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diff --git a/old/699.txt b/old/699.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a246e52 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/699.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14923 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Child's History of England, by Charles +Dickens, Illustrated by F. H. Townsend + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: A Child's History of England + + +Author: Charles Dickens + + + +Release Date: May 6, 2007 [eBook #699] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CHILD'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND*** + + + + +Transcribed from the 1905 Chapman & Hall "Works of Charles Dickens" +edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org + + + + + +A CHILD'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND + + +By CHARLES DICKENS + +With Illustrations by F. H. Townsend and others + +LONDON: CHAPMAN & HALL, LD. +NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS +1905 + + + + +CHAPTER I--ANCIENT ENGLAND AND THE ROMANS + + +If you look at a Map of the World, you will see, in the left-hand upper +corner of the Eastern Hemisphere, two Islands lying in the sea. They are +England and Scotland, and Ireland. England and Scotland form the greater +part of these Islands. Ireland is the next in size. The little +neighbouring islands, which are so small upon the Map as to be mere dots, +are chiefly little bits of Scotland,--broken off, I dare say, in the +course of a great length of time, by the power of the restless water. + +In the old days, a long, long while ago, before Our Saviour was born on +earth and lay asleep in a manger, these Islands were in the same place, +and the stormy sea roared round them, just as it roars now. But the sea +was not alive, then, with great ships and brave sailors, sailing to and +from all parts of the world. It was very lonely. The Islands lay +solitary, in the great expanse of water. The foaming waves dashed +against their cliffs, and the bleak winds blew over their forests; but +the winds and waves brought no adventurers to land upon the Islands, and +the savage Islanders knew nothing of the rest of the world, and the rest +of the world knew nothing of them. + +It is supposed that the Phoenicians, who were an ancient people, famous +for carrying on trade, came in ships to these Islands, and found that +they produced tin and lead; both very useful things, as you know, and +both produced to this very hour upon the sea-coast. The most celebrated +tin mines in Cornwall are, still, close to the sea. One of them, which I +have seen, is so close to it that it is hollowed out underneath the +ocean; and the miners say, that in stormy weather, when they are at work +down in that deep place, they can hear the noise of the waves thundering +above their heads. So, the Phoenicians, coasting about the Islands, +would come, without much difficulty, to where the tin and lead were. + +The Phoenicians traded with the Islanders for these metals, and gave the +Islanders some other useful things in exchange. The Islanders were, at +first, poor savages, going almost naked, or only dressed in the rough +skins of beasts, and staining their bodies, as other savages do, with +coloured earths and the juices of plants. But the Phoenicians, sailing +over to the opposite coasts of France and Belgium, and saying to the +people there, 'We have been to those white cliffs across the water, which +you can see in fine weather, and from that country, which is called +BRITAIN, we bring this tin and lead,' tempted some of the French and +Belgians to come over also. These people settled themselves on the south +coast of England, which is now called Kent; and, although they were a +rough people too, they taught the savage Britons some useful arts, and +improved that part of the Islands. It is probable that other people came +over from Spain to Ireland, and settled there. + +Thus, by little and little, strangers became mixed with the Islanders, +and the savage Britons grew into a wild, bold people; almost savage, +still, especially in the interior of the country away from the sea where +the foreign settlers seldom went; but hardy, brave, and strong. + +The whole country was covered with forests, and swamps. The greater part +of it was very misty and cold. There were no roads, no bridges, no +streets, no houses that you would think deserving of the name. A town +was nothing but a collection of straw-covered huts, hidden in a thick +wood, with a ditch all round, and a low wall, made of mud, or the trunks +of trees placed one upon another. The people planted little or no corn, +but lived upon the flesh of their flocks and cattle. They made no coins, +but used metal rings for money. They were clever in basket-work, as +savage people often are; and they could make a coarse kind of cloth, and +some very bad earthenware. But in building fortresses they were much +more clever. + +They made boats of basket-work, covered with the skins of animals, but +seldom, if ever, ventured far from the shore. They made swords, of +copper mixed with tin; but, these swords were of an awkward shape, and so +soft that a heavy blow would bend one. They made light shields, short +pointed daggers, and spears--which they jerked back after they had thrown +them at an enemy, by a long strip of leather fastened to the stem. The +butt-end was a rattle, to frighten an enemy's horse. The ancient +Britons, being divided into as many as thirty or forty tribes, each +commanded by its own little king, were constantly fighting with one +another, as savage people usually do; and they always fought with these +weapons. + +They were very fond of horses. The standard of Kent was the picture of a +white horse. They could break them in and manage them wonderfully well. +Indeed, the horses (of which they had an abundance, though they were +rather small) were so well taught in those days, that they can scarcely +be said to have improved since; though the men are so much wiser. They +understood, and obeyed, every word of command; and would stand still by +themselves, in all the din and noise of battle, while their masters went +to fight on foot. The Britons could not have succeeded in their most +remarkable art, without the aid of these sensible and trusty animals. The +art I mean, is the construction and management of war-chariots or cars, +for which they have ever been celebrated in history. Each of the best +sort of these chariots, not quite breast high in front, and open at the +back, contained one man to drive, and two or three others to fight--all +standing up. The horses who drew them were so well trained, that they +would tear, at full gallop, over the most stony ways, and even through +the woods; dashing down their masters' enemies beneath their hoofs, and +cutting them to pieces with the blades of swords, or scythes, which were +fastened to the wheels, and stretched out beyond the car on each side, +for that cruel purpose. In a moment, while at full speed, the horses +would stop, at the driver's command. The men within would leap out, deal +blows about them with their swords like hail, leap on the horses, on the +pole, spring back into the chariots anyhow; and, as soon as they were +safe, the horses tore away again. + +The Britons had a strange and terrible religion, called the Religion of +the Druids. It seems to have been brought over, in very early times +indeed, from the opposite country of France, anciently called Gaul, and +to have mixed up the worship of the Serpent, and of the Sun and Moon, +with the worship of some of the Heathen Gods and Goddesses. Most of its +ceremonies were kept secret by the priests, the Druids, who pretended to +be enchanters, and who carried magicians' wands, and wore, each of them, +about his neck, what he told the ignorant people was a Serpent's egg in a +golden case. But it is certain that the Druidical ceremonies included +the sacrifice of human victims, the torture of some suspected criminals, +and, on particular occasions, even the burning alive, in immense wicker +cages, of a number of men and animals together. The Druid Priests had +some kind of veneration for the Oak, and for the mistletoe--the same +plant that we hang up in houses at Christmas Time now--when its white +berries grew upon the Oak. They met together in dark woods, which they +called Sacred Groves; and there they instructed, in their mysterious +arts, young men who came to them as pupils, and who sometimes stayed with +them as long as twenty years. + +These Druids built great Temples and altars, open to the sky, fragments +of some of which are yet remaining. Stonehenge, on Salisbury Plain, in +Wiltshire, is the most extraordinary of these. Three curious stones, +called Kits Coty House, on Bluebell Hill, near Maidstone, in Kent, form +another. We know, from examination of the great blocks of which such +buildings are made, that they could not have been raised without the aid +of some ingenious machines, which are common now, but which the ancient +Britons certainly did not use in making their own uncomfortable houses. I +should not wonder if the Druids, and their pupils who stayed with them +twenty years, knowing more than the rest of the Britons, kept the people +out of sight while they made these buildings, and then pretended that +they built them by magic. Perhaps they had a hand in the fortresses too; +at all events, as they were very powerful, and very much believed in, and +as they made and executed the laws, and paid no taxes, I don't wonder +that they liked their trade. And, as they persuaded the people the more +Druids there were, the better off the people would be, I don't wonder +that there were a good many of them. But it is pleasant to think that +there are no Druids, _now_, who go on in that way, and pretend to carry +Enchanters' Wands and Serpents' Eggs--and of course there is nothing of +the kind, anywhere. + +Such was the improved condition of the ancient Britons, fifty-five years +before the birth of Our Saviour, when the Romans, under their great +General, Julius Caesar, were masters of all the rest of the known world. +Julius Caesar had then just conquered Gaul; and hearing, in Gaul, a good +deal about the opposite Island with the white cliffs, and about the +bravery of the Britons who inhabited it--some of whom had been fetched +over to help the Gauls in the war against him--he resolved, as he was so +near, to come and conquer Britain next. + +So, Julius Caesar came sailing over to this Island of ours, with eighty +vessels and twelve thousand men. And he came from the French coast +between Calais and Boulogne, 'because thence was the shortest passage +into Britain;' just for the same reason as our steam-boats now take the +same track, every day. He expected to conquer Britain easily: but it was +not such easy work as he supposed--for the bold Britons fought most +bravely; and, what with not having his horse-soldiers with him (for they +had been driven back by a storm), and what with having some of his +vessels dashed to pieces by a high tide after they were drawn ashore, he +ran great risk of being totally defeated. However, for once that the +bold Britons beat him, he beat them twice; though not so soundly but that +he was very glad to accept their proposals of peace, and go away. + +But, in the spring of the next year, he came back; this time, with eight +hundred vessels and thirty thousand men. The British tribes chose, as +their general-in-chief, a Briton, whom the Romans in their Latin language +called CASSIVELLAUNUS, but whose British name is supposed to have been +CASWALLON. A brave general he was, and well he and his soldiers fought +the Roman army! So well, that whenever in that war the Roman soldiers +saw a great cloud of dust, and heard the rattle of the rapid British +chariots, they trembled in their hearts. Besides a number of smaller +battles, there was a battle fought near Canterbury, in Kent; there was a +battle fought near Chertsey, in Surrey; there was a battle fought near a +marshy little town in a wood, the capital of that part of Britain which +belonged to CASSIVELLAUNUS, and which was probably near what is now Saint +Albans, in Hertfordshire. However, brave CASSIVELLAUNUS had the worst of +it, on the whole; though he and his men always fought like lions. As the +other British chiefs were jealous of him, and were always quarrelling +with him, and with one another, he gave up, and proposed peace. Julius +Caesar was very glad to grant peace easily, and to go away again with all +his remaining ships and men. He had expected to find pearls in Britain, +and he may have found a few for anything I know; but, at all events, he +found delicious oysters, and I am sure he found tough Britons--of whom, I +dare say, he made the same complaint as Napoleon Bonaparte the great +French General did, eighteen hundred years afterwards, when he said they +were such unreasonable fellows that they never knew when they were +beaten. They never _did_ know, I believe, and never will. + +Nearly a hundred years passed on, and all that time, there was peace in +Britain. The Britons improved their towns and mode of life: became more +civilised, travelled, and learnt a great deal from the Gauls and Romans. +At last, the Roman Emperor, Claudius, sent AULUS PLAUTIUS, a skilful +general, with a mighty force, to subdue the Island, and shortly +afterwards arrived himself. They did little; and OSTORIUS SCAPULA, +another general, came. Some of the British Chiefs of Tribes submitted. +Others resolved to fight to the death. Of these brave men, the bravest +was CARACTACUS, or CARADOC, who gave battle to the Romans, with his army, +among the mountains of North Wales. 