
 
 But under this fair outside mighty vices lay concealed. The unbroken 
 prosperity of the first part of his reign rendered him impatient of con- 
 tradiction, and the incessant flattery with which his courtiers surrounded 
 
 180 
 
The Field of the Cloth of Gold. 
 
 181 
 
HENRYKS TYRANNICAL TEMPER— CARDINAL WOLSEY. 
 
 him could hardly fail to make him a tyrant. At last he came to consider 
 himself as one whose will, right or wrong, must be unhesitatingly obeyed ; 
 and when at last sickness and pain, and the weakness of increasing age, 
 that spares kings no more than it spares beggars, came upon him, he 
 grew absolutely furious, and raged and tore like a wild beast. 
 
 The beginning of Henry’s reign, which had seemed to promise peace, 
 was yet signalized by two short wars — one against Trance, the other 
 against Scotland. In Trance occurred a battle, or rather a skirmish, 
 known as the “ Battle of the Spurs,” because the Trench, after a very 
 short resistance, fled as fast as their horses, urged by the spur, could 
 carry them. King Harry took several towns, and then a peace was con- 
 cluded, and the Trench king, Trancis I., married Henry’s sister. In 
 Scotland one victory put an end to the strife. The brave young Earl of 
 Surrey gained a great battle over the Scots at Tlodden Tield, in North- 
 umberland, where James IV. was slain, and his army destroyed. 
 
 Tor many years after Henry’s accession the most powerful man in 
 England was Cardinal Wolsey, Archbishop of York. This remarkable 
 man was born at Ipswich ; and those who envied his great fortune spread 
 the report that his father had been a butcher in that town ; but the re- 
 port was untrue. As a boy Wolsey showed great aptitude for learning, 
 and on being introduced to the notice of King Henry VII., proved him- 
 self shrewd and active in affairs of state. By the time Henry VIII. 
 came to the throne he had already risen to eminence and power ; and the 
 new king was so pleased with him, that Wolsey soon won the entire con- 
 fidence of Henry, and was employed in the weightiest affairs of state. 
 The haughty cardinal took advantage of his position to further his own 
 ambitious views. He amassed vast sums of money, and lived in a more 
 splendid style than the king himself. The two most powerful foreign 
 princes of the time, Trancis I., King of Trance, and Charles V., Emperor 
 of Germany, paid court to Wolsey, in hopes that the powerful minister 
 would advise his master to be friendly to them ; and Wolsey, on his part, 
 took bribes from both, and did nothing for either. 
 
 Both Charles and Trancis were so desirous of securing the alliance of 
 the English king, that Henry adopted the haughty motto, “ He whom I 
 defend is the master.” 
 
 182 
 
COMMENCEMENT OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 In 1519 Henry went to France to visit King Francis. The two kings 
 met on a plain between the towns of Guisnes and Ardres ; and the mag- 
 nificence and pomp of their meeting is well expressed in the name, 44 The 
 Field of the Cloth of Gold, 5 ’ given to the place where the interview was 
 held. The two kings and their respective courts vied with each other in 
 the display of riches and splendour ; and during a fortnight vast sums of 
 money were squandered in tournaments, feasts, and revels of every kind. 
 But no good result was gained by all the useless display, and the two 
 kings parted, less than ever disposed to trust one another. 
 
 At this time a great reformation or improvement in religious matters 
 had begun. Many people were dissatisfied with the teachings and prac- 
 tices of the Romish Church ; and Martin Luther, a German priest, put 
 himself at the head of those who sought to separate truth from error. 
 He declared that the Bible was the Word of God, and that in the Bible, 
 and not in whatever a Pope or priest might say, was the truth to be 
 found ; and he translated the Bible into German, that the people might 
 read it for themselves, and learn what was right. Many persons, first in 
 Germany and then elsewhere, saw that he was right, and followed his 
 teaching, or rather the teaching of the Bible ; but King Henry wrote a 
 book against Luther, and sent it to the Pope, who was highly delighted 
 to have such a powerful champion, and gave Henry the title 44 Defender 
 of the Faith. 55 This title the English monarchs have retained, though 
 it is a better and a purer faith that they are now bound to defend. Soon 
 some of the princes of Germany formed themselves into a company, and 
 pledged themselves to defend the new religion ; and as they protested 
 against the attempts of the Emperor Charles to put them down by force, 
 they called themselves 44 Protestants and their faith came to be called 
 44 the Protestant religion .” 
 
 When Wolsey was at the height of his power, he quarrelled with the 
 Duke of Buckingham, the son of that duke who had been executed in 
 1483 for rebelling against Richard III. The haughty cardinal swore he 
 would be revenged on his adversary ; and he kept his word ; for he per- 
 suaded Henry to have Buckingham beheaded on a charge of treason 
 against the king. 
 
 After Henry had been married many years to Katharine of Arragon, 
 
 183 
 
HENRY DIVORCES KATHARINE AND MARRIES ANNE BOLEYN. 
 
 he suddenly discovered, or pretended to discover, that his conscience was 
 troubled because his faithful queen had been the widow of his brother 
 Arthur, and therefore Henry’s sister-in-law ; wherefore the king said he 
 feared his marriage with her was not legal. The truth seems to have 
 been that the king was tired of Katharine, and wished to marry Anne 
 Boleyn, the young and beautiful daughter of a Kentish knight, Sir 
 Thomas Boleyn. Accordingly Henry applied to his favourite Wolsey, 
 and to the Pope, to procure him a divorce from Katharine ; that is, to 
 pronounce his marriage with her void, and leave him free to marry again. 
 Both Wolsey and the Pope showed themselves very loth to do what 
 Henry wished : the king saw this, and did not forget to revenge himself 
 on both of them when an opportunity came. At last, however, the Pope 
 sent to England a cardinal named Campeggio, to try the matter together 
 with Wolsey. Queen Katharine appealed to her tyrannical husband, 
 and refused to answer Wolsey or Campeggio at all; at length, in 1533, 
 a sentence of divorce was pronounced by Cranmer, whom the king had 
 made Archbishop of Canterbury, and King Henry publicly married the 
 fair Anne Boleyn. 
 
 The discarded Katharine, who was much beloved by the people, con- 
 tinued to look upon herself as the king’s lawful wife; and most of the 
 king’s subjects were of her opinion. She never recovered her spirits, 
 which had been broken by the insults put upon her ; and, after living 
 for three years in retirement, she died at Kimbolton, and was buried in 
 Peterborough Cathedral. 
 
 CHAPTER IY. 
 
 THE REIGN OE HENRY VIII. CONCLUDED. 
 
 Disgrace and death of Wolsey — Henry proclaims himself head of the Church — Death of Sir 
 T. More and Bishop Fisher-Execution of Anne Boleyn — Jane Seymour— Suppression of 
 monasteries — Anne of Cleves— Catherine Howard — Catherine Parr — Death of the King. 
 
 Henry had been deeply offended by the reluctance shown by the Pope 
 and by his favourite Wolsey to proceed in the matter of the divorce ; 
 
 184 
 
WoLSEY RECEIVED BY THE ABBOT OF LEICESTER. 
 
 185 
 
FALL OF WOLSEY— THE POPE’S SUPREMACY ABOLISHED. 
 
 and the beautiful Anne Boleyn, moreover, was an enemy of the haughty 
 cardinal. Thus, in 1530, while the matter of the divorce was under 
 consideration, Wolsey, who for many years had been next to the king in 
 power, fell into disgrace, and was deprived of his offices, and ordered to 
 retire to his diocese of York. Bor a time it seemed as if the fickle and 
 changeable king might take his old servant into favour again ; but at 
 last Wolsey was ordered to come to London to answer a charge of high 
 treason. Quite broken-hearted at this harsh treatment, the aged car- 
 dinal set out on his mournful journey ; but when he had gone as far as 
 Leicester Abbey, his strength failed, and he could travel no farther. 
 The abbot received him kindly; and Wolsey lay down to rest his weary 
 limbs on the bed from which he never rose again. Before he died he 
 spoke these memorable words : “ If I had served my God half as faith- 
 fully as I have served my king, He would not have forsaken me in my 
 old age.” But the great cardinal had been too much attached to the 
 nomps and splendours of the world to do his duty as a churchman. He 
 rad sought to obtain wealth and power and worldly honour for himself ; 
 and in the Book that cannot err we are told that it is impossible to serve 
 God and Mammon. 
 
 In 1431 Henry declared he would no longer submit to the authority 
 of the Pope, as his ancestors had done* No more Peter’s pence, or taxes 
 for Borne, were to be levied in England ; and the Pope’s edicts, or, as 
 they were called, Bulls, were no longer to be read or obeyed. Henry, 
 moreover, said that he himself would be the head of the English or 
 Anglican Church; and all who held any state office were obliged to 
 take an oath acknowledging the king as the Church’s head. The king’s 
 pretensions were so new and unexpected, that some of the wisest and best 
 people in England could not agree to them ; and among those who refused 
 to acknowledge Henry’s right to be called the head of the Church were 
 the wise and good Chancellor, Sir Thomas More, and the pious old 
 clergyman, Pisher, Bishop of Bochester. 
 
 Henry had now grown so tyrannical that he would hear of no oppo- 
 sition to his will* Sir Thomas More, who was beloved by all the nation, 
 and the good old Bishop Eisher, who was more than* eighty years of age, 
 were both thrown into prison in the Tower of London ; and as they 
 
 180 
 
EXECUTION OF ANNE— JANE SEYMOUR— MONASTERIES SUPPRESSED 
 
 would not say that the king was right, when in their own hearts they 
 believed him to be wrong, they were both beheaded. But their death 
 was a gain to them; for, so long as English history is read, they will 
 be remembered as two honest men who laid down their lives bravely 
 and cheerfully rather than tell a lie. When More was in prison he 
 was visited by his affectionate daughter, Margaret Boper, who com- 
 forted him to the last hour of his life ; and when, by the order of the 
 cruel tyrant Henry, More’s head was put up on one of the city gates, 
 as a warning to all against incurring the king’s anger, Margaret Boper 
 contrived to have it taken down ; but had the head remained where 
 Henry had caused it to be placed, the shame would not have been 
 More’s, but the king’s who had unjustly and cruelly deprived a good 
 man of his life. 
 
 The new queen, Anne Boleyn, did not long retain the affections of 
 Henry, who, as he grew older, became too selfish and cruel to love any 
 one but himself. He had seen another lady, named Jane Seymour, 
 whom he wished to marry ; and the unfortunate Anne was falsely 
 accused of being unfaithful to her husband. She was imprisoned in the 
 Tower, and soon afterwards beheaded ; and on the very day after her 
 death Henry married Jane Seymour. 
 
 Anne was not so much pitied as she might have been by the people ; 
 for though no one believed she was justly put to death, it was remem- 
 bered against her that she had been too ambitious, and regardless of 
 the feelings of others ; and only six months before, she had flaunted in 
 a yellow dress and cruelly exulted when the news of the death of poor 
 Katharine of Arragon reached the court. Queen Katharine had left a 
 daughter named Mary, and Anne Boleyn also was the mother of a 
 child named Elizabeth : both these princesses afterwards became queens 
 of England. 
 
 Henry now determined, as head of the Church, to suppress the con- 
 vents and monasteries in England. A great many religious houses that 
 had existed for hundreds of years were done away with, their lands 
 seized by the king, who kept them for his own use or gave them to his 
 courtiers, and their wealth poured into the royal treasury. A small 
 pittance was allowed to the monks and nuns, who were thus cast on 
 
 187 
 
ANNE OF CLEVES— CATHERINE HOWARD— CATHERINE PARR. 
 
 tlie world ; but there is no doubt that much injustice and cruelty 
 accompanied the forced changes now made. The king cared only for 
 himself and his own profit. He was so tyrannical that he insisted that 
 all should profess the religion which he professed ; and the difficulty was 
 to find out what his religion was. 
 
 Queen Jane Seymour did not long enjoy the dignity to which the 
 fickle king’s favour had raised her. The year after her marriage she 
 became the mother of a prince, who was christened Edward ; and in a 
 few days she died. The king, who really seems to have been attached 
 to Jane, wore a mourning habit for six months,- but he was soon look- 
 ing out for another wife. 
 
 This time a foreign princess, Anne of Cleves, was chosen to be the 
 cruel king’s consort. She had been represented to Henry as being beau- 
 tiful, and a portrait of her that was shown to him had greatly taken 
 his fancy. But when Anne came to England, Henry found that she was 
 not handsome at all. He was greatly angered, and spoke of her very 
 rudely to his courtiers as “ a great Elanders mare.” Thomas Cromwell, 
 Earl of Essex, who had counselled the match, fell into disfavour, and 
 was soon after beheaded ; and the king parted from Anne of Cleves after 
 a short time. She was unwilling to return to her own country ; accord- 
 ingly a pension was awarded to her, on which she lived contentedly 
 enough for many years ; and on the whole she may be considered the 
 most fortunate of Henry’s wives. 
 
 Catherine Howard, niece of the Duke of Norfolk, was chosen as 
 the king’s fifth bride; but her reign was very short. She was accused 
 of various misdemeanours, and it seems that, before her marriage with 
 Henry, her conduct had been bad ; so she was beheaded, and for the 
 sixth time Henry was seeking a wife. 
 
 No foreign princess would listen for a moment to the idea of being 
 married to such a tyrant as Henry. One lady to whom the proposal 
 was made replied that “ if she had two heads she would place one of 
 them at his disposal,” but, having only one, she preferred keeping it on 
 her shoulders. It was known, moreover, that King Henry’s temper was 
 becoming more and more furious as age and infirmity came upon him. 
 A wise and learned lady, Catherine Parr, the widow of Lord Latimer, 
 
 188 
 
CATHERINE'S INFLUENCE WITH THE KING— HIS CHARACTER, 
 
 consented to risk her life by becoming Henry’s sixth wife ; and so 
 discreet and gentle was her conduct, that she not only escaped with her 
 life, but kept the affection of Henry till he died. Once, indeed, he 
 listened to evil counsellors, who told him that the queen had spoken 
 against his title of “ head of the Church , 55 and the mere suspicion so en- 
 raged the king that he gave orders to have her at once conveyed to the 
 Tower and accused of treason ; but Catherine, hearing of this, spoke to 
 the king so meekly and wisely that he soon made friends with her again, 
 and when the Chancellor came with a guard to arrest the queen, the 
 king assailed him with many opprobrious names and drove him away. 
 
 But though the gentle Catherine had some influence over the king’s 
 furious temper, towards all others he behaved more like a maniac than 
 a sane man. A terribly painful disease in his leg made him rage like 
 a wild beast, and he was suspicious of all who came near him. He 
 was especially afraid that the Boman Catholics would proclaim Mary, 
 the daughter of Katharine of Arragon, queen after his death, instead 
 of Edward, Prince of Wales, the son of Jane Seymour. Therefore, the 
 Duke of Norfolk and the gallant Earl of Surrey, his son, were imprisoned 
 and condemned to death ; for they were the principal Boman Catholics 
 in England. Surrey was executed ; but when the death warrant of the 
 Duke of Norfolk had already been signed, and it appeared that he must 
 undoubtedly perish, he was saved at the last moment by a memorable 
 event. This was nothing less than the death of the cruel king himself, 
 who died only a few hours before the time at which Norfolk was to be 
 beheaded. Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, stood by the 
 dying monarch’s bedside, and begged him to give some sign that he died 
 in the faith of a Christian, trusting in the mercy of Him who died on 
 the cross for all mankind. Henry feebly pressed the Archbishop’s hand, 
 and expired. x 
 
 During the latter part of his reign, this king was undoubtedly a wicked 
 and cruel tyrant, ruling according to his own will, and caring nothing 
 for law or justice. But it is only right that we should remember the 
 few good deeds he did. He set free the slaves who still remained on 
 the royal estates, so that after his time we hear no more of slavery in 
 England. In the earlier part of his reign he seems sincerely to have 
 
DEATH OF HENRY VIII.— EDWARD VI. 
 
 desired the welfare of his people ; and not a little of his cruelty may be 
 ascribed to the bodily suffering he endured for years before his death, 
 and which he had not the patience to bear as a Christian should bear 
 pain. A great number of Englishmen were put to death during this 
 reign. 
 
 On the other hand, the commerce and wealth of the nation increased 
 year by year. The whole of the Bible was translated into English. 
 Learning greatly improved; and to the great Cardinal "Wolsey is due the 
 credit of having founded two colleges, one in the university of Oxford, 
 and the other in Ipswich, his native town. The royal navy now consisted 
 of fifty-three ships, and England’s power at sea began to be felt and 
 respected. Several towns which have now become great and important, 
 among others Liverpool and Manchester, took their rise in the time of 
 Henry YIII. 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 EDWARD VI. 
 
 The Council of Regency — War with Scotland — Battle of Pinkie — Protector Somerset — Strife 
 in the Church — The Prayer-Book — Insurrection of Ket — Execution of Somerset — Intrigues 
 of the Earl of Warwick— Death of Edward VI. — Willoughby’s voyage to the North. 
 
 The imperious Henry YIII. had died, as the haughtiest king must 
 die, when the King of kings says, “Thus far shalt thou go and no 
 farther ; ” and now the crown of England was to he placed on the brow 
 of a feeble boy, only ten years of age. Young Edward YI., son of 
 Jane Seymour, was duly proclaimed; and when the late king’s will was 
 opened, it was found that he had made arrangements for the safety and 
 government of England during the period that must elapse before his 
 young son could rule for himself. 
 
 Sixteen nobles had been appointed as a council of regency ; and J ohn 
 Seymour, the brother of Queen Jane Seymour, and consequently uncle 
 of the young Edward, was chosen Protector of the realm and guardian 
 
 191 
 
THE PROTECTOR SOMERSET— RELIGIOUS STRIFE. 
 
 of the king. Great hopes were entertained, from the mild and amiable 
 temper and studious character of the young Edward, that he would one 
 day be a great and wise king, under whom England might be prosperous 
 and happy ; but he was always feeble in health, and never lived to be a 
 man : thus we have now only to chronicle the events of a short reign of 
 six years ; but some of these events are very important. 
 
 It was in the year 1547 that Edward YI. came to the throne ; and in 
 the same year a war broke out with Scotland. The Scots were greatly 
 averse from any interference of the English in their affairs, and always 
 feared that they might become subjects of* the English king. Now, 
 Henry VIII. had intended that his son Edward should marry Mary, 
 the young Queen of Scotland, that the tw T o crowns should thus be united 
 into one, in the same way in which the claims of York and Lancaster 
 had been united by the marriage of his father, Henry VII., and Elizabeth 
 of York ; but the Scots would not hear of this scheme ; and accordingly 
 the Protector sent out an army against them. The battle of Pinkie or 
 Musselburgh was fought on the 10th of September, 1547, where the 
 English gained a complete victory. But the Scottish nobles would not 
 submit, though they were defeated. They sent away the young queen 
 into France, where she afterwards married Erancis, the son of the French 
 King Henry II. ; and soon the attention of the Protector was turned to 
 other objects, and the Scots were left to themselves for a time. 
 
 This John Seymour was a bold, ambitious man ; and, like many other 
 noblemen suddenly raised to a great position, he thought his power 
 greater than it really was, and excited discontent by his scheming for his 
 own elevation. He pretended that the late king had intended to make 
 him Duke of Somerset, and the lords of the council were afraid to oppose 
 him. So he assumed that title, with a large estate and much money, and 
 built himself a splendid palace, called Somerset House, on the banks of 
 the Thames, in what was then, and is still, called the Strand, near one of 
 the city gates. To build this palace, he destroyed churches and chapels, 
 using the stones and wood for his own purposes ; and thus much discon- 
 tent was excited. 
 
 The whole of this short reign was a period of strife between the 
 Boman Catholics and the Protestants. There were still a great many 
 
 192 
 
THE MAID OF KENT — SOMERSET'S FATE — EDWARD’S ILLNESS. 
 
 people in England who held firm to the old religion ; and the Princess 
 Mary, who was the next heir to the throne after Edward, was a strict 
 Catholic, while Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, was at the head of 
 the Protestant party. Cranmer, with the assistance of some learned and 
 pious clergymen, composed the Prayer-book which we still use in our 
 churches, and the Catechism which we are taught in our schools ; and the 
 Psalms were translated into English, and put into verse, that they might 
 be read in the churches. There was much distress in England in King 
 Edward’s time. The poor people missed the old convents, at whose gates 
 they had often been fed and clothed by charitable hands ; and many 
 risings took place among the artizans and peasantry. 
 
 The chief of these occurred in Norfolk, and was headed by a tanner 
 named Ket. It was soon suppressed, and Ket was hanged. A poor 
 woman named Joan Bourchier, commonly called the Maid of Kent, was 
 cruelly burned to death, because she differed from the government party 
 in matters of religion, and persisted in maintaining her opinion ; but in 
 general this reign was free from religious persecution. 
 
 The Protector Somerset became more and more elated. The people 
 were especially angry with him for signing the death warrant of his own 
 brother, Admiral Seymour, who opposed the Protector, and tried to induce 
 the Princess Elizabeth to marry him, probably in the hope of one day 
 becoming King of England. The Protector himself underwent the same 
 fate. He was accused in 1551 of treason and felony, and he had made 
 so many enemies that he could not save himself. He was found guilty, 
 and was executed on Tower Hill. In the next few years many noble- 
 men were beheaded at the same place, and for the same reason — namely, 
 ambition to rule, and attempting to exert a power they had no right to 
 exercise. 
 
 The king was growing weaker and weaker. That terrible disease, con- 
 sumption, was making his thin cheek thinner day by day ; and long before 
 his death, the great question whether a Protestant or a Boman Catholic 
 should succeed him, occupied the thoughts of all around the throne. 
 John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, a bold, ambitious man, succeeded to the 
 power the Duke of Somerset had wielded ; and now it became that noble- 
 man’s chief object to bring his own family as near the throne as possible. 
 
 194 
 
FOUNDATION OF CHRISTS HOSPITAL— DEATH OF EDWARD VI. 
 
 For this purpose he caused one of his sons, Lord Guildford Dudley, to 
 marry Lady Jane Grey, a daughter of the Marchioness of Dorset, and 
 an amiable young Protestant lady, descended from Mary, the sister of 
 Henry VIII. ; and Warwick, who had now become Duke of Northum- 
 berland, used every effort to induce the poor dying young king to make 
 a will, appointing Lady Jane his successor, and excluding his own sisters 
 Mary and Elizabeth. The young king signed the will, and soon after- 
 wards died, in May, 1553. 
 
 Young as King Edward was when he died, he did not pass away with- 
 out leaving behind him a great and important memorial of his short 
 reign. This was the foundation of that splendid school for boys, Christ’s 
 Hospital, in Newgate Street, which still flourishes at the present day, 
 and where many thousands of English lads have been educated, so that 
 they have become useful and prosperous men. The boys still wear the 
 long blue coats and yellow stockings, like those in which the scholars 
 used to be dressed at the time the school was founded. Only two days 
 after the arrangements for the new school and for other hospitals had 
 been concluded, the young king died. 
 
 A voyage to the cold Northern Seas was undertaken in this reign by 
 two bold sailors, named Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor. 
 They wanted to find a new way to get to India, and thought they might 
 do so by sailing through the Arctic Sea to the north of Europe. Sir 
 Hugh Willoughby, with the crew in his ship, was frozen to death ; but 
 Chancellor, who commanded the second ship, contrived to reach the port 
 of Archangel, in Russia, whence he travelled overland to Moscow, then 
 the capital of that great country, and paid a visit to the court of the 
 emperor or czar. 
 
 X95 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 QUEEN MARY I. 
 
 Religious persecution — Lady Jane Grey proclaimed Queen — Superseded by Mary — Execution 
 of the Dukes of Northumberland and Suffolk — Restoration of the Roman Catholic religion 
 — The Queen’s marriage — "Wyatt’s insurrection and death — Execution of Lady Jane Grey 
 and Lord Guildford Dudley — The Protestant martyrs — Loss of Calais — Death of Mary. 
 
 Here we enter upon another reign, shorter still than that of Edward 
 VI., but full of mournful and terrible doings. True religion is a blessed 
 thing, pure and holy, full of peace and good-will toward men ; but when 
 sinful men, full of fierceness and violence, meddle with religious matters, 
 they turn religion itself into a mockery, and under its name do the evil 
 deeds of pride and revenge. So it had been in the reign of the tyrant 
 Henry VIII., who, under the name of religious zeal, put to death many 
 who would not pay him all the submission his pride demanded ; and so it 
 was again in this reign of Queen Mary, who had been brought up in the 
 Eoman Catholic religion, who had herself suffered persecution for her 
 faith, and whose advisers had taught her that in persecuting and slaying 
 those who differed from her in belief, she was doing God and the true 
 religion a service ; as if the gracious Saviour, whose whole life on earth 
 was passed in deeds of mercy and forgiveness, could be served with such 
 weapons as the faggot, the stake, and the headsman’s axe ! In Mary’s 
 reign some hundreds of people were burned to death because they pro- 
 fessed the Protestant religion. This was very dreadful, and the shame 
 and guilt of it has blackened the memory of the queen ; but we must 
 not forget that the Eomanists were not the only sect who persecuted 
 their enemies, and that in this respect Henry VIII. had been more cruel 
 than ever Mary was. In those days men were fierce and vindictive, and 
 could not understand that killing a man is not the way to convert him 
 from the wrong to the right. 
 
 Immediately upon the death of Edward VI., Dudley, Duke of Nortli- 
 
 J9G 
 
LADY JANE GREY MADE QUEEN— HER PARTY DESERT HER. 
 
 umberland, proclaimed liis daughter-in-law, the Lady Jane Grey, Queen 
 of England, and went with the Duke of Suffolk to offer her the crown. 
 Lady Jane had no wish to enjoy that dangerous honour. She was of a 
 gentle, studious disposition, and would greatly have preferred to live 
 quietly in a private station ; hut she had not the strength to resist the 
 persuasions of the dukes, and allowed them to set her up as a queen 
 against her own inclination. Mary, the daughter of Henry YIII. and 
 Katharine of Arragon, was undoubtedly the real heir to the crown ; and 
 the people generally were in her favour. She was at Norwich when her 
 brother died. Her friends at once proclaimed her, and she set out for 
 London to claim her rights. As she approached the capital, the few 
 whom Northumberland and Suffolk had persuaded to take up the cause 
 of the Lady Jane quite lost heart, and deserted her. She was committed 
 as a prisoner to the Tower after a very few days. The Dukes of North- 
 umberland and Suffolk were likewise imprisoned as traitors, and soon 
 after perished on the scaffold ; and Mary took possession of the throne. 
 
 The new queen at once began to restore the Roman Catholic religion 
 in England, so far as it was in her power to restore it. She was 
 thoroughly sincere in her religious belief, and showed her sincerity by 
 giving back to the Romish Church much property which her father 
 Henry had seized upon for his own use. She released the Roman 
 Catholic bishops, Gardiner and Bonner, from prison ; and unfortunately 
 listened to their evil counsel, and to the bad advice of others, who con- 
 stantly urged upon her that by severity against the Protestants, and by 
 no other means, could she restore the ancient faith in England. Eor a 
 time, however, she held out against their persuasions ; and her reign 
 might have passed quietly enough, but for an event which alarmed and 
 angered the people, and produced much unhappiness alike to England 
 and to herself. This event was Mary’s marriage with the King of Spain. 
 
 Philip II. came to be looked upon, not only in England, but in all 
 Europe, with fear and hatred. In his own vast dominions he violently 
 persecuted all who claimed freedom of conscience in religious matters. 
 A horrible court, called the Inquisition, was supported by him; and by 
 this court the unhappy people who incurred the charge of heresy were 
 imprisoned, tortured, and in many cases sentenced to death by fire. In 
 
 197 
 
WYATT'S INSURRECTION— LADY JANE GREY BEHEADED. 
 
 Madrid and elsewhere, at stated periods, numbers of poor creatures were 
 brought out and publicly roasted to death, in the sight of thousands of 
 spectators ; and each of these cruel burnings was called in Spanish an 
 aulo-da-fe , or “ act of faith.” The English feared, and with reason, 
 that Philip would introduce the Inquisition in England ; and it is not to 
 be wondered at that they were bitterly opposed to the intended marriage 
 of their queen with such a man. At this time Philip had not yet suc- 
 ceeded to the Spanish crown. 
 
 Thus it was that a brave but rash knight, Sir Thomas Wyatt, deter- 
 mined to prevent this marriage by force. He gave out that England 
 would be ruined if Mary and Philip ruled in the land. He collected a 
 number of men, with the intention of deposing Mary and setting up 
 Lady Jane Grey once more in her stead. He marched to London, 
 expecting to find the people all ready to join him; but he was grievously 
 mistaken. Lud Gate was shut against him. The citizens took up arms 
 in defence of the queen, who showed great courage and firmness at this 
 dangerous time. Wyatt’s followers were fiercely attacked and fled, and 
 Wyatt was compelled to yield himself a prisoner. He was condemned 
 to death as a traitor, and beheaded on the 12th of April, 1554. 
 
 And now the advisers of Mary persuaded her that she would never 
 reign in peace so long as Jane lived ; and, moreover, she was told that the 
 death of her own sister, the Princess Elizabeth, who favoured the Pro- 
 testants, and might at any time be set up as a rival queen, was necessary 
 for her safety. Mary steadfastly refused to shed the blood of her sister, 
 though she caused Elizabeth to be imprisoned for a time in the Tower, 
 and afterwards in a country house, in the custody of a Catholic gentle- 
 man ; but in the matter of Lady J ane Grey she yielded. That gentle 
 and unfortunate lady was sent once more to the Tower, and soon after 
 executed with her husband, Lord Guildford Dudley, on the Tower Green. 
 She died as became a Christian, meekly but firmly, trusting to the mercy 
 of her Saviour, and acknowledging that she had been wrong in weakly 
 allowing her relations to place on her head a crown that belonged by 
 right to another. She was quite young — not eighteen years of age — 
 when she thus lamentably perished. 
 
 In July of the same year Mary carried into effect her intention of 
 
 19S 
 
PERSECUTION OF PROTESTANTS — CRANMER — LATIMER — RIDLEY. 
 
 marrying Philip, the son of the Emperor Charles Y., afterwards known 
 as Philip of Spain. The union was an unhappy one in every respect, 
 and embittered the few remaining years of the queen’s life. Philip saw 
 that the English hated and distrusted him. He did not care for Mary, 
 who loved him with a true affection, and was unhappy at his indifference 
 and neglect. He soon left England, and only once returned to pay his 
 wife a short visit. 
 
 In the year 1555 a terrible persecution of the Protestants began. 
 Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was looked upon by 
 Mary with peculiar dislike, on account of the part he had taken in the 
 divorce of her mother, Katharine of Arragon. He was induced, in a 
 weak moment, to sign a recantation, or acknowledgment that he had 
 been in error. But it was determined that he should, nevertheless, die ; 
 and as the time for his death drew near, all his courage returned to him, 
 and he prepared to die like a martyr. He was burned to death in the 
 old cathedral city of Oxford. When the faggots were lit that were 
 to consume him, Cranmer stretched forth his right hand, with which he 
 had signed the confession, and held it in the flames till it was consumed, 
 crying out, “ This hand has offended !” The flames then closed around 
 him, and he soon died. In the same manner were put to death Bishop 
 Hooper, of Gloucester; Bidley, of London; and Latimer, of Worcester. 
 The two latter were burned together at Oxford on the 16th of October, 
 1555. Latimer was a venerable old man, more than eighty years of age. 
 Bidley, who was younger, distinguished himself by his courage ; and just 
 before the faggots were kindled, he cried out to Latimer, “Be of good 
 cheer, brother ; for we shall this day light up such a flame in England as, 
 I trust in God, shall never be extinguished!” And he spoke truly; for 
 the remembrance of the faith and constancy of those martyrs, who died 
 rather than deny their Saviour or withhold the honour due to Him, will 
 be remembered as long as England exists. 
 
 This short and mournful reign drew to a close amid persecution and 
 discontent at home, and failure and disgrace abroad. A war broke out 
 with Prance; and Calais, which had been in the possession of the 
 English ever since the days when Edward III. conquered it, more than 
 200 years before, was recaptured by the Erench. The loss of this city 
 
 200 
 
 \ .V 
 
LOSS OF CALAIS — DEATH OF MARY— ELIZABETH. 
 
 weighed so heavily on Mary’s mind as to make her declare that, when 
 she died, the word “Calais” would be found engraven on her heart. 
 But so far as the English were concerned, the loss was not very heavy ; 
 for Calais had cost them a large sum of money every year, and had never 
 been of any great use. 
 
 The queen’s health now failed utterly. She had long suffered from a 
 painful disease ; and at length, in 1558, she expired, after, with her last 
 breath, appointing the Princess Elizabeth her successor. Her subjects 
 had little cause to mourn her death. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. , 
 
 QUEEN ELIZABETH. 
 
 Joy at Elizabeth’s accession — Prudence of the Queen — Protestantism restored — The Pope 
 declares Elizabeth illegitimate — Great men in Elizabeth’s reign — Drake, Raleigh, Gilbert, 
 and Shakespeare— Colony founded by Raleigh — Sir Humphrey Gilbert’s gallantry — 
 Shakespeare’s genius. 
 
 We now turn from the dark and gloomy reign of Mary to a great and 
 glorious time — a time when true religion spread its light far and wide 
 over England ; when great men arose in numbers, and made the name of 
 our country famous throughout the earth ; when bold navigators caused 
 the power of England to be feared and respected abroad, while gallant 
 admirals defended her coasts at home ; when, under the rule of a great 
 and wise queen, the realm recovered from the injuries it had received 
 during the late days of cruelty and superstition. 
 
 When Elizabeth succeeded to the throne, the English people showed 
 much joy. On her entrance into London, the citizens rang the church 
 bells, illuminated their windows, and lighted up huge bonfires in the 
 streets. Throughout the country it was felt that a great and heavy 
 burden had been removed, and men looked forward with hope and con- 
 fidence to the better days that seemed dawning upon them. 
 
 Elizabeth was only twenty-five years old when her sister’s death placed 
 
 201 
 
CHARACTER OF ELIZABETH— THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, 
 
 her upon the throne ; hut she had long been popular with the English. 
 She had always shown herself anxious to cultivate the good opinion of 
 the lower classes, and she had in a great degree succeeded. Her tall com- 
 manding presence, full of spirit and dignity, her free outspoken way of 
 expressing herself, the brisk cheerfulness of her nature, impressed them 
 favourably, as contrasted with the gloomy troubled aspect of her bigoted 
 priest-governed sister ; and her very faults were such as the English had 
 always looked upon without any especial anger or dislike. She had in 
 her character a strong spice of her father, King Henry VIII., and 
 was imperious, proud, and at times tyrannical; but she had excellent 
 sense, a rare faculty in finding out merit, and a kingly liberality in 
 rewarding it. She loved her people and trusted them; and when the 
 English found this out, they frankly and heartily returned their queen 
 love for love and confidence for confidence : they dubbed her “ the Good 
 Queen Bess,” and frankly and heartily yielded her true obedience, and 
 help in time of danger, as became the loyal subjects of a brave English 
 queen. 
 
 Within a short time after the commencement of her reign, the Church 
 of England was firmly established. The queen was too wise to make a 
 very violent and sudden change ; but gradually the improvements pro- 
 posed in the reign of Edward VI. were carried into effect. The liturgy — 
 that is, the read service of the Church — was arranged in the English 
 language, that all might understand the prayers that were spoken and 
 the chapters that were read ; and the queen was especially careful, by 
 maintaining her post as head of the Church, to prevent the Pope from 
 regaining power in England. 
 
 The queen was unmarried ; and many foreign princes offered at various 
 times to become her husband. Among these were the King of Prance, 
 Charles IX., one of the worst princes who ever sat on the throne of that 
 country; Eric, King of Sweden, the son of Gustavus Vasa; and Philip 
 of Spain, who had been the cold, neglectful husband of the unhappy 
 Mary : but, partly, perhaps, from the fear of losing the affections of her 
 people as Mary had done, by an imprudent match, partly, no doubt, from 
 reluctance to lessen her own power, Elizabeth refused in every instance, 
 and declared her intention of living a single life, and devoting herself 
 202 
 
PLOTS OF THE PAPISTS— BURLEIGH— DRAKE. 
 
 entirely to the welfare of her people ; and in this resolution she remained 
 firm to the end of her days. 
 
 The Pope was very angry at being deprived of all rule and power in 
 England. In the year 1570 he declared that Elizabeth was illegitimate, 
 and had no right to the crown of England. This naturally angered the 
 queen, who was not of a temper to bear such an insult; and this ill- 
 considered action of the Pope’s caused the Eoman Catholics in England 
 to be very strictly watched, and often subjected to persecution. At the 
 commencement of her reign the queen had shown herself disposed to 
 meet even her personal enemies with great mercy and forbearance. Thus 
 Sir Henry Bedingfield, to whose care she had been consigned in the 
 reign of Mary, and whom she jestingly called her gaoler , was pardoned 
 by her. But she was exceedingly jealous of her power; and the Pope 
 took the surest course to increase this jealousy, and arouse her distrust 
 towards her Eoman Catholic subjects. 
 
 It has often been remarked that Elizabeth was fortunate in having 
 statesmen of great ability to assist her in governing the kingdom. But 
 we must not forget that to the great queen is due the credit of having 
 noticed these men and advanced them to honour. During the reigns of 
 weak and foolish sovereigns, there were doubtless many men in England 
 who might have served the state with honour ; but they were neglected 
 and allowed to live in obscurity; while a queen like Elizabeth would 
 treat them as they deserved. 
 
 The most famous of her ministers was Cecil, Lord Burleigh, who 
 enjoyed her confidence for many years. He had great faults, but was 
 faithful to his queen to the last ; and when, in 1598, he lay dying of a 
 painful disease, his last hours were soothed by the grateful affection of 
 his royal mistress, who waited upon him most lovingly, and fed the poor 
 weak patient with her own hands. Especially anxious was she to advance 
 the power and influence of Britain at sea, fully understanding the value 
 of seamanship to a nation of sailors. Many were the great navigators 
 who in her reign maintained the honour of England on the high seas 
 and in far distant lands. Sir Erancis Drake, at once a soldier and a 
 sailor, made a voyage round the world, and fought gallantly against the 
 queen’s enemies. He made himself particularly dreaded by the Spaniards, 
 
RALEIGH — SPENSER — SAILOR HEROES— SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 and once even sailed into the harbour of the city of Cadiz, in Spain, and 
 gave the Dons a heating within sight of their own forts. Sir Walter 
 Raleigh was another great courtier and navigator, whose merits were per- 
 ceived by the queen, and who was advanced, as he deserved, to places of 
 trust and honour. He sailed to America, and established a colony there, 
 which he called Virginia, in honour of the maiden queen. From thence 
 he brought tobacco to Europe. The plant took its name from Tobago, 
 the place where Raleigh had seen it growing. It is related, that on his 
 return from his voyage, Raleigh w T as one day solacing himself in his 
 study with a pipe. Smoking was a practice unknown in Europe in those 
 days ; and so it happened that a servant of Raleigh’s, who chanced to 
 come in with a jug of ale, was horrified at seeing a volume of smoke 
 issuing from his master’s mouth, and immediately threw the contents 
 of the jug over Sir Walter to put out the fire. Raleigh was, moreover, 
 a man of learning and a poet. He patronised and brought forward 
 Edmund Spenser, the author of “ The Faery Queen,” one of the best 
 poems of that age. Among the other voyagers of that reign, we may 
 mention Sir Martin Frobisher, Sir John Hawkins, and Sir Flumphrey 
 Gilbert, the brother-in-law of Raleigh. 
 
 The last of these great men perished on his return from a long voyage. 
 He had two ships ; and the one in which he was, being evidently in a 
 sinking state, many of his friends asked him to remove to the other ; but 
 Gilbert was too generous to choose the safer ship for himself, while many 
 of his poor sailors were obliged to sail in a leaky vessel. He refused to 
 leave them in their peril, and stayed where he was, saying to his men, 
 “We are as near heaven by sea as by land.” A great storm arose, and 
 the generous captain perished in his leaky ship, with all on board ; but 
 the sailors in the other vessel made their way back to England; and 
 when they told the grand story of the admiral’s generosity, all who heard 
 it agreed that his death was a fitting close to his gallant and honourable 
 life ; and wherever we read of the sea heroes of England, this tale of 
 Sir Humphrey Gilbert is told as a memorial of a good and faithful man. 
 
 But the greatest man in the reign of Elizabeth was Shakespeare, 
 whose poetry surpassed all that the world ever heard, and whose works are 
 still the delight of the whole world. The queen knew and admired him ; 
 
 205 
 
THE HISTORY OE MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS. 
 
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 } 
 
 and in more than one of his plays, Shakespeare makes an allusion to 
 Elizabeth in lofty and noble terms, that show he valued her character, 
 and understood and appreciated the Virgin Queen. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE BEIGN OE QUEEN ELIZABETH CONCLUDED. 
 
 Mary, Queen of Scots — Her early life and education in Erance — Marries the Erench King — 
 Her arrival in Scotland — Her marriage with Darnley — Bizzio’s murder — Death of Darnley 
 — Mary marries Bothwell — Battle of Carberry Hill — Mary’s imprisonment in England — 
 Her execution — The Spanish Armada — Popularity of the Queen — Story of Essex — Eliza- 
 beth’s death. 
 
 The glorious memory of Elizabeth has one great blot upon it. In 
 one instance this queen acted in a manner very foreign to her usual 
 character ; and well would it be could the history of Elizabeth be written 
 without mention of the mournful story of Mary, Queen of Scots. Eor 
 there is no denying that, in her treatment of the unfortunate Scottish 
 queen, Elizabeth acted in utter defiance of right and justice — that the 
 execution of the Queen of Scots was a wicked and cruel action. But 
 as, in relating a history, we should tell of the evil as well as of 'the good 
 in the reign of each sovereign, the chief events in the history of Mary 
 must here be given. 
 
 In speaking of the reign of King Edward VI., it was mentioned that 
 Henry VIII. had intended to marry his son to Mary, the young Scottish 
 queen ; but that the Scots, after the battle of Pinkie, sent their queen 
 away into Erance, where she was married to the young prince, afterwards 
 King Erancis II. Mary was descended from Margaret Tudor, sister to 
 Henry VIII., and was considered by the Roman Catholics of England 
 as the real heir to the English throne; for the Romanists affected to 
 think that the marriage of Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth’s mother, with Henry 
 VIII., was not a legal one. Mary and the Erench king her husband 
 
 200 
 
MURDER OF RIZZIO— DEATH OF DARNLEY— BOTHWELL. 
 
 quartered the arms of England with those of France and Scotland on 
 their shields, and thus seemed to claim a right to the English throne. 
 
 This excited the anger and distrust of Elizabeth ; and when, on the 
 death of the Erench king, Mary was compelled to return from France to 
 Scotland, and wished to pass through England, she refused to let her enter 
 the country, lest the Bomanists should rebel, to set her on the throne. 
 
 It was Mary’s misfortune that a long residence at the polished Erench 
 court had rendered Scotland and the Scotch very distasteful to her. She 
 could not help contrasting the bare rugged country and the rude quarrel- 
 some nobles, with the beautiful sunny land and the elegant court she had 
 quitted. Her religion also rendered the Scotch distrustful of her ; and 
 her second husband, Henry, Lord Darnley, treated her in an unworthy 
 manner. The queen, partly from a real love of music, and partly per- 
 haps to revenge herself on Darnley, admitted to her favour an Italian 
 musician, David Bizzio, who was allowed to behave with arrogance to- 
 wards the nobles. These lords were naturally angry at this ; and as for 
 Darnley, he was so much enraged, that he formed a plot with Lord 
 Buthven and others to murder Bizzio in the palace of Holyrood in Edin- 
 burgh. The conspirators found the musician sitting in the queen’s com- 
 pany in her apartment in the palace. When Bizzio saw the furious faces 
 crowding into the room, he knew that his life was in danger, and fled to 
 the queen for help, piteously begging her to save him. But his enemies 
 were too angry to listen : they dragged him out of the room, and stabbed 
 him to death with their daggers at the foot of the staircase. The 
 queen’s horror at this murder soon changed to a deep feeling of hatred 
 towards Darnley, her husband, the cowardly assassin ; and to the Earl of 
 Bothwell, a fierce Scottish noble, was transferred the affection she had 
 once felt for the unworthy king. 
 
 Shortly afterwards Darnley was found dead in an orchard near Edin- 
 burgh. An explosion of gunpowder had taken place in the house in 
 which he dwelt, and an attempt was made to make the people believe 
 that this explosion was the cause of Darnley’s death. But the Scottish 
 nobles and commons knew better. No marks of fire were found on 
 Darnley’s corpse or on the clothes he wore ; and Bothwell was strongly 
 suspected of having killed Darnley, with Mary’s connivance. This belief 
 
 207 
 
CAPTIVITY OF MARY— PLOTS FOR HER LIBERATION. 
 
 was strengthened when the queen soon after married Bothwell ; and now 
 the nobles formed a league to drive Queen Mary from the throne. She 
 met them with an army at Carberry Hill ; but her men would not fight, 
 and Mary was obliged to surrender herself a prisoner. The nobles shut 
 her up in Lochleven Castle ; but Mary escaped, and once more tried the 
 chance of battle at Langside. Utterly defeated, and with not a hope 
 left in Scotland, the unhappy queen decided upon appealing to the pro- 
 tection of her cousin Elizabeth, and fled into England. These events 
 happened in the year 1568. 
 
 Elizabeth did not receive Mary as a friend, but treated her cousin as a 
 dangerous enemy. The Queen of Scots was shut up in one castle after 
 another till she was removed to Eotheringay, in Northamptonshire, where 
 she spent the rest of her sad life in dreary captivity. The conduct of 
 Elizabeth in this matter was ungenerous and unjust ; but in judging her 
 actions we must remember that England 300 years ago was different 
 from the England of to-day. The Protestant religion had not long been 
 established ; and many Romanists, priests and laymen, would have been 
 only too glad of an opportunity to restore the old religion and the power 
 of the Pope under a popish monarch. Plots and conspiracies against 
 the government, and even against the life of Elizabeth, were of continual 
 occurrence ; and in all these plots the chief object was the placing of 
 Mary upon the English throne. Thus there was a conflict between 
 Elizabeth’s duty as a woman and her safety as a queen. It seemed 
 cruel to keep the Scottish queen in prison ; but Elizabeth would not have 
 been one day in security while Mary was free. And thus, from the fear 
 of insurrection, and at the earnest desire of the English queen’s coun- 
 cillors, Mary was detained a close prisoner. 
 
 In 1572 the Duke of Norfolk entered into a conspiracy to set the 
 Queen of Scots free. The design was discovered, and Norfolk suffered 
 death as a traitor. The captive Scottish queen entered into correspon- 
 dence with Elizabeth’s foreign enemies, and thus distrust and fear were 
 kept alive. In 1586 another and still more dangerous plot was dis- 
 covered. Ballard, a Jesuit priest, and a gentleman named Babington, 
 conspired to kill Queen Elizabeth, and not only to liberate Mary, but 
 proclaim her Queen of England as Elizabeth’s successor. 
 
 208 
 
EXECUTION OF MARY— THE SPANISH ARMADA. 
 
 Then at length it was determined that the Scottish queen should die, 
 and on the 8th of February, 1587, she was beheaded at Fotheringay. A 
 scaffold had been erected in the great hall of the castle. The captive 
 appeared surrounded by six of her attendants. She showed no sign of 
 fear, and spoke with a queenly dignity before she laid her weary head on 
 the block. She declared that she forgave all her enemies, and that she 
 had never contrived anything against the person of Elizabeth. 
 
 Mary’s life had been singularly unhappy, and in her time she had been 
 guilty of great crimes; but the royal fortitude with which she suffered 
 death excited much sympathy for her ; and people forgot her faults, and 
 remembered only how beautiful she had been, how queenly, and how 
 unfortunate. 
 
 And now England was threatened by a great and tremendous danger. 
 Philip II., King of Spain, the husband of the late Queen Mary of 
 England, was the most powerful prince in Europe. He ruled over vast 
 dominions in Europe and in America. His wealth was immense ; his 
 armies were numerous and well disciplined, and his ships covered the 
 seas. And now this mighty monarch determined to conquer England, 
 and restore there the Eoman Catholic religion. A great fleet of heavy 
 war-ships was fitted out in Belgium, Holland, and Spain ; and in October, 
 1588, the “ Invincible Armada,” as it was called, consisting of 136 ships, 
 was seen sailing up the English Channel. But it did not encounter an 
 unprepared enemy. The English came flocking right gallantly to the 
 defence of their queen and country. Elizabeth herself set a grand 
 example. She addressed the troops at Tilbury Fort in a noble speech, 
 declaring that she had full confidence in her loyal subjects; and the 
 people, thus appealed to, tried to prove that her confidence was not mis- 
 placed. The City of London provided double the number of ships that 
 had been demanded of it. All round the coast men were on the watch 
 beside grea^t piles of wood on the summits of hills, that the beacon-fires 
 might blaze up to give notice of the enemy’s approach directly the 
 Spanish fleet appeared in sight. At last the great armament appeared, 
 sailing slowly up the Channel in the form of a vast crescent or half-moon. 
 And then the brave admiral, Lord Howard, sallied forth with his ships — 
 a small fleet in comparison with that of the enemy — to fight his country’s 
 
 p 
 
 209 
 
DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA— THE EARL OF ESSEX. 
 
 foes. The Spanish ships were large and unmanageable, and the wind 
 blew fresh. The English had the advantage in the fight, and Howard 
 captured twelve of the enemy’s largest vessels. A number of small 
 English merchantmen, hastily armed and equipped, but with right gallant 
 hearts on board, came shooting out of the bays and inlets on the coast, 
 all anxious for a fight with the Spaniards ; and the result was, that the 
 Spanish admiral, Medina Sidonia, made the best of his way back to 
 Spain, after losing more than half his fleet ; and the “ Invincible Armada” 
 was vanquished, and did not conquer England. 
 
 When the news of these great events spread throughout Europe, all 
 men felt a great respect for the brave English nation and their heroic 
 queen. The English themselves were naturally elated, and their “ Good 
 Queen Bess,” who had trusted them and had spoken out so royally in the 
 hour of danger, became a greater favourite than ever. England was 
 now safe from foreign invasion ; and the English ships sailed over every 
 sea, increasing the commerce of the realm, and making the English name 
 known and feared as it had never been known and feared until then. 
 Thus the closing years of Elizabeth’s reign were years of great glory 
 and prosperity for the country. 
 
 In 1598 died the queen’s faithful friend and counsellor, Cecil, Lord 
 Burleigh; and Elizabeth’s last days were embittered by the rebellion of 
 her young favourite, the Earl of Essex. This Essex was a gallant young 
 nobleman, but hasty and hot tempered. At a council he offended the 
 queen so much by his petulance, that she gave him a box on the ear ; 
 for Queen Bess had the temper of a lioness, and would brook disrespect 
 from none. Essex left the council in great anger, but was afterwards 
 pardoned and sent to Ireland. But soon the quarrel burst out again, 
 and at length Essex foolishly strove to excite the Londoners to rebellion. 
 Eor this he was condemned to death ; but the queen would still have 
 pardoned him, had she received from him a certain ring which she once 
 had given to him, with an injunction to send it to her whenever he 
 should be in danger or distress. The ring never came ; and, offended at 
 Essex’s obstinacy, the queen, with a heavy heart, left him to his fate. 
 But the unhappy earl had been betrayed. He had given the ring to be 
 sent to the queen by the hands of a lady ; but the ring, by mistake, fell 
 
 210 
 
DEATH OF ELIZABETH— GREAT MEN OF HER TIME, 
 
 into the hands of a lady whose husband hated Essex, and was not given 
 to the queen at all. Elizabeth heard of this after Essex’s death, and the 
 news affected her so much, that she fell into a state of deep melancholy. 
 Eor days she lay upon the ground, refusing to be comforted; and at 
 length died in her palace of Eichmond, after a glorious reign of forty- 
 five years. 
 
 Many great men in her time contributed to make England famous and 
 powerful ; and it is remembered as a praiseworthy and good point in the 
 queen’s character, that, a diligent worker herself, she encouraged and 
 honoured all those who showed themselves ready and willing to work. 
 Among her great statesmen we have the wise Lord Chancellor Bacon 
 and the prudent Burleigh ; and among poets, Spenser and Ben Jonson, 
 besides the greatest of all — William Shakespeare, of whom we have 
 already spoken, and whose works have been read and enjoyed by millions 
 during the 250 years that have elapsed since his death. 
 
 Elizabeth had great faults, but these were balanced by many queenly 
 virtues. She loved and trusted her people, and worked right royally for 
 them ; and they in return, seeing and valuing what was great and queenly 
 in her character, bore with her faults, and forgave her the evil for the 
 sake of the good. 
 
 212 
 
PART VII. THE STUART KINGS. 
 
 ♦ 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 JAMES I. 
 
 Contrast in the characters of Elizabeth and James — His notions of the divine right of kings 
 — Disagreements with the Parliament — An instance of the King’s absolutism — James’s 
 new peers — Plot for placing Arabella Stuart on the throne — Keligious matters — The 
 Gunpowder Plot — Henry, Prince of Wales — His character and death — James’s favourites 
 — Carr — Buckingham — The Spanish Match — Death of James. 
 
 The nearest relation to Queen Elizabeth, and the one, therefore, who 
 had a right to succeed to the English throne on tliat great queen’s death, 
 was James Stuart, King of Scotland, the son of the unfortunate Mary, 
 who perished at Eotheringay. Accordingly, when Elizabeth had breathed 
 her last, this James YI. of Scotland was proclaimed king, as James I. of 
 England, and at once began his journey southward to take possession of 
 his new kingdom. 
 
 The new ruler of England was the very opposite in character and 
 manners to the heroic sovereign whom he succeeded. Elizabeth had 
 concealed, beneath the form of a woman, the courage and firmness of a 
 man ; James, on the contrary, often made an exhibition of weakness and 
 physical cowardice that would hardly have been forgiven in a woman. 
 Elizabeth had the sense to choose for her friends and confidants men 
 who were worthy of trust and distinction ; J ames was always surrounded 
 by unworthy favourites, who took advantage of his weakness, and made 
 a tool of him for their own purposes. Unbending and resolute, Eliza- 
 beth had depended upon herself; James was always leaning, in a feeble, 
 purposeless way, upon others. 
 
 Yet the new king had very high notions of his own power and privi- 
 
 213 
 
JAMES’S HIGH NOTIONS OF HIS PREROGATIVES. 
 
 leges. He held the doctrine of the divine right of kings ; that is to 
 say, he believed and declared that kings receive their commission to rule 
 directly from Heaven, and that they are above the law ; and consequently 
 that dutiful subjects have nothing to do but to obey, without question br 
 remonstrance, any command the king chooses to give. Now the English 
 Parliament did not at all agree in these notions of the clumsy, vulgar 
 Scottish king, who claimed such high power and looked so undignified. 
 They civilly told him he was mistaken. They said , 4 4 Your Majesty would 
 be misinformed if any man should deliver that the Kings of England 
 have any absolute power in themselves, either to alter religion, or to make 
 any laws concerning the same, otherwise than as in temporal causes, by 
 consent of Parliament. We have, and shall at all times, by our oaths 
 acknowledge that your Majesty is sovereign lord and supreme governor 
 in both.” 
 
 Thus, from the very beginning of the Stuart dynasty in England, there 
 was a matter of quarrel between the king and the people. The king 
 wanted to rule alone, and thought the Parliament was only called toge- 
 ther to give him assistance and advice. The Parliament claimed to have 
 a part of the power, and declared that the king could not rule except 
 together with the Lords and Commons ; and that the king was as much 
 bound as any of his subjects to observe the laws. 
 
 During his progress from Scotland to London, James had given his 
 subjects an example of what they might expect from him, by a deed of 
 injustice. At York a man was caught stealing a purse, and the new 
 king caused him to be hanged immediately, without a trial; though, 
 according to English law, every man accused of a crime has a right to 
 be tried by his peers, or equals. James, moreover, gave away estates and 
 manors in abundance to the Scottish lords who surrounded him ; and so 
 many were raised to the rank of nobles, that the people laughed, and vowed 
 that it was difficult to remember who was a noble and who was not. 
 
 The king’s conduct excited very serious discontent; and a conspiracy 
 was formed to place the Lady Arabella Stuart, a relative of James, on 
 the throne. The plot failed, and Sir Walter Raleigh, the brave soldier, 
 accomplished statesman, and great navigator, was put into prison in the 
 Tower for being concerned in it. 
 