'This day,' said he to his soldiers, +'decides the fate of Britain! Your liberty, or your eternal slavery, +dates from this hour. Remember your brave ancestors, who drove the great +Caesar himself across the sea!' On hearing these words, his men, with a +great shout, rushed upon the Romans. But the strong Roman swords and +armour were too much for the weaker British weapons in close conflict. +The Britons lost the day. The wife and daughter of the brave CARACTACUS +were taken prisoners; his brothers delivered themselves up; he himself +was betrayed into the hands of the Romans by his false and base +stepmother: and they carried him, and all his family, in triumph to Rome. + +But a great man will be great in misfortune, great in prison, great in +chains. His noble air, and dignified endurance of distress, so touched +the Roman people who thronged the streets to see him, that he and his +family were restored to freedom. No one knows whether his great heart +broke, and he died in Rome, or whether he ever returned to his own dear +country. English oaks have grown up from acorns, and withered away, when +they were hundreds of years old--and other oaks have sprung up in their +places, and died too, very aged--since the rest of the history of the +brave CARACTACUS was forgotten. + +Still, the Britons _would not_ yield. They rose again and again, and +died by thousands, sword in hand. They rose, on every possible occasion. +SUETONIUS, another Roman general, came, and stormed the Island of +Anglesey (then called MONA), which was supposed to be sacred, and he +burnt the Druids in their own wicker cages, by their own fires. But, +even while he was in Britain, with his victorious troops, the BRITONS +rose. Because BOADICEA, a British queen, the widow of the King of the +Norfolk and Suffolk people, resisted the plundering of her property by +the Romans who were settled in England, she was scourged, by order of +CATUS a Roman officer; and her two daughters were shamefully insulted in +her presence, and her husband's relations were made slaves. To avenge +this injury, the Britons rose, with all their might and rage. They drove +CATUS into Gaul; they laid the Roman possessions waste; they forced the +Romans out of London, then a poor little town, but a trading place; they +hanged, burnt, crucified, and slew by the sword, seventy thousand Romans +in a few days. SUETONIUS strengthened his army, and advanced to give +them battle. They strengthened their army, and desperately attacked his, +on the field where it was strongly posted. Before the first charge of +the Britons was made, BOADICEA, in a war-chariot, with her fair hair +streaming in the wind, and her injured daughters lying at her feet, drove +among the troops, and cried to them for vengeance on their oppressors, +the licentious Romans. The Britons fought to the last; but they were +vanquished with great slaughter, and the unhappy queen took poison. + +Still, the spirit of the Britons was not broken. When SUETONIUS left the +country, they fell upon his troops, and retook the Island of Anglesey. +AGRICOLA came, fifteen or twenty years afterwards, and retook it once +more, and devoted seven years to subduing the country, especially that +part of it which is now called SCOTLAND; but, its people, the +Caledonians, resisted him at every inch of ground. They fought the +bloodiest battles with him; they killed their very wives and children, to +prevent his making prisoners of them; they fell, fighting, in such great +numbers that certain hills in Scotland are yet supposed to be vast heaps +of stones piled up above their graves. HADRIAN came, thirty years +afterwards, and still they resisted him. SEVERUS came, nearly a hundred +years afterwards, and they worried his great army like dogs, and rejoiced +to see them die, by thousands, in the bogs and swamps. CARACALLA, the +son and successor of SEVERUS, did the most to conquer them, for a time; +but not by force of arms. He knew how little that would do. He yielded +up a quantity of land to the Caledonians, and gave the Britons the same +privileges as the Romans possessed. There was peace, after this, for +seventy years. + +Then new enemies arose. They were the Saxons, a fierce, sea-faring +people from the countries to the North of the Rhine, the great river of +Germany on the banks of which the best grapes grow to make the German +wine. They began to come, in pirate ships, to the sea-coast of Gaul and +Britain, and to plunder them. They were repulsed by CARAUSIUS, a native +either of Belgium or of Britain, who was appointed by the Romans to the +command, and under whom the Britons first began to fight upon the sea. +But, after this time, they renewed their ravages. A few years more, and +the Scots (which was then the name for the people of Ireland), and the +Picts, a northern people, began to make frequent plundering incursions +into the South of Britain. All these attacks were repeated, at +intervals, during two hundred years, and through a long succession of +Roman Emperors and chiefs; during all which length of time, the Britons +rose against the Romans, over and over again. At last, in the days of +the Roman HONORIUS, when the Roman power all over the world was fast +declining, and when Rome wanted all her soldiers at home, the Romans +abandoned all hope of conquering Britain, and went away. And still, at +last, as at first, the Britons rose against them, in their old brave +manner; for, a very little while before, they had turned away the Roman +magistrates, and declared themselves an independent people. + +Five hundred years had passed, since Julius Caesar's first invasion of +the Island, when the Romans departed from it for ever. In the course of +that time, although they had been the cause of terrible fighting and +bloodshed, they had done much to improve the condition of the Britons. +They had made great military roads; they had built forts; they had taught +them how to dress, and arm themselves, much better than they had ever +known how to do before; they had refined the whole British way of living. +AGRICOLA had built a great wall of earth, more than seventy miles long, +extending from Newcastle to beyond Carlisle, for the purpose of keeping +out the Picts and Scots; HADRIAN had strengthened it; SEVERUS, finding it +much in want of repair, had built it afresh of stone. + +Above all, it was in the Roman time, and by means of Roman ships, that +the Christian Religion was first brought into Britain, and its people +first taught the great lesson that, to be good in the sight of GOD, they +must love their neighbours as themselves, and do unto others as they +would be done by. The Druids declared that it was very wicked to believe +in any such thing, and cursed all the people who did believe it, very +heartily. But, when the people found that they were none the better for +the blessings of the Druids, and none the worse for the curses of the +Druids, but, that the sun shone and the rain fell without consulting the +Druids at all, they just began to think that the Druids were mere men, +and that it signified very little whether they cursed or blessed. After +which, the pupils of the Druids fell off greatly in numbers, and the +Druids took to other trades. + +Thus I have come to the end of the Roman time in England. It is but +little that is known of those five hundred years; but some remains of +them are still found. Often, when labourers are digging up the ground, +to make foundations for houses or churches, they light on rusty money +that once belonged to the Romans. Fragments of plates from which they +ate, of goblets from which they drank, and of pavement on which they +trod, are discovered among the earth that is broken by the plough, or the +dust that is crumbled by the gardener's spade. Wells that the Romans +sunk, still yield water; roads that the Romans made, form part of our +highways. In some old battle-fields, British spear-heads and Roman +armour have been found, mingled together in decay, as they fell in the +thick pressure of the fight. Traces of Roman camps overgrown with grass, +and of mounds that are the burial-places of heaps of Britons, are to be +seen in almost all parts of the country. Across the bleak moors of +Northumberland, the wall of SEVERUS, overrun with moss and weeds, still +stretches, a strong ruin; and the shepherds and their dogs lie sleeping +on it in the summer weather. On Salisbury Plain, Stonehenge yet stands: +a monument of the earlier time when the Roman name was unknown in +Britain, and when the Druids, with their best magic wands, could not have +written it in the sands of the wild sea-shore. + + + + +CHAPTER II--ANCIENT ENGLAND UNDER THE EARLY SAXONS + + +The Romans had scarcely gone away from Britain, when the Britons began to +wish they had never left it. For, the Romans being gone, and the Britons +being much reduced in numbers by their long wars, the Picts and Scots +came pouring in, over the broken and unguarded wall of SEVERUS, in +swarms. They plundered the richest towns, and killed the people; and +came back so often for more booty and more slaughter, that the +unfortunate Britons lived a life of terror. As if the Picts and Scots +were not bad enough on land, the Saxons attacked the islanders by sea; +and, as if something more were still wanting to make them miserable, they +quarrelled bitterly among themselves as to what prayers they ought to +say, and how they ought to say them. The priests, being very angry with +one another on these questions, cursed one another in the heartiest +manner; and (uncommonly like the old Druids) cursed all the people whom +they could not persuade. So, altogether, the Britons were very badly +off, you may believe. + +They were in such distress, in short, that they sent a letter to Rome +entreating help--which they called the Groans of the Britons; and in +which they said, 'The barbarians chase us into the sea, the sea throws us +back upon the barbarians, and we have only the hard choice left us of +perishing by the sword, or perishing by the waves.' But, the Romans +could not help them, even if they were so inclined; for they had enough +to do to defend themselves against their own enemies, who were then very +fierce and strong. At last, the Britons, unable to bear their hard +condition any longer, resolved to make peace with the Saxons, and to +invite the Saxons to come into their country, and help them to keep out +the Picts and Scots. + +It was a British Prince named VORTIGERN who took this resolution, and who +made a treaty of friendship with HENGIST and HORSA, two Saxon chiefs. +Both of these names, in the old Saxon language, signify Horse; for the +Saxons, like many other nations in a rough state, were fond of giving men +the names of animals, as Horse, Wolf, Bear, Hound. The Indians of North +America,--a very inferior people to the Saxons, though--do the same to +this day. + +HENGIST and HORSA drove out the Picts and Scots; and VORTIGERN, being +grateful to them for that service, made no opposition to their settling +themselves in that part of England which is called the Isle of Thanet, or +to their inviting over more of their countrymen to join them. But +HENGIST had a beautiful daughter named ROWENA; and when, at a feast, she +filled a golden goblet to the brim with wine, and gave it to VORTIGERN, +saying in a sweet voice, 'Dear King, thy health!' the King fell in love +with her. My opinion is, that the cunning HENGIST meant him to do so, in +order that the Saxons might have greater influence with him; and that the +fair ROWENA came to that feast, golden goblet and all, on purpose. + +At any rate, they were married; and, long afterwards, whenever the King +was angry with the Saxons, or jealous of their encroachments, ROWENA +would put her beautiful arms round his neck, and softly say, 'Dear King, +they are my people! Be favourable to them, as you loved that Saxon girl +who gave you the golden goblet of wine at the feast!' And, really, I +don't see how the King could help himself. + +Ah! We must all die! In the course of years, VORTIGERN died--he was +dethroned, and put in prison, first, I am afraid; and ROWENA died; and +generations of Saxons and Britons died; and events that happened during a +long, long time, would have been quite forgotten but for the tales and +songs of the old Bards, who used to go about from feast to feast, with +their white beards, recounting the deeds of their forefathers. Among the +histories of which they sang and talked, there was a famous one, +concerning the bravery and virtues of KING ARTHUR, supposed to have been +a British Prince in those old times. But, whether such a person really +lived, or whether there were several persons whose histories came to be +confused together under that one name, or whether all about him was +invention, no one knows. + +I will tell you, shortly, what is most interesting in the early Saxon +times, as they are described in these songs and stories of the Bards. + +In, and long after, the days of VORTIGERN, fresh bodies of Saxons, under +various chiefs, came pouring into Britain. One body, conquering the +Britons in the East, and settling there, called their kingdom Essex; +another body settled in the West, and called their kingdom Wessex; the +Northfolk, or Norfolk people, established themselves in one place; the +Southfolk, or Suffolk people, established themselves in another; and +gradually seven kingdoms or states arose in England, which were called +the Saxon Heptarchy. The poor Britons, falling back before these crowds +of fighting men whom they had innocently invited over as friends, retired +into Wales and the adjacent country; into Devonshire, and into Cornwall. +Those parts of England long remained unconquered. And in Cornwall +now--where the sea-coast is very gloomy, steep, and rugged--where, in the +dark winter-time, ships have often been wrecked close to the land, and +every soul on board has perished--where the winds and waves howl drearily +and split the solid rocks into arches and caverns--there are very ancient +ruins, which the people call the ruins of KING ARTHUR'S Castle. + +Kent is the most famous of the seven Saxon kingdoms, because the +Christian religion was preached to the Saxons there (who domineered over +the Britons too much, to care for what _they_ said about their religion, +or anything else) by AUGUSTINE, a monk from Rome. KING ETHELBERT, of +Kent, was soon converted; and the moment he said he was a Christian, his +courtiers all said _they_ were Christians; after which, ten thousand of +his subjects said they were Christians too. AUGUSTINE built a little +church, close to this King's palace, on the ground now occupied by the +beautiful cathedral of Canterbury. SEBERT, the King's nephew, built on a +muddy marshy place near London, where there had been a temple to Apollo, +a church dedicated to Saint Peter, which is now Westminster Abbey. And, +in London itself, on the foundation of a temple to Diana, he built +another little church which has risen up, since that old time, to be +Saint Paul's. + +After the death of ETHELBERT, EDWIN, King of Northumbria, who was such a +good king that it was said a woman or child might openly carry a purse of +gold, in his reign, without fear, allowed his child to be baptised, and +held a great council to consider whether he and his people should all be +Christians or not. It was decided that they should be. COIFI, the chief +priest of the old religion, made a great speech on the occasion. In this +discourse, he told the people that he had found out the old gods to be +impostors. 