 214 
 
THE GUNPOWDER PLOT— JAMES'S COWARDICE. 
 
 In Church matters there was much dissention and discontent. Three 
 great communities were at that time established in England — the Roman 
 Catholics, the Puritans, and the Church of England. James favoured 
 the Church of England party, because the bishops seemed inclined to 
 agree with his notions of kingly power. He behaved with great harsh- 
 ness towards the unoffending Puritans, and so excited the wrath of the 
 Romanists, that a few misguided men of that persuasion determined to 
 rid themselves at one great blow of the king and the Parliament together. 
 
 This conspiracy is known in history by the name of the Gunpowder 
 Plot. The chief actors in it were three Catholic gentlemen named 
 Catesby, Winter, and Eawkes. They hid a number of barrels of gun- 
 powder in a cellar under the Parliament House, in which the King, Lords, 
 and Commons were to assemble on the 5th of November, 1605 ; and 
 their design was to set fire to this gunpowder, and thus to blow the whole 
 assembly at once into the air. But one of the conspirators wrote a letter 
 to a friend, warning this friend, Lord Monteagle, to keep away from the 
 Parliament. This letter was carried to the king in council ; and when a 
 search was made in the vaults under the Parliament House, not only were 
 the barrels of gunpowder discovered, but Guy Eawkes, one of the con- 
 spirators, also. Eawkes was captured and hanged; and after a time the 
 other chiefs in the plot were executed or shot down. The only effect of 
 this wicked conspiracy was to render the king more harsh than ever. 
 
 King James was not the man to gain the affections of his subjects, 
 and if his deeds had corresponded with his words, there might soon have 
 been a general revolt in England. But his talk was much fiercer than 
 his actions. He was so cowardly that he could not bear the sight of a 
 drawn sword. He wore a coat stuffed and padded so thickly that a 
 dagger-thrust could not pierce through it ; and was much more fond of 
 eating and drinking, especially the latter, than of asserting his “ right 
 divine ” in any way except in loud blustering words. Thus, though the 
 Parliament continually quarrelled with him, and there was much discon- 
 tent throughout the land, the people generally despised James too much 
 to commence active measures against him ; ^d thus the first Stuart 
 king reigned for more than twenty years in England, amid plenty of 
 quarrelling, but without any positive war. 
 
 216 
 
PRINCE HENRY— EXECUTION OF SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 The king’s eldest son, Henry, Prince of Wales, promised to become a 
 wise and gallant king. He saw the follies of his father, and avoided 
 them ; and there is no doubt that James perceived how much more re- 
 spect the people had for Henry than for himself, and consequently he 
 was not a little jealous of his gifted son. To the great regret of the 
 majority of the people, this amiable young prince died in 1612 , and his 
 brother Charles became Prince of Wales, and next heir to the crown. 
 James’s daughter Elizabeth was married to the Elector Palatine, a Ger- 
 man prince ; and from her the present royal family of England are de- 
 scended. This Elector Palatine was made King of Bohemia for a short 
 time ; but he was very unfortunate, and though J ames promised to assist 
 him in his troubles, he did very little for him, or indeed for any one else. 
 
 In reading history we can scarcely fail to observe that a wise king 
 always chooses good associates, while a foolish king is surrounded by 
 bad advisers. James was no exception to this rule. Unworthy favourites 
 carried off the honours and rewards that should have been bestowed upon 
 merit and worth, and their bad counsel confirmed the king in his follies, 
 and increased the contempt and dislike with which his subjects regarded 
 him ; while the really great men whom Queen Elizabeth had delighted 
 to honour received neither encouragement nor protection at his hands. 
 Thus the great Sir Walter Ealeigh was kept for many years a prisoner 
 in a little cell in the Tower of London ; and this act of injustice induced 
 Prince Henry to declare that no man but his father would keep such a 
 bird in a cage. At last Ealeigh was set at liberty, and allowed to depart 
 on an expedition to Guiana, in South America. But he was unfortunate 
 in this undertaking, and returned to England without bringing the 
 wealth he had hoped to gain ; whereupon the contemptible king caused 
 him to be beheaded, in pursuance of an unjust sentence passed upon him 
 many years before. Ealeigh died bravely ; and his death caused much 
 indignation among those who had known him as a great and distinguished 
 man. During his long imprisonment in the Tower, he had written a 
 valuable work called the “ History of the World.” 
 
 Among the unworthy favourites of James was a Scottish youth named 
 Carr, whom the king created Earl of Somerset. This Carr and the 
 wicked Countess of Essex, whom he afterwards married, poisoned a gen- 
 
 21 * 
 
VILLIERS, DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM— THE SPANISH MATCH. 
 
 tleman named Sir Thomas Overbury, in the Tower of London. For this 
 they were both condemned to death ; but the weak king pardoned them, 
 and allowed them to retire to an estate in the country, where they lived 
 in obscurity, hating each other, and tormented by the remembrance of 
 their evil deeds. 
 
 After Carr had thus fallen into disgrace, his place as favourite was 
 filled by another young, handsome, and haughty courtier, George Villiers, 
 Duke of Buckingham. Besides being the chosen ally of James, this 
 Villiers was the confidant and friend of the young Prince Charles, over 
 whom he gained a great influence. It had long been the chief wish of 
 the king to marry the Prince of Wales to the daughter of the King of 
 Spain. Villiers and Prince Charles travelled in disguise to the Spanish 
 court, and the project was in a fair way of being accomplished — for 
 the princess was willing to marry Charles, and the Spanish Government 
 looked with favour on the alliance — when Buckingham, by his haughty 
 behaviour, offended the Spanish Prime Minister, and the whole scheme 
 fell to the ground. The prince, shortly after his father’s death, married 
 the Princess Henrietta Maria of France. 
 
 During the latter years of James’s reign the quarrels between king 
 and Parliament became more and more frequent. The Parliament tried 
 to bring the king to reason by refusing to supply him with money until 
 the grievances of the nation were redressed ; and the king endeavoured 
 to frighten the Parliament by threatening to dispense with its services 
 altogether, and to rule the country alone. At one period of his reign 
 three years elapsed during which no Parliament was summoned. 
 
 In this feign Shakespeare wrote many of his best works. He died 
 in his native town of Stratford-upon-Avon in 1616. Lord Chancellor 
 Bacon, one of the wisest of men, also wrote several valuable books ; but 
 the greatest and most important literary work of James’s time was the 
 translation, by many learned men, of the Bible, into the form now used 
 in every Protestant household throughout the British empire. 
 
 King James I. died, in 1625, of a disease called a tertian ague. He 
 was about sixty years old, and had reigned twenty-two years in England. 
 He was the first monarch who governed the two countries, England and 
 Scotland. 
 
 218 
 
Murder of the Duke of Buckingham 
 
 219 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 CHABLES I. 
 
 Handsome appearance of Charles — His taste in art and literature — His morriage with Henrietta 
 Maria a cause of oflence to his subjects — Public hatred to Buckingham — Dissolution of 
 Parliament — The siege of Rochelle — The Petition of Right — Assassination of Bucking- 
 ham — Charles reigns for eleven years without a Parliament — Lord Strafford — Ship-money 
 — Hampden— The Puritans — The Covenant — The Long Parliament — The Civil War. 
 
 Charles, the second son of Janies I., came to the throne at his 
 father’s death. He was now twenty-five years of age ; handsome and 
 dignified in appearance, grave and courteous in manner. His mind was 
 of a high order. He had a real taste for art and literature, and as a 
 father and husband behaved in a blameless way ; but as a king he was 
 very unfortunate. The ideas of the divine right of kings, in which 
 he had been educated, made him think that he had only to command, 
 and that the people had no right to refuse obedience, whether he ruled 
 according to law or in defiance of it. The counsellors who enjoyed his 
 confidence did not teach him in the right way ; and the people whom 
 he was called upon to govern were irritated by the senseless conduct of 
 James, and frequently showed themselves unruly and distrustful. Thus 
 the reign of Charles was turbulent from its very commencement, and 
 closed at last in rebellion and misery. 
 
 The king’s marriage was the first step that decreased his popularity 
 and filled many of his best subjects with mistrust. His queen, Henrietta 
 Maria of Trance, was a Eoman Catholic ; and the remembrance of the 
 persecution to which the Protestants in Trance had often been subjected 
 was vivid enough, in England, to cause a queen of the Trench nation and 
 of the Catholic religion to be looked upon with dislike and suspicion. 
 Another injudicious measure was the king’s persistence in retaining the 
 haughty and arrogant Buckingham as his chief adviser and friend. All 
 classes hated the king’s favourite, who seemed intoxicated with pride and 
 presumption ; but the House of Commons was especially his enemy ; and 
 
 220 
 
ILLEGAL MEASURES OF CHARLES— THE PETITION OF RIGHT. 
 
 soon a bill containing various charges was preferred against him. Charles 
 immediately dissolved the Parliament, and lavished greater proofs of affec- 
 tion than ever on his favourite. 
 
 At this time the Protestants in Prance were fighting valiantly against 
 the Prencli minister Richelieu, who had besieged them in their last 
 stronghold, the coast town of Rochelle. Charles sent a number of 
 English troops to help the Protestants, and gave the command of the 
 expedition to Buckingham, who mismanaged the whole matter, and was 
 obliged to return to England after losing a great many men and effecting 
 nothing. But still Charles believed in Buckingham as much as ever. 
 He had, moreover, displeased his subjects by levying tonnage and pound- 
 age, that is, taxes upon all goods brought into England or carried out 
 thence. This measure was quite against the law, which decided that 
 taxes could not be imposed without the consent of Parliament. 
 
 In 1628 the Parliament drew up a celebrated petition, called the 
 Petition oe Right.* This was a writing in which the Commons pro- 
 tested against the illegal actions of the king, complaining of his method 
 of raising money by tonnage and poundage, and various others among 
 his measures, as being against the law and subversive of the liberty of 
 Englishmen. Charles at last consented to sign this petition ; and for a 
 time it seemed as if discontent would cease. 
 
 But the unlucky Buckingham still maintained his power over the 
 king; and Charles would not hear a word of complaint against this 
 favourite who ruled him. Another expedition for the help of the Prench 
 Protestants was prepared, and again the command was entrusted to 
 Buckingham, who was, however, slain by a madman named Pelton, just 
 as he was about to embark at Portsmouth. 
 
 In the next year the king, finding the Parliament would not give way 
 to him, decided that he would govern England alone. And now, for 
 eleven years, no Parliament was summoned. The king ruled the nation 
 with the help of two advisers, Archbishop Laud and Sir Thomas Went- 
 worth ; the latter obtained the title of Lord Strafford. 
 
 In times of danger the kings had sometimes called upon their subjects 
 for assistance, to put the kingdom in a state of defence, and to provide 
 men, and arms, and ships, wherewith to encounter an enemy. Charles 
 
 221 
 
SHIP-MONEY— JOHN HAMPDEN— THE COVENANT. 
 
 remembered this ; and now that no Parliament existed to oppose his will, 
 lie raised ship-money, and tonnage and poundage, though the nation was 
 at peace ; and whereas ship-money had in former times been levied only 
 upon the seaport towns, he made it into a regular tax, to be collected 
 throughout the length and breadth of the kingdom. 
 
 At last a gentleman of Buckinghamshire, John Hampden, determined 
 to resist what he considered an unjust and illegal demand. He refused 
 to pay ship-money ; and the question was now to be tried in a court of 
 law. The judges, who to a certain extent depended upon Charles’s 
 favour, decided against Hampden, and declared that the king was not 
 bound by law. The Puritans were also terribly persecuted, and those 
 of them who spoke or wrote a word against the king’s injustice were 
 cruelly punished. Some were barbarously flogged, and the ears of others 
 were cut off. To such a height did persecution at last rise against them, 
 that many left the country, and sailed away to America, where they 
 founded the colony of New England. In many respects also the Church 
 party, who held with the king, imitated the ceremonies and preached the 
 doctrines of the Romish Church in a manner which gave great offence to 
 the people. A deep murmur of anger and discontent went all through 
 England; but the people still bore the tyranny of the Government without 
 active resistance, for the English are slow to rise in rebellion against their 
 rulers. 
 
 Unhappily for themselves, the king and his advisers mistook this 
 silence for submission ; and, at this dangerous time, proceeded to offend 
 the Scotch, who had a separate Protestant worship of their own, by 
 seeking to compel them to adopt the services of the Church of England. 
 But the Scotch were less patient than the English. When an attempt 
 was made to read the English service in the High Church of Edinburgh, 
 a host of people assembled, and began to throw stones and cudgels at 
 the clergyman’s head; and the leaders of the Presbyterian or Scottish 
 National Church gathered themselves together, and signed a declaration, 
 which they called the Solemn League and Covenant , by which they bound 
 themselves to defend their freedom of worship to the last extremity. 
 
 The year 1640 saw Scotland in open revolt. A Scottish army, under 
 General Leslie, crossed the Tweed, and invaded the northern counties. 
 
LONG PARLIAMENT- ATTEMPTED ARREST OF THE FIVE MEMBERS 
 
 The king had not an army strong enough to resist the rebels. Things 
 could endure no longer in the state in which they then were ; and at 
 last, on the 3rd of November, 1640, sorely against his inclination, 
 Charles was obliged once more to summon a Parliament in England, 
 and thus to acknowledge that his scheme of absolute rule over England 
 had miserably failed. 
 
 This was the most celebrated Parliament ever summoned in the course 
 of English history ; and from the length of time during which it sat, it 
 is known by the name of the Long Parliament. The patriot Hampden 
 and other zealous men, among whom were Pym, Holies, and Sir Henry 
 Yane, were at the head of the popular party; and they clamoured for 
 punishment on Strafford and Laud, whose bad counsel they declared had 
 caused the king to commit many acts of injustice, and brought disgrace 
 and calamity upon the kingdoms of England and Scotland. Both Laud 
 and Strafford were imprisoned, and, after a few months, the latter was 
 publicly executed as a traitor. He died bravely, protesting that he had 
 always loved his king and country. Charles felt the death of his coun- 
 sellor most bitterly, and made great efforts to save him, but the Commons 
 were too angry to show mercy. Por a time it appeared that the king and 
 Parliament were reconciled, but soon the quarrel recommenced. The 
 Parliament determined that the king must make new concessions ; and, 
 in 1642, Charles, thinking to strike terror into his opponents by a display 
 of vigour, came down to the Parliament House at Westminster, attended 
 by an armed guard, with the intention of arresting Pym, Hampden, and 
 three other popular leaders, on a charge of treason. The members had 
 received notice of their danger, and had quitted the house before the 
 king arrived ; but the assembly was highly indignant at this unlawful 
 proceeding. The people began openly to defy Charles’s authority; and 
 at length it became evident that there could be no confidence between 
 the king and his Parliament, and that nothing less than a war could 
 decide the quarrel between them. Thus it was that Charles quitted 
 London, and raised the royal standard at Nottingham. 
 
 224 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE REIGN OF CHARLES I. CONTINUED — THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 Cavaliers and Roundheads — Oliver Cromwell — He reconstructs the Parliamentary army — 
 Peculiar names of* the Roundhead soldiers — Cromwell’s Ironsides —Battles of Edgehill and 
 Brentford — Death of Hampden — Battle of Newbury — Battle of Marston Moor — Execu- 
 tion of Laud — Naseby — Charles throws himself upon the protection of the Scotch — Power 
 of the army — Trial and execution of Charles. 
 
 Thus England was divided into two great factions, one following the 
 Parliament, the other holding with the king ; and a civil war began, in 
 which great battles were fought and many brave men slain. The king’s 
 friends consisted chiefly of the nobility and gentry, and their servants 
 and tenantry : the Parliament relied chiefly upon the mercantile and 
 citizen classes, and recruited its army from the great towns. The par- 
 tisans of the king called themselves Cavaliers, or gentlemen, and wore 
 their hair hanging in long flowing locks over their shoulders ; and, in 
 derision, they gave the name of Soundheads to their opponents, whose 
 hair was closely cropped. Great sacrifices were made by the Cavaliers 
 to furnish the king with money to carry on the contest. Many of them 
 melted down their gold and silver plate into rough coin, and all supported 
 their king right nobly ; but the Parliament taxed the people, and thus 
 procured ampler supplies more easily and readily. 
 
 At first the king had the best of the contest. The gamekeepers and 
 yeomen who followed his nobles to the field knew how to ride a horse, 
 and had practised manly exercises, and therefore made good soldiers ; while 
 the Parliamentary army consisted chiefly of servants out of employment 
 and idle fellows picked up in the streets of the great towns. But as the 
 nobles and gentry became poorer, and the king’s supplies began to fail, 
 the advantage turned to the other side. While the king’s friends were 
 straitened for want of money, the leaders of the Parliamentary party 
 could obtain fresh supplies year after year by taxation ; and without 
 money war cannot be carried on. 
 
CROMWELL — THE ARMY REMODELLED- DEATH OE HAMPDEN. 
 
 A great change for the better was made in the Parliamentary army 
 by the exertions of a very remarkable man, whose name soon began to 
 be known and feared from one end of the kingdom to the other. This 
 man was Oliver Cromwell. He had sat in the Long Parliament, and 
 had ardently taken up the cause of the people ; and he now saw that if 
 the Parliament was to be victorious, it mast enlist an army of much 
 better men than the worn-out tapsters, who were unable to emulate the 
 loyal, brave followers of Charles, or to stand against the fiery charges of 
 the gallant Prince Rupert, who commanded the king’s cavalry. Accord- 
 ingly he set about enlisting a number of men, who fought not for pay or 
 worldly advantage, but from a feeling of religion and a hatred to tyranny. 
 They were stern and fanatical, these troopers of Cromwell’s, and their 
 harsh gloomy religion had in it very little of the mild gentle spirit of 
 Christianity; but they were terribly in earnest, and honestly devoted 
 themselves to the cause they took up. Some of them took names derived 
 from the Bible or from religious texts, such as “ Hew-them-in-pieces- 
 before-the-Lord,” “ Pear-the-Lord,” and “ Love-grace.” They were 
 fond of preaching to each other, and often a captain or corporal would 
 deliver a long address to his men as they sat or stood around the camp 
 fire. The Cavaliers affected to despise them, and spoke of them with 
 contempt as a set of psalm-singing snuffling hypocrites ; but in the field 
 they fought like lions, believing themselves engaged in a righteous 
 cause ; and, be their faults what they might, the majority of them truly 
 feared the Lord, and believed that through His means they should 
 conquer. Conspicuous among them all for bravery and discipline were 
 a thousand men whom Cromwell formed into a body, which he himself 
 headed : these formidable horsemen were looked upon as unconquerable, 
 and obtained the name of Oliver 8 Ironsides . 
 
 No fewer than ten battles were fought in this great civil war. At 
 Edgehill (23rd of October, 1642) and at Brentford (12th of November, 
 1642) the Royalists had the advantage. On the 19th of June, 1643, 
 there was a skirmish, or slight combat of cavalry, at Chalgrave Pield, 
 in Oxfordshire. Here the patriot Hampden was wounded, and rode 
 slowly away from the field to die. On the 25th of July, in the same 
 year, another battle was fought at Lansdowne, near Bath. 
 
 227 
 
MARSTON MOOR— NASEBY— COMPLETE DEFEAT OF CHARLES. 
 
 In 1643, at the battle of Newbury, Lord Essex, the leader of the 
 Parliamentary troops, showed great gallantry ; and from this time victory 
 turned to the side of the people. 
 
 A great defeat was suffered by Charles in the battle of Marston Moor, 
 in Yorkshire, on the 2nd of July, 1644. By this time the Scottish 
 army had joined the Parliamentary troops ; and in spite of the bravery 
 of the gallant Prince Bupert, perhaps, indeed, in consequence of his 
 rashness, the king’s army was utterly routed, and the northern counties 
 were lost to him. 
 
 The old Archbishop Laud had lain for a long time in prison. In 
 1645 he was executed for high treason. He had been weak and foolish 
 in many respects, but was far from being a bad man. In those troublous 
 times his fate excited little attention. 
 
 Naseby fight in Northamptonshire, on the 14th of June, 1645, was 
 utterly fatal to the king’s cause. Charles’s army was almost destroyed, 
 and his baggage and artillery, and, what was of more consequence still, 
 his private papers, fell into the hands of the victors. Bristol was soon 
 after taken ; and the king, after wandering about for some time, threw 
 himself upon the protection of the Scottish army at Newark, in Notting- 
 hamshire, by whom he expected to be well received. To his great chagrin, 
 however, he found himself kept in a kind of captivity; and not long 
 afterwards the Scots gave him up to the Parliament, in consideration of 
 a large sum of money which was paid to them. 
 
 In this war everything depended in the first instance upon the army ; 
 and thus the army became more powerful than the Parliament. In 
 the hands of the leaders of the army, he was transferred from one prison 
 to another ; and during this period of his misfortunes, he showed such a 
 meek and gentle spirit, so much resignati$n, and so much dignity, that 
 many who had been angry with him during the time of his prosperity 
 now pitied him sincerely, and would have been only too glad to see him 
 once more on the throne amid a free people ; but the fear of the victori- 
 ous and fanatical army, which was now all-powerful in England, kept 
 them silent. 
 
 Some attempts made in 1648, by the friends of Charles, to set the 
 unhappy monarch free, and to regain for him the position he had lost, 
 
 228 
 
Charles I. a prisoner in Carisbrook Castle. 
 
 229 
 
TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF THE KING. 
 
 ended in failure ; but they furnished a pretext to the captive monarch’s 
 enemies for declaring that, so long as Charles Stuart lived, there would 
 be no peace in the land. 
 
 Therefore, Oliver Cromwell and some other leaders of the Eoundheads 
 determined that the King of England should be brought to trial openly, 
 as a traitor to the country. This trial is one of the darkest and saddest 
 pages in our English history. It was well known that, ever since the 
 utter failure of the king’s cause, men’s hearts had, in secret, been turn- 
 ing towards the captive monarch, and that a great many members of 
 the House of Commons would never consent to his death. Therefore a 
 certain Colonel Pride was ordered to station himself with some armed 
 men at the door of the House of Commons, and all those members who 
 were known to be friendly to the king were forbidden to enter. The 
 few members who were left in the House could be trusted to do exactly 
 what the leaders of the army bade. They passed an act accusing the 
 king of treason, and on the 20th of January, 1649, he was brought to 
 trial before a court consisting chiefly of officers. 
 
 His death had been determined upon before the so-called trial began. 
 He was found guilty as a matter of course, and exposed to insults and 
 upbraidings, which he bore with a beautiful calmness and constancy. 
 As the trial proceeded, the real feelings of the people became more and 
 more apparent ; many voices in the crowd fervently cried, “ God save 
 the king ! ” — and it was evident that the heart of the English people 
 was returning to its king in the day of his downfall and misery. 
 
 Only sixty-seven members out of the 134 summoned to the court were 
 present when the king’s condemnation was pronounced. Pifty-nine of 
 them, among whom was Cromwell, signed the death warrant. On the 
 30th of January Charles suffered death on a scaffold in front of his own 
 palace of Whitehall. His behaviour was firm, and yet gentle. He 
 seemed glad to have done with all his troubles, and remarked, a few 
 minutes before receiving the stroke of the headsman’s axe, “ I go from 
 a corruptible to an incorruptible crown, where no disturbance can be.” 
 When his royal head, grey with the cares of many troubled years, fell 
 on the scaffold, a deep groan of horror and compassion arose from the 
 thousands of spectators who thronged round the scaffold. In many a 
 
 230 
 
Execution of Charles 1. 
 
THE ARMY THE SUPREME POWER IN THE STATE. 
 
 sturdy English heart, the remembrance of the dead man’s many faults 
 passed away, and nothing was left but sorrow at the thought of the 
 mighty grief that had bowed that royal head to the dust, and admiration 
 at the gentle patience of the monarch who died so well, hearing his 
 burden to the last with the quiet fortitude of a brave man, and forgiving 
 his enemies with the noble snirit of a Christian gentleman. 
 
 CHAPTER IY. 
 
 Oliver cromwell’s rule in England. 
 
 Anarchy in England after Charles’s death — Religious dissensions — Charles II. acknowledged 
 in Scotland — Cromwell’s vigorous measures in Ireland — Invasion of Scotland by Crom- 
 well — Dunbar — W orcester — Elight of Charles II. — Dissolution of the Long Parliament. 
 
 Now that the king was dead, the realm of Great Britain and Ireland 
 was to be governed by the Parliament; but the Parliament itself now 
 consisted only of a small remnant of the members, the House of Lords 
 having been abolished as dangerous and useless. This remnant of the 
 Parliament was entirely governed by the army, and the principal man in 
 the army was Oliver Cromwell. Thus it was easily seen with whom the 
 chief power in England would at length rest. 
 
 Indeed, it may be questioned if there was a man in England, except 
 the fearless and astute general of the Ironsides, who could have pre- 
 served order among the various factions. In the Church no rule re- 
 mained : every sect cried aloud that its own was the sole true doctrine — 
 Baptists, Independents, Muggletonians, Brownists, Millenarians, Fifth- 
 Monarchy-men, and plenty of other sects, were belabouring each other 
 with hard words as stoutly as ever Cavaliers and Roundheads had fought 
 with swords. In the north the Presbyterian Scotch looked with dismay 
 on the growing power of a few chiefs in the English army ; and, fearful 
 of military tyranny, proclaimed the Prince of Wales king by the title of 
 
 232 
 
Charles II. in the Oak. 
 
 233 
 
CHARLES ACKNOWLEDGED IN SCOTLAND— CROMWELL IN IRELAND. 
 
 Charles II. ; and among the majority of the people, who had suffered 
 so much during the long and cruel strife, the one cry was for Peace. 
 In such a state of things, that man would be sure to gain the chief 
 power who had the wisest head to plan measures for the general safety, 
 and the strongest hand to keep down rebellion and to conquer resist- 
 ance ; and thus the eyes of the nation turned towards Oliver Cromwell. 
 
 In England, the hopes of the Royalists had, for the time, been extin- 
 guished by the terrible scene enacted in front of Whitehall ; but in 
 Scotland and Ireland the adherents of the monarchy were still strong 
 and enterprising ; and therefore Cromwell was looked upon as the only 
 man who could preserve the Republican form of government now pro- 
 claimed in England. 
 
 He was made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and started from London 
 with a formidable army to crush the Royalists in that island. The city 
 of Drogheda had declared for the new king, and a brave old Cavalier, Sir 
 Arthur Aston, was determined to defend the place to the last. Crom- 
 well laid siege to the city ; and considering, perhaps, that the sooner he 
 quelled the rebellion, the better it would be in the end for all, he showed 
 no mercy when Drogheda was taken. His troops massacred all whom 
 they found in the streets : not even women and children were spared ; 
 and the horrible scenes enacted in the unhappy city spread terror and 
 dismay throughout the whole of Ireland. At Wexford, which also held 
 out against the Parliament, similar cruelties were perpetrated. But it is 
 only fair towards Cromwell to state, that he offered safety and liberty of 
 conscience to all who submitted ; and, terrified by the fate of Drogheda 
 and Wexford, nearly all the remaining towms of Ireland accepted the 
 terms he proposed. 
 
 Until 1650 General Fairfax had been Commander-in-chief of the 
 troops of the Parliament ; but in that year Prince Charles, or, as he may 
 now be called, King Charles II., landed in Scotland, and w r as received 
 and acknowledged by the Presbyterians. Thereupon the Parliament 
 determined to invade Scotland, and Fairfax, who was opposed to this 
 measure, resigned the command, which was bestow ed upon Cromwell ; 
 and this undaunted general prepared to crush rebellion out of Scotland 
 as he had destroyed it in Ireland. 
 
CROMWELL’S VICTORIES— DISSOLUTION OF TEE LONG PARLIAMENT. 
 