'I am quite satisfied of it,' he said. 'Look at me! I have +been serving them all my life, and they have done nothing for me; +whereas, if they had been really powerful, they could not have decently +done less, in return for all I have done for them, than make my fortune. +As they have never made my fortune, I am quite convinced they are +impostors!' When this singular priest had finished speaking, he hastily +armed himself with sword and lance, mounted a war-horse, rode at a +furious gallop in sight of all the people to the temple, and flung his +lance against it as an insult. From that time, the Christian religion +spread itself among the Saxons, and became their faith. + +The next very famous prince was EGBERT. He lived about a hundred and +fifty years afterwards, and claimed to have a better right to the throne +of Wessex than BEORTRIC, another Saxon prince who was at the head of that +kingdom, and who married EDBURGA, the daughter of OFFA, king of another +of the seven kingdoms. This QUEEN EDBURGA was a handsome murderess, who +poisoned people when they offended her. One day, she mixed a cup of +poison for a certain noble belonging to the court; but her husband drank +of it too, by mistake, and died. Upon this, the people revolted, in +great crowds; and running to the palace, and thundering at the gates, +cried, 'Down with the wicked queen, who poisons men!' They drove her out +of the country, and abolished the title she had disgraced. When years +had passed away, some travellers came home from Italy, and said that in +the town of Pavia they had seen a ragged beggar-woman, who had once been +handsome, but was then shrivelled, bent, and yellow, wandering about the +streets, crying for bread; and that this beggar-woman was the poisoning +English queen. It was, indeed, EDBURGA; and so she died, without a +shelter for her wretched head. + +EGBERT, not considering himself safe in England, in consequence of his +having claimed the crown of Wessex (for he thought his rival might take +him prisoner and put him to death), sought refuge at the court of +CHARLEMAGNE, King of France. On the death of BEORTRIC, so unhappily +poisoned by mistake, EGBERT came back to Britain; succeeded to the throne +of Wessex; conquered some of the other monarchs of the seven kingdoms; +added their territories to his own; and, for the first time, called the +country over which he ruled, ENGLAND. + +And now, new enemies arose, who, for a long time, troubled England +sorely. These were the Northmen, the people of Denmark and Norway, whom +the English called the Danes. They were a warlike people, quite at home +upon the sea; not Christians; very daring and cruel. They came over in +ships, and plundered and burned wheresoever they landed. Once, they beat +EGBERT in battle. Once, EGBERT beat them. But, they cared no more for +being beaten than the English themselves. In the four following short +reigns, of ETHELWULF, and his sons, ETHELBALD, ETHELBERT, and ETHELRED, +they came back, over and over again, burning and plundering, and laying +England waste. In the last-mentioned reign, they seized EDMUND, King of +East England, and bound him to a tree. Then, they proposed to him that +he should change his religion; but he, being a good Christian, steadily +refused. Upon that, they beat him, made cowardly jests upon him, all +defenceless as he was, shot arrows at him, and, finally, struck off his +head. It is impossible to say whose head they might have struck off +next, but for the death of KING ETHELRED from a wound he had received in +fighting against them, and the succession to his throne of the best and +wisest king that ever lived in England. + + + + +CHAPTER III--ENGLAND UNDER THE GOOD SAXON, ALFRED + + +Alfred the Great was a young man, three-and-twenty years of age, when he +became king. Twice in his childhood, he had been taken to Rome, where +the Saxon nobles were in the habit of going on journeys which they +supposed to be religious; and, once, he had stayed for some time in +Paris. Learning, however, was so little cared for, then, that at twelve +years old he had not been taught to read; although, of the sons of KING +ETHELWULF, he, the youngest, was the favourite. But he had--as most men +who grow up to be great and good are generally found to have had--an +excellent mother; and, one day, this lady, whose name was OSBURGA, +happened, as she was sitting among her sons, to read a book of Saxon +poetry. The art of printing was not known until long and long after that +period, and the book, which was written, was what is called +'illuminated,' with beautiful bright letters, richly painted. The +brothers admiring it very much, their mother said, 'I will give it to +that one of you four princes who first learns to read.' ALFRED sought +out a tutor that very day, applied himself to learn with great diligence, +and soon won the book. He was proud of it, all his life. + +This great king, in the first year of his reign, fought nine battles with +the Danes. He made some treaties with them too, by which the false Danes +swore they would quit the country. They pretended to consider that they +had taken a very solemn oath, in swearing this upon the holy bracelets +that they wore, and which were always buried with them when they died; +but they cared little for it, for they thought nothing of breaking oaths +and treaties too, as soon as it suited their purpose, and coming back +again to fight, plunder, and burn, as usual. One fatal winter, in the +fourth year of KING ALFRED'S reign, they spread themselves in great +numbers over the whole of England; and so dispersed and routed the King's +soldiers that the King was left alone, and was obliged to disguise +himself as a common peasant, and to take refuge in the cottage of one of +his cowherds who did not know his face. + +Here, KING ALFRED, while the Danes sought him far and near, was left +alone one day, by the cowherd's wife, to watch some cakes which she put +to bake upon the hearth. But, being at work upon his bow and arrows, +with which he hoped to punish the false Danes when a brighter time should +come, and thinking deeply of his poor unhappy subjects whom the Danes +chased through the land, his noble mind forgot the cakes, and they were +burnt. 'What!' said the cowherd's wife, who scolded him well when she +came back, and little thought she was scolding the King, 'you will be +ready enough to eat them by-and-by, and yet you cannot watch them, idle +dog?' + +At length, the Devonshire men made head against a new host of Danes who +landed on their coast; killed their chief, and captured their flag; on +which was represented the likeness of a Raven--a very fit bird for a +thievish army like that, I think. The loss of their standard troubled +the Danes greatly, for they believed it to be enchanted--woven by the +three daughters of one father in a single afternoon--and they had a story +among themselves that when they were victorious in battle, the Raven +stretched his wings and seemed to fly; and that when they were defeated, +he would droop. He had good reason to droop, now, if he could have done +anything half so sensible; for, KING ALFRED joined the Devonshire men; +made a camp with them on a piece of firm ground in the midst of a bog in +Somersetshire; and prepared for a great attempt for vengeance on the +Danes, and the deliverance of his oppressed people. + +But, first, as it was important to know how numerous those pestilent +Danes were, and how they were fortified, KING ALFRED, being a good +musician, disguised himself as a glee-man or minstrel, and went, with his +harp, to the Danish camp. He played and sang in the very tent of GUTHRUM +the Danish leader, and entertained the Danes as they caroused. While he +seemed to think of nothing but his music, he was watchful of their tents, +their arms, their discipline, everything that he desired to know. And +right soon did this great king entertain them to a different tune; for, +summoning all his true followers to meet him at an appointed place, where +they received him with joyful shouts and tears, as the monarch whom many +of them had given up for lost or dead, he put himself at their head, +marched on the Danish camp, defeated the Danes with great slaughter, and +besieged them for fourteen days to prevent their escape. But, being as +merciful as he was good and brave, he then, instead of killing them, +proposed peace: on condition that they should altogether depart from that +Western part of England, and settle in the East; and that GUTHRUM should +become a Christian, in remembrance of the Divine religion which now +taught his conqueror, the noble ALFRED, to forgive the enemy who had so +often injured him. This, GUTHRUM did. At his baptism, KING ALFRED was +his godfather. And GUTHRUM was an honourable chief who well deserved +that clemency; for, ever afterwards he was loyal and faithful to the +king. The Danes under him were faithful too. They plundered and burned +no more, but worked like honest men. They ploughed, and sowed, and +reaped, and led good honest English lives. And I hope the children of +those Danes played, many a time, with Saxon children in the sunny fields; +and that Danish young men fell in love with Saxon girls, and married +them; and that English travellers, benighted at the doors of Danish +cottages, often went in for shelter until morning; and that Danes and +Saxons sat by the red fire, friends, talking of KING ALFRED THE GREAT. + +All the Danes were not like these under GUTHRUM; for, after some years, +more of them came over, in the old plundering and burning way--among them +a fierce pirate of the name of HASTINGS, who had the boldness to sail up +the Thames to Gravesend, with eighty ships. For three years, there was a +war with these Danes; and there was a famine in the country, too, and a +plague, both upon human creatures and beasts. But KING ALFRED, whose +mighty heart never failed him, built large ships nevertheless, with which +to pursue the pirates on the sea; and he encouraged his soldiers, by his +brave example, to fight valiantly against them on the shore. At last, he +drove them all away; and then there was repose in England. + +As great and good in peace, as he was great and good in war, KING ALFRED +never rested from his labours to improve his people. He loved to talk +with clever men, and with travellers from foreign countries, and to write +down what they told him, for his people to read. He had studied Latin +after learning to read English, and now another of his labours was, to +translate Latin books into the English-Saxon tongue, that his people +might be interested, and improved by their contents. He made just laws, +that they might live more happily and freely; he turned away all partial +judges, that no wrong might be done them; he was so careful of their +property, and punished robbers so severely, that it was a common thing to +say that under the great KING ALFRED, garlands of golden chains and +jewels might have hung across the streets, and no man would have touched +one. He founded schools; he patiently heard causes himself in his Court +of Justice; the great desires of his heart were, to do right to all his +subjects, and to leave England better, wiser, happier in all ways, than +he found it. His industry in these efforts was quite astonishing. Every +day he divided into certain portions, and in each portion devoted himself +to a certain pursuit. That he might divide his time exactly, he had wax +torches or candles made, which were all of the same size, were notched +across at regular distances, and were always kept burning. Thus, as the +candles burnt down, he divided the day into notches, almost as accurately +as we now divide it into hours upon the clock. But when the candles were +first invented, it was found that the wind and draughts of air, blowing +into the palace through the doors and windows, and through the chinks in +the walls, caused them to gutter and burn unequally. To prevent this, +the King had them put into cases formed of wood and white horn. And +these were the first lanthorns ever made in England. + +All this time, he was afflicted with a terrible unknown disease, which +caused him violent and frequent pain that nothing could relieve. He bore +it, as he had borne all the troubles of his life, like a brave good man, +until he was fifty-three years old; and then, having reigned thirty +years, he died. He died in the year nine hundred and one; but, long ago +as that is, his fame, and the love and gratitude with which his subjects +regarded him, are freshly remembered to the present hour. + +In the next reign, which was the reign of EDWARD, surnamed THE ELDER, who +was chosen in council to succeed, a nephew of KING ALFRED troubled the +country by trying to obtain the throne. The Danes in the East of England +took part with this usurper (perhaps because they had honoured his uncle +so much, and honoured him for his uncle's sake), and there was hard +fighting; but, the King, with the assistance of his sister, gained the +day, and reigned in peace for four and twenty years. He gradually +extended his power over the whole of England, and so the Seven Kingdoms +were united into one. + +When England thus became one kingdom, ruled over by one Saxon king, the +Saxons had been settled in the country more than four hundred and fifty +years. Great changes had taken place in its customs during that time. +The Saxons were still greedy eaters and great drinkers, and their feasts +were often of a noisy and drunken kind; but many new comforts and even +elegances had become known, and were fast increasing. Hangings for the +walls of rooms, where, in these modern days, we paste up paper, are known +to have been sometimes made of silk, ornamented with birds and flowers in +needlework. Tables and chairs were curiously carved in different woods; +were sometimes decorated with gold or silver; sometimes even made of +those precious metals. Knives and spoons were used at table; golden +ornaments were worn--with silk and cloth, and golden tissues and +embroideries; dishes were made of gold and silver, brass and bone. There +were varieties of drinking-horns, bedsteads, musical instruments. A harp +was passed round, at a feast, like the drinking-bowl, from guest to +guest; and each one usually sang or played when his turn came. The +weapons of the Saxons were stoutly made, and among them was a terrible +iron hammer that gave deadly blows, and was long remembered. The Saxons +themselves were a handsome people. The men were proud of their long fair +hair, parted on the forehead; their ample beards, their fresh +complexions, and clear eyes. The beauty of the Saxon women filled all +England with a new delight and grace. + +I have more to tell of the Saxons yet, but I stop to say this now, +because under the GREAT ALFRED, all the best points of the English-Saxon +character were first encouraged, and in him first shown. It has been the +greatest character among the nations of the earth. Wherever the +descendants of the Saxon race have gone, have sailed, or otherwise made +their way, even to the remotest regions of the world, they have been +patient, persevering, never to be broken in spirit, never to be turned +aside from enterprises on which they have resolved. In Europe, Asia, +Africa, America, the whole world over; in the desert, in the forest, on +the sea; scorched by a burning sun, or frozen by ice that never melts; +the Saxon blood remains unchanged. Wheresoever that race goes, there, +law, and industry, and safety for life and property, and all the great +results of steady perseverance, are certain to arise. + +I pause to think with admiration, of the noble king who, in his single +person, possessed all the Saxon virtues. Whom misfortune could not +subdue, whom prosperity could not spoil, whose perseverance nothing could +shake. Who was hopeful in defeat, and generous in success. Who loved +justice, freedom, truth, and knowledge. Who, in his care to instruct his +people, probably did more to preserve the beautiful old Saxon language, +than I can imagine. Without whom, the English tongue in which I tell +this story might have wanted half its meaning. As it is said that his +spirit still inspires some of our best English laws, so, let you and I +pray that it may animate our English hearts, at least to this--to +resolve, when we see any of our fellow-creatures left in ignorance, that +we will do our best, while life is in us, to have them taught; and to +tell those rulers whose duty it is to teach them, and who neglect their +duty, that they have profited very little by all the years that have +rolled away since the year nine hundred and one, and that they are far +behind the bright example of KING ALFRED THE GREAT. + + + + +CHAPTER IV--ENGLAND UNDER ATHELSTAN AND THE SIX BOY-KINGS + + +Athelstan, the son of Edward the Elder, succeeded that king. He reigned +only fifteen years; but he remembered the glory of his grandfather, the +great Alfred, and governed England well. He reduced the turbulent people +of Wales, and obliged them to pay him a tribute in money, and in cattle, +and to send him their best hawks and hounds. He was victorious over the +Cornish men, who were not yet quite under the Saxon government. He +restored such of the old laws as were good, and had fallen into disuse; +made some wise new laws, and took care of the poor and weak. A strong +alliance, made against him by ANLAF a Danish prince, CONSTANTINE King of +the Scots, and the people of North Wales, he broke and defeated in one +great battle, long famous for the vast numbers slain in it. After that, +he had a quiet reign; the lords and ladies about him had leisure to +become polite and agreeable; and foreign princes were glad (as they have +sometimes been since) to come to England on visits to the English court. + +When Athelstan died, at forty-seven years old, his brother EDMUND, who +was only eighteen, became king. He was the first of six boy-kings, as +you will presently know. + +They called him the Magnificent, because he showed a taste for +improvement and refinement. But he was beset by the Danes, and had a +short and troubled reign, which came to a troubled end. One night, when +he was feasting in his hall, and had eaten much and drunk deep, he saw, +among the company, a noted robber named LEOF, who had been banished from +England. Made very angry by the boldness of this man, the King turned to +his cup-bearer, and said, 'There is a robber sitting at the table yonder, +who, for his crimes, is an outlaw in the land--a hunted wolf, whose life +any man may take, at any time. Command that robber to depart!' 'I will +not depart!' said Leof. 'No?' cried the King. 'No, by the Lord!' said +Leof. Upon that the King rose from his seat, and, making passionately at +the robber, and seizing him by his long hair, tried to throw him down. +But the robber had a dagger underneath his cloak, and, in the scuffle, +stabbed the King to death. That done, he set his back against the wall, +and fought so desperately, that although he was soon cut to pieces by the +King's armed men, and the wall and pavement were splashed with his blood, +yet it was not before he had killed and wounded many of them. You may +imagine what rough lives the kings of those times led, when one of them +could struggle, half drunk, with a public robber in his own dining-hall, +and be stabbed in presence of the company who ate and drank with him. + +Then succeeded the boy-king EDRED, who was weak and sickly in body, but +of a strong mind. And his armies fought the Northmen, the Danes, and +Norwegians, or the Sea-Kings, as they were called, and beat them for the +time. And, in nine years, Edred died, and passed away. + +Then came the boy-king EDWY, fifteen years of age; but the real king, who +had the real power, was a monk named DUNSTAN--a clever priest, a little +mad, and not a little proud and cruel. + +Dunstan was then Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, whither the body of King +Edmund the Magnificent was carried, to be buried. While yet a boy, he +had got out of his bed one night (being then in a fever), and walked +about Glastonbury Church when it was under repair; and, because he did +not tumble off some scaffolds that were there, and break his neck, it was +reported that he had been shown over the building by an angel. He had +also made a harp that was said to play of itself--which it very likely +did, as AEolian Harps, which are played by the wind, and are understood +now, always do. For these wonders he had been once denounced by his +enemies, who were jealous of his favour with the late King Athelstan, as +a magician; and he had been waylaid, bound hand and foot, and thrown into +a marsh. But he got out again, somehow, to cause a great deal of trouble +yet. + +The priests of those days were, generally, the only scholars. They were +learned in many things. Having to make their own convents and +monasteries on uncultivated grounds that were granted to them by the +Crown, it was necessary that they should be good farmers and good +gardeners, or their lands would have been too poor to support them. For +the decoration of the chapels where they prayed, and for the comfort of +the refectories where they ate and drank, it was necessary that there +should be good carpenters, good smiths, good painters, among them. For +their greater safety in sickness and accident, living alone by themselves +in solitary places, it was necessary that they should study the virtues +of plants and herbs, and should know how to dress cuts, burns, scalds, +and bruises, and how to set broken limbs. Accordingly, they taught +themselves, and one another, a great variety of useful arts; and became +skilful in agriculture, medicine, surgery, and handicraft. And when they +wanted the aid of any little piece of machinery, which would be simple +enough now, but was marvellous then, to impose a trick upon the poor +peasants, they knew very well how to make it; and _did_ make it many a +time and often, I have no doubt. + +Dunstan, Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, was one of the most sagacious of +these monks. He was an ingenious smith, and worked at a forge in a +little cell. This cell was made too short to admit of his lying at full +length when he went to sleep--as if _that_ did any good to anybody!--and +he used to tell the most extraordinary lies about demons and spirits, +who, he said, came there to persecute him. For instance, he related that +one day when he was at work, the devil looked in at the little window, +and tried to tempt him to lead a life of idle pleasure; whereupon, having +his pincers in the fire, red hot, he seized the devil by the nose, and +put him to such pain, that his bellowings were heard for miles and miles. +Some people are inclined to think this nonsense a part of Dunstan's +madness (for his head never quite recovered the fever), but I think not. +I observe that it induced the ignorant people to consider him a holy man, +and that it made him very powerful. Which was exactly what he always +wanted. + +On the day of the coronation of the handsome boy-king Edwy, it was +remarked by ODO, Archbishop of Canterbury (who was a Dane by birth), that +the King quietly left the coronation feast, while all the company were +there. Odo, much displeased, sent his friend Dunstan to seek him. +Dunstan finding him in the company of his beautiful young wife ELGIVA, +and her mother ETHELGIVA, a good and virtuous lady, not only grossly +abused them, but dragged the young King back into the feasting-hall by +force. Some, again, think Dunstan did this because the young King's fair +wife was his own cousin, and the monks objected to people marrying their +own cousins; but I believe he did it, because he was an imperious, +audacious, ill-conditioned priest, who, having loved a young lady himself +before he became a sour monk, hated all love now, and everything +belonging to it. + +The young King was quite old enough to feel this insult. Dunstan had +been Treasurer in the last reign, and he soon charged Dunstan with having +taken some of the last king's money. The Glastonbury Abbot fled to +Belgium (very narrowly escaping some pursuers who were sent to put out +his eyes, as you will wish they had, when you read what follows), and his +abbey was given to priests who were married; whom he always, both before +and afterwards, opposed. But he quickly conspired with his friend, Odo +the Dane, to set up the King's young brother, EDGAR, as his rival for the +throne; and, not content with this revenge, he caused the beautiful queen +Elgiva, though a lovely girl of only seventeen or eighteen, to be stolen +from one of the Royal Palaces, branded in the cheek with a red-hot iron, +and sold into slavery in Ireland. But the Irish people pitied and +befriended her; and they said, 'Let us restore the girl-queen to the boy- +king, and make the young lovers happy!' and they cured her of her cruel +wound, and sent her home as beautiful as before. But the villain +Dunstan, and that other villain, Odo, caused her to be waylaid at +Gloucester as she was joyfully hurrying to join her husband, and to be +hacked and hewn with swords, and to be barbarously maimed and lamed, and +left to die. When Edwy the Fair (his people called him so, because he +was so young and handsome) heard of her dreadful fate, he died of a +broken heart; and so the pitiful story of the poor young wife and husband +ends! Ah! Better to be two cottagers in these better times, than king +and queen of England in those bad days, though never so fair! + +Then came the boy-king, EDGAR, called the Peaceful, fifteen years old. +Dunstan, being still the real king, drove all married priests out of the +monasteries and abbeys, and replaced them by solitary monks like himself, +of the rigid order called the Benedictines. He made himself Archbishop +of Canterbury, for his greater glory; and exercised such power over the +neighbouring British princes, and so collected them about the King, that +once, when the King held his court at Chester, and went on the river Dee +to visit the monastery of St. John, the eight oars of his boat were +pulled (as the people used to delight in relating in stories and songs) +by eight crowned kings, and steered by the King of England. As Edgar was +very obedient to Dunstan and the monks, they took great pains to +represent him as the best of kings. But he was really profligate, +debauched, and vicious. He once forcibly carried off a young lady from +the convent at Wilton; and Dunstan, pretending to be very much shocked, +condemned him not to wear his crown upon his head for seven years--no +great punishment, I dare say, as it can hardly have been a more +comfortable ornament to wear, than a stewpan without a handle. His +marriage with his second wife, ELFRIDA, is one of the worst events of his +reign. Hearing of the beauty of this lady, he despatched his favourite +courtier, ATHELWOLD, to her father's castle in Devonshire, to see if she +were really as charming as fame reported. Now, she was so exceedingly +beautiful that Athelwold fell in love with her himself, and married her; +but he told the King that she was only rich--not handsome. The King, +suspecting the truth when they came home, resolved to pay the +newly-married couple a visit; and, suddenly, told Athelwold to prepare +for his immediate coming. Athelwold, terrified, confessed to his young +wife what he had said and done, and implored her to disguise her beauty +by some ugly dress or silly manner, that he might be safe from the King's +anger. She promised that she would; but she was a proud woman, who would +far rather have been a queen than the wife of a courtier. She dressed +herself in her best dress, and adorned herself with her richest jewels; +and when the King came, presently, he discovered the cheat. So, he +caused his false friend, Athelwold, to be murdered in a wood, and married +his widow, this bad Elfrida. Six or seven years afterwards, he died; and +was buried, as if he had been all that the monks said he was, in the +abbey of Glastonbury, which he--or Dunstan for him--had much enriched. + +England, in one part of this reign, was so troubled by wolves, which, +driven out of the open country, hid themselves in the mountains of Wales +when they were not attacking travellers and animals, that the tribute +payable by the Welsh people was forgiven them, on condition of their +producing, every year, three hundred wolves' heads. And the Welshmen +were so sharp upon the wolves, to save their money, that in four years +there was not a wolf left. + +Then came the boy-king, EDWARD, called the Martyr, from the manner of his +death. Elfrida had a son, named ETHELRED, for whom she claimed the +throne; but Dunstan did not choose to favour him, and he made Edward +king. The boy was hunting, one day, down in Dorsetshire, when he rode +near to Corfe Castle, where Elfrida and Ethelred lived. Wishing to see +them kindly, he rode away from his attendants and galloped to the castle +gate, where he arrived at twilight, and blew his hunting-horn. 