 At Dunbar, on the sea-coast of Scotland, a few miles from Edinburgh, 
 Cromwell encountered the Scottish army, under General Leslie, on the 
 3rd of September, 1650. When the Scottish troops descended into the 
 plain from their strong position on the hill, Cromwell at once saw the 
 military error they had committed. “ The Lord hath delivered them into 
 my hands!” he exclaimed; and inflicted on them such a crushing defeat 
 that the power of Scotland was broken at one blow. He pursued his 
 march northwards, successful everywhere, with troops who believed more 
 and more that they were invincible ; and at last Charles, finding matters 
 hopeless in the north, determined to try his fortune once more in Eng- 
 land. On New Year’s Day, 1651, he was crowned at Scone, and soon 
 afterwards marched southward into England. On the 3rd of Septem- 
 ber, just one year after the battle of Dunbar, was fought the battle of 
 Worcester, the last in the great civil war; and here Cromwell cut the 
 army of the king to pieces. Charles himself escaped, and the Parlia- 
 ment offered a thousand pounds for his capture. The king, however, 
 after hiding in an oak tree, found some friends in a family named Pen- 
 derell, living near Worcester. There were several brothers, and they 
 concealed him and managed matters so cleverly, that he was at last able 
 to make his way to Brightlielmstone, now the flourishing town of Brighton, 
 but then a fishing village on the south coast. Prom this place he found 
 means to escape across the channel into Prance. 
 
 Cromwell’s triumph was now complete. In England, Scotland, and 
 Ireland he had vanquished the enemies of the Parliament; and on his 
 return to London he was received with every possible honour. 
 
 Two years afterwards, the Long Parliament, which had sat since 1610, 
 was evidently drawing to its close. It had become unpopular : the best 
 men had been removed by various causes, and the members themselves 
 saw that their tenure of power was nearly at an end. Cromwell hastened 
 the dissolution, by appearing one day with a number of soldiers at West- 
 minster. He posted his guards at the various doors, and entering the 
 House when the members were assembled, began to upbraid them in no 
 measured terms. He accused them of dishonesty and self-seeking ; told 
 them they had no heart for the public good, and that the Lord had done 
 with them, and had chosen worthier instruments wherewith to work His 
 
 235 
 
CROMWELL MADE LORD PROTECTOR. 
 
 will. Then he called in the soldiers, and turned the Parliament out, 
 ordering a soldier to carry away the mace, and himself locking the doors 
 and putting the keys in his pocket before he went away. Thus ended 
 the renowned Long Parliament, after an existence of thirteen years. 
 
 There was now no power in England that could stand against Crom- 
 well, for he was backed by the soldiers, who were devoted to him, heart 
 and soul. He was now named Lord Protector of the Commonwealth 
 of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and had unlimited authority : no 
 king had ruled with such despotic sway as that which the Protector 
 exercised over the realm. 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 THE PROTECTORATE. 
 
 Prosperity and glory of England under Cromwell — He protects the persecuted Protestants — 
 The Algerine pirates chastised — Plots against Cromwell’s life — “ Killing no Murder” — The 
 Protector’s death — Richard Cromwell, his successor — Pactions — Monk declares for the 
 King — The Restoration. 
 
 What had become of those liberties, in defence of which so large a 
 portion of the English people had risen against their king? The iron 
 hand of Cromwell now lay upon all alike ; and though many lamented 
 that the country should thus be powerless against the will of one man, 
 none could deny the consummate skill and prudence with which the 
 Dictator guided the State. Never had so strict an obedience to the law 
 been enforced in England as was now exacted under Cromwell’s vigorous 
 government ; never had Britain been feared and respected abroad as she 
 now was throughout all Europe, and even to the shores of the Mediter- 
 ranean. Wherever oppressed Protestantism cried out for help, the Lord 
 Protector was ready to respond with an army and a fleet for its protec- 
 tion ; wherever the English flag was insulted at sea, or an Englishman 
 subjected to injustice or ignominy, the great ruler of England sent 
 promptly and sternly to demand that justice should be done — and done 
 
 236 
 
PROSPERITY OF ENGLAND DURING THE PROTECTORATE. 
 
 speedily. In the valleys of Piedmont, on the frontiers of far-off Italy, 
 dwelt the Waldenses, a reformed community, who had long suffered cruel 
 persecution at the hands of the Boman Catholic Duke of Savoy. Sud- 
 denly a British fleet, dispatched by Cromwell, sailed into the Mediter- 
 ranean, and the duke was made to understand that the persecution must 
 cease forthwith, for that the Waldenses were to be considered under the 
 protection of England. On the north coast of Africa, where the proud 
 empire of Carthage had stood thousands of years before, dwelt nations 
 of Mahommedan pirates, who captured the crew of many an European 
 vessel, and held thousands of Christian captives in a state of hopeless 
 slavery. The States of Southern Europe were unable to cope with these 
 marauders, and even paid tribute to them to purchase safety ; but Crom- 
 well sent a fleet, under the great Admiral Blake, who had already van- 
 quished the best commanders of Holland and defied the power of Spain 
 and Portugal. The Dey of Algiers, one of the chiefs of these robber 
 princes, was obliged to make a prompt submission ; and at Tunis, the 
 second of these robber nests, Blake made the ruler understand the prin- 
 ciples of justice by speaking to him through the cannon of his ships. 
 The Christian captives were given up, and Blake sailed triumphantly 
 home. The captain of a small English merchantman was plundered by 
 some French sailors : Cromwell immediately caused a French ship to be 
 taken and detained until the French Government made full restitution. 
 The houses of foreign ambassadors were at that time considered as sanc- 
 tuaries into which no officers of the law might penetrate. But when 
 the brother of the King of Portugal’s ambassador killed an Englishman 
 in a cowardly manner, and then fled to the embassy for protection, 
 Cromwell had him seized in the very hall of the ambassador, and caused 
 him to be tried for the murder, and hanged at Tyburn like any common 
 miscreant. Swift and sharp was the justice of the Lord Protector, and 
 ready to descend alike upon the rich and the poor offender. 
 
 Thus a few years passed — years of prosperity and glory for Britain, 
 but of sore vexation and disquietude for the extraordinary man who sat 
 on the throne of her kings. The people remained quiet, and the soldiers 
 still seemed devoted to him; but Cromwell knew that in secret the 
 majority of the English were longing for the return of the exiled king, 
 
 238 
 
PLOTS AGAINST THE LIFE OF CROMWELL— HIS DEATH. 
 
 and that only fear on the one hand, and pride in his warlike successes on 
 the other, kept them from rising against his authority. He knew also 
 that many of the officers in the army were dissatisfied, and that an out- 
 break might at any time be expected. Even his own family were secretly 
 inclined to favour the Royalist party ; and his favourite daughter, Mrs. 
 Claypole, openly told him that the execution of Charles I. had been a 
 crime. So he went on, bearing the splendid burden of his great posi- 
 tion, flattered and caressed by foreign ambassadors and princes, treated 
 with every mark of respect by all who approached him, but devoured by 
 secret anxiety and suspicion. 
 
 At the beginning of the year 1657 a plot against his life was dis- 
 covered. A man named Syndercombe, it is said, designed, with the help 
 of some confederates, to shoot at the Protector on the Hammersmith 
 road. The design was betrayed, and Syndercombe was tried and con- 
 demned to death, though he persisted in denying his guilt. Soon after- 
 wards a short book appeared with the ominous title, “ Killing no Murder.” 
 Its author attempted to show that Cronrwell was a murderer and an 
 enemy to the State, and that, therefore, to kill him would be no murder, 
 but a good and meritorious action. When the Protector read this book 
 and understood its meaning, he became more gloomy and dejected than 
 ever. He suspected all around him, wore armour under his clothes, had 
 the guards of the palace changed every night, and never slept two nights 
 in succession in the same bed ; and, under the weight of a government 
 of which the sole burden lay upon his shoulders, the great Protector 
 gradually broke down. His favourite daughter died, and from the 
 shock of grief at her death he never quite recovered. In August, 1658, 
 it became evident that his strength was failing, and that this great prince 
 would soon have to answer to the King of kings for his deeds on earth. 
 He met his fate with calm fortitude. He declared that what he had 
 done had been from a desire for the good of England, and from a con- 
 viction that he was raised up by Heaven to accomplish a certain work. 
 His last hours were devoted to prayer ; and he told those around his bed 
 that it was his desire to make what haste he could to be gone. A great 
 storm howled around the palace of Whitehall as the spirit of the mighty 
 Protector passed away. 
 
 239 
 
RICHARD CROMWELL— CONFUSION IN ENGLAND. 
 
 He died on the 3rd of September, 1658, on the anniversary of his 
 two great victories of Dunbar and Worcester. 
 
 The genius and vigour of Oliver Cromwell had been the great support 
 of the Government, of which he had been the real head long before he 
 assumed the title of Protector. The fear of him had kept the various 
 parties in check for years ; but now that that fear was withdrawn, and it 
 became known that the mighty hand which had swayed the destinies of 
 England lay cold in death, the different factions soon burst forth ; and 
 above all the quarrelling and wrangling of the opposing parties could be 
 distinctly heard the general voice of the people, calling for the return of 
 the exiled king. 
 
 The great Protector left two sons, Pichard and Henry. Richard, the 
 elder brother, was made Protector at his father’s death ; but it soon 
 became manifest that he had not the vigour and energy of Oliver, and a 
 rival rose up against him in the person of General Eleetwood, an active 
 commander ; and when the Parliament met, which was summoned soon 
 after Oliver’s death, fierce quarrels broke out, — the more violent party 
 wishing that only the House of Commons, and not the House of Lords, 
 should be re-established, and refusing, moreover, to pay obedience to 
 Pichard Cromwell. 
 
 The storm of faction was too violent to be defied by the new Protector. 
 Pichard Cromwell therefore laid down his power, and retired to the con- 
 tinent, leaving the factions to fight out their quarrel as best they might. 
 
 A Council of State was summoned to deliberate on the measures to be 
 adopted ; and while the voices of the various factions were raised high 
 in quarrel, the future of England was decided by the energetic action of 
 one man. This man was General Monk. 
 
 George Monk was one of the lieutenants of Cromwell. He had long 
 held command in Scotland, and was highly esteemed by the great Pro- 
 tector. He did his duty as a soldier with firmness and courage, and 
 rendered himself respected by his good sense and justice ; but he was so 
 cautious that no one knew whether his real feelings inclined him towards 
 the Loyalists or towards the Republicans. While affairs were in a con- 
 fused and unsettled state in London, he suddenly began to march from 
 
 240 
 
241 
 
MONK DECLARES FOR A FREE PARLIAMENT — THE RESTORATION. 
 
 Scotland with his army; and, on reaching the capital, was warmly 
 received by the inhabitants, to whom he promised a free Parliament. 
 Then a letter was produced from the exiled king, in which Charles 
 promised to overlook past offences, and to make whatever reforms the 
 Parliament should deem desirable. The Parliament then decided that 
 Charles should be invited over to England, and restored to the throne. 
 A large sum of money was sent to him in Pianders, which was very 
 acceptable, for the exiled monarch and his courtiers had been very poor 
 for a long time. Monk marched southward to Dover, wdiere he met 
 the king on the 20th of May ; and on the 29th of May, 1660, Charles 
 entered the city of London amidst the joyous shouts of the inhabitants, 
 who were rejoiced to be delivered from the tyranny of the army, and 
 fully believed the promises of the king. 
 
 Thus was the monarchy of England restored after an interval of eleven 
 years, during which, for the only time in the lapse of centuries, mili- 
 tary power had held sway. Long after the new king and his younger 
 brother, and the nephew and niece who succeeded that brother, were dead 
 — when half a hundred years had elapsed since the events of which we 
 are now speaking, a quiet white-headed country gentleman came up to 
 London respecting a lawsuit that was to be tried in the Guildhall. The 
 judge before whom the case was to be decided treated him with unusual 
 respect ; and the spectators whispered to each other and looked keenly 
 at him as entered the court : and with reason, for this quiet white-headed 
 gentleman was the great Protector’s son, Richard Cromwell, who, in a 
 quiet life of usefulness on his farm at Cheshunt, had found more real 
 happiness than his famous father had ever enjoyed upon the throne of 
 England. 
 
PART Till. THE RESTORED STUARTS, 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 CHARLES H. 
 
 Delight of the people at the restoration of Charles — Loyalty of the Parliament — Indolence of 
 the King — The Act of Indemnity — Lord Chancellor Hyde — Catherine of Braganza — The 
 Plague of London — The great Pire. 
 
 The new king, who was received with acclamation by his people, had 
 every prospect of a happy and prosperous reign ; and a very small amount 
 of prudence and honesty would have enabled him to retain the good-will 
 extended to him by all classes at his accession. The nation was utterly 
 weary of military tyranny. During the Puritan rule, even innocent mirth 
 and amusement had been prohibited, and young and old had been ex- 
 pected to wear sad-coloured garments and sad faces ; and now that the 
 restraint was suddenly taken off, mirth and jollity reigned everywhere. 
 The songs in praise of the Stuarts, and in dispraise of the Boundheads, 
 which the Cavaliers had been fain to sing in corners during the period of 
 the great Protector’s rule, were now shouted in public. “ The king shall 
 enjoy his own again,” “ Here’s a health unto his Majesty,” and similar 
 loyal ditties, were carolled from morning till night ; and the old games 
 and merry-makings, prohibited as unlawful during the Protectorate, were 
 restored with the monarchy. 
 
 The Parliament showed itself intensely loyal, and was ready to grant 
 almost everything the king should please to ask ; and Charles was not 
 backward or loth to give his faithful subjects full scope for their gene- 
 rosity. In his long exile he had learned to take the world as he found it, 
 
 243 
 
CHARACTER OF CHARLES — CATHERINE OF BRAGANZA. 
 
 and especially to gratify his own desires in every way; hut for the 
 honour of England he had no care, and never seemed to think that the 
 great office of King of England brought with it duties which must be 
 fulfilled, and labour which he had no right to shirk. His talents were 
 of a high order, and he had learned the art of reading the characters of 
 men ; but he was indolent, dishonest, and self-indulgent ; and towards 
 the end of his reign he became cruel. To gratify his own wishes he 
 would sacrifice the welfare of his country at any time ; and gratitude 
 for services rendered was not in his nature. Thus it came to pass that 
 his twenty-five years of rule present a sad contrast to the period when 
 the stern genius of Cromwell swayed the destinies of Britain ; and the 
 reign of Charles II., brilliantly and hopefully begun, ended in failure, 
 discontent, and disgrace. 
 
 Shortly after his accession, an act of indemnity or safety was passed, 
 which secured pardon for those who had been concerned against the 
 Government during the Protectorate ; but from this pardon those who 
 had actively participated in the trial and death of Charles I. were ex- 
 cluded. A mean revenge was taken on the dead bodies of Cromwell and 
 his chief friends : the corpses w T ere torn from their graves and publicly 
 hanged at Tyburn. The Church of England was restored, and the 
 bishops were reinstated; unfortunately also, the Dissenters and Boman 
 Catholics were persecuted; for the people in those days had not yet 
 learned that persecution is un-Christian in itself, and cannot therefore be 
 taken as evidence of real religion. The best measure of the earlier part 
 of Charles’s reign was the installation of Hyde, the great and wise Earl 
 of Clarendon, as Lord Chancellor ; and so long as Charles allowed himself 
 to be led by this honest counsellor, the affairs of the nation were pros- 
 perously conducted. 
 
 Charles married Catherine of Braganza, the daughter of the King of 
 Portugal, receiving as the dowry of this princess a hundred thousand 
 pounds in money, with the town of Tangier in Africa, and that of 
 Bombay in the East Indies. It was quite in accordance with his usual 
 character that he spent the dowry of his unfortunate wife, and then 
 treated her exceeding ill, passing his time with worthless women, and 
 exposing his queen to insult and neglect. 
 
 J244 
 
Plague in London 
 
 245 
 
THE PLAGUE OF LONDON. 
 
 He was always in want of funds, though Parliament had been very 
 liberal to him ; and for a sum of money to squander among his favourites 
 he bartered away the town of Dunkirk, the last of Cromwell’s conquests ; 
 and afterwards, for a further supply, he sold the honour of England and 
 his own independence. 
 
 The pestilence known as the Great Plague of London broke out in 
 the year 1665. The summer during that year had been exceptionally 
 hot, and in the close unhealthy streets of the capital the plague raged 
 with fearful violence : many who had been strong and well in the morn- 
 ing would suddenly feel themselves sick and faint; then dark spots 
 appeared on the neck or chest ; and frequently before evening came the 
 sufferer was dead. The court fled in terror to Oxford, and all who could 
 quit the plague-stricken city followed the fugitives as fast as possible. 
 Numbers of servants, whose masters had fled from the doomed capital, 
 were left to perish miserably with hunger ; and when they made their 
 way to the surrounding villages, the inhabitants were afraid to receive 
 them for fear of infection, and drove them away, to die in the fields or 
 by the road-side. In London itself the streets were deserted, and at last 
 the grass grew in the principal thoroughfares. The few passengers whose 
 business compelled them to come abroad, hurried fearfully along in the 
 middle of the road, afraid to speak to any they met, and dreading lest 
 the infection might seize upon them from the houses on either side. 
 Watchmen were appointed to parade the city, and to drive back any 
 inhabitant of an infected house who attempted to escape into the street. 
 Every house where any inmate was stricken with the plague was dis- 
 tinguished by a red cross painted on the door, with the words “ Lord 
 have mercy upon us,” painted round it. At night huge fires were 
 lighted in the streets, to purify the air ; and at midnight a hideous black 
 cart rumbled through the silent city, preceded by a man who rang a bell 
 and cried, “ Bring out your dead ! bring out your dead ! ” — for the only 
 hope for the poor wretches shut up in the infected houses lay in getting 
 rid, as quickly as possible, of the corpses of friends and relatives who had 
 perished by the fell disease ; and therefore the dead bodies were carried 
 down and huddled into the cart, which rumbled away to the outskirts of 
 the city, where huge pits had been dug, into which the corpses were cast 
 
 246 
 
THE GREAT FIRE. 
 
 by thousands. As week after week of that terrible summer went by, 
 and the number of deaths by the plague increased, some men went mad 
 with sheer horror ; others became quite reckless, and gave themselves 
 up to all kinds of wickedness ; while others again, like the enthusiast, 
 Solomon Eagle, went about increasing the general terror by declaring 
 that God was going to destroy the whole of London, to punish the 
 wickedness of the times. Some few distinguished men covered them- 
 selves with honour by their bravery and helpfulness in this trying time. 
 Among these was General Monk, now created Duke of Albemarle, who 
 had brought the king home, and who not only remained in London, 
 but visited the sick and dying, and protected the property of many from 
 the thieves who took advantage of the general confusion for purposes of 
 robbery. At length, when the weather became cooler, the weekly number 
 of deaths from the plague began to decrease, and the scourge gradually 
 disappeared. 
 
 In the next year, 1666, an event happened which was at first looked 
 upon as a great calamity, but which had a good effect, by furnishing an 
 opportunity of rebuilding the capital on a better plan than that of long 
 narrow streets of wooden houses, with no room for the passage of the free 
 air of Heaven. This event was the great Eire of London. On the 2nd 
 of September a fire broke out at a baker’s house in Pudding Lane, near 
 London Bridge. It spread rapidly, raging fiercely through the narrow 
 lanes, and resisting all efforts made to overcome it. It spread westward 
 towards the Temple, and before it burned itself out had destroyed nearly 
 the whole of London. Pour hundred and sixty streets, containing more 
 than thirteen thousand houses, were burned to the ground, with eighty- 
 nine churches, and the grand old cathedral of St. Paul’s. Eor ten miles 
 around London the night was lit up with a glare like that of noon day ; 
 and all the fields round the devoted city were filled with houseless fami- 
 lies, huddled together beneath tents and coverlets, and surrounded by 
 the goods they had been enabled to save in their hurry. In those days 
 the hatred towards the Boman Catholics was so strong that the ignorant 
 people declared the Papists had set the city on fire ; and when a great 
 column was erected on the spot where the conflagration had commenced, 
 an inscription was placed on the base of this monument setting forth 
 
 217 
 
DISGRACEFUL STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 this pretended crime ; but the inscription has very properly been erased, 
 and a truthful one substituted. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE REIGN OE CHARLES II. CONCLUDED. 
 
 Dismissal of Clarendon — The Dutch fleet in the Thames — Popular dislike to James — The Test 
 Act — The Bill of Exclusion — Habeas Corpus Act — The Triple Alliance — Charles a pen- 
 sioner of the French King — The Popish Plot — Murder of Godfrey — The Rye House Plot 
 — Death of Charles. 
 
 Eor the two great calamities just recorded, the king and the Govern- 
 ment were not responsible; but the case was very different with the 
 many misfortunes that befell England during Charles’s reign, and which 
 were due to the profligacy and carelessness of the king and his ministers. 
 The wise advice of Clarendon was disregarded, and in time that honest 
 counsellor was insulted, and a council of profligate nobles took his place 
 in the king’s favour. A war was commenced against Holland. At 
 the commencement the English were fortunate ; but, after a time, the 
 money voted by the Parliament for the equipment of ships and the pay 
 of the sailors was appropriated by the king to his own use, and lament- 
 able failure in the conduct of the war was the result. Eor a time the 
 personal gallantry of the sailors and the bravery of such commanders as 
 General Monk (who now acted as admiral) and of James, Duke of York, 
 upheld the honour of Britain ; but when the Dutch fleet actually sailed 
 up the Thames, and De Ruyter, the Dutch admiral, after burning Sheer- 
 ness, destroyed some of the guard-ships in the Medway, a general indig- 
 nation began to be felt throughout the country ; and, as the anger of 
 the people is often directed against the innocent, while the guilty escape 
 without censure, the popular outcry was cleverly turned by the courtiers 
 against Lord Clarendon, almost the only honest and upright counsellor 
 the king possessed. To Clarendon was imputed the blame of the very 
 measures he had most strenuously opposed. He was dismissed from the 
 
 24.K 
 
THE TEST ACT-BILL OF EXCLUSION— TRIPLE ALLIANCE. 
 
 office of Chancellor, and was obliged to end his days in a foreign land. 
 He retired to France, and there wrote his great book, the “ History of 
 the Rebellion.” 
 
 As Queen Catherine bore no children to Charles, the king’s brother, 
 James, Duke of York, was the next heir to the throne. He had quitted 
 the Protestant for the Roman Catholic religion ; and the people feared 
 that, if he came to govern the empire, he 'would seek to re-establish 
 Popery and to root out Protestantism. Charles, too, was in his heart a 
 Romanist; but as he had no wish to be sent once more into exile, he 
 still outwardly conformed to the practice of the Church of England. To 
 prevent the giving away of offices and places in the State service to 
 Romanists, the Parliament passed the famous Test Act, which declared 
 that none but members of the Church of England could be entrusted 
 with offices in the State service or in the army and navy. The Commons 
 tried to follow up this measure by another act, whose object was to 
 exclude the Duke of York from the succession, because he had become a 
 Romanist ; but the House of Lords refused to pass this measure. 
 
 One bill of great importance, however, was passed. It is known as 
 the Habeas Corpus Act, and provides that any one accused of a crime 
 shall be brought before a magistrate immediately after being taken into 
 custody, and shall be confronted with his accusers within a short time. 
 This was to secure the liberty of the English, by taking away from the 
 Government the power of imprisoning accused persons for a long time 
 without bringing them to trial, or letting them clearly understand what 
 crimes were alleged against them. 
 
 Louis XIV., King of France, was then the most powerful monarch 
 of Europe. Ambitious and fond of glory, he determined to enlarge his 
 dominions by making war upon his neighbours ; more especially he was 
 bent upon crushing the power of Holland. To prevent this, the Dutch 
 made a treaty, called the Triple Alliance, with England and Sweden ; and 
 so long as these three countries stood together to help one another, the 
 French king could not attack one of them without being obliged to fight 
 the other two. Rut Louis knew that Charles would do almost anything 
 for money, and by offering him a large yearly sum he managed to detach 
 that unworthy king from the alliance ; and thus the King of England 
 
TITUS OATES— THE POPISH PLOT. 
 
 became a pensioner of the King of Prance, and Louis was left to pursue 
 his ambitious projects without let or hindrance. 
 
 There were many who looked upon these disgraceful doings with secret 
 anger and grief. The bad ministers chosen by the king to succeed the 
 virtuous Clarendon obtained the name of the Cabal — and they deserved 
 the title ; for they were cunning, clever men, who cared only to please 
 the king, and had no respect for the rights or privileges of the people. 
 At last the discontent became so general that Charles was compelled to 
 send away the Duke of York for a time ; but he soon afterwards enraged 
 the people still more by seizing the money paid into the exchequer for 
 the expenses of the State — such as the payment of soldiers and sailors — 
 and devoting it to his own purposes. He also kept an army round him, 
 and the English felt more and more that their liberties were in danger. 
 
 A wicked rascal, named Titus Oates, now pretended to have discovered 
 a plot laid by the Homan Catholics against the State. He declared that 
 the Komanists intended to create a rebellion in England, to murder the 
 king, and overthrow the Government. Unfortunately, the magistrate 
 before wdiom Oates had made his declaration, Sir Edmondsbury Godfrey, 
 was found murdered soon after, near London ; and Oates and his com- 
 panions immediately asserted that the Catholics had committed this 
 murder. How Godfrey came by his death was never found out ; but the 
 people believed that some Catholics had really killed him, and that there 
 was truth in what Oates said. A number of people were arrested, and 
 many suffered death on the charge of being concerned in a plot which, 
 it is now believed, never had any real existence, but was invented, from 
 beginning to end, by the villain Oates, who managed to enrich himself 
 by means of the false accusations he made. So great was the outcry 
 against the king’s brother James, the head of the Catholics in England, 
 that he was obliged to fly to the continent for safety. 
 
 The English had indeed good reason to be suspicious of this James, 
 and to look with dismay on the prospect of his becoming king upon 
 Charles’s death. During the latter years of Charles’s reign James was sent 
 to govern Scotland ; and there he made himself detested by his tyranny. 
 Charles endeavoured, as his father had done, to force the Scotch to adopt 
 the English liturgy; and James was guilty of the most detestable cruelty 
 
Trial of Lord William Russell. 
 
 251 
 
PERSECUTIONS IN SCOTLAND— THE RYE HOUSE PLOT. 
 
 towards the poor prisoners brought before him, and charged with the 
 high crime of being Dissenters. 
 
 Many a poor covenanter did he cause to be tortured, the favourite 
 instrument for that purpose being an iron boot, in which one leg of the 
 sufferer was fastened, while wooden wedges were driven in with a hammer 
 between the boot and the wearer’s leg, till the bones were horribly 
 crushed. Himself a Papist, James pursued with vindictive rage all who 
 would not conform to the Church of England, in which he did not him- 
 self believe ; and many dreadful stories are told of his cruelties, and of 
 the wicked acts committed by his friend Claverhouse, Lord Dundee, w T ho 
 entered the houses of the unfortunate covenanters with parties of his 
 dragoons, and killed many of them. Even women and children were 
 put to death in this persecution ; and the latter years of Charles II. ’s 
 rule are remembered in Scotland with well-merited horror. 
 
 A real plot, the object of which was the capture, if not the murder, 
 of the king, was discovered in 1682. A certain Eichard Eumbold, a 
 maltster, owned an old mansion called the Eye House, in Hertfordshire ; 
 and this man, who had been a soldier of Cromwell’s, determined to 
 seize the king as Charles returned from the races at Newmarket. An 
 accident caused the failure of the plot, and Eumbold escaped to the 
 continent. But this was a good opportunity for revenge upon those 
 who had opposed the tyranny of the king; and thus Lord William 
 Eussell, son of the Duke of Bedford, Algernon Sidney, the old patriot, 
 and several other leaders of the popular side, were arrested and accused 
 of complicity in this plot. They were tried for high treason, but the 
 trial was not a fair one. The king had determined that these men, who 
 advocated the liberty of the British people, should die, and every point 
 was strained against them. In Sidney’s case especially the proceedings 
 were illegal ; for the law requires that in cases of treason two witnesses 
 should be found, but now only one could be discovered. Both Eussell 
 and Sidney were beheaded ; and these unjust doings rendered the 
 Government more hated than it had been before. 
 
 Lord William Eussell had a good and amiable wife, the Lady Eachel. 
 This faithful lady attended her husband on his trial, and after his con- 
 demnation prayed with him, and comforted him to the very last. The 
 
 252 
 
EXECUTION OF RUSSELL— DEATH OF THE KING. 
 
 parting with his beloved consort was the greatest grief Lord Russell had 
 to undergo ; and when he had said farewell to her for the last time, in 
 his prison, he exclaimed, “ The bitterness of death is past ! ” He was 
 beheaded in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, and died with the courage and resig- 
 nation of a Christian. 
 