'You are +welcome, dear King,' said Elfrida, coming out, with her brightest smiles. +'Pray you dismount and enter.' 'Not so, dear madam,' said the King. 'My +company will miss me, and fear that I have met with some harm. Please +you to give me a cup of wine, that I may drink here, in the saddle, to +you and to my little brother, and so ride away with the good speed I have +made in riding here.' Elfrida, going in to bring the wine, whispered an +armed servant, one of her attendants, who stole out of the darkening +gateway, and crept round behind the King's horse. As the King raised the +cup to his lips, saying, 'Health!' to the wicked woman who was smiling on +him, and to his innocent brother whose hand she held in hers, and who was +only ten years old, this armed man made a spring and stabbed him in the +back. He dropped the cup and spurred his horse away; but, soon fainting +with loss of blood, dropped from the saddle, and, in his fall, entangled +one of his feet in the stirrup. The frightened horse dashed on; trailing +his rider's curls upon the ground; dragging his smooth young face through +ruts, and stones, and briers, and fallen leaves, and mud; until the +hunters, tracking the animal's course by the King's blood, caught his +bridle, and released the disfigured body. + +Then came the sixth and last of the boy-kings, ETHELRED, whom Elfrida, +when he cried out at the sight of his murdered brother riding away from +the castle gate, unmercifully beat with a torch which she snatched from +one of the attendants. The people so disliked this boy, on account of +his cruel mother and the murder she had done to promote him, that Dunstan +would not have had him for king, but would have made EDGITHA, the +daughter of the dead King Edgar, and of the lady whom he stole out of the +convent at Wilton, Queen of England, if she would have consented. But +she knew the stories of the youthful kings too well, and would not be +persuaded from the convent where she lived in peace; so, Dunstan put +Ethelred on the throne, having no one else to put there, and gave him the +nickname of THE UNREADY--knowing that he wanted resolution and firmness. + +At first, Elfrida possessed great influence over the young King, but, as +he grew older and came of age, her influence declined. The infamous +woman, not having it in her power to do any more evil, then retired from +court, and, according, to the fashion of the time, built churches and +monasteries, to expiate her guilt. As if a church, with a steeple +reaching to the very stars, would have been any sign of true repentance +for the blood of the poor boy, whose murdered form was trailed at his +horse's heels! As if she could have buried her wickedness beneath the +senseless stones of the whole world, piled up one upon another, for the +monks to live in! + +About the ninth or tenth year of this reign, Dunstan died. He was +growing old then, but was as stern and artful as ever. Two circumstances +that happened in connexion with him, in this reign of Ethelred, made a +great noise. Once, he was present at a meeting of the Church, when the +question was discussed whether priests should have permission to marry; +and, as he sat with his head hung down, apparently thinking about it, a +voice seemed to come out of a crucifix in the room, and warn the meeting +to be of his opinion. This was some juggling of Dunstan's, and was +probably his own voice disguised. But he played off a worse juggle than +that, soon afterwards; for, another meeting being held on the same +subject, and he and his supporters being seated on one side of a great +room, and their opponents on the other, he rose and said, 'To Christ +himself, as judge, do I commit this cause!' Immediately on these words +being spoken, the floor where the opposite party sat gave way, and some +were killed and many wounded. You may be pretty sure that it had been +weakened under Dunstan's direction, and that it fell at Dunstan's signal. +_His_ part of the floor did not go down. No, no. He was too good a +workman for that. + +When he died, the monks settled that he was a Saint, and called him Saint +Dunstan ever afterwards. They might just as well have settled that he +was a coach-horse, and could just as easily have called him one. + +Ethelred the Unready was glad enough, I dare say, to be rid of this holy +saint; but, left to himself, he was a poor weak king, and his reign was a +reign of defeat and shame. The restless Danes, led by SWEYN, a son of +the King of Denmark who had quarrelled with his father and had been +banished from home, again came into England, and, year after year, +attacked and despoiled large towns. To coax these sea-kings away, the +weak Ethelred paid them money; but, the more money he paid, the more +money the Danes wanted. At first, he gave them ten thousand pounds; on +their next invasion, sixteen thousand pounds; on their next invasion, +four and twenty thousand pounds: to pay which large sums, the unfortunate +English people were heavily taxed. But, as the Danes still came back and +wanted more, he thought it would be a good plan to marry into some +powerful foreign family that would help him with soldiers. So, in the +year one thousand and two, he courted and married Emma, the sister of +Richard Duke of Normandy; a lady who was called the Flower of Normandy. + +And now, a terrible deed was done in England, the like of which was never +done on English ground before or since. On the thirteenth of November, +in pursuance of secret instructions sent by the King over the whole +country, the inhabitants of every town and city armed, and murdered all +the Danes who were their neighbours. + +Young and old, babies and soldiers, men and women, every Dane was killed. +No doubt there were among them many ferocious men who had done the +English great wrong, and whose pride and insolence, in swaggering in the +houses of the English and insulting their wives and daughters, had become +unbearable; but no doubt there were also among them many peaceful +Christian Danes who had married English women and become like English +men. They were all slain, even to GUNHILDA, the sister of the King of +Denmark, married to an English lord; who was first obliged to see the +murder of her husband and her child, and then was killed herself. + +When the King of the sea-kings heard of this deed of blood, he swore that +he would have a great revenge. He raised an army, and a mightier fleet +of ships than ever yet had sailed to England; and in all his army there +was not a slave or an old man, but every soldier was a free man, and the +son of a free man, and in the prime of life, and sworn to be revenged +upon the English nation, for the massacre of that dread thirteenth of +November, when his countrymen and countrywomen, and the little children +whom they loved, were killed with fire and sword. And so, the sea-kings +came to England in many great ships, each bearing the flag of its own +commander. Golden eagles, ravens, dragons, dolphins, beasts of prey, +threatened England from the prows of those ships, as they came onward +through the water; and were reflected in the shining shields that hung +upon their sides. The ship that bore the standard of the King of the sea- +kings was carved and painted like a mighty serpent; and the King in his +anger prayed that the Gods in whom he trusted might all desert him, if +his serpent did not strike its fangs into England's heart. + +And indeed it did. For, the great army landing from the great fleet, +near Exeter, went forward, laying England waste, and striking their +lances in the earth as they advanced, or throwing them into rivers, in +token of their making all the island theirs. In remembrance of the black +November night when the Danes were murdered, wheresoever the invaders +came, they made the Saxons prepare and spread for them great feasts; and +when they had eaten those feasts, and had drunk a curse to England with +wild rejoicings, they drew their swords, and killed their Saxon +entertainers, and marched on. For six long years they carried on this +war: burning the crops, farmhouses, barns, mills, granaries; killing the +labourers in the fields; preventing the seed from being sown in the +ground; causing famine and starvation; leaving only heaps of ruin and +smoking ashes, where they had found rich towns. To crown this misery, +English officers and men deserted, and even the favourites of Ethelred +the Unready, becoming traitors, seized many of the English ships, turned +pirates against their own country, and aided by a storm occasioned the +loss of nearly the whole English navy. + +There was but one man of note, at this miserable pass, who was true to +his country and the feeble King. He was a priest, and a brave one. For +twenty days, the Archbishop of Canterbury defended that city against its +Danish besiegers; and when a traitor in the town threw the gates open and +admitted them, he said, in chains, 'I will not buy my life with money +that must be extorted from the suffering people. Do with me what you +please!' Again and again, he steadily refused to purchase his release +with gold wrung from the poor. + +At last, the Danes being tired of this, and being assembled at a drunken +merry-making, had him brought into the feasting-hall. + +'Now, bishop,' they said, 'we want gold!' + +He looked round on the crowd of angry faces; from the shaggy beards close +to him, to the shaggy beards against the walls, where men were mounted on +tables and forms to see him over the heads of others: and he knew that +his time was come. + +'I have no gold,' he said. + +'Get it, bishop!' they all thundered. + +'That, I have often told you I will not,' said he. + +They gathered closer round him, threatening, but he stood unmoved. Then, +one man struck him; then, another; then a cursing soldier picked up from +a heap in a corner of the hall, where fragments had been rudely thrown at +dinner, a great ox-bone, and cast it at his face, from which the blood +came spurting forth; then, others ran to the same heap, and knocked him +down with other bones, and bruised and battered him; until one soldier +whom he had baptised (willing, as I hope for the sake of that soldier's +soul, to shorten the sufferings of the good man) struck him dead with his +battle-axe. + +If Ethelred had had the heart to emulate the courage of this noble +archbishop, he might have done something yet. But he paid the Danes +forty-eight thousand pounds, instead, and gained so little by the +cowardly act, that Sweyn soon afterwards came over to subdue all England. +So broken was the attachment of the English people, by this time, to +their incapable King and their forlorn country which could not protect +them, that they welcomed Sweyn on all sides, as a deliverer. London +faithfully stood out, as long as the King was within its walls; but, when +he sneaked away, it also welcomed the Dane. Then, all was over; and the +King took refuge abroad with the Duke of Normandy, who had already given +shelter to the King's wife, once the Flower of that country, and to her +children. + +Still, the English people, in spite of their sad sufferings, could not +quite forget the great King Alfred and the Saxon race. When Sweyn died +suddenly, in little more than a month after he had been proclaimed King +of England, they generously sent to Ethelred, to say that they would have +him for their King again, 'if he would only govern them better than he +had governed them before.' The Unready, instead of coming himself, sent +Edward, one of his sons, to make promises for him. At last, he followed, +and the English declared him King. The Danes declared CANUTE, the son of +Sweyn, King. Thus, direful war began again, and lasted for three years, +when the Unready died. And I know of nothing better that he did, in all +his reign of eight and thirty years. + +Was Canute to be King now? Not over the Saxons, they said; they must +have EDMUND, one of the sons of the Unready, who was surnamed IRONSIDE, +because of his strength and stature. Edmund and Canute thereupon fell +to, and fought five battles--O unhappy England, what a fighting-ground it +was!--and then Ironside, who was a big man, proposed to Canute, who was a +little man, that they two should fight it out in single combat. If +Canute had been the big man, he would probably have said yes, but, being +the little man, he decidedly said no. However, he declared that he was +willing to divide the kingdom--to take all that lay north of Watling +Street, as the old Roman military road from Dover to Chester was called, +and to give Ironside all that lay south of it. Most men being weary of +so much bloodshed, this was done. But Canute soon became sole King of +England; for Ironside died suddenly within two months. Some think that +he was killed, and killed by Canute's orders. No one knows. + + + + +CHAPTER V--ENGLAND UNDER CANUTE THE DANE + + +Canute reigned eighteen years. He was a merciless King at first. After +he had clasped the hands of the Saxon chiefs, in token of the sincerity +with which he swore to be just and good to them in return for their +acknowledging him, he denounced and slew many of them, as well as many +relations of the late King. 'He who brings me the head of one of my +enemies,' he used to say, 'shall be dearer to me than a brother.' And he +was so severe in hunting down his enemies, that he must have got together +a pretty large family of these dear brothers. He was strongly inclined +to kill EDMUND and EDWARD, two children, sons of poor Ironside; but, +being afraid to do so in England, he sent them over to the King of +Sweden, with a request that the King would be so good as 'dispose of +them.' If the King of Sweden had been like many, many other men of that +day, he would have had their innocent throats cut; but he was a kind man, +and brought them up tenderly. + +Normandy ran much in Canute's mind. In Normandy were the two children of +the late king--EDWARD and ALFRED by name; and their uncle the Duke might +one day claim the crown for them. But the Duke showed so little +inclination to do so now, that he proposed to Canute to marry his sister, +the widow of The Unready; who, being but a showy flower, and caring for +nothing so much as becoming a queen again, left her children and was +wedded to him. + +Successful and triumphant, assisted by the valour of the English in his +foreign wars, and with little strife to trouble him at home, Canute had a +prosperous reign, and made many improvements. He was a poet and a +musician. He grew sorry, as he grew older, for the blood he had shed at +first; and went to Rome in a Pilgrim's dress, by way of washing it out. +He gave a great deal of money to foreigners on his journey; but he took +it from the English before he started. On the whole, however, he +certainly became a far better man when he had no opposition to contend +with, and was as great a King as England had known for some time. + +The old writers of history relate how that Canute was one day disgusted +with his courtiers for their flattery, and how he caused his chair to be +set on the sea-shore, and feigned to command the tide as it came up not +to wet the edge of his robe, for the land was his; how the tide came up, +of course, without regarding him; and how he then turned to his +flatterers, and rebuked them, saying, what was the might of any earthly +king, to the might of the Creator, who could say unto the sea, 'Thus far +shalt thou go, and no farther!' We may learn from this, I think, that a +little sense will go a long way in a king; and that courtiers are not +easily cured of flattery, nor kings of a liking for it. If the courtiers +of Canute had not known, long before, that the King was fond of flattery, +they would have known better than to offer it in such large doses. And +if they had not known that he was vain of this speech (anything but a +wonderful speech it seems to me, if a good child had made it), they would +not have been at such great pains to repeat it. I fancy I see them all +on the sea-shore together; the King's chair sinking in the sand; the King +in a mighty good humour with his own wisdom; and the courtiers pretending +to be quite stunned by it! + +It is not the sea alone that is bidden to go 'thus far, and no farther.' +The great command goes forth to all the kings upon the earth, and went to +Canute in the year one thousand and thirty-five, and stretched him dead +upon his bed. Beside it, stood his Norman wife. Perhaps, as the King +looked his last upon her, he, who had so often thought distrustfully of +Normandy, long ago, thought once more of the two exiled Princes in their +uncle's court, and of the little favour they could feel for either Danes +or Saxons, and of a rising cloud in Normandy that slowly moved towards +England. + + + + +CHAPTER VI--ENGLAND UNDER HAROLD HAREFOOT, HARDICANUTE, AND EDWARD THE +CONFESSOR + + +Canute left three sons, by name SWEYN, HAROLD, and HARDICANUTE; but his +Queen, Emma, once the Flower of Normandy, was the mother of only +Hardicanute. Canute had wished his dominions to be divided between the +three, and had wished Harold to have England; but the Saxon people in the +South of England, headed by a nobleman with great possessions, called the +powerful EARL GODWIN (who is said to have been originally a poor +cow-boy), opposed this, and desired to have, instead, either Hardicanute, +or one of the two exiled Princes who were over in Normandy. It seemed so +certain that there would be more bloodshed to settle this dispute, that +many people left their homes, and took refuge in the woods and swamps. +Happily, however, it was agreed to refer the whole question to a great +meeting at Oxford, which decided that Harold should have all the country +north of the Thames, with London for his capital city, and that +Hardicanute should have all the south. The quarrel was so arranged; and, +as Hardicanute was in Denmark troubling himself very little about +anything but eating and getting drunk, his mother and Earl Godwin +governed the south for him. + +They had hardly begun to do so, and the trembling people who had hidden +themselves were scarcely at home again, when Edward, the elder of the two +exiled Princes, came over from Normandy with a few followers, to claim +the English Crown. His mother Emma, however, who only cared for her last +son Hardicanute, instead of assisting him, as he expected, opposed him so +strongly with all her influence that he was very soon glad to get safely +back. His brother Alfred was not so fortunate. Believing in an +affectionate letter, written some time afterwards to him and his brother, +in his mother's name (but whether really with or without his mother's +knowledge is now uncertain), he allowed himself to be tempted over to +England, with a good force of soldiers, and landing on the Kentish coast, +and being met and welcomed by Earl Godwin, proceeded into Surrey, as far +as the town of Guildford. Here, he and his men halted in the evening to +rest, having still the Earl in their company; who had ordered lodgings +and good cheer for them. But, in the dead of the night, when they were +off their guard, being divided into small parties sleeping soundly after +a long march and a plentiful supper in different houses, they were set +upon by the King's troops, and taken prisoners. Next morning they were +drawn out in a line, to the number of six hundred men, and were +barbarously tortured and killed; with the exception of every tenth man, +who was sold into slavery. As to the wretched Prince Alfred, he was +stripped naked, tied to a horse and sent away into the Isle of Ely, where +his eyes were torn out of his head, and where in a few days he miserably +died. I am not sure that the Earl had wilfully entrapped him, but I +suspect it strongly. + +Harold was now King all over England, though it is doubtful whether the +Archbishop of Canterbury (the greater part of the priests were Saxons, +and not friendly to the Danes) ever consented to crown him. Crowned or +uncrowned, with the Archbishop's leave or without it, he was King for +four years: after which short reign he died, and was buried; having never +done much in life but go a hunting. He was such a fast runner at this, +his favourite sport, that the people called him Harold Harefoot. + +Hardicanute was then at Bruges, in Flanders, plotting, with his mother +(who had gone over there after the cruel murder of Prince Alfred), for +the invasion of England. The Danes and Saxons, finding themselves +without a King, and dreading new disputes, made common cause, and joined +in inviting him to occupy the Throne. He consented, and soon troubled +them enough; for he brought over numbers of Danes, and taxed the people +so insupportably to enrich those greedy favourites that there were many +insurrections, especially one at Worcester, where the citizens rose and +killed his tax-collectors; in revenge for which he burned their city. He +was a brutal King, whose first public act was to order the dead body of +poor Harold Harefoot to be dug up, beheaded, and thrown into the river. +His end was worthy of such a beginning. He fell down drunk, with a +goblet of wine in his hand, at a wedding-feast at Lambeth, given in +honour of the marriage of his standard-bearer, a Dane named TOWED THE +PROUD. And he never spoke again. + +EDWARD, afterwards called by the monks THE CONFESSOR, succeeded; and his +first act was to oblige his mother Emma, who had favoured him so little, +to retire into the country; where she died some ten years afterwards. He +was the exiled prince whose brother Alfred had been so foully killed. He +had been invited over from Normandy by Hardicanute, in the course of his +short reign of two years, and had been handsomely treated at court. His +cause was now favoured by the powerful Earl Godwin, and he was soon made +King. This Earl had been suspected by the people, ever since Prince +Alfred's cruel death; he had even been tried in the last reign for the +Prince's murder, but had been pronounced not guilty; chiefly, as it was +supposed, because of a present he had made to the swinish King, of a +gilded ship with a figure-head of solid gold, and a crew of eighty +splendidly armed men. It was his interest to help the new King with his +power, if the new King would help him against the popular distrust and +hatred. So they made a bargain. Edward the Confessor got the Throne. +The Earl got more power and more land, and his daughter Editha was made +queen; for it was a part of their compact that the King should take her +for his wife. + +But, although she was a gentle lady, in all things worthy to be +beloved--good, beautiful, sensible, and kind--the King from the first +neglected her. Her father and her six proud brothers, resenting this +cold treatment, harassed the King greatly by exerting all their power to +make him unpopular. Having lived so long in Normandy, he preferred the +Normans to the English. He made a Norman Archbishop, and Norman Bishops; +his great officers and favourites were all Normans; he introduced the +Norman fashions and the Norman language; in imitation of the state custom +of Normandy, he attached a great seal to his state documents, instead of +merely marking them, as the Saxon Kings had done, with the sign of the +cross--just as poor people who have never been taught to write, now make +the same mark for their names. All this, the powerful Earl Godwin and +his six proud sons represented to the people as disfavour shown towards +the English; and thus they daily increased their own power, and daily +diminished the power of the King. + +They were greatly helped by an event that occurred when he had reigned +eight years. Eustace, Earl of Bologne, who had married the King's +sister, came to England on a visit. After staying at the court some +time, he set forth, with his numerous train of attendants, to return +home. They were to embark at Dover. Entering that peaceful town in +armour, they took possession of the best houses, and noisily demanded to +be lodged and entertained without payment. One of the bold men of Dover, +who would not endure to have these domineering strangers jingling their +heavy swords and iron corselets up and down his house, eating his meat +and drinking his strong liquor, stood in his doorway and refused +admission to the first armed man who came there. The armed man drew, and +wounded him. The man of Dover struck the armed man dead. Intelligence +of what he had done, spreading through the streets to where the Count +Eustace and his men were standing by their horses, bridle in hand, they +passionately mounted, galloped to the house, surrounded it, forced their +way in (the doors and windows being closed when they came up), and killed +the man of Dover at his own fireside. They then clattered through the +streets, cutting down and riding over men, women, and children. This did +not last long, you may believe. The men of Dover set upon them with +great fury, killed nineteen of the foreigners, wounded many more, and, +blockading the road to the port so that they should not embark, beat them +out of the town by the way they had come. Hereupon, Count Eustace rides +as hard as man can ride to Gloucester, where Edward is, surrounded by +Norman monks and Norman lords. 'Justice!' cries the Count, 'upon the men +of Dover, who have set upon and slain my people!' The King sends +immediately for the powerful Earl Godwin, who happens to be near; reminds +him that Dover is under his government; and orders him to repair to Dover +and do military execution on the inhabitants. 