 And now the ill-spent reign of Charles II. was nearly over, and the 
 time came when the king must die. In February, 1685, he was seized 
 with a fit, and it became evident that his hours on earth were numbered. 
 He had never been a sincere Protestant ; and now that he was dying, 
 and concealment was of no further use, he had a Roman Catholic priest 
 brought to his bed-side, and received the sacrament according to the rites 
 of the Romish Church. After lingering for four days he died. 
 
 His reign had been unhappy and inglorious ; and the life of this king 
 is remembered in history as an instance of talents wasted and of great 
 opportunities neglected. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 JAMES II. 
 
 James a Roman Catholic — General apprehensions on his coming to the throne — His morose 
 and cruel disposition — Fair promises made by the new King — Rebellion of the Duke of 
 Monmouth — Defeat and capture of Monmouth — Monmouth’s interview with James — His 
 execution — Judge Jeffreys — The “Bloody Circuit.” 
 
 James, Duke of York, the younger brother of Charles II., became 
 King of England at Charles’s death, with the title of James II. He had 
 long been unpopular. His religion had for many years been the Roman 
 Catholic ; and, more honest than the witty, profligate Charles, he had 
 made no secret of being a Papist. In Scotland he had shown a cruel 
 morose spirit, and the severities he had inflicted when he ruled as viceroy 
 for his brother filled many with gloomy forebodings of what he would do 
 now that he reigned for himself as king. 
 
 253 
 
THE DUKE OF MONMOUTH'S REBELLION. 
 
 Those of the Parliament, in both Houses, who had tried to exclude 
 him from the succession, were apprehensive that the new king would 
 revenge himself upon them ; but at the beginning of his reign he 
 showed no disposition to do so. He promised to uphold the Church of 
 England, and to rule according to the laws ; and gradually the alarm 
 subsided, and it seemed that James would have a peaceful reign. But 
 those who hoped for such a blessing soon found themselves deceived. 
 
 It soon appeared that James was bent upon favouring his Roman 
 Catholic subjects at the expense of the Protestants, and that none but 
 Papists could aspire to the king’s confidence and favour. So the old 
 distrust was quickly awakened again. 
 
 The weak and foolish Duke of Monmouth, of whom many of the 
 people were very fond, probably because he was the opposite in appear- 
 ance and manners to his gloomy uncle King James, landed in the west 
 of England, with the avowed purpose of driving James from the throne 
 of England, and seating himself there. At the same time a revolt broke 
 out in the north, headed by the Duke of Argyle. The rebellion of 
 Argyle was quickly crushed, and the duke suffered death for his attempt 
 to overthrow the Government ; but Monmouth’s rebellion, for a time at 
 least, seemed more formidable. When the duke came over from Holland, 
 and landed at Lyme, in Dorsetshire, in June, 1685, many of the peasants 
 of the west, with whom he was very popular, went to join him ; but the 
 nobility and gentry, upon whose aid he had counted, held aloof. At 
 Taunton he was received with shouts of welcome, and proclaimed king ; 
 but the regular army of King James, with the Earl of Eaversham at 
 its head, was rapidly marching towards the west; and to oppose these 
 disciplined troops, Monmouth had only a brave and loyal, but totally 
 unpractised, rabble of peasant soldiers, hastily armed with pikes and 
 similar weapons, which had in many cases been roughly manufactured 
 from scythes and other agricultural implements. 
 
 At Sedgemoor, near Bridgewater, was decided the last battle that ever 
 was fought upon English ground. Monmouth’s scythemen and carters 
 fought like Englishmen, gallantly and well; but they were no match 
 for the disciplined army of the king, among whom were the soldiers 
 of Colonel Kirke’s famous regiment from Tangier in Africa. Mon- 
 
( 
 
 I 
 
 Monmouth entreating James II. for his life. 
 
 255 
 
DEFEAT, CAPTURE, AND EXECUTION OF MONMOUTH. 
 
 mouth’s army soon fell into confusion ; and while they were still fight- 
 ing bravely the duke fled from the battle. A complete rout ensued, 
 and many of the poor peasants were butchered as they were attempting 
 to escape from the scene of slaughter. Monmouth hid himself for a 
 time in the fields ; but the search made for him was so strict that he 
 could not escape ; and at last he was discovered hiding in a ditch, wet, 
 miserable, and half starved. He was immediately conveyed to London 
 as a prisoner ; and as he had been taken in open rebellion against the 
 king, no one doubted that he would be put to death. But James was 
 not content with leaving Monmouth to suffer the penalty of revolt — he 
 must needs feast his eyes upon the distress and anguish of his fallen 
 enemy, and accordingly granted Monmouth an interview. The unhappy 
 duke, judging probably that his uncle would not have consented to see 
 him unless it was intended that some mercy would be shown, fell on his 
 knees and begged hard for his life, professing the most abject contrition 
 for the crime of which he had been guilty. But J ames would hear of 
 no mercy, and sent the poor prisoner back to his dungeon, desolate and 
 broken-hearted. A few days afterwards, Monmouth was beheaded on 
 Tower Hill ; and it would have been well had he alone been made the 
 sufferer for his rash and foolish attempt on the English crown. 
 
 But James, though in many respects more honest than his profligate 
 brother Charles, was a cruel, revengeful king. The word “ mercy ” had 
 no place in the gloomy ceremonies he called religion. When once he 
 had been offended, he never forgot or forgave, and not even his own 
 interest could make him forego his revenge. Therefore he determined 
 to punish the adherents of Monmouth in the west of England with a 
 severity that should strike terror into all discontented spirits, and awe 
 into terrified silence every voice that had been raised in disapproval of 
 him or his measures. Colonel Kirke, of the Tangier regiment, had 
 already hanged and quartered many of the misguided peasants who had 
 fought for “King Monmouth;” and we are told how, at Taunton, the 
 town to which Kirke marched after the battle, a number of unhappy 
 wretches were strung up on a gallows in sight of the inn where Kirke 
 and his officers were enjoying themselves over their wine. But this was 
 not enough to satisfy James. He sent Judge Jeffreys, a man as cruel 
 
THE “ BLOODY ASSIZES.” 
 
 as himself, into the west, to try and punish all the rebels who could be 
 caught; and the assize or court held in Somersetshire by this wicked 
 judge is still remembered among the peasants as the “ Bloody Assize.” 
 Jeffreys afterwards boasted publicly that he had hanged more traitors than 
 any judge had condemned since the time of William the Conqueror ; 
 and there is every reason to believe that he spoke the truth. He moreover 
 had the baseness to jest and jeer at the unhappy victims as they stood 
 trembling before him. Poor half-witted labourers, who hardly knew 
 what the word “ treason ” meant, but who had thought it a fine thing to 
 fight for “ King Monmouth,” were hurried out of the world with indecent 
 haste and ruthless cruelty. An old lady was put to death merely for 
 having given shelter to two of Monmouth’s friends, who tried to conceal 
 themselves in her house after the battle of Sedgemoor; and great num- 
 bers of poor people were sent to America and the West Indies to be 
 sold as slaves. Among the prisoners at these assizes were some children, 
 who had presented a flag to Monmouth at Taunton when he entered 
 that town. They could not have been very dangerous traitors, those 
 poor little children ; but neither childhood nor old age was exempt from 
 the cruelty of the savage king or of his ruffian judge. Par from dis- 
 approving the acts of Jeffreys in the west, the king was scarcely satisfied 
 that enough had been done, and would have preferred to see even more 
 victims sacrificed. The memory of that evil time has remained in the 
 west down to the present day. Long after the tyranny of James and 
 the ferocity of Jeffreys had become matters of the past, the peasants 
 sitting round the winter fire would tell the story of the “ Bloody Assize,” 
 and recall the names of many of the poor victims of the cruelty of that 
 ruthless court — of many simple villagers slaughtered for appearing in 
 arms to support a cause which they conscientiously believed to be a good 
 and righteous one. 
 
 But though cruelty and oppression may flourish for a time, justice and 
 right will triumph in the end ; and the king who could thus forget mercy, 
 and the unjust judge who substituted wrong for right to please a cruel 
 master, did not go unpunished. 
 
 s 
 
 2V7 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE REIGN OE JAMES II. CONCLUDED. 
 
 James attempts the subversion of the Protestant religion — The army at Hounslow — Birth of 
 the Prince of Wales — The King insults the Universities — The Declaration of Indulgence 
 — The Seven Bishops sent to the Tower — Their trial and acquittal — The English determine 
 to dethrone James — Invitation of the Prince of Orange — William lands in England — 
 Plight of the King and Queen — William and Mary proclaimed. 
 
 The “ Bloody Assize” was over; the last of the prisoners taken after 
 Monmouth’s unhappy rebellion had suffered the penalty of his rashness ; 
 the people, though horrified at what had been done, and indignant at 
 the ruthless conduct of the Government, remained quiet and made no 
 sign of revolt ; and James foolishly thought that the empire of Britain 
 was entirely in his power. Now, therefore, he imagined he could carry 
 out a scheme he had set his heart upon accomplishing. This scheme was 
 nothing less than the putting down of the Protestant religion in Eng- 
 land and the restoration of the supremacy of the Pope. He accordingly 
 began to put Roman Catholics into the chief offices of the State, a pro- 
 ceeding directly contrary to the laws ; he dismissed many Protestants 
 from their posts, and gave the offices they had held to Roman Catholic 
 friends of his own; and, by many acts of violence and oppression, he 
 made it manifest to all that the liberties of the English nation, in Church 
 and State, could not stand if he continued to rule. In Ireland he dis- 
 missed the Viceroy, the old Duke of Ormond, who was looked upon with 
 respect and admiration for his justice and kindness, and gave Ormond’s 
 office to a friend of his own, Colonel Talbot, whom he created Earl of 
 Tyrconnel. The Roman Catholic mass was now publicly celebrated in 
 England ; and to guard against any attempt on the people’s part to resist 
 this tyranny by open force, James established an army of 15,000 men, 
 whom he kept ready at Hounslow, a few miles from London. As James 
 was already growing old, the English might have endured these wrongs 
 in the hope of better times after the king’s death ; but these hopes were 
 
 258 
 
THE DECLARATION OF INDULGENCE— THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 extinguished when James’s second wife, the Roman Catholic Mary of 
 Modena, gave birth to a son, who, it was rightly suspected, would he 
 educated in his father’s religion. 
 
 The University of Oxford had always been on the king’s side in the time 
 of the great civil war, and, after the Restoration, had continued to take 
 part with the Crown. James rewarded this fidelity by forcing the colleges 
 to accept his own friends as their rulers; and to all remonstrances he only 
 replied that his will must be obeyed. The better to carry out his design 
 of substituting Roman Catholics for Protestants in the chief places of the 
 State, he issued a decree, which he called a Declaration of Liberty of 
 Conscience ; and ordered that this declaration should be publicly read in 
 every parish church. 
 
 Seven of the bishops presented a petition to James, remonstrating 
 against this declaration. James, to frighten them, ordered them into 
 custody ; and they were sent to the Tower on the charge of having pub- 
 lished a false and seditious libel against the king. 
 
 The people at last rose up in anger. They had endured much tyranny 
 and oppression in silence ; but their patience was at length exhausted. 
 The bishops were triumphantly acquitted, and even the king’s troops at 
 Hounslow shared the general joy when the verdict of the jury was made 
 known. 
 
 And now a number of the most influential gentry and nobles deter- 
 mined to drive James from the throne he disgraced, and to set up in his 
 stead a king who would rule according to justice and right, and one on 
 whose word they could rely. 
 
 The republic of Holland was governed by William, Prince of Orange 
 Nassau, a wise and politic prince, who had shown great courage and 
 ability in defending his country against the power of the ambitious King 
 Louis XIY. of Prance. This William had married Mary, a daughter of 
 James II. Roth Mary and her husband were Protestants, and therefore 
 it was hoped that they would support the Protestant religion which 
 James hated so bitterly. Accordingly, an invitation was sent over to 
 Holland, requesting William to come to England and settle the affairs 
 of the nation ; and in November, 1688, the Prince of Orange landed 
 with an army in the west of England, where Monmouth had made his 
 
 259 
 
WILLIAM OF ORANGE LANDS IN ENGLAND— FLIGHT OF JAMES. 
 
 unhappy attempt three years before. Those three years of tyranny and 
 bigotry had made a vast difference in the temper of the English people 
 towards their king. No one trusted to the promises of James, although 
 when he declared that he would punish his enemies, it was certain he 
 would keep his word ; and the Prince of Orange had been but a few days 
 in England before the king’s friends began to fall away from him. 
 
 James now became seriously alarmed, and made some offers of con- 
 cession ; but he was not believed. His chief officers deserted him ; his 
 own daughter Anne followed their example ; and the king, at last losing 
 heart, fled from London by night, with the queen and the infant Prince 
 of Wales. The queen and prince got safely to Prance, but at Paver- 
 sham, in Kent, the king was recognized, and brought back to London. 
 
 The people were delighted at the prospect of a change in the govern- 
 ment, and were in a great state of excitement all over the country. They 
 threatened to murder Judge Jeffreys, and that cruel judge, feeling sure 
 that he should meet with no mercy if he fell into their hands, was seized 
 with abject fear, and begged to be sent for safety to the Tower of London. 
 His wish was complied with, and in the Tower he died soon afterwards, 
 hated by all ; and that hatred has lasted to the present day. 
 
 Meanwhile the Prince of Orange was coming nearer and nearer to 
 London; and as he advanced James retreated. When William entered 
 London, James retired to Eochester, after trying, at the last moment, to 
 come to some agreement ; and a few days later saw the Prince of Orange 
 established in St. James’s Palace, while James, seeing there was no hope 
 for him in England, privately quitted Eochester, and embarked in a 
 small vessel for France, which he reached in safety. The French King 
 Louis XIV. received him with great kindness and hospitality, provided 
 him amply with money, and gave him the palace of St. Germains, near 
 Paris, for a residence; and here King James lived for more than twelve 
 years. He made an attempt to regain his throne by invading Ireland, 
 as we shall see recorded in the events of the next reign, but he never set 
 foot again in England. More than his tyranny and oppression, more 
 than the disregard he had shown for the liberties of the English, that 
 dark business of the “ Bloody Assize” in the west was remembered against 
 him. The English had experienced what manner of man he was, and 
 
 260 
 
Flight of James II. from London. 
 
 261 
 
I 
 
 WILLIAM AND MARY OCCUPY THE THRONE. 
 
 would not again trust themselves in the hands of a king who understood 
 revenge, hut knew nothing of mercy. 
 
 When James had thus departed never to return, the question arose — 
 By whom was England now to be governed ? After much deliberation it 
 was resolved that the crown should be conferred upon William and his 
 consort Mary, who henceforth should rule jointly under the name of 
 William III. and Mary II. ; and on the 13th of February, 1689, pro- 
 clamation was made to this effect. 
 
 Thus, for the second time, was a Stuart king driven from the throne 
 of England ; and this great change, which was effected without blood- 
 shed, by the mere strength of the hatred the English bore to tyranny, 
 is known in our history as the great Revolution of 1688. 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 WILLIAM III. (ORANGE-NASSATj) AND MARY II. (STUART). 
 
 Coronation of William and Mary — The Bill of Rights — James II. attempts the reconquest of 
 England — Battle of the Boyne — James again flies to Trance — James’s adherents in Scot- 
 land — Tight at Killiecrankie, and death of Dundee — An abstract of the provisions of the 
 Bill of Rights. 
 
 On the 11th of April, 1689, William, Prince of Orange, and Mary, 
 the daughter of the exiled King James II., were solemnly crowned in 
 Westminster Abbey as William III. and Mary II., King and Queen 
 of England. 
 
 The English had not, however, invested them with this dignity without 
 first taking steps to secure their own freedom, and to prevent a recur- 
 rence of the tyrannical acts that had disgraced the reign of the late 
 king. A solemn Petition ot Rights had been drawn up, in which it 
 was exactly stated what privileges the people possessed; and the king 
 was prohibited from interfering with those privileges in any way. This 
 celebrated memorial afterwards became law, under the name of the Bill 
 ot Rights. So that now the king ruled by a compact made with the 
 
 262 
 
JAMES ATTEMPTS TO RECONQUER ENGLAND— BATTLE OF BOYNE. 
 
 people, and could no longer shelter himself behind his “divine right’ 5 
 when he governed wrong. 
 
 But though King James had run away from England, he had not by 
 any means abandoned the idea of regaining the throne which by his own 
 unworthiness he had lost. Louis XIV. of France, the great despot of 
 Europe, had received him hospitably, and was ready to help him to the 
 utmost with men and money : for this Louis was the sworn enemy of 
 William of Orange, against whom he had carried on a long war when 
 William was Stadtholder of Holland, almost driving him from his native 
 country, and inflicting the greatest injuries upon him. William therefore 
 hastened to ally himself with the German States, for he knew that 
 strength lav in union ; and thus there were three States — Britain, Hol- 
 land, and Germany — who would stand together to oppose the encroach- 
 ments of the ambitious Louis XIV. 
 
 How necessary these precautions were was made manifest by the 
 measures Louis had already taken. He declared that J ames II. was the 
 real and true King of England, totally denying the claim of William, 
 who had been chosen by the people ; for, indeed, the voice of the people 
 counted for nothing in the estimation of a king who allowed no will but 
 his own to sway the destinies of the realm he governed, and whose power 
 was so absolute and undivided, that he was accustomed to say, “ L'Etat 
 cest moi 64 1 am the State.” It was, therefore, quite in accordance with 
 the character and sentiments of Louis that he should provide the fugitive 
 James with men and money for the reconquering of the British empire; 
 and as the majority of the inhabitants of Ireland were Boman Catholics, 
 it was settled that this army should descend upon the Irish coast, and 
 commence operations there ; so that first Ireland, and then England and 
 Scotland, might be regained, and the Prince of Orange driven back to 
 Holland whence he came. 
 
 The Catholic population of the south of Ireland welcomed James II. 
 with the greatest enthusiasm. The exiled king made his entry into 
 Dublin in March, 1689, and Lord Tyrconnel raised an army for him. 
 William saw the full danger of his position ; and after sending the Duke 
 of Schomberg to Ireland, landed there himself, at Carrickfergus. On 
 the 1st of July, 1690, was fought the battle of the Boyne, near Drog- 
 
 263 
 
SUMMARY OF THE PROVISIONS OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS. 
 
 heda, which ended in the entire defeat of Janies, who on that occasion 
 disgraced himself by quitting the field before the fortune of the day was 
 decided. In the north, the French army, under the Count de Eosen, 
 had already been foiled at the siege of Londonderry, whose Protestant 
 garrison held out with heroic valour, though provisions had become so 
 scarce that they were forced to eat rats, and similar vermin. Consider- 
 ing his cause hopeless, James departed for Prance, while the brave Irish 
 Catholics still fought valiantly for the monarch who had deserted them. 
 The City of Limerick, in particular, made a noble resistance, and was 
 not surrendered till the following year, when it had become too manifest 
 that King James was not worth fighting for. Even then many gallant 
 men went into voluntary exile, preferring to quit their country for ever, 
 rather than submit to a king whose right to the throne they did not 
 recognize. 
 
 In Scotland, too, James had many partisans. The chief of these was 
 his friend Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, a ruthless and 
 bloodthirsty man, who had gained the name of “ Bloody Clavers ” for 
 his cruelties practised upon the covenanters in the last years of the reign 
 of Charles II. Dundee died in the arms of victory at Killiecrankie. Por 
 all his cruelty, he was a brave and high-spirited man, and fought for the 
 gloomy tyrant James with a gallantry worthy of a better cause. 
 
 In closing this chapter, it will be well to enumerate a few of the con- 
 ditions stipulated for in the Bill of Eights, that we may understand upon 
 what basis the government of England was now placed. They were 
 briefly these : — “ That the king cannot dispense with the law, nor make 
 fresh laws by himself : laws must be made by the Parliament. The king 
 may not raise money by his own authority : the Parliament alone has 
 the right of levying taxes. It is the right of subjects to petition the king, 
 and all commitments or prosecutions for such petitions are illegal. 
 (This was to prevent any arbitrary measure like the trial of the seven 
 bishops.) That elections of members to Parliament ought to be free, 
 and that all measures ought to be freely discussed in Parliament. That 
 the king may not raise or keep a standing army in time of peace, except 
 with the consent of the Parliament.” 
 
 In short, the general tenour of the Bill of Eights was to destroy the 
 
 264 
 
FAITHLESS CONDUCT OF THE ENGLISH POLITICIANS. 
 
 idea that the king could govern alone ; for the English people were de- 
 termined that the Parliament should share the power with the king, and 
 that the freedom, to gain which they had made so many sacrifices, should 
 not again be lightly endangered. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE REIGN OE WILLIAM HE. AND MARY II, CONCLUDED. 
 
 Distinction between “ Whigs ” and “ Tories ” — Origin of those names — Faithlessness and 
 treachery of the English politicians — Unpopularity of William, and its cause — Massacre 
 of Glencoe — The Darien scheme — Battle of La Hogue — Steinkirk — Namur — Treaty of 
 Ryswick — Toleration Act — The Bank of England founded — Death of Mary — Death of 
 William — Peter the Great of Russia. 
 
 During the last few years the two great parties in the State had been 
 known by the names of Whigs and Tories. The Tories advocated the 
 divine right of kings, and declared that all resistance against the regal 
 power was wrong : the Whigs declared that the king ruled by a compact 
 with the people, and was only to be obeyed so long as he governed accord- 
 ing to law. Roth these names were, in the first instance, used as terms 
 of reproach, the word “whig” meaning a sour, discontented fellow; 
 while “tory” meant much the same as “freebooter” or “robber.” But 
 the words were retained long after their evil meanings were forgotten, 
 and in the next century a Tory was a supporter of the king, while a Whig 
 was supposed to be a friend of the people. 
 
 King William had been placed on the throne by the Whigs ; and the 
 Tories, in the first instance, were his opponents. But lie soon found his 
 position in England an irksome and disagreeable one. The man who 
 had been an avowed AVhig one year often became a Tory the next. If 
 he thought himself not properly paid for his support of the new king, he 
 would become a partisan of the old one. Even the ministers and coun- 
 cillors of William frequently kept up a correspondence with the exiled 
 king, who held his court at St. Germains, and William had hardly any 
 
Massacre of Glencoe. 
 
 267 
 
THE GLENCOE MASSACRE— VICTORY OFF LA HOGUE. 
 
 one on whom he could rely. No wonder, therefore, that his new sub- 
 jects thought him cold and suspicious, and that he never became popular 
 among them; but none could deny that he ruled justly, and that he 
 could be merciful to an enemy and generous to a friend. He wished to 
 he King of England, and not merely the head of a faction ; and in trying 
 to do justice to all he was frequently so unfortunate as to please none. 
 He had weak health, moreover ; and many unfavourably contrasted his 
 pale, careworn countenance and abrupt manners with the winning grace 
 of King Charles II., forgetting that the merry monarch had been content 
 to purchase his jovial comfort at the expense of the national honour, and 
 that much of William’s ill-temper proceeded from a heart and brain 
 racked with physical pain, and still more with anxiety for the welfare of 
 the great States he had been called upon to govern. 
 
 The massacre of the clan Macdonald of Glencoe is one of the most 
 unfortunate events of this reiern. The Macdonalds had submitted to 
 
 O 
 
 William’s rule, but were nevertheless put to death under circumstances 
 of great barbarity, by a party of soldiers whom they had received as 
 guests, and who rose up in the night-time, and slew them. How far the 
 king knew of this bad business has never been clearly ascertained ; but 
 such a deliberate piece of cruelty was so foreign to his nature, that we 
 cannot believe he knew what was going to be done, or that he really gave 
 his consent. Another unfortunate event was the Darien scheme. A 
 number of emigrants went from Scotland to establish a colony on the 
 Isthmus of Darien, or Panama, in Central America. The idea was a 
 good one, but much jealousy was aroused by the thought that the Scotch 
 should form this colony ; and the protection and encouragement due to 
 the emigrants being denied them, the whole affair ended in a miserable 
 failure. But these unfortunate events were counterbalanced by great 
 and important successes in other quarters. 
 
 William had always felt sure that Louis XIV. was the great enemy of 
 peace in Europe, and that unless the ambition of that powerful monarch 
 were kept in check, there would be no safety for any European State. 
 Therefore the war against Erance was vigorously carried on by England 
 and Holland combined ; and the English and Dutch fleets gained a great 
 triumph over the French off Cape La Hogue on the 19th of May, 1092. 
 
 268 
 
The Czar Peter of Russia in Deptford Dockyard 
 
 269 
 
STEINKIRK— NAMUR— TREATY OF RYSWICK— DEATH OF MARY. 
 
 From this time England resumed the empire of the sea, which she had 
 held in the days of stout old Oliver, and never again has she lost it. 
 
 By land William was not so successful, though he had the services of 
 John Churchill, Earl (afterwards Duke) of Marlborough. The armies of 
 Louis XIV. were vast in number, distinguished for heroic valour, and 
 headed by experienced commanders ; nevertheless, though worsted at 
 Steinkirk in Elanders in 1693, William took the strong city of Namur, 
 26th of August, 1695 ; and at last, Louis, finding that he was exhaust- 
 ing his strength against an enemy whom he could not subdue, made 
 peace with William, acknowledging him as Xing of England ; and the 
 Treaty of Byswick was signed in 1698. 
 
 This war cost England a great deal of money, and much discontent 
 arose in consequence. But it was a necessary war ; and the Commons, 
 while they voted what money the king required, took care in return to 
 secure for themselves new privileges and new guarantees for their liberty. 
 Thus it was settled that .there should be a new Parliament every three 
 years ; that the king should have a certain sum of money allowed him 
 for his private expenses, the rest of the taxes being paid directly into the 
 treasury, and spent exclusively upon the objects for which they had been 
 voted ; a Toleration Act was passed for the benefit of the Dissenters, whom 
 James had persecuted; and a new coinage was struck at the royal mint, 
 under the superintendence of the great philosopher, Sir Isaac Newton. 
 The Bank of England was also founded in this reign. 
 
 Queen Mary died in 1694, to the inexpressible grief of her husband. 
 Her younger sister, the Princess Anne, was now the next heir to the 
 throne ; and it was settled that if Anne died without heirs, the crown 
 should pass to the Electress Sophia of Hanover, a granddaughter of 
 James I. In 1702 the king fell from his horse at Hampton Court, and 
 broke his collar-bone. At first the accident was not considered serious, 
 but the king caught cold, and died in a few days. He had ruled wisely 
 and well in England for more than twelve years. 
 
 Peter the Great, Czar or Emperor of Russia, paid a visit to England, 
 chiefly to watch the process of ship-building as carried on in the dock- 
 yard at Deptford, where he worked as a journeyman. He lived at the 
 house of a distinguished man named Evelyn, and passed many an evening 
 
 270 
 
PETER THE GREAT OF RUSSIA— QUEEN ANNE. 
 
 at a tavern in Rotherhithe, which still retains the name of the “ Czar’s 
 Head.” Peter was a very 44 rough diamond,” fond of rude sports, and 
 much addicted to drinking brandy with pepper in it. The nobleman 
 who had been deputed by William to attend upon his royal guest had 
 much difficulty in keeping the Czar out of mischief. 
 
 CHAPTER Y II. 
 
 QUEEN ANNE. 
 
 Influence of the Churchills at the court of Queen Anne — Louis XIV. declares in favour of 
 the Pretender — The Spanish succession — Marlborough’s victories — Battle of Blenheim — 
 The fortress of Gibraltar taken — Oudenarde — Malplaquet. 
 
 Anne, the second daughter of King James II., was now proclaimed 
 Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and, according to old custom, 
 the title Queen of Erance was added, though this latter was a very empty 
 honour, for the monarchs of England might as well have been entitled 
 kings of Timbuctoo as of Erance. Anne was a weak woman, capable 
 of doing very little for herself ; and as a weak nature generally finds a 
 strong one to lean upon, the queen had for a long time been ruled by a 
 very clever but somewhat turbulent woman, Sarah, the wife of the Earl 
 of Marlborough. The earl was at the head of the Whig party ; and so 
 long as his wife governed the queen, the Whigs governed England. 
 
 The Tories and the adherents of the exiled Stuarts, who were called 
 Jacobites (from Jacobus , James), now thought there was a good chance 
 for them in England, for James II. had died at St. Germains in 1701, 
 and his son, James Erancis Edward, was the next lineal heir to the 
 crown. Louis XIV., whose power had been increasing since the peace 
 of Ryswick, declared in favour of the young prince, who was called in 
 England the 44 Pretender,” and it soon became evident that war would 
 once more break out between the two countries. 
 
 The King of Spain had recently died, leaving his dominions to the 
 
WAR OF THE SUCCESSION — MARLBOROUGH'S SUCCESSES. 
 
 Duke of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV. But the Emperor of Ger- 
 many considered that he had a claim upon the crown of Spain, which 
 had belonged to Charles V. two centuries before ; and as the Govern- 
 ment of Queen Anne was highly offended with the Erench king for his 
 support of the Pretender, and moreover thought it very dangerous that 
 the Erench royal family of the Bourbons should possess both France and 
 Spain, it was decided that the English, in conjunction with the Dutch, 
 should support the claims of the Emperor ; and thus broke out the great 
 War of the Spanish Succession. 
 
 The great Duke of Marlborough was made Commander-in-Chief of the 
 British and Dutch troops. In 1702 he began operations in Flanders, 
 and soon showed himself 44 the right man in the right place.” His skill 
 was consummate. He knew exactly when and where to attack the 
 enemy. The marshals and commanders of the army of Louis XIV. 
 were astonished and confounded at his skill and courage; and as for 
 his own troops, they had such perfect confidence in their general, that 
 after a year or two they marched into battle with a certainty of victory ; 
 and the French became more and more dispirited as they saw the wonder- 
 ful success of their opponents. 
 
 In 1703 Marlborough was again victorious, though the Dutch were 
 defeated by the French ; but in 1701 he gained a triumph which threw 
 all his former achievements into the shade. This was the celebrated 
 battle of Blenheim, near Hochstedt, in Bavaria, gained over the French 
 Marshal Tallard by Marlborough in conjunction with Prince Eugene of 
 Savoy. Tallard himself was taken prisoner ; 11,000 of his troops fell 
 into the hands of the English, and a great number of cannon and 
 standards were taken. This was the most terrible blow the power of 
 Louis had yet received. In the same year the English gained another 
 triumph in the capture of the strong fortress of Gibraltar, at the entrance 
 of the Mediterranean. This important place, which has now been held 
 by the English for 160 years, was taken by Sir George Rooke, with the 
 assistance of some brave English captains. 
 
 The war was again carried into Flanders; and with such brilliant 
 success, that Marlborough’s soldiers at last looked upon their general as 
 the very Genius of Victory. He was never more calm and collected than 
 
 272 
 
BATTLES OF OUDENARDE AND MALPLAOUET. 
 
 when in the midst of the battle, with the cannon roaring around him. 
 While his ally, the brave Prince Eugene of Savoy, seemed possessed 
 with a kind of warlike fury, and raged in the battle-day like a lion, the 
 duke would ride to and fro, quiet and cool, with a thoughtful smile upon 
 his handsome face, noting every change in the fortune of the fight, and 
 ready to give each order exactly at the right moment. 
 
 Victory crowned the efforts of the army in Flanders. On the 23rd of 
 May, 1706, the battle of Ramillies was gained. The 7tli of July, 1708, 
 saw the English defeat the French at Oudenarde, killing or wounding 
 nearly 4,000 of them, and taking a hundred standards; and on the 
 11th of September, 1709, Marlborough was again victorious, after a 
 furious conflict, at Malplaquet. Put in this last battle the carnage was 
 so fearful — so many brave soldiers were slain, and so little real advantage 
 seemed to be gained by their deaths — that the English began to grow 
 weary of the strife ; and the people began to ask whether it was worth 
 while that all this bloodshed and misery should be allowed to continue, 
 merely that Marlborough might grow richer and more famous, and keep 
 in power the Whig party who supported him. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE EE1GN OE QUEEN ANNE CONCLUDED. 
 
 Union of England and Scotland — Death of Prince George of Denmark — The Jacobites hope 
 to obtain the succession for the Stuarts — The Whig party, on the Duke of Marlborough's 
 disgrace, lose power — Dr. Sacheverell — Treaty of Utrecht — Whig and Tory dissensions— 
 Death of Anne. 
 
 Evee since the year 1603 England and Scotland had been ruled 
 by the same monarch ; nevertheless, they had always been regarded as 
 separate kingdoms. But now it was proposed to unite them, and have 
 only one Pailiament for both ; the Scotch being allowed to send a certain 
 number of peers to the Upper House, and forty-five members to the 
 
 274 
 
Marlborough at Ramillies. 
 
 275 
 
UNION OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 
 
 House of Commons, that their country might be properly represented 
 in the Council of the State. Much dissatisfaction was expressed in the 
 north when this arrangement was proposed, for it was feared that the 
 interests of Scotland would be disregarded. After much opposition, how- 
 ever, the measure was carried into effect — England and Scotland became 
 one kingdom, though each preserved its own laws ; and the result has 
 been the gaining of many advantages for both. Countries under the 
 same rule cannot hold too closely together ; for by union they become 
 strong. 
 
 This union of England and Scotland was effected in the year 1707. 
 In the following year the queen lost her husband, the Prince George of 
 Denmark. She had been the mother of many children, but all were 
 now dead ; and as the queen was growing old, the hopes of the Jacobites 
 began to revive, and it was thought that perhaps the son of James II. 
 might be brought over from France, as his uncle Charles II. had been 
 in 1660, and the direct Stuart line might continue to reign in England, 
 after all. 
 
 One of the chief reasons for these hopes lay in the fact that the 
 queen herself was supposed to favour her half-brother, the “ Pretender,” 
 as he was called. She was getting tired of the Whig party, and espe- 
 cially of the Duchess of Marlborough, who presumed upon the brilliant 
 services her husband was rendering to the State, and treated her royal 
 mistress with open disrespect. A certain Abigail Hill had been intro- 
 duced at court by the imperious duchess, and filled a humble office about 
 the queen’s person ; and Mistress Hill made herself so agreeable to the 
 queen, that in time she became a prime favourite ; and in proportion as 
 she rose in her Majesty’s favour, the duchess fell into disgrace. Abigail 
 Hill (who afterwards became Lady Masham) belonged to the Tory 
 party ; and gradually the Tories came into favour. The old doctrine of 
 passive obedience, and of the wickedness of revolutions, began to gain 
 ground; and when a clergyman named Sacherevell preached a foolish 
 and seditious sermon in London, and was tried for this offence, a great 
 difficulty was found in convicting him ; for the people began to take his 
 side, and it was believed that the queen secretly favoured him also. 
 
 Thus, in spite of his great successes, Marlborough gradually fell into 
 
 27 G 
 
DISGRACE OF MARLBOROUGH— TREATY OF UTRECHT. 
 
 disgrace at court. He had made few personal friends, for lie was in- 
 ordinately fond of money, and tried to appropriate to himself the whole 
 credit of all that was done. He took bribes, and had a tendency “to 
 sell and mart his offices for gold, to un deservers,” there is no doubt ; but 
 in those days bribery was so common, that no one would have noticed 
 this had not the duke been personally unpopular. However, this charge 
 of bribery was used as a pretext to attack the great general in Parlia- 
 ment ; and he was deprived of his offices, and suspended from the com- 
 mand of the army he had so often led to victory. Pie retired to the 
 continent, and remained there until after the queen’s death; and his 
 dismissal was looked upon as a great triumph gained by the Tories. 
 
 At length, in 1713, the long War of the Spanish Succession was ended 
 by the Treaty of Utrecht. Louis XIY. gained the point for which he 
 had begun the strife : the House of Bourbon was established upon the 
 Spanish throne; but Prance had been terribly weakened in the long 
 contest. Many of her best men had fallen on the blood-stained fields of 
 Planders and Germany ; enormous taxes had been raised to pay the ex- 
 penses of the war ; trade and commerce had declined ; and the people 
 were sinking deeper and deeper into misery and want. In England also 
 the burden of the war had been severely felt. The Government had 
 been obliged to borrow many millions of money, and to tax the people 
 heavily ; for Blenheim, Bamillies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet were ex- 
 pensive battles to win. By the Peace of Utrecht some few advantages 
 were gained, such as the cession of Newfoundland and Hudson’s Bay in 
 America, and the West Indian island of St. Christopher; but in general 
 the Treaty of Utrecht gave little satisfaction ; and the Whigs especially 
 cried out that the Tories were betraying the country, and throwing away 
 the advantages gained during the long and arduous strife. 
 
 While the Whigs and Tories were thus accusing each other, it be- 
 came visible to all that the queen had not much longer to live : she 
 was evidently sinking ; but the quarrelling still went on. The Whigs 
 were fearful that the Elector of Hanover’s claim to the throne might be 
 set aside ; and the Tories were watching for an opportunity to urge the 
 rights of the Pretender as the brother of the queen and the lineal heir 
 to the crown. While the queen lay dying, there wa« a violent disturb- 
 
 277 
 
DEATH OF ANNE— -GEORGE I. 
 
 ance in the council chamber ; hut some of the Whig noblemen, especially 
 the Scottish Duke of Argyle, acted with great vigour and prudence. The 
 Elector was informed of the impending death of the queen, and desired 
 to hold himself in readiness to embark for England at any moment; and 
 preparations were made to proclaim him King of Great Britain and Ire- 
 land as soon as the queen should close her eyes. 
 
 Very shortly before her death Anne deprived Harley, Earl of Oxford, 
 of his office of Lord Treasurer ; and this was a great blow to the Tory 
 party. She bestowed the staff of office upon the Earl of Shrewsbury, 
 begging him to use his power for the good of her people. Then she 
 relapsed into a lethargic state, and, on the 1st of August, 1714, died 
 peacefully and quietly, after a reign of twelve years. 
 
 PART IX. THE HOUSE OE HANOVER 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 GEORGE X. 
 
 The Whigs regain power— Unpopularity of the King — The rebellion of 1715 — Death of Louis 
 XIV. — Defeat of the rebels — Flight of the Pretender — Execution of Lords Derwentwater 
 and Kenmuir — Escape of Lord Nithisdale — Charles XII. of Sweden — War with Spain — 
 Septennial Act — South Sea Bubble. 
 
 George I., the new king, who was now proclaimed in virtue of the act 
 which limited the succession to the Protestant descendants of the late 
 Kings of England, excluding all Roman Catholics from the throne, was 
 the grandson of Elizabeth, sister to King Charles I. and great grand- 
 son to James I. He arrived in England a few weeks after the death 
 of Queen Anne ; — the Whig party once more came into power, and the 
 
 278 
 
Escape of Lord Nxthisdale. 
 
REBELLION OF 1715— THE PRETENDER IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 Duke of Marlborough was restored to his former post of Commander- 
 in- Chief. 
 
 The new king was not likely to be very popular in England. He had 
 never been in this country before, spoke not a word of the language, and 
 had as little sympathy for his new subjects as they had for him. But the 
 preservation of liberty was considered more important than anything ; 
 and the English were ready to sacrifice a great many points, rather than 
 run the risk of again losing what it had cost them so much to achieve. 
 
 Some of the king’s advisers also induced him to behave very harshly 
 to the chiefs of the Tory party; and to this cause, among others, is owing 
 the fact that in the next year, 1715, an attempt was made in the north 
 to put the Pretender, the son of James II., on the throne. 
 
 This attempt was called the “ Rebellion of 1715.” It was a miserable 
 affair from the beginning, and cost several brave noblemen their lives. 
 The Earl of Mar raised the standard of revolt, and the Highland clans, 
 who knew no law but the will of their chiefs, came flocking together 
 until a very respectable force was collected ; but the Highlanders could 
 not hope to succeed in their enterprise without aid from the J acobites in 
 England; and just at this time Louis XIY. of France died. He had 
 been the consistent friend of the exiled Stuarts, and had helped them 
 more than once in their attempts to regain their lost power in England ; 
 so that his death discouraged them greatly. 
 
 The insurgents were divided into two bodies. One marched south- 
 wards as far as Preston, where they surrendered after a short resistance. 
 The Duke of Argyle fought an indecisive battle at Sheriffmuir against 
 the body which remained in Scotland ; and when all hopes of success 
 were past, the Pretender, or, as his adherents called him, the Chevalier, 
 arrived in Scotland. He stayed for a few days at Perth, and then left 
 the kingdom, leaving his deluded followers to pay the price of his rash 
 attempt. 
 
 The Government took a cruel revenge on the defeated rebels, and the 
 king seemed very little inclined to exercise his prerogative of mercy. 
 Many of the insurgents were hanged at Tyburn and elsewhere ; and 
 Lords Derwentwater, Kenmuir, Nithisdale, and others were condemned 
 to die on the scaffold. Kenmuir and Derwentwater perished. Lord 
 
 280 
 
WAR WITH SPAIN— SEPTENNIAL ACT— SOUTH SEA BUBBLE. 
 
 Nithisdale effected his escape from the Tower, and from England, the very 
 day before his intended execution, by means of the heroism and clever- 
 ness of his wife. Lady Nithisdale persuaded her husband to put on her 
 cloak when she visited him in prison ; and while she remained behind 
 in the dungeon, he passed out, unsuspected by warders and sentinels, 
 holding a white handkerchief before his face as if he were overwhelmed 
 with grief. 
 
 There were threatenings of war with the hot-headed King of Sweden, 
 Charles XII., on account of some part of Charles’s territory which had 
 been awarded to King George I. as Elector of Hanover ; but the King 
 of Sweden was killed at the siege of Eredericshall, in Norway, and the 
 danger passed away. 
 
 In 1718 and 1719 a wtix was carried on against Spain, chiefly caused 
 by the intrigues of Alberoni, the ambitious minister of the Spanish king, 
 who formed a scheme for restoring the Pretender to the throne of Britain. 
 A small Spanish force actually landed in Scotland, but the invaders were 
 soon captured, and the expedition ended in complete failure. Admiral 
 George Byng had gained a great victory over the Spanish fleet off Cape 
 Pessaro, near Sicily ; and, in the end, the Spanish king was very glad 
 to obtain peace, and the ambitious Alberoni was dismissed. These wars 
 cost a great deal of money. 
 
 It was settled in this reign that a new Parliament should not be called 
 every three years, but that each might last for seven years; and this 
 measure, called the Septennial Act, is still in force. 
 
 King George I. lived on very bad terms with his eldest son, the Prince 
 of Wales; and the quarrel between them at last reached such a height, 
 that the prince was expelled from court. In 1720 occurred a national 
 calamity, known by the name of the “ South Sea Bubble,” by which 
 many people were ruined. A speculator named Blunt pretended that 
 great advantages were to be derived from trading to the great South 
 Sea or Pacific Ocean. Many people were induced to pay a great deal 
 of money for shares in the South Sea Company ; and when, in course of 
 time, it came out that the great profits did not really exist, but that dis- 
 honest men had been practising upon the credulity of all who believed 
 them, the anger of those who had been cheated was very great. In Prance 
 
 281 
 
DEATH OF GEORGE I.— POLITICAL CORRUPTION. 
 
 a similar deception, called the “ Mississippi Scheme, 55 was practised about 
 the same time. 
 
 The most prominent statesman during the latter years of the reign of 
 George I. was Sir Robert Walpole, who afterwards became the most 
 powerful man in England. 
 
 In June, 1727, while the king, who had passed his sixty-eighth year, 
 was on his way to Hanover, he was suddenly taken ill in his travelling 
 carriage. He was carried on to Osnaburgh, where he died. His wife, 
 Dorothea of Zell, whom he had kept a prisoner for many years in the 
 German castle of Ahlden, on an accusation that was never proved against 
 her, had died the year before; and now the Prince of Wales came to the 
 throne as George II. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 GEORGE II. 
 
 Sir Robert Walpole — His system of corruption — Queen Caroline — Fall of Walpole — Joy of 
 the people on the declaration of war — Walpole’s remark thereon — Commodore Anson 
 General discontent — Battle of Dettingen — Bravery of the King — Defeat of the English 
 at Fontenoy. 
 
 When the new king came to the throne, Sir Robert Walpole, of 
 whom mention was made in the last chapter, was the most influential 
 man in England. Of his great talents there can be no doubt ; but he 
 gained his objects by unworthy means, and was satisfied to bribe the 
 members of the House of Commons into acquiescence in his measures, 
 instead of trying to persuade them to help him for the love of their 
 country and of the right. He was accustomed to say that every man 
 had his price — meaning that no man could resist a bribe if it were only 
 large enough ; and, with such an example at the head of the State, we 
 cannot wonder that bribery, corruption, and selfishness increased in Eng- 
 land to a terrible degree. 
 
 282 
 
DISMISSAL OF WALPOLE— DISCONTENT IN ENGLAND. 
 
 George Hr was very fortunate in possessing a sensible, judicious wife. 
 Queen Caroline, a German princess, was of great use to the king by her 
 advice and assistance in affairs of State; and her death, in 1736, was 
 looked upon as a great misfortune by the country in general. 
 
 For a long time the nation remained at peace ; and whatever may 
 have been the faults of Walpole, there is no denying that the ship of 
 the State was steered with consummate ability while this great statesman 
 stood at the helm ; but at last his enemies were too strong for him, and 
 he was removed from his position of first minister. The English seemed 
 to have grown weary of the long peace, and to be anxious to try their 
 strength and skill again in a general war ; and soon they had it with a 
 vengeance, more than they desired. When, in 1739, war was declared 
 against Spain, on the pretext, partly true and partly false, that insults 
 had been offered to the British flag, the Londoners rang the bells of the 
 churches, as if the breaking out of strife was a thing to rejoice at. “ They 
 are ringing the bells now,” said Walpole, bitterly, when he saw all his 
 schemes of peaceful progress overthrown, “ but soon they will be wring- 
 ing their hands.” And Walpole spoke the truth. 
 
 Porto Bello, one of the Spanish settlements in South America, was 
 taken; but beyond this the English gained little advantage from the 
 strife, except the acquisition of a treasure of above £300,000, arising 
 from the capture of a treasure-ship by the brave Commodore Anson, 
 who made a voyage round the world in his gallant old vessel, the 46 Cen- 
 turion,” and brought this rich prize home with him. But, in 1741, an 
 unsuccessful attack was made on Carthagena; and the failure of this 
 attempt was visited upon Walpole, the very man who had tried to pre- 
 vent the war as long as he could. The country was also dragged into a 
 foreign war, which broke out in 1740, between Maria Theresa, Empress 
 of Germany, and Frederick the Great, King of Prussia; and much 
 blood and treasure were wasted in supporting the claims of the Empress- 
 Queen, with which the English declared that they had nothing to do ; 
 and a general feeling of discontent arose, increasing steadily as the tax- 
 ation became heavier. Nor were there wanting many, among the Tory 
 party especially, who declared that we had paid too high a price for the 
 Protestant succession ; that the rule of a king who involved Britain in 
 
 283 
 
DEFEAT AT FONTENOY— REBELLION OF J745. 
 
 foreign warfare because he happened to he Elector of Hanover was an 
 unbearable grievance ; and that it would be far better to go back to the 
 old Stuart line, and accept the Pretender as King of England. This 
 feeling was in some degree counteracted by the natural admiration ex- 
 cited by the personal conduct of the king in this contest. King George 
 II. was a brave little gentleman, who led his army into the field and 
 shared the dangers of the campaign right gallantly ; and when the battle 
 of Dettingen was fought, in 1742, and the British and Hanoverian troops, 
 led by the king in person, gained an advantage, the English rejoiced at 
 the success of their arms, and were ready for some time to shout for 
 the brave king, and to join in the hymn of triumph written by the great 
 musician Handel to celebrate the victory. But this state of feeling did 
 not last long. When the nation became involved in a struggle against 
 Prance, on account of the king’s partisanship with Germany, the feeling 
 against him returned, and grew stronger than ever when the news came 
 to England that the British Guards had been defeated, in spite of the 
 most heroic valour, at the battle of Eontenoy, on the 11th of March, 1745. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE REIGN OE GEORGE II. CONCLUDED. 
 
 Rebellion of 1745 — The Young Pretender — Charles Edward and Lochiel — His partial successes 
 — Utter defeat — Cruelties towards the rebels — Escape of Charles Edward — Treaty of Aix 
 la Chapelle — Robert Clive founds the British empire in India — Admiral Byng — General 
 Wolfe’s success in Canada — Death of George II. 
 
 The general discontent against the Government in England made the 
 Jacobites, or the adherents of the exiled Stuarts, think that now was the 
 time to strike another blow, and endeavour to establish the Pretender 
 on the English throne. Accordingly, a last great attempt was made, 
 which is generally known in history as the insurrection of 1745, and is 
 sometimes in shorter terms described as “the ’45.” The Pretender, the 
 
 281 
 
CHARLES EDWARD— HIS PARTIAL SUCCESSES. 
 
 son of James II., was now an elderly man. Even in his best days he 
 had never been remarkable for talent or energy, and in the rising of 
 1715 had, as my readers will remember, delayed his arrival in Scotland 
 until the cause was lost. But the eldest son of the Pretender, Prince 
 Charles Edward, the Young Chevalier , as his adherents delighted to call 
 him, was very brave, handsome, and popular ; and this Charles Edward 
 determined, against the advice of his best friends, to invade Scotland 
 with whatever help he could obtain, in the hope that the Scottish chiefs, 
 and afterwards the English malcontents, would give him their assistance. 
 In a small French brig of war, the “ Doutelle,” with arms for a couple 
 of thousand men and a scanty supply of money, Prince Charles Edward 
 landed on the coast of Inverness. Lochiel, the brave chief of the Cameron 
 clan, hearing of his arrival, came to remonstrate with him on the rash- 
 ness of the enterprise, and to persuade him, if possible, to return to 
 Erance. But as the prince and Lochiel walked to and fro, the prince 
 arguing and Lochiel remonstrating, a Highlander who had accompanied 
 his chief caught a few words of the conversation, enough to convince 
 him who it was that spoke thus excitedly to Lochiel. Instantly the 
 brave Highlander’s cheek reddened with enthusiasm. His eye glistened, 
 and his hand moved involuntarily towards his claymore. Prince Edward 
 noted the gesture, and, advancing towards the mountaineer, said, “ You 
 would fight for your prince, if he came to solicit your aid?” “ That I 
 would! that I would!” replied the Highlander, warmly; and Lochiel, 
 ashamed of being outdone in loyalty by one of his own clansmen, in an 
 evil hour promised the prince all the countenance and help he could 
 give. 
 
 Other chiefs quickly joined the Chevalier’s standard; and, as the 
 clansmen invariably followed wherever their chiefs led them, every time 
 the prince gained a chief to his cause he won the entire clan over whom 
 that chief ruled. Thus Charles Edward was soon enabled to begin his 
 march southward with 2,000 hardy Highlanders. He entered Edin- 
 burgh unopposed, and his little army swelled from day to day. On the 
 20th of September, 1745, he encountered the forces of Sir John Cope 
 at Preston Pans, near Edinburgh ; and here he gained a complete victory. 
 The English troops were soon scampering or galloping away from the 
 
 286 
 
The \ oung Pretender concealed in a Cave. 
 
 287 
 
DEFEAT OF THE REBELS— PEACE WITH FRANCE— INDIA. 
 
 field, and tlieir leader, Sir John, headed the flight. Elated by this vic- 
 tory, the prince marched southward, and invaded England. Carlisle was 
 taken, and then Manchester. Edward penetrated as far south as Derby, 
 and great was the panic in London when news came that the wild High- 
 landers intended to take the city. But the enthusiasm of some of 
 Charles’s followers had cooled when they saw how few of the English 
 joined them. A council of the chiefs was held at Derby, and it was deter- 
 mined to retreat to Scotland. A picked army under the Duke of Cum- 
 berland followed them, and on Culloden Moor, near Inverness, on the 
 16th of April, 1746, the army of the Pretender was utterly destroyed. 
 His forces had already dwindled down to 5,000 men, and of these a 
 thousand were left dead upon the field. The fugitives were pursued and 
 massacred with unrelenting cruelty by the Duke of Cumberland’s troops, 
 who, moreover, penetrated far into the Highlands, laying villages waste, 
 and desolating the country for many miles. The insurgents who were 
 captured received no mercy. Numbers were put to death ; many more 
 perished in prison, or were transported beyond the seas. The Lords 
 Kilmarnock, Balmerino, and Lovat were executed on Tower Hill. The 
 prince himself wandered about the Highlands many months, faithfully 
 hidden by the mountaineers, though a great price had been set on his 
 head. At last he found means to escape to France. This was the last 
 attempt made in Great Britain to restore the Stuarts. The prince sur- 
 vived till 1788, and his younger brother Henry till 1809; but the un- 
 happy issue of “ the ’45 ” had convinced all sensible men that the day of 
 the Stuarts in England was past. 
 
 In 1748 a general peace was concluded between France and England, 
 at Aix la< Chapelle. This was chiefly brought about by the naval vic- 
 tories gained by Admirals Hawke and Anson in 1747. 
 
 The last years of George II. ’s reign were years of brilliant success in 
 the colonies. In India the British rule was founded by Robert Clive, 
 who went out as a writer in the East India Company’s service, but soon 
 showed wonderful military talents. He gained the battle of Plassey, the 
 first of a series of great victories in India; and before he died he had 
 established the English rule in that great empire. War broke out again 
 with France in 1756. Admiral Byng was sent into the Mediterranean 
 
 288 
 
DEATH OF GEORGE II.— GEORGE III. 
 
 to operate against the enemy ; but he neglected to put forth his whole 
 strength, and on his return to England was accused of cowardice, and 
 actually condemned to death and shot on hoard a man-of-war in Ports- 
 mouth harbour. In Canada, on the other hand, the English were suc- 
 cessful. The brave General Wolfe captured Quebec, where he was 
 slain in the moment of victory ; and the whole province soon fell into 
 the hands of the English. This was in 1759 ; and in the following year, 
 amid general success and prosperity, George II. died. 
 
 CHAPTER IT. 
 
 GEORGE in. 
 
 (First Period — erom 1760 to 1783.) 
 
 Accession of George III. — His injudicious education — His character— He obtains the affec- 
 tions of his subjects — The Earl of Chatham — Lord Bute— Treaty of Paris — The American 
 War of Independence — George Washington — The United States recognized as an inde- 
 pendent Power. 
 
 We now come to speak of the longest reign in English history — the 
 reign of a king whom some people yet living remember to have seen, a 
 blind old man, in the lordly castle of Windsor : a reign that saw more 
 chances and changes at home and abroad than any other recorded in the 
 annals of England. The sixty years during which King George sat on 
 the throne of Great Britain were very eventful, and witnessed the rise 
 and fall of more than one mighty empire. Indeed, so full of strange 
 matter is this long reign, that we can only glance at the chief facts ; for a 
 detailed account of the period would fill many volumes larger than this. 
 George III., who came to the throne on the death of George II., was 
 the grandson of the late king, and the eldest son of Frederick, Prince of 
 Wales, who had died nine years before. He was twenty- two years of 
 age when his grandfather’s death made him king of the British empire. 
 He had been educated under the eye of his mother, the dowager Princess 
 
 290 
 
THE KING OBTAINS THE AFFECTIONS OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 of Wales, who had given him very lofty notions of the kingly power ; and 
 these notions, as we shall see, at various times interfered with the good 
 feeling that should have subsisted between the king and his subjects. 
 But he was an Englishman in heart and soul, and in this respect differed 
 from his two predecessors, the first of whom had positively disliked the 
 British, while the other, to say the least, preferred Hanover to England. 
 He was obstinate and self-willed, and had not a very enlarged mind $ 
 but, on the other hand, he was thoroughly honest in all he said and did ; 
 he soon convinced all classes of his subjects that he had the honour and 
 prosperity of his country truly at heart ; and, more important than all, 
 he led a decent Christian life (while the first and second Georges had 
 been steeped in immorality and vice). He thoroughly felt what a great 
 trust he held in being called to the government of the great British 
 empire ; and with all the strength that had been given him, with his 
 whole heart and soul, he feared and worshipped God. Thus his people, 
 whose hearts had never turned very warmly towards the two first Georges, 
 came in course of time to look with a very different feeling upon the 
 third : they were angry sometimes at his errors of judgment, and impa- 
 tient when the prosperity of the nation seemed to be endangered by the 
 obstinacy of its ruler, but they could not help seeing with what honesty 
 of purpose he ruled, and how anxious he was for the general good ; and 
 before many years of his reign had elapsed, they gave him the title which 
 should be more valuable to a ruler than the epithet great - — they called 
 him the good King George. 
 