'It does not become you,' +says the proud Earl in reply, 'to condemn without a hearing those whom +you have sworn to protect. I will not do it.' + +The King, therefore, summoned the Earl, on pain of banishment and loss of +his titles and property, to appear before the court to answer this +disobedience. The Earl refused to appear. He, his eldest son Harold, +and his second son Sweyn, hastily raised as many fighting men as their +utmost power could collect, and demanded to have Count Eustace and his +followers surrendered to the justice of the country. The King, in his +turn, refused to give them up, and raised a strong force. After some +treaty and delay, the troops of the great Earl and his sons began to fall +off. The Earl, with a part of his family and abundance of treasure, +sailed to Flanders; Harold escaped to Ireland; and the power of the great +family was for that time gone in England. But, the people did not forget +them. + +Then, Edward the Confessor, with the true meanness of a mean spirit, +visited his dislike of the once powerful father and sons upon the +helpless daughter and sister, his unoffending wife, whom all who saw her +(her husband and his monks excepted) loved. He seized rapaciously upon +her fortune and her jewels, and allowing her only one attendant, confined +her in a gloomy convent, of which a sister of his--no doubt an unpleasant +lady after his own heart--was abbess or jailer. + +Having got Earl Godwin and his six sons well out of his way, the King +favoured the Normans more than ever. He invited over WILLIAM, DUKE OF +NORMANDY, the son of that Duke who had received him and his murdered +brother long ago, and of a peasant girl, a tanner's daughter, with whom +that Duke had fallen in love for her beauty as he saw her washing clothes +in a brook. William, who was a great warrior, with a passion for fine +horses, dogs, and arms, accepted the invitation; and the Normans in +England, finding themselves more numerous than ever when he arrived with +his retinue, and held in still greater honour at court than before, +became more and more haughty towards the people, and were more and more +disliked by them. + +The old Earl Godwin, though he was abroad, knew well how the people felt; +for, with part of the treasure he had carried away with him, he kept +spies and agents in his pay all over England. + +Accordingly, he thought the time was come for fitting out a great +expedition against the Norman-loving King. With it, he sailed to the +Isle of Wight, where he was joined by his son Harold, the most gallant +and brave of all his family. And so the father and son came sailing up +the Thames to Southwark; great numbers of the people declaring for them, +and shouting for the English Earl and the English Harold, against the +Norman favourites! + +The King was at first as blind and stubborn as kings usually have been +whensoever they have been in the hands of monks. But the people rallied +so thickly round the old Earl and his son, and the old Earl was so steady +in demanding without bloodshed the restoration of himself and his family +to their rights, that at last the court took the alarm. The Norman +Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Norman Bishop of London, surrounded by +their retainers, fought their way out of London, and escaped from Essex +to France in a fishing-boat. The other Norman favourites dispersed in +all directions. The old Earl and his sons (except Sweyn, who had +committed crimes against the law) were restored to their possessions and +dignities. Editha, the virtuous and lovely Queen of the insensible King, +was triumphantly released from her prison, the convent, and once more sat +in her chair of state, arrayed in the jewels of which, when she had no +champion to support her rights, her cold-blooded husband had deprived +her. + +The old Earl Godwin did not long enjoy his restored fortune. He fell +down in a fit at the King's table, and died upon the third day +afterwards. Harold succeeded to his power, and to a far higher place in +the attachment of the people than his father had ever held. By his +valour he subdued the King's enemies in many bloody fights. He was +vigorous against rebels in Scotland--this was the time when Macbeth slew +Duncan, upon which event our English Shakespeare, hundreds of years +afterwards, wrote his great tragedy; and he killed the restless Welsh +King GRIFFITH, and brought his head to England. + +What Harold was doing at sea, when he was driven on the French coast by a +tempest, is not at all certain; nor does it at all matter. That his ship +was forced by a storm on that shore, and that he was taken prisoner, +there is no doubt. In those barbarous days, all shipwrecked strangers +were taken prisoners, and obliged to pay ransom. So, a certain Count +Guy, who was the Lord of Ponthieu where Harold's disaster happened, +seized him, instead of relieving him like a hospitable and Christian lord +as he ought to have done, and expected to make a very good thing of it. + +But Harold sent off immediately to Duke William of Normandy, complaining +of this treatment; and the Duke no sooner heard of it than he ordered +Harold to be escorted to the ancient town of Rouen, where he then was, +and where he received him as an honoured guest. Now, some writers tell +us that Edward the Confessor, who was by this time old and had no +children, had made a will, appointing Duke William of Normandy his +successor, and had informed the Duke of his having done so. There is no +doubt that he was anxious about his successor; because he had even +invited over, from abroad, EDWARD THE OUTLAW, a son of Ironside, who had +come to England with his wife and three children, but whom the King had +strangely refused to see when he did come, and who had died in London +suddenly (princes were terribly liable to sudden death in those days), +and had been buried in St. Paul's Cathedral. The King might possibly +have made such a will; or, having always been fond of the Normans, he +might have encouraged Norman William to aspire to the English crown, by +something that he said to him when he was staying at the English court. +But, certainly William did now aspire to it; and knowing that Harold +would be a powerful rival, he called together a great assembly of his +nobles, offered Harold his daughter ADELE in marriage, informed him that +he meant on King Edward's death to claim the English crown as his own +inheritance, and required Harold then and there to swear to aid him. +Harold, being in the Duke's power, took this oath upon the Missal, or +Prayer-book. It is a good example of the superstitions of the monks, +that this Missal, instead of being placed upon a table, was placed upon a +tub; which, when Harold had sworn, was uncovered, and shown to be full of +dead men's bones--bones, as the monks pretended, of saints. This was +supposed to make Harold's oath a great deal more impressive and binding. +As if the great name of the Creator of Heaven and earth could be made +more solemn by a knuckle-bone, or a double-tooth, or a finger-nail, of +Dunstan! + +Within a week or two after Harold's return to England, the dreary old +Confessor was found to be dying. After wandering in his mind like a very +weak old man, he died. As he had put himself entirely in the hands of +the monks when he was alive, they praised him lustily when he was dead. +They had gone so far, already, as to persuade him that he could work +miracles; and had brought people afflicted with a bad disorder of the +skin, to him, to be touched and cured. This was called 'touching for the +King's Evil,' which afterwards became a royal custom. You know, however, +Who really touched the sick, and healed them; and you know His sacred +name is not among the dusty line of human kings. + + + + +CHAPTER VII--ENGLAND UNDER HAROLD THE SECOND, AND CONQUERED BY THE +NORMANS + + +Harold was crowned King of England on the very day of the maudlin +Confessor's funeral. He had good need to be quick about it. When the +news reached Norman William, hunting in his park at Rouen, he dropped his +bow, returned to his palace, called his nobles to council, and presently +sent ambassadors to Harold, calling on him to keep his oath and resign +the Crown. Harold would do no such thing. The barons of France leagued +together round Duke William for the invasion of England. Duke William +promised freely to distribute English wealth and English lands among +them. The Pope sent to Normandy a consecrated banner, and a ring +containing a hair which he warranted to have grown on the head of Saint +Peter. He blessed the enterprise; and cursed Harold; and requested that +the Normans would pay 'Peter's Pence'--or a tax to himself of a penny a +year on every house--a little more regularly in future, if they could +make it convenient. + +King Harold had a rebel brother in Flanders, who was a vassal of HAROLD +HARDRADA, King of Norway. This brother, and this Norwegian King, joining +their forces against England, with Duke William's help, won a fight in +which the English were commanded by two nobles; and then besieged York. +Harold, who was waiting for the Normans on the coast at Hastings, with +his army, marched to Stamford Bridge upon the river Derwent to give them +instant battle. + +He found them drawn up in a hollow circle, marked out by their shining +spears. Riding round this circle at a distance, to survey it, he saw a +brave figure on horseback, in a blue mantle and a bright helmet, whose +horse suddenly stumbled and threw him. + +'Who is that man who has fallen?' Harold asked of one of his captains. + +'The King of Norway,' he replied. + +'He is a tall and stately king,' said Harold, 'but his end is near.' + +He added, in a little while, 'Go yonder to my brother, and tell him, if +he withdraw his troops, he shall be Earl of Northumberland, and rich and +powerful in England.' + +The captain rode away and gave the message. + +'What will he give to my friend the King of Norway?' asked the brother. + +'Seven feet of earth for a grave,' replied the captain. + +'No more?' returned the brother, with a smile. + +'The King of Norway being a tall man, perhaps a little more,' replied the +captain. + +'Ride back!' said the brother, 'and tell King Harold to make ready for +the fight!' + +He did so, very soon. And such a fight King Harold led against that +force, that his brother, and the Norwegian King, and every chief of note +in all their host, except the Norwegian King's son, Olave, to whom he +gave honourable dismissal, were left dead upon the field. The victorious +army marched to York. As King Harold sat there at the feast, in the +midst of all his company, a stir was heard at the doors; and messengers +all covered with mire from riding far and fast through broken ground came +hurrying in, to report that the Normans had landed in England. + +The intelligence was true. They had been tossed about by contrary winds, +and some of their ships had been wrecked. A part of their own shore, to +which they had been driven back, was strewn with Norman bodies. But they +had once more made sail, led by the Duke's own galley, a present from his +wife, upon the prow whereof the figure of a golden boy stood pointing +towards England. By day, the banner of the three Lions of Normandy, the +diverse coloured sails, the gilded vans, the many decorations of this +gorgeous ship, had glittered in the sun and sunny water; by night, a +light had sparkled like a star at her mast-head. And now, encamped near +Hastings, with their leader lying in the old Roman castle of Pevensey, +the English retiring in all directions, the land for miles around +scorched and smoking, fired and pillaged, was the whole Norman power, +hopeful and strong on English ground. + +Harold broke up the feast and hurried to London. Within a week, his army +was ready. He sent out spies to ascertain the Norman strength. William +took them, caused them to be led through his whole camp, and then +dismissed. 'The Normans,' said these spies to Harold, 'are not bearded +on the upper lip as we English are, but are shorn. They are priests.' +'My men,' replied Harold, with a laugh, 'will find those priests good +soldiers!' + +'The Saxons,' reported Duke William's outposts of Norman soldiers, who +were instructed to retire as King Harold's army advanced, 'rush on us +through their pillaged country with the fury of madmen.' + +'Let them come, and come soon!' said Duke William. + +Some proposals for a reconciliation were made, but were soon abandoned. +In the middle of the month of October, in the year one thousand and sixty- +six, the Normans and the English came front to front. All night the +armies lay encamped before each other, in a part of the country then +called Senlac, now called (in remembrance of them) Battle. With the +first dawn of day, they arose. There, in the faint light, were the +English on a hill; a wood behind them; in their midst, the Royal banner, +representing a fighting warrior, woven in gold thread, adorned with +precious stones; beneath the banner, as it rustled in the wind, stood +King Harold on foot, with two of his remaining brothers by his side; +around them, still and silent as the dead, clustered the whole English +army--every soldier covered by his shield, and bearing in his hand his +dreaded English battle-axe. + +On an opposite hill, in three lines, archers, foot-soldiers, horsemen, +was the Norman force. Of a sudden, a great battle-cry, 'God help us!' +burst from the Norman lines. The English answered with their own battle- +cry, 'God's Rood! Holy Rood!' The Normans then came sweeping down the +hill to attack the English. + +There was one tall Norman Knight who rode before the Norman army on a +prancing horse, throwing up his heavy sword and catching it, and singing +of the bravery of his countrymen. An English Knight, who rode out from +the English force to meet him, fell by this Knight's hand. Another +English Knight rode out, and he fell too. But then a third rode out, and +killed the Norman. This was in the first beginning of the fight. It +soon raged everywhere. + +The English, keeping side by side in a great mass, cared no more for the +showers of Norman arrows than if they had been showers of Norman rain. +When the Norman horsemen rode against them, with their battle-axes they +cut men and horses down. The Normans gave way. The English pressed +forward. A cry went forth among the Norman troops that Duke William was +killed. Duke William took off his helmet, in order that his face might +be distinctly seen, and rode along the line before his men. This gave +them courage. As they turned again to face the English, some of their +Norman horse divided the pursuing body of the English from the rest, and +thus all that foremost portion of the English army fell, fighting +bravely. The main body still remaining firm, heedless of the Norman +arrows, and with their battle-axes cutting down the crowds of horsemen +when they rode up, like forests of young trees, Duke William pretended to +retreat. The eager English followed. The Norman army closed again, and +fell upon them with great slaughter. + +'Still,' said Duke William, 'there are thousands of the English, firms as +rocks around their King. Shoot upward, Norman archers, that your arrows +may fall down upon their faces!' + +The sun rose high, and sank, and the