 At the accession of the new king, the most powerful man in the 
 Government was William Pitt, who afterwards became Earl of Chatham. 
 In his younger days this Pitt had been a great opponent of Sir Robert 
 Walpole, and had thundered with mighty eloquence against bribery and 
 corruption. His is the merit of having introduced a better and purer 
 feeling into the Parliament, for he endeavoured to rule England, not by 
 bribery or cajoling the Lords and Commons as Walpole had done, but by 
 convincing them that his measures were right , and that because they 
 were right they must be carried into effect. During the last year of 
 George II. this William Pitt — the Great Commoner, as he was called — 
 had been the chief minister of the crown. He it was who appointed the 
 
 291 
 
WILLIAM PITT— QUARREL WITH THE AMERICAN COLONY. 
 
 heroic Wolfe to the command of the army in Canada, and the English 
 people had full confidence in him ; hut George III. had a favourite in 
 the person of Lord Bute, a Scottish nobleman ; and Pitt lost his influence, 
 and withdrew from his high post ; whereupon Bute became first minister 
 to the crown. Bute attempted to carry out some harsh measures, and 
 these excited much discontent ; but the war against Spain was carried on 
 with success, until concluded by the Treaty of Paris in 1763; and this 
 kept the people in good humour for a time. 
 
 We have now to speak of a very important event — an event which 
 resulted in a long and disastrous war, and the loss of a large portion of 
 British territory. This event was the quarrel between England and the 
 colony of America. 
 
 The North American colonies had now been established for about 
 140 years. They had become very prosperous, and had always been 
 loyally attached to the mother country. During the Canadian war they 
 had assisted the English Home Government to the best of their ability, 
 and a thoroughly good understanding had always been maintained. But 
 now the English Government was in great want of money. The late 
 wars had been very glorious, but very expensive ; and the king’s ministers 
 conceived the unfortunate idea of taxing the colonies, saying that the 
 Americans ought to bear their share of the national expenses. 
 
 The Americans protested against being made to pay taxes. They 
 declared that as in England no tax could be levied without the consent 
 of Parliament, they ought not to be taxed without being represented by 
 members of their own ; and when the English Government insisted on 
 laying a duty on tea, some rioters in Boston emptied the cargoes of two 
 ships into the harbour, rather than suffer the taxed tea to be sold. A 
 number of the most clear-sighted among the English saw plainly that 
 the Government was doing a foolish thing in rousing the American 
 colonists to anger and resistance. The great William Pitt especially 
 protested in the strongest terms against the measures of the Government ; 
 but the king and his advisers were obstinate, and insisted on treating the 
 Americans as rebels. Some severe laws were passed, with the idea of 
 frightening them into submission; but the colonists were not to be fright- 
 ened ; harshness only made them more stubborn in their resistance. At 
 
 292 
 
Signing the Treaty of Peace with America. 
 
WAR OF INDEPENDENCE— THE UNITED STATES ACKNOWLEDGED. 
 
 last an unfortunate skirmish occurred between some British troops and 
 American volunteers at Lexington, and this was followed by a regular 
 battle at Bunker’s Hill, on the 17th of June, 1775. The king was 
 more angry than ever, and would make no concessions ; the Americans 
 were exasperated likewise; and on the 4th of July, 1776, their Congress, 
 or State Council, signed a declaration of independence, constituting the 
 colonies a separate empire, under the name of the “ United States ” — 
 and thus began the great American War of Independence. 
 
 Bor years both sides fought very valiantly, and at one time it seemed 
 as if the colonies would be subdued. But the Americans had secured a 
 general-in-chief of great ability, and equal honesty of purpose, in the 
 person of George Washington. This great man excited the admiration 
 even of his enemies by the glorious manner in which he fulfilled the 
 great duty entrusted to him. Never despondent in danger, never haughty 
 or overbearing in victory, his sole wish was the greatness of his country, 
 his sole aim to achieve her independence ; and at length, when the great 
 struggle was finished and the United States had been established, he 
 laid down the command he had held, and cheerfully retired, content with 
 the position of a private citizen in the State he had mainly contributed to 
 found. 
 
 Sometimes the Americans were successful for a time, sometimes the 
 English gained advantages ; but the most far-seeing men in England had 
 no doubt from the beginning what the end would be. The Earl of Chat- 
 ham openly told the king’s ministers, long before the conclusion of the 
 war, “ British troops can do anything but impossibilities ; and to conquer 
 America is an impossibility. You cannot conquer America.” And the 
 great earl’s words proved true. Already in 1777 the British General 
 Burgoyne was obliged to surrender, with his whole army, to the American 
 General Gates, at Saratoga; in the next year the Erencli allied them- 
 selves with the Americans, and the English had to fight against two 
 enemies instead of one; in 1781 Lord Cornwallis, a brave English com- 
 mander, was compelled to yield; and in 1782 the independence of the 
 United States was acknowledged by Great Britain. The treaty of peace 
 which put an end to the war was at length signed on the 3rd of Sep- 
 tember, 1783. 
 
 294 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 GE011GE III. 
 
 (Second Period — erom 1783 to 1802.) 
 
 Warren Hastings — The Prench Kevolution and its causes — The Bastille — Execution of the 
 French King and Queen — The Keign of Terror — War declared against France — The 
 British Navy and its great commanders — Nelson — Victories — Napoleon Bonaparte — He 
 becomes supreme in France — [Rebellion in Ireland — The Union — 'Wellington. 
 
 It will be remembered that at the end of George II.' ’s reign Robert 
 Clive had founded a great power in India. Until that time the East 
 India Company had been merely an association of merchants trading to 
 the East, but the genius and fortune of Clive had given them an empire 
 there, and made them kings where they had been only traders. After 
 the return of Clive to England, Warren Hastings, a clever, bold man, 
 had been sent out by the Company as the first Governor- General of 
 India ; and it was declared that Hastings had dealt unjustly with the 
 natives, punishing them cruelly, extorting large sums of money from 
 them, and oppressing them in various ways. Accordingly in 1784 
 Warren Hastings was summoned before the British Parliament, to take 
 his trial for high crimes and misdemeanours. The trial itself did not 
 commence for four years, and then it dragged on for seven years more, 
 until, in 1795, Hastings was acquitted. That he had committed many 
 unjust actions there can be no doubt; but, on the other hand, the 
 government of India was a very difficult task; and Blastings seems in 
 general to have done his best to please all parties, and thus succeeded in 
 pleasing none. 
 
 The Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV., now began to cause his 
 father serious anxiety, especially by his reckless extravagance. The 
 nation was obliged to pay his debts, and to allow him a large sum of 
 money; consequently for a long time the prince was not very popular in 
 England. 
 
 296 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 
 
 The affairs of France had been going on very badly for a long time. 
 The people were grievously oppressed, and could obtain neither law 
 nor justice. The taxes were enormous, and so unequally divided that 
 the poorer classes had to pay nearly the whole amount, the nobles and 
 rich clergy being almost entirely free. A deep and dangerous hatred 
 towards the Government had been silently increasing for very many 
 years ; but the upper classes had been so accustomed to exact slavish 
 obedience from those beneath them, that they despised the people, and 
 continued in their wrongdoing, never thinking that a terrible day of 
 reckoning would come. The misery in France grew greater day by day. 
 Many a poor peasant perished of starvation, leaving his wretched wife 
 and children to follow him, and still the nobility and clergy feasted 
 and rioted in Paris and at their chateaux in the country. They have 
 been aptly compared to a company dancing on the edge of a volcano, 
 which might at any time burst out into flame and destroy them. They 
 regarded not the signs of the times, but went on fiddling and feasting 
 until the time came when the poor could endure no more. 
 
 For in 1789 the memorable French Revolution broke out. The King, 
 Louis XYI., a well-meaning but miserably weak and inefficient man, 
 was compelled to summon the Parliament or S tates- General ; for the 
 people would no longer pay the taxes. The Queen, Marie Antoinette, 
 and a number of the nobility were for putting all discontent down by 
 force; another faction counselled the king to appease the people by 
 reforming some of the abuses in the State ; and the weak king listened 
 sometimes to one side, and sometimes to the other, but did nothing till 
 it was too late. The people in Paris and in some of the provinces began 
 to create disturbances. The Bastille, a strong prison in which the Kings 
 of France had shut up those who offended them, was attacked and de- 
 stroyed. The king tried to escape from France with his family, but was 
 brought back and imprisoned in his own capital ; and at length, in the 
 beginning of the year 1793, he was brought to trial, as Charles I. had 
 been in England nearly a century and a half before. He perished on 
 the scaffold, his head being cut off by means of a machine called the 
 guillotine ; and in the same year the beautiful Queen Marie Antoinette 
 was also put to death. Then followed a period called the “ Reign of 
 
 296 
 
THE RETGN OF TERROR— ENGLISH NAVAL VICTORIES. 
 
 Terror ” in Trance. A few worthless and violent men now governed the 
 country, putting to death all who opposed them, or were even suspected 
 of being unfriendly to the Eepublic which they had established. The 
 guillotine was hard at work every day in Paris and in the large cities of 
 Prance. Thousands of the nobility and many of the lower classes were 
 decapitated, and the faction at the head of the Government, Robespierre, 
 Marat, and a few other desperate men, thought to maintain themselves 
 in power by the terror they inspired. 
 
 The whole of Europe was tilled with horror and disgust at the scenes 
 enacted in Prance. Nearly every European nation, England included, 
 declared war against the Prench Republic. But the French were not to 
 be dismayed by all the preparations made against them. They defied 
 their enemies ; and their armies marched forth from Prance to fight for 
 their country. The “ Reign of Terror ” could not last long, for no man’s 
 life was safe under its sway. The chiefs of the Terrorists were put to 
 death, and a more reasonable set of men succeeded them ; and to the 
 astonishment of Europe it was found that Prance, standing alone against 
 her enemies, could not only defend her own soil, but actually carry the 
 war into the lands of her opponents. In this first war against France, 
 which lasted until the year 1802 , a great deal of money was spent by the 
 English Government. William Pitt, son of the great Earl of Chatham, 
 was for many years the chief minister of George III., and managed to 
 carry the English nation through the war without disgrace, though at a 
 tremendous cost. He has been called “ the pilot who weathered the 
 storm.” His abilities were great and his honesty undoubted, though in 
 some of the measures he took he has been considered ill-advised by later 
 politicians. 
 
 The Duke of York, son of George III., was made commander of the 
 land forces. He effected little against the enemy, and was at last obliged 
 to return to England, after losing many men and spending much money. 
 But at sea the British arms were crowned with success and glory. Great 
 victories were gained by the brave English admirals, and the empire of 
 the sea remained in the hands of the British, while the Prench were de- 
 feating all opponents on land. Among the great names of naval com- 
 manders who shed a lustre on this period must be mentioned those of 
 
 297 
 
HOOD— DUNCAN— HOWE— ST. VINCENT— NELSON. 
 
 Hood, Duncan, Howe, St. Vincent, and Rodney ; but the greatest of all 
 was Horatio Nelson. 
 
 This illustrious man was the son of a country clergyman. He was so 
 weak and sickly as a hoy, that when he was first sent on hoard a king’s 
 ship as midshipman, the captain pitied him, thinking that the puny little 
 stripling would never be able to endure the hardships of a sailor’s life. 
 But weak as he was in body, Horatio had a noble soul. He knew not 
 what fear was ; but he knew what the word Duly meant. He knew that 
 it must be begun early, persevered in unflinchingly, and done thoroughly; 
 and from the time when he entered on board his first ship, a frail, weakly 
 lad, until that glorious and mournful day when he fell in the fight that 
 crushed his country’s enemies, Duty was the guiding-star of Nelson’s 
 life. He followed it among the snowy perils of an arctic voyage ; he 
 remembered it when he lay sick almost to death in the unhealthy heat 
 of the tropics ; and when at last he lay dying in the cockpit of his ship, 
 the “ Victory,” amid the thunder of the great battle of Trafalgar, he 
 solemnly thanked God for the glorious opportunity that had been given 
 him of doing his duty . And therefore it is that the name of Nelson is 
 known and honoured throughout all the world, as that of a truly great 
 and noble man, who devoted his time, health, and strength to the honour 
 of his country. 
 
 Of the many naval successes gained by the British during this first 
 period of the war, ending in 1802, were — the battle of Camperdown, 
 fought against the Dutch (who had taken part with the Trench) by 
 Admiral Hood, on the 11th of October, 1797 ; the victory of Admiral 
 Sir John Jervis (afterwards Lord St. Vincent) off Cape St. Vincent, in 
 Spain, in February of the same year ; and the grand battle of the Nile, 
 on the coast of Egypt, gained by Sir Horatio Nelson on the 1st of 
 August, 1798. Nelson had already rendered signal service to his country 
 on many occasions. He had been mainly instrumental in winning the 
 battle of St. Vincent ; he had lost an arm and an eye in his country’s 
 service ; and had become the idol of the sailors, who admired him for 
 his courage, but loved him for the generosity with which he refused to 
 accept any preference over them. At the Nile he was wounded again : 
 the sailors carried him down into the cockpit of his ship, the place where 
 
 2U8 
 
SIEGE OF TOULON— NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 
 
 the surgeons were at work dressing the hurts of the gallant men who 
 had been maimed by the shot and shell that swept like a hail-storm over 
 the blood-stained decks. The surgeons, hearing that the admiral was hit, 
 were anxiously coming forward to attend to him ; but “ No,” said Nelson, 
 “ I will take my turn with my poor fellows.” We can imagine what a 
 murmur of admiration ran round the dark cockpit at these noble words, 
 and how there was not a British sailor in that dark abode of anguish 
 and suffering who did not feel proud to die in the company of Nelson. 
 A terrible blow was given to the French by this battle ; and Nelson was 
 raised to the peerage, under the title of Baron Nelson of the Nile. 
 
 These victories at sea were the more important from the astonishing 
 successes the French were gaining on land. There was in the French 
 army which marched to the south to besiege the revolted city of Toulon, 
 a young Corsican, an officer of artillery, named Napoleon Bonaparte ; 
 and at the siege it soon became manifest that the young captain knew 
 his work better than the veteran general who commanded could teach 
 it him. So greatly did he impress those around him with respect for his 
 military genius, that the command of an army was soon entrusted to 
 him for the invasion of Italy, then held by the Austrians ; and in Italy 
 Bonaparte gained victory after victory, so that in 1797 the Austrians 
 were obliged to make peace with France on terms very disadvantageous 
 to themselves. Bonaparte was of a very fiery temper ; and when, during 
 the negotiations, the Austrian envoys hesitated to grant some of his 
 demands, he seized a valuable vase that stood near, dashed it to the 
 ground, and, pointing to the scattered fragments, exclaimed, ‘ 6 Thus will 
 I dash down your empire ! ” In the next year the general, whose name 
 was now known and respected throughout France, embarked an army at 
 Toulon, crossed the Mediterranean, and invaded Egypt. Here he gained 
 victory after victory ; but Nelson’s splendid success of the Nile prevented 
 Bonaparte from achieving the conquest of Egypt; and in 1799 he 
 secretly quitted that country and returned to France. 
 
 Bonaparte was now the foremost man in France. On his return to 
 the capital he turned out the kind of Parliament which was nominally at 
 the head of affairs, much as Cromwell had turned out the Long Parlia- 
 ment in England. He thereupon became Consul of France, two com- 
 
 299 
 
REBELLION IN IRELAND— THE UNION— BATTLE OF COPENHAGEN. 
 
 panions, Sieyes and Ducos, being elected to form a kind of triumvirate (or 
 government of three) with him ; hut the real power was in the hands of 
 Bonaparte himself. The British made another attempt before Holland 
 under the Duke of York ; hut the duke was not a successful nor a very 
 able general, and the enterprise ended in failure. 
 
 In 1798 an unhappy rebellion broke out in Ireland, and was not sup- 
 pressed until much blood had been shed. In 1801 Ireland was united to 
 England, as Scotland had been in the year 1706, the separate Parliament 
 of Ireland being dissolved, and a certain number of members appointed 
 to the English Parliament, to represent the Irish nation. 
 
 While the Erencli were rejoicing in the successes of their General 
 Bonaparte, a great English captain, destined at a future period to protect 
 England against his power, was greatly distinguishing himself in the 
 East. Colonel Wellesley, who afterwards became the famous Duke of 
 Wellington, was extending the rule of the British in India, where he 
 gained the victories of Argaum and Assaye. But the greatest achieve- 
 ment was the storming of Seringapatam, the capital of Mysore, in 1799. 
 
 A new triumph was gained by Nelson at Copenhagen on the 20th of 
 April, 1801. The Danes had taken part with the French, and it became 
 necessary to strike a blow in the Baltic, to prevent the destruction of 
 the English commerce there. During the battle the English fleet was 
 at one time in great danger. Nelson, who was only second in command, 
 had, with his usual bravery, led his division so far forward that his chief, 
 Sir Hyde Parker, thought it prudent to make a signal to recall him ; 
 but Nelson, clapping a spy-glass to his Mind eye, declared that he could 
 not see the signal, and went on fighting till he had beaten the foe. 
 
 Thus from one end of Europe to the other there was war and bloodshed, 
 partly caused by the ambition of Bonaparte, who wished to extend the 
 dominion of Erance over the whole continent, partly, no doubt, by the 
 conduct of the Powers of Europe, who were determined to restore the 
 Bourbons to the French throne, whether the French people liked them 
 or no. At last, in 1801, the French were driven out of Egypt ; and as all 
 parties were completely exhausted by the struggle, they began to think of 
 peace. A treaty was concluded at Amiens in Erance. The conditions 
 were decidedly in favour of the French, who had greatly increased their 
 
 800 
 
Storming of Seringapatam. 
 
 301 
 
PROGRESS OF THE COMMERCE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 dominions, while England had loaded herself with a heavy debt, and 
 gained little beyond glory and honour. Britain was not satisfied with 
 the treaty; and France, or rather Napoleon Bonaparte, who now repre- 
 sented France, concluded it only to gain breathing-time. A peace made 
 under such circumstances is very apt to be broken ; and the Treaty of 
 Amiens was no exception to the general rule. 
 
 PART X. THE PRESENT CENTURY, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 GEOBGE III. 
 
 (Third Period — from 1802 to 1820.) 
 
 Progress of English commerce — Suffering in the country — The King’s illness — The Prince 
 Regent — His unpopularity — Patriotism of the English — "War again breaks out — Napoleon 
 becomes Emperor — Battle of Trafalgar— Heath of Nelson — The Peninsular War. 
 
 During the warlike time we have just been describing, while Europe 
 was filled with battle and bloodshed, the trade and commerce of England 
 had gone on steadily increasing. Indeed, the very necessities of the war 
 led to a demand for goods of certain kinds, such as arms and ammuni- 
 tion ; and nothing but the increased commerce of the empire could have 
 enabled England to stand the tremendous expense to which she was put. 
 There was much suffering among the people, and consequently not a 
 little discontent ; but still the nation remained loyal and faithful to the 
 good old king, whom they respected for his honesty and for his homely 
 virtues ; and Queen Charlotte, his consort, had her full share of the 
 
 302 
 
THE KING’S ILLNESS — PATRIOTISM OF THE ENGLISH. 
 
 popular affection. Unfortunately, the king had once been attacked by a 
 terrible fit of insanity, and it was greatly feared that this malady might 
 come back upon him, perhaps with increased violence ; and the Prince 
 of Wales was far less popular than good old 44 Parmer George.” The 
 prince had married the Princess Caroline of Brunswick, and they had an 
 only daughter, the Princess Charlotte, who was much beloved by the 
 people, and who, it was hoped, would one day sit upon the throne of 
 England; but the Prince and Princess of Wales lived very unhappily 
 together, and at last the princess quitted England, and went to reside 
 abroad. 
 
 There were then, as there had been for centuries, two parties in 
 England. At the head of the Tories stood the great William Pitt, who 
 thought that the safety of Britain could only he secured by vigorously 
 maintaining the war against Bonaparte ; while Charles Eox, the head of 
 the Whig party, considered it would he better for the interests of the 
 country to he friendly with the Erench nation if possible. But though 
 the views of these two great men differed on almost every point, both 
 were eager to maintain the honour of their country. The people of the 
 United Kingdom showed a good spirit; and when danger threatened the 
 country many thousands of volunteers enrolled themselves into a great 
 army, to defend the shores of their country against any attempt at inva- 
 sion. This good quality of the English character has often been made 
 manifest in the course of our history. Whatever quarrels might disturb 
 the peace at home, at the first rumour of invasion from abroad our 
 countrymen have always shown themselves ready to come forward, and 
 stand shoulder to shoulder in defence of the throne against foreign 
 aggression or interference. 
 
 The Peace of Amiens soon came to an end. Bonaparte had now been 
 elected Consul for life, and was all-powerful on the continent. He knew 
 that England looked with anger and jealousy at his tremendous power, 
 and consequently made preparations to invade this country at the first 
 opportunity. This fact was well known, and it increased the determina- 
 tion of the English to resist him to the last. War broke out again in 
 1803, and a great alliance was formed between England, Russia, Austria, 
 and Sweden ; for the nations hoped that by uniting together they might 
 
 303 
 
BONAPARTE BECOMES EMPEROR— BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR. 
 
 stop the haughty Corsican’s career. William Pitt was now once more at 
 the head of the English Government. He trusted by this coalition to 
 crush Bonaparte, and spared no expense to effect his object. The Erench, 
 on the other hand, had unbounded faith in their leader; and in 1804 
 Bonaparte was crowned Emperor of the Erench, under the title of 
 Napoleon I. ; so now we shall have to speak of him in future as the 
 Emperor Napoleon. 
 
 If the Erench nation had full trust in the genius of their ruler, that 
 ruler was not wanting in confidence in himself. He assembled a mighty 
 army, and turned his arms first against Austria. An Austrian army 
 under General Mack yielded disgracefully at Ulm. Napoleon entered 
 Vienna as a conqueror, and on the 2nd of December, 1805, inflicted a 
 tremendous defeat on the united power of the Russians and Austrians at 
 Austerlitz. This great success of Napoleon’s paralyzed the efforts of 
 the coalition, and broke the mighty heart of Pitt, who died of grief and 
 disappointment in the beginning of the year 1806. In that year also 
 Napoleon gained other great victories over the Prussians and Russians 
 at Jena, Eylau, and Eriedland. Charles Eox, the great rival of Pitt, 
 died in September, 1806, and the affairs of Napoleon’s opponents looked 
 very gloomy. 
 
 One glorious triumph, however, had been achieved by Nelson in his last 
 sea fight on the 21st of October, 1805. On that memorable day was 
 fought the battle of Trafalgar against the united fleets of Erance and 
 Spain. The enemy’s fleet was completely destroyed ; but in the moment 
 of triumph the great English admiral fell pierced by a Erench bullet on 
 the quarter-deck of his own flag-ship the “Victory,” and died a few 
 hours afterwards, happy in having done “his duty,” and rescued his 
 country from a great danger. Nelson lies buried in the crypt of St. 
 Paul’s Cathedral ; and many years afterwards, when the great war had 
 become a thing of the past, the mighty captain who upheld the honour 
 of England by land, as Nelson had maintained it on the seas, was laid to 
 sleep by his side; and in the heart of the city of London, amid the 
 people whose independence they fought so nobly to maintain, Nelson 
 and Wellington rest together. 
 
 Napoleon’s arrogance now passed all bounds. He established one of 
 
 304 
 
Death of Nelson. 
 
 305 
 
THE PENINSULAR WAR. 
 
 his brothers, Louis, as King of Holland; another, Joseph, became King 
 of Spain; to a third, Jerome, was given the newly-erected kingdom of 
 Westphalia in Germany ; while the soldier Murat, who had married the 
 Erench emperor’s sister, was made King of Naples. Portugal alone 
 refused to submit to the victor; and it was determined that England 
 should assist that country in maintaining her independence, and, if 
 possible, reconquer Spain, whose people detested Napoleon, though her 
 Government had submitted to him ; and for this great object was under- 
 taken the celebrated contest in Spain and Portugal, famous in history as 
 the Peninsular War. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 GEORGE III. 
 
 (The Third Period, concluded.) 
 
 Sir Arthur Wellesley in the peninsula — His successes — Sir John Moore — Napoleon’s divorce 
 — His invasion of Russia — Battle of Leipsic — Bonaparte banished to Elba — Visit of the 
 Allies to England — Insanity of the King — War with America — Napoleon’s escape from 
 Elba — Battle of Waterloo — Napoleon banished to St. Helena — Death of George III. 
 
 Sir Arthur Wellesley was the great hero of the Peninsular War ; 
 and never did general show greater power of daring, combined with con- 
 summate prudence, greater promptitude to act, joined to all requisite 
 patience to wait, than were displayed by that immortal Englishman 
 during the memorable contest. Sir Arthur had to conduct his opera- 
 tions under almost every disadvantage. The ministry at home was feeble 
 and timid, and frequently left him without supplies, so that the army was 
 more than once half starved. The regular Spanish and Portuguese troops 
 were wretchedly inefficient, though independent bands of warriors fought 
 bravely enough. The people of the country, as Sir Arthur himself ex- 
 pressed it in one of his letters, could not be prevailed upon to take any 
 
 30 G 
 
SUCCESSES OF SIR ARTHUR WELLESLEY — NAPOLEON'S DIVORCE. 
 
 t rouble except that of packing up their goods, and running away directly 
 they heard of the approach of a French advanced guard; and, worse than 
 all, during the first expedition (for there were two, the first in 1808, and 
 the second in the following year), Sir Arthur was only second in com* 
 mand, and was continually thwarted in his designs by his chief. Wellesley 
 contrived not only to maintain himself in the peninsula, but to push 
 steadily forward, gaining victory after victory over the superior numbers 
 brought against him, and practically disproving the fallacy that the French 
 were invincible. 
 
 The Peninsular War commenced in 1808 with two brilliant successes 
 gained by Sir Arthur Wellesley at Roliga, where he forced the enemy 
 from their position (17th of August), and at Yimiera, where he gained a 
 complete victory on the 21st of the same month. But now a convention 
 was signed, by which the French Marshal Junot agreed to leave Portugal 
 and give up the plunder his army had collected. This agreement was 
 called the Convention of Cintra, from being signed at a place of that 
 name near Lisbon, and was looked upon as a mistake, for it was con- 
 sidered that the French had been let off far too easily. However, it was 
 not Sir Arthur Wellesley’s doing. In the same year General Sir John 
 Moore entered Spain with 20,000 men ; but he was outnumbered, and 
 compelled to retreat. In a battle fought against Marshal Soult at 
 Corruna the British gained the victory ; but their gallant leader was 
 slain, and after his death the army embarked for England. 
 
 In the next year, however, Sir Arthur Wellesley again entered Spain, 
 having been appointed to the chief command of the army in the penin- 
 sula. Now that his plans were not interfered with, except by the with- 
 holding of assistance from home, he obtained a series of triumphs. The 
 chief battles he gained between the years 1809 and 1813 were those of 
 Talavera, Barossa, Albuera, Salamanca, and Yittoria. By the time this 
 last-mentioned battle was fought, a great change had come upon the 
 fortunes of the Emperor Napoleon. For a long time he had been tri- 
 umphant. He had divorced his first wife, the Empress Josephine, and had 
 married Maria Louisa, a daughter of the Emperor of Austria, who had 
 borne him a son, who was called the King of Rome. Nearly all the 
 continent had submitted to him, and for a long time the Emperor Alex- 
 
 308 
 
NAPOLEON SENT TO ELBA— VISIT OF THE ALLIED SOVEREIGNS. 
 
 ander of Bussia was his friend.* But a quarrel occurred, and in 1812 
 Napoleon invaded Bussia with a great army. Here he was victorious in 
 battle, as usual, and penetrated into the heart of the country, as far as 
 Moscow, the ancient capital ; but in Moscow there were not provisions 
 enough for the huge army he had brought, and the French were obliged 
 to retreat towards France in the midst of a severe winter. Thousands 
 upon thousands were frozen to death. Thousands perished miserably of 
 hunger and fatigue. Yast numbers were destroyed by the Cossacks — wild 
 horsemen who followed the retreating army, killing with their spears all 
 who lagged behind or were separated from the main body ; and out of 
 an army of nearly 500,000 men that had entered Bussia in the summer 
 of 1812, not more than 30,000 at the very most found their way home ; 
 and even these were in a most wretched condition, ragged, diseased, and 
 hungry. 
 
 Thus the year 1813, which had witnessed the great battle of Victoria, 
 found Napoleon’s power declining. He raised another great army ; but 
 at last Bussia, Prussia, and Austria united against him ; and on the 16th 
 and 18th of October there was a tremendous conflict near Leipsic, in 
 Saxony, in which 400,000 men took part, Napoleon being outnumbered 
 nearly two to one. He was defeated, but for some months continued to 
 fight with great courage and wonderful skill, to defend France against 
 the foreign armies which were now in full march towards it. Sir Arthur 
 Wellesley had by this time been raised to the peerage, under the title of 
 Lord Wellington, in reward for his great services. Fie marched from 
 Spain into France, gained the battles of Orthez and Toulouse early in 
 the year 1814, and pushed onwards towards Paris. At last Napoleon 
 saw the uselessness of further resistance. He gave up the throne of 
 France, and that country lost all the territory she had acquired in the 
 long war. The little island of Elba, in the Mediterranean, was assigned 
 to Napoleon, and he was permitted to take 400 of his old soldiers with him 
 as a guard. The nations rejoiced that the war was over. Wellington, 
 who had already been created a marquis, was raised to the dignity of 
 duke ; and the sovereigns of Bussia, Austria, and Prussia paid a visit to 
 England, where they were magnificently feasted. That the great struggle 
 was over was the general belief ; but everybody was sorely mistaken. 
 
 309 
 
THE PRINCE REGENT— ESCAPE OF NAPOLEON— WATERLOO. 
 
 King George III. had been heavily stricken while his armies were 
 triumphing in the peninsula. The madness which had in former years 
 attacked him returned in 1811 in a more violent form, and the venerable 
 monarch became hopelessly insane. Though he continued to live, a poor 
 blind old man, in Windsor Castle, for nine years more, his reign was 
 really over, and the Prince of Wales was appointed Eegent to rule over 
 England in his stead. The Prince Eegent was not a good man. While 
 the country was suffering so severely during the great wars, he spent his 
 time in feasting and in frivolous amusements. He was false and un- 
 grateful to his friends, and unfaithful to his wife ; and it is not to be 
 wondered at that the English people looked upon his doings with indig- 
 nation and disgust. 
 
 Another quarrel had arisen with America ; and, as if there were not 
 enough war in the world already, a new contest was begun in 1812 
 against the United States. This contest also was now terminated, and 
 at the end of 1814 it seemed as though peace was once more to reign 
 among the nations of the earth. Louis XVIII., a brother of the king 
 who had been murdered in 1793, was seated on the French throne ; and 
 no one thought of the possibility of a renewal of the war. 
 
 Put in the early spring of the next year a terrible piece of news flew 
 like wildfire through Europe, startling all who heard it, and making 
 many a king tremble on his throne. Napoleon had escaped from Elba, 
 and had landed in Erance. At his appearance, the old soldiers whom 
 he had so often led to victory flocked around him ; the troops sent out 
 to oppose him joined his standard; and fresh crowds flocked to him 
 every day. He marched directly towards Paris, and as he approached, 
 King Louis XVIII. and his court fled in dismay from the capital. Now 
 it appeared that another battle must be fought. The nations once more 
 prepared for war, and the British army, headed by the Duke of Wel- 
 lington, was the first in the field. At Brussels the English established 
 their head-quarters, and Napoleon marched into Belgium with his army, 
 to face the great English commander for the first time. 
 
 On the 18th of June, 1815, a few miles from Brussels, was fought 
 the memorable battle of Waterloo. Two days before, the Prussians, who 
 had mustered an army under the old Field Marshal Bliicher, were de- 
 
 310 
 
Tjie Battle of Waterloo 
 
 311 
 
DEFEAT OF NAPOLEON— HE ATTEMPTS TO ESCAPE. 
 
 featecl at Ligny; and now Napoleon thought he could annihilate the 
 British army before the retreating Prussians had time to rally. The 
 Duke of Wellington, besides his British soldiers, had a small number 
 of Belgians under his command ; but they were of little service, for they 
 fled early in the day, leaving the British to bear the brunt of the battle : 
 and a terrible fight it was. Prom noon till evening, throughout that 
 long summer day, the Prench troops, who fought with furious courage, 
 charged again and again upon the British forces ; but they stood firm, 
 and, when the squadrons of horse came rushing down upon them, formed 
 into squares, pointing their bright bayonets against their foes, and stub- 
 bornly refusing to give ground. The duke was everywhere, encouraging 
 the soldiers to stand firm, and reminding them that they must not 
 yield ; for “ What,” he asked the troops, “ would they say in England, if 
 the British army gave way ? 55 Thus hour after hour went by. The 
 carnage was frightful. Many brave leaders had fallen, and the heroic 
 squares grew thinner and thinner. At last, towards seven o’clock in 
 the evening, Napoleon ordered his Guards forward, to make a grand 
 charge against the centre of the British — for new columns appeared in 
 the distance advancing rapidly towards the field; and though Napo- 
 leon affected to believe that they were the troops of Grouchy, one of his 
 own generals, he must have known that the new-comers were brave old 
 Bliicher and his Prussians. So the Prench Guards strode forward for a 
 grand final effort. The British poured a withering fire into them as 
 they advanced, and then Wellington gave the long-expected command 
 to charge : the British raised a ringing cheer, and poured down in a line 
 four deep from the heights they had occupied all day; and then the 
 Prench wavered, and turned, and fled in confusion. 
 
 Bliicher came up some hours afterwards ; and to the Prussians was en- 
 trusted the duty of pursuing the enemy, and preventing the shattered 
 columns from re-forming. All night long the pursuit was kept up, and 
 the army of Napoleon was scattered to the winds. The emperor himself 
 made his way back to Paris. There he proposed to abdicate in favour 
 of his son ; but no one would listen to him. Then he tried to escape 
 from Prance to America ; but the coasts were so closely guarded that 
 flight would have been impossible. Pinally he gave himself up to Cap- 
 
 312 
 
NAPOLEON BANISHED— DEATH OF GEORGE III. 
 
 tain Maitland, on board the British line-of-battle-ship, “Bellerophon,” 
 which conveyed him to Plymouth ; and it was decided that he should be 
 exiled to the far-off island of St. Helena, in the Indian Ocean. To St. 
 Helena, accordingly, he was conveyed, in the “ Northumberland” ship- 
 of-war ; and after living there in strict custody for six years, the fallen 
 emperor died at his residence at Longwood on the 5th of May, 1821. 
 Louis XVIII. was once more restored to his throne ; and for some years 
 an English army occupied Paris, to prevent any new outbreak of the 
 partisans of Napoleon. 
 
 And now that the great war was really over, and Napoleon could dis- 
 turb Europe no more, the effects of all this strife and bloodshed began 
 to be severely felt. The National Debt, that is to say, the sum owed 
 by the Government of England, had reached the tremendous amount of 
 800,000,000 of pounds ; the nations of the continent had been plundered 
 again and again until they had become poor ; and trade and commerce 
 languished everywhere. 
 
 The Regent had not gained the confidence of the people ; they sus- 
 pected, moreover, that the national funds were squandered : and disturb- 
 ances occurred in various places. In 1817 a great calamity happened 
 in the death of the amiable Princess Charlotte, the only daughter of the 
 Prince Regent. She had been married the year before to Prince Leopold 
 of Saxe-Coburg Gotha, to whom she was fondly attached, and the whole 
 nation deeply mourned her loss. The old Queen Charlotte died in 1818 ; 
 and, at last, in 1820, the king himself, worn out with age and infirmity, 
 died quietly and peacefully, after the longest and most eventful reign in 
 the annals of English history. There can be no more mournful picture 
 than that of the old, mad, blind monarch, wandering drearily about the 
 rooms of Windor Castle, knowing nothing of the great events passing 
 around him — never hearing the glorious news of Waterloo, never caring 
 whether England rose or fell in the mighty struggle that was raging 
 around him. As one of our poets has aptly observed : 
 
 “ His eyes were sealed and his mind was dark, 
 
 And he sat, in his age’s lateness, 
 
 Like a vision throned — as a solemn mark 
 Of the frailty of human, greatness.” 
 
THE CATO STREET PLOT— OUEEN CAROLINE. 
 
 And when the people remembered how earnest he had been before 
 the great calamity of his life had fallen upon him — how he had loved 
 his subjects and feared God — they forgot the faults of his character, and 
 thought kindly of good King George. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 GEORGE IV. 
 
 The Cato Street Conspiracy — Execution of the conspirators — Caroline determines to he 
 crowned Queen — Her trial — She is refused admission into Westminster Abbey — Her 
 death — Insults offered to her corpse — Revision of the criminal laws — Revolt of the Greeks 
 — Battle of Navarino. 
 
 By the death of George III. in 1820, the Prince Regent became King 
 of England, with the title of George IV. The events of his reign are 
 but of limited interest, compared with the gigantic struggle that occupied 
 nearly a quarter of a century in his father’s lifetime. At the commence- 
 ment of the new reign, a plot w T as formed by some desperate men, at 
 whose head was one Thistlewood, to murder the king and the chief 
 ministers of the State. Erom an obscure street near the Edgware Road 
 in London, where the meetings of the conspirators were held, this plot 
 is known as the Cato Street Conspiracy. Thistlewood and his companions 
 in guilt were taken, tried, and executed. 
 
 Some very lamentable passages occurred in the domestic life of the 
 king. Eor many years he had been separated from his consort, Caroline 
 of Brunswick, who had lived abroad ; but now that her husband had 
 succeeded to the throne, the queen insisted upon returning to England, 
 although a large sum of money was offered her, in the hope that she 
 might be induced to stay away. An attempt was made to pass a bill of 
 “pains and penalties” against her. There is no doubt that her conduct had 
 been far from correct; but her husband’s had been so much worse, that the 
 people were indignant at the idea of a man like the king complaining 
 
 314 
 
REVISION OF CRIMINAL LAWS— BATTLE OF NAVARINO. 
 
 of his wife, whom he had treated heartlessly from the very day of their 
 marriage ; and thus many took the part of the queen, more out of anger 
 at the king than from any love for her. In 1821 George IV. was 
 crowned with great pomp at Westminster. The queen had announced 
 her intention to be present on the occasion, and applied for admission at 
 the abbey. But she was turned away ; and this refusal, with other morti- 
 fications which she was made to endure, had such an effect upon her 
 that she died soon after. It was arranged that her corpse should be 
 taken from Hammersmith, where she died, to Harwich, to be thence 
 transported to Germany, and buried at Brunswick. The people were 
 determined that the procession should pass through the city, and when 
 an attempt was made to oppose this design, they barricaded the streets. 
 A riot ensued, and several were slain — a very miserable end of a lament- 
 able career. 
 
 One great improvement effected in George's reign must not be passed 
 without notice. The criminal law of England had for centuries been in 
 a very bad state. The punishment of death was inflicted for very various 
 crimes ; so that it sometimes happened that two men, one of whom had 
 committed a murder, while the other had stolen an article valued at a few 
 pounds, were both hanged — as if their crime had been the same, and 
 therefore deserved the same punishment. Through the exertions of two 
 worthy lawyers, Sir James Mackintosh and Sir Samuel Bomilly, this 
 unjust state of things was altered, and a new scale of punishments 
 introduced, graduated in proportion to the crimes for which they were 
 inflicted. 
 
 The Turks had long held sway over Greece, and had oppresed that 
 people in many ways. The Greeks now revolted, and the sympathy of 
 some of the European Powers was with them in their efforts for free- 
 dom. It had been agreed that the Turkish fleet of Ibrahim Pacha of 
 Egypt should remain in the Bay of Navarino ; and as it appeared that 
 the fleet was going to break this agreement, it was attacked by an allied 
 squadron of English, Russian, and Erench ships, on the 27th of October, 
 1827. The Turkish fleet was completely destroyed ; and soon afterwards 
 the Greeks achieved their freedom, and chose Prince Otho of Bavaria for 
 their king* 
 
 316 
 
CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION— DEATH OF GEORGE IV. 
 
 For some years attempts had been made to obtain a repeal of the act 
 by which Roman Catholics were disqualified from sitting in Parliament 
 or holding offices under the crown. Now a great portion of the nation 
 was in favour of freeing or emancipating the Catholics from these restric- 
 tions, which were felt to be no longer necessary; but King George IV., 
 and his brother the Duke of York, who, since the death of the Princess 
 Charlotte, was the next heir to the crown, were violently opposed to any 
 change. But the duke died in 1828 ; and after his death the old Test 
 Act of the reign of Charles II., which had required all who entered upon 
 any office to take the sacrament according to the form of the Church of 
 England, was repealed ; and thus Catholic emancipation was effected. 
 
 When this victory had been gained, the next question that arose was 
 a very important one : it affected the representation of the people in Par- 
 liament. Many great and populous towns returned no members, where- 
 as little villages that contained but few inhabitants in some instances re- 
 turned two members ; so that the members for such places represented 
 not any portion of the people, but merely the proprietors to whom the 
 “ rotten boroughs ” belonged. Therefore, political unions were formed, 
 and the people became more and more determined that some change 
 should be made. But while this agitation was going on the king fell ill, 
 and died at Windsor Castle on the 21st of June, 1830, in the sixty-eighth 
 year of his age, and the eleventh of his reign. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 WILLIAM IV. 
 
 Popularity of the “Sailor King” — Revolution in France — Agitation in Ireland — The first 
 English railways — The Reform Bill introduced in the Commons — It is rejected by the 
 Lords — Riots in England — The bill passed — The cholera — Negro emancipation — Death 
 of "William — Fire at the Houses of Parliament. 
 
 The Duke of Clarence, who now ascended the throne, had long 
 been the most popular of the sons of George III., with the exception, 
 
 317 
 
REVOLUTION IN FRANCE — " REPEAL" AGITATION— RAILWAYS. 
 
 perhaps, of the Duke of York, the “ Soldier’s Friend.” In his young 
 days he had served in the navy under the name of Lieutenant Guelph ; 
 and the English, a nation of sailors, were pleased at the idea of having 
 a sailor king. Moreover, William IY. was remarkable for his bluff, 
 hearty manners ; and thus his accession to the throne was welcomed with 
 pleasure by all classes. 
 
 In July, 1830, a month after the king had ascended the throne, an- 
 other revolution occurred in France. Charles X., who had succeeded 
 his brother Louis XYIIL, had made himself obnoxious by various acts 
 of tyranny ; and the people rose against him, expelled him from France, 
 and elected Louis Phillippe, son of the “ Louis Egalite,” Duke of Orleans, 
 of the first great Revolution, to be king. This success of the French 
 raised the hopes of a certain party of malcontents in Ireland, who, under 
 the leadership of Mr. Daniel O’Connell, an eminent barrister, hoped to 
 obtain a reversal or repeal of the union which had existed since 1801 
 between Ireland and England ; and this repeal agitation at last took a 
 dangerous form, and threatened to produce a rebellion in Ireland like 
 that which had desolated the island in the vear 1798. 
 
 e/ 
 
 The first railway for passenger traffic between Liverpool and Man- 
 chester was opened early in this reign. The ceremony of opening the 
 new line created a great deal of interest, and many eminent men, among 
 others the great Duke of Wellington, were present on the occasion. An 
 unfortunate accident occurred, resulting in the death of Mr. Huskisson, 
 a distinguished statesman. 
 
 The desire to have a reform in the Parliament became stronger and 
 stronger ; and, chiefly through the exertions of Lord John Russell, a 
 bill was introduced into Parliament, whose object was to amend the re- 
 presentation. The bill met with violent opposition, for many members 
 in the House of Commons, and still more in the House of Peers, honestly 
 thought that the change would not be beneficial ; and among those who 
 held this opinion was the great Duke of Wellington himself. When 
 the bill had passed through the House of Commons, it was rejected by 
 the House of Lords. And now the people became very indignant : great 
 meetings were held, and many angry speeches made; and in some parts 
 of the kingdom, especially at Bristol, riots took place, in which many 
 
 318 
 
THE REFORM BILL— NEGRO EMANCIPATION— DEATH OF WILLIAM. 
 
 people were hurt, and some even killed. The Duke of Wellington was 
 insulted in the streets ; and it became evident that the country was in 
 danger of a revolution. 
 
 Then the duke showed his good sense by yielding to what he saw to 
 he the general wish of the nation. When the question of the Reform 
 Rill came on again, he rose and left the House of Lords without voting 
 either for or against it ; and a large number of peers, who were adverse 
 to the bill, followed his example. So the bill became law, to the great 
 satisfaction of the nation at large. 
 
 It provided, among other points, that towns which had fewer than 2,000 
 inhabitants should not send any member to Parliament, and that those 
 whose inhabitants amounted to fewer than 4,000 should send only one. 
 The seats taken away from these small places were distributed among 
 the large towns and cities, like Manchester and Birmingham, so that the 
 people were now far more completely represented than they ever yet had 
 been. 
 
 The terrible disease called the cholera made its appearance, for the 
 first time in the year 1832. 
 
 Por many years several benevolent men had endeavoured to induce 
 Parliament to pass a bill setting free the negroes in the West Indian 
 and other colonies. Poremost among these advocates of the oppressed, 
 the honoured name of Wilberforce deserves mention. At last they suc- 
 ceeded in their benevolent efforts; and from the 1st of August, 1834, 
 all the negro slaves have received the boon of freedom. This measure 
 cost the country £20,000,000 in money paid to reimburse the proprietors 
 whose slaves were set free ; but the money was well spent in doing an 
 act of justice. 
 
 William IY. died of asthma on the 20th of June, 1837, in the seventy- 
 second year of his age, after a reign of seven years. 
 
 The old Houses of Parliament, in which so many constitutional tri- 
 umphs had been gained, were destroyed by fire on the night of the 16th 
 of October, 1834. They have been replaced by a splendid pile of build- 
 ings in the Gothic style, erected by the late Sir Charles Barry. 
 
 320 
 
CHAPTER Y. 
 
 QUEEN VICTORIA. 
 
 The Princess Victoria — Her education — Marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert — 
 Character of the Prince — Hi3 death — Chartists — The Corn-laws — Penny postage — The 
 Royal Family — The Great Exhibition — The Russian War — The Indian Mutiny — Marriage 
 of the Prince of Wales — Conclusion. 
 
 The Duke of Kent, the third son of King George III., died in the 
 year 1818, leaving an only daughter, Alexandrina Victoria; and on the 
 death of William IY., in 1837, this princess succeeded to the British 
 throne. She was just eighteen years old, and, as she had attained her 
 majority, the necessity for a regency was obviated. 
 
 The Princess Victoria had been left from her infancy to the care of 
 her mother, the Duchess of Kent, a German princess, and had enjoyed 
 all the advantages which the care of a tender and affectionate parent 
 could give. Her education had been judiciously conducted ; and in due 
 time she rewarded the care lavished upon her, and became a pattern of 
 every queenly and domestic virtue. 
 
 In the reign of this our beloved sovereign, the march of progress has 
 been exceedingly rapid. Changes that used to he the work of centuries 
 have been effected in a few years ; abuses have been hunted out vigo- 
 rously and reformed ; the state of various classes has greatly improved ; 
 science, art, and general education have been developed in an unexampled 
 degree, and good and healthy literature has become so cheap as to bring 
 the means of instruction within the poor man’s grasp ; and finally, the 
 noble example of our beloved queen has had a great influence upon the 
 domestic life of the age. 
 
 Nearly thirty years have passed since Victoria acceded to the throne 
 of Britain ; and during those thirty years great empires have risen and 
 fallen ; Britain has been engaged in more than one hazardous war ; and 
 many perils and dangers have been encountered. 
 
 Early in the year 1810 the queen united herself in marriage to her 
 
 Y 
 
 321 
 
MARRIAGE OF THE QUEEN— THE CORN LAWS— THE CHARTISTS. 
 
 cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg Gotha. The union was crowned 
 with the truest domestic happiness. The Prince Consort moreover gained 
 ground every year in the affections of the English people. He was an 
 enlightened patron of art and science, and furthered every benevolent 
 object with a pleasant and kindly enthusiasm. Yery general was the 
 mourning in England when this amiable prince died, after a few days’ 
 illness, in December, 1861, at the early age of forty-two years. 
 
 The duty on corn, which raised the price of bread to a great height, 
 produced much discontent at the beginning of the present reign. Asso- 
 ciations of men calling themselves Chartists, from the fact that they 
 strove to obtain the passing of a new charter to alter the form of govern- 
 ment, arose in various parts of the country, and a riot of a serious 
 character broke out at Newport. It was quickly suppressed, and the 
 Chartist leaders, who, in other times, would undoubtedly have been 
 hanged, were transported beyond the seas. 
 
 The question whether the duty should not be taken off foreign corn 
 began to occupy universal attention. Those who wished the tax to be 
 retained declared it was necessary to protect the British farmer against 
 being undersold by the introduction of cheap corn from abroad ; there- 
 fore they were called 66 Protectionists while those who wished to remove 
 all restrictions from commerce called themselves “ Eree Traders.” A 
 league, with Bichard Cobden at its head, was formed to obtain the re- 
 mission of the taxes on corn : this association was called the Anti Corn- 
 Law League, and at last succeeded in its object. The importation of 
 corn into England is now free, thanks to the exertions of the League, 
 and to the patriotic conduct of the great Sir Bobert Peel, who nobly 
 confessed that he had been mistaken in advocating a protectionist policy, 
 and lent his powerful aid to remove the tax from the poor man’s loaf; 
 and though a great benefit was thus rendered to every man in the king- 
 dom who had to work and provide bread for his family, it was found on 
 trial that the British farmer was not ruined by competition, but merely 
 had to exert himself to keep pace with the times, and, in doing so, be- 
 came richer than ever. 
 
 One of the great improvements of this reign has been the introduction 
 of the system of penny postage. Por this we are mainly indebted to the 
 
 322 
 
Visit of Victoria and Albert to King Louis Philippe. 
 
 323 
 
AFFGHAN WAR— VISIT OF THE QUEEN TO FRANCE. 
 
 genius of Sir Howland Iiill, the late secretary of the Post Office. An 
 agitation for the repeal of the union between England and Ireland was 
 recommenced, Daniel O’Connell continuing to persuade the people of 
 Ireland that this object could be accomplished. He was accused of 
 treason and condemned to a year’s imprisonment, but an appeal was 
 made to the House of Lords, who reversed the decision, and O’Connell 
 was set at liberty. He died in 1847, at Genoa. 
 
 In 1840 the queen became the mother of a princess, who is now 
 married to the Crown Prince of Prussia. The Prince of Wales, heir- 
 apparent to the throne, was born on the 9th November, 1841. The 
 queen afterwards became the mother of seven other children. They 
 are : — Alice Maud Mary, 25th April, 1843 (married to his Eoyal High- 
 ness Prince Louis of Hesse, 1st July, 1862) ; Alfred Ernest Albert, 
 6tli August, 1844 ; Plelena Augusta Victoria, 25th May, 1846 ; Louisa 
 Caroline Alberta, 18th March, 1848 ; Arthur William Patrick Albert, 
 1st May, 1850; Leopold George Duncan Albert, 7th April, 1853; and 
 Beatrice Mary Victoria Eeodore, 14th April, 1857. 
 
 In 1841 the English became involved in an unfortunate war with 
 Affghanistan, which ended in failure and reverse. A British army com- 
 pletely perished in a disastrous retreat ; and though Caboul, the capital 
 of Afghanistan, was afterwards taken, this was felt to be but a small 
 compensation for the sufferings endured. Very different was the result 
 of a contest in India carried on by our troops under the command of 
 the brave Sir Charles Napier. Scinde was annexed to the British do- 
 minions after the glorious battle of Meanee. 
 
 The Queen and her royal consort made several journeys to the con- 
 tinent — one in 1845 to Germany, to visit King Frederick William IV. 
 of Prussia, and another to Prance, to exchange civilities with Louis 
 Philippe, King of the French . 
 
 The year 1848 was marked by disturbances on the whole continent of 
 Europe. Louis Philippe, the old French king, who had rendered himself 
 obnoxious to his subjects by his avarice and duplicity, was expelled from 
 France by a revolution in February, andaBepublic was formed. Prince 
 Louis Napoleon, a nephew of the great Emperor Napoleon I., was elected 
 President of this Bepublic, which was converted into an Empire in 1852 ; 
 
 324 
 
THE GREAT EXHIBITION— THE CRIMEAN WAR. 
 
 and ever since he has sat on the throne of France, with the title of 
 Napoleon III., Emperor of the French. 
 
 In 1851 a great Exhibition of the productions of all nations was held 
 in the “Crystal Palace” in Hyde Park. London. The experiment proved 
 a perfect success, and was repeated in 1862. Similar exhibitions have 
 also been held periodically in Ireland, at Paris, in New York, and else- 
 where, but none obtained the signal success achieved by this first Exhi- 
 bition, which was opened by her Majesty in person, accompanied by her 
 royal consort and the youthful Prince of Wales. The second London 
 Exhibition, held in 1862, was to have been inaugurated in the same way ; 
 but, alas ! when the day came for the opening, the good Prince Consort 
 had been dead some months, and the Queen was a bereaved widow, 
 bitterly mourning her loss, and unable to appear in public among her 
 sympathizing subjects. 
 
 The great empire of Russia, under the sway of the imperious and 
 despotic Czar Nicholas, had for many years been extending its power in 
 every direction ; and at last, in 1853, the Czar attempted to execute 
 his long-cherished project of dismembering the weak empire of Turkey. 
 England and France would not allow this, and, in 1854, conjointly 
 declared war against Russia ; and thus for the first time these two great 
 Powers engaged in a great war as allies, fighting side by side. The 
 Crimea, in the south of Russia, was invaded ; — and the contest is gene- 
 rally known as the Crimean War. The Russians fought with great 
 courage and determination, though they could not gain one decided 
 victory over the allies during the whole contest. The allies, on the con- 
 trary, first gained a signal success at the battle of the Alma, 29th of 
 September, 1854; then vanquished the foe, but with heavy loss of them- 
 selves, in the famous cavalry combat of Balaclava ; and then proceeded 
 to besiege the strong fortress of Sebastopol. On the 5th of November, 
 before dawn, on a raw foggy morning, the Russians attempted to attack 
 the army by surprise, and then was fought the fiercest battle of the 
 whole war, the famous battle of Inkermann, in which the Russians 
 were thoroughly beaten. During the winter the troops suffered great 
 hardships, and more died from fatigue and illness than from wounds 
 inflicted by Russian bullet or bayonet. But the siege of Sebastopol was 
 
 326 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY— CONCLUSION. 
 
 vigorously carried on ; and at length the stubborn Uussian garrison 
 was driven out of the place, and the English and French marched in 
 and took possession. The Emperor Nicholas did not live to see his great 
 fortress surrender : he had died while the struggle was at its hardest. 
 And now a peace was made. England and France, having fought side 
 by side, got to know each other better, became fast friends, and have 
 continued so ever since. 
 
 In 1857 a revolt or mutiny broke out among the Sepoys, or native 
 troops employed by the British in India. These treacherous men rose 
 against their officers, who in many cases were murdered, with their wives 
 and children. At Cawnpore a wretch called Nana Sahib massacred a 
 number of English ladies, and caused them to be thrown down a well ; 
 and so general was the rising, that the greatest fears were entertained 
 for the safety of the British empire in India. But the British officers 
 and troops were equal to the occasion. Lord Clyde, who as Sir Colin 
 Campbell had already distinguished himself in the Crimean War, was 
 sent out, and marched at the head of his brave Highlanders to the relief 
 of his countrymen ; and the great and good Sir Henry Havelock like- 
 wise took a prominent part in putting down the mutiny and restoring 
 peace and order. Many other British officers distinguished themselves 
 by courage and endurance in this great struggle, and the conduct of the 
 troops was beyond all praise. 
 
 The Prince of Wales, heir-apparent to the throne, having now attained 
 to man’s estate, on the 10th of March, 1868, was espoused to the Prin- 
 cess Alexandra of Denmark. On their public entry into London the 
 royal pair were enthusiastically we 1 corned. Their marriage has already 
 been blessed with the birth of two princes ; and it may truly be said, 
 that never has the British throne been so securely established in England 
 as it is at the present day, when it is supported by cheerful obedience 
 and earnest loyalty, justly earned by the virtues of the sovereign, and 
 willingly paid by the whole British people. 
 
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