battle still raged. Through all the +wild October day, the clash and din resounded in the air. In the red +sunset, and in the white moonlight, heaps upon heaps of dead men lay +strewn, a dreadful spectacle, all over the ground. + +King Harold, wounded with an arrow in the eye, was nearly blind. His +brothers were already killed. Twenty Norman Knights, whose battered +armour had flashed fiery and golden in the sunshine all day long, and now +looked silvery in the moonlight, dashed forward to seize the Royal banner +from the English Knights and soldiers, still faithfully collected round +their blinded King. The King received a mortal wound, and dropped. The +English broke and fled. The Normans rallied, and the day was lost. + +O what a sight beneath the moon and stars, when lights were shining in +the tent of the victorious Duke William, which was pitched near the spot +where Harold fell--and he and his knights were carousing, within--and +soldiers with torches, going slowly to and fro, without, sought for the +corpse of Harold among piles of dead--and the Warrior, worked in golden +thread and precious stones, lay low, all torn and soiled with blood--and +the three Norman Lions kept watch over the field! + + + + +CHAPTER VIII--ENGLAND UNDER WILLIAM THE FIRST, THE NORMAN CONQUEROR + + +Upon the ground where the brave Harold fell, William the Norman +afterwards founded an abbey, which, under the name of Battle Abbey, was a +rich and splendid place through many a troubled year, though now it is a +grey ruin overgrown with ivy. But the first work he had to do, was to +conquer the English thoroughly; and that, as you know by this time, was +hard work for any man. + +He ravaged several counties; he burned and plundered many towns; he laid +waste scores upon scores of miles of pleasant country; he destroyed +innumerable lives. At length STIGAND, Archbishop of Canterbury, with +other representatives of the clergy and the people, went to his camp, and +submitted to him. EDGAR, the insignificant son of Edmund Ironside, was +proclaimed King by others, but nothing came of it. He fled to Scotland +afterwards, where his sister, who was young and beautiful, married the +Scottish King. Edgar himself was not important enough for anybody to +care much about him. + +On Christmas Day, William was crowned in Westminster Abbey, under the +title of WILLIAM THE FIRST; but he is best known as WILLIAM THE +CONQUEROR. It was a strange coronation. One of the bishops who +performed the ceremony asked the Normans, in French, if they would have +Duke William for their king? They answered Yes. Another of the bishops +put the same question to the Saxons, in English. They too answered Yes, +with a loud shout. The noise being heard by a guard of Norman +horse-soldiers outside, was mistaken for resistance on the part of the +English. The guard instantly set fire to the neighbouring houses, and a +tumult ensued; in the midst of which the King, being left alone in the +Abbey, with a few priests (and they all being in a terrible fright +together), was hurriedly crowned. When the crown was placed upon his +head, he swore to govern the English as well as the best of their own +monarchs. I dare say you think, as I do, that if we except the Great +Alfred, he might pretty easily have done that. + +Numbers of the English nobles had been killed in the last disastrous +battle. Their estates, and the estates of all the nobles who had fought +against him there, King William seized upon, and gave to his own Norman +knights and nobles. Many great English families of the present time +acquired their English lands in this way, and are very proud of it. + +But what is got by force must be maintained by force. These nobles were +obliged to build castles all over England, to defend their new property; +and, do what he would, the King could neither soothe nor quell the nation +as he wished. He gradually introduced the Norman language and the Norman +customs; yet, for a long time the great body of the English remained +sullen and revengeful. On his going over to Normandy, to visit his +subjects there, the oppressions of his half-brother ODO, whom he left in +charge of his English kingdom, drove the people mad. The men of Kent +even invited over, to take possession of Dover, their old enemy Count +Eustace of Boulogne, who had led the fray when the Dover man was slain at +his own fireside. The men of Hereford, aided by the Welsh, and commanded +by a chief named EDRIC THE WILD, drove the Normans out of their country. +Some of those who had been dispossessed of their lands, banded together +in the North of England; some, in Scotland; some, in the thick woods and +marshes; and whensoever they could fall upon the Normans, or upon the +English who had submitted to the Normans, they fought, despoiled, and +murdered, like the desperate outlaws that they were. Conspiracies were +set on foot for a general massacre of the Normans, like the old massacre +of the Danes. In short, the English were in a murderous mood all through +the kingdom. + +King William, fearing he might lose his conquest, came back, and tried to +pacify the London people by soft words. He then set forth to repress the +country people by stern deeds. Among the towns which he besieged, and +where he killed and maimed the inhabitants without any distinction, +sparing none, young or old, armed or unarmed, were Oxford, Warwick, +Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, Lincoln, York. In all these places, and in +many others, fire and sword worked their utmost horrors, and made the +land dreadful to behold. The streams and rivers were discoloured with +blood; the sky was blackened with smoke; the fields were wastes of ashes; +the waysides were heaped up with dead. Such are the fatal results of +conquest and ambition! Although William was a harsh and angry man, I do +not suppose that he deliberately meant to work this shocking ruin, when +he invaded England. But what he had got by the strong hand, he could +only keep by the strong hand, and in so doing he made England a great +grave. + +Two sons of Harold, by name EDMUND and GODWIN, came over from Ireland, +with some ships, against the Normans, but were defeated. This was +scarcely done, when the outlaws in the woods so harassed York, that the +Governor sent to the King for help. The King despatched a general and a +large force to occupy the town of Durham. The Bishop of that place met +the general outside the town, and warned him not to enter, as he would be +in danger there. The general cared nothing for the warning, and went in +with all his men. That night, on every hill within sight of Durham, +signal fires were seen to blaze. When the morning dawned, the English, +who had assembled in great strength, forced the gates, rushed into the +town, and slew the Normans every one. The English afterwards besought +the Danes to come and help them. The Danes came, with two hundred and +forty ships. The outlawed nobles joined them; they captured York, and +drove the Normans out of that city. Then, William bribed the Danes to go +away; and took such vengeance on the English, that all the former fire +and sword, smoke and ashes, death and ruin, were nothing compared with +it. In melancholy songs, and doleful stories, it was still sung and told +by cottage fires on winter evenings, a hundred years afterwards, how, in +those dreadful days of the Normans, there was not, from the River Humber +to the River Tyne, one inhabited village left, nor one cultivated +field--how there was nothing but a dismal ruin, where the human creatures +and the beasts lay dead together. + +The outlaws had, at this time, what they called a Camp of Refuge, in the +midst of the fens of Cambridgeshire. Protected by those marshy grounds +which were difficult of approach, they lay among the reeds and rushes, +and were hidden by the mists that rose up from the watery earth. Now, +there also was, at that time, over the sea in Flanders, an Englishman +named HEREWARD, whose father had died in his absence, and whose property +had been given to a Norman. When he heard of this wrong that had been +done him (from such of the exiled English as chanced to wander into that +country), he longed for revenge; and joining the outlaws in their camp of +refuge, became their commander. He was so good a soldier, that the +Normans supposed him to be aided by enchantment. William, even after he +had made a road three miles in length across the Cambridgeshire marshes, +on purpose to attack this supposed enchanter, thought it necessary to +engage an old lady, who pretended to be a sorceress, to come and do a +little enchantment in the royal cause. For this purpose she was pushed +on before the troops in a wooden tower; but Hereward very soon disposed +of this unfortunate sorceress, by burning her, tower and all. The monks +of the convent of Ely near at hand, however, who were fond of good +living, and who found it very uncomfortable to have the country blockaded +and their supplies of meat and drink cut off, showed the King a secret +way of surprising the camp. So Hereward was soon defeated. Whether he +afterwards died quietly, or whether he was killed after killing sixteen +of the men who attacked him (as some old rhymes relate that he did), I +cannot say. His defeat put an end to the Camp of Refuge; and, very soon +afterwards, the King, victorious both in Scotland and in England, quelled +the last rebellious English noble. He then surrounded himself with +Norman lords, enriched by the property of English nobles; had a great +survey made of all the land in England, which was entered as the property +of its new owners, on a roll called Doomsday Book; obliged the people to +put out their fires and candles at a certain hour every night, on the +ringing of a bell which was called The Curfew; introduced the Norman +dresses and manners; made the Normans masters everywhere, and the +English, servants; turned out the English bishops, and put Normans in +their places; and showed himself to be the Conqueror indeed. + +But, even with his own Normans, he had a restless life. They were always +hungering and thirsting for the riches of the English; and the more he +gave, the more they wanted. His priests were as greedy as his soldiers. +We know of only one Norman who plainly told his master, the King, that he +had come with him to England to do his duty as a faithful servant, and +that property taken by force from other men had no charms for him. His +name was GUILBERT. We should not forget his name, for it is good to +remember and to honour honest men. + +Besides all these troubles, William the Conqueror was troubled by +quarrels among his sons. He had three living. ROBERT, called CURTHOSE, +because of his short legs; WILLIAM, called RUFUS or the Red, from the +colour of his hair; and HENRY, fond of learning, and called, in the +Norman language, BEAUCLERC, or Fine-Scholar. When Robert grew up, he +asked of his father the government of Normandy, which he had nominally +possessed, as a child, under his mother, MATILDA. The King refusing to +grant it, Robert became jealous and discontented; and happening one day, +while in this temper, to be ridiculed by his brothers, who threw water on +him from a balcony as he was walking before the door, he drew his sword, +rushed up-stairs, and was only prevented by the King himself from putting +them to death. That same night, he hotly departed with some followers +from his father's court, and endeavoured to take the Castle of Rouen by +surprise. Failing in this, he shut himself up in another Castle in +Normandy, which the King besieged, and where Robert one day unhorsed and +nearly killed him without knowing who he was. His submission when he +discovered his father, and the intercession of the queen and others, +reconciled them; but not soundly; for Robert soon strayed abroad, and +went from court to court with his complaints. He was a gay, careless, +thoughtless fellow, spending all he got on musicians and dancers; but his +mother loved him, and often, against the King's command, supplied him +with money through a messenger named SAMSON. At length the incensed King +swore he would tear out Samson's eyes; and Samson, thinking that his only +hope of safety was in becoming a monk, became one, went on such errands +no more, and kept his eyes in his head. + +All this time, from the turbulent day of his strange coronation, the +Conqueror had been struggling, you see, at any cost of cruelty and +bloodshed, to maintain what he had seized. All his reign, he struggled +still, with the same object ever before him. He was a stern, bold man, +and he succeeded in it. + +He loved money, and was particular in his eating, but he had only leisure +to indulge one other passion, and that was his love of hunting. He +carried it to such a height that he ordered whole villages and towns to +be swept away to make forests for the deer. Not satisfied with sixty- +eight Royal Forests, he laid waste an immense district, to form another +in Hampshire, called the New Forest. The many thousands of miserable +peasants who saw their little houses pulled down, and themselves and +children turned into the open country without a shelter, detested him for +his merciless addition to their many sufferings; and when, in the twenty- +first year of his reign (which proved to be the last), he went over to +Rouen, England was as full of hatred against him, as if every leaf on +every tree in all his Royal Forests had been a curse upon his head. In +the New Forest, his son Richard (for he had four sons) had been gored to +death by a Stag; and the people said that this so cruelly-made Forest +would yet be fatal to others of the Conqueror's race. + +He was engaged in a dispute with the King of France about some territory. +While he stayed at Rouen, negotiating with that King, he kept his bed and +took medicines: being advised by his physicians to do so, on account of +having grown to an unwieldy size. Word being brought to him that the +King of France made light of this, and joked about it, he swore in a +great rage that he should rue his jests. He assembled his army, marched +into the disputed territory, burnt--his old way!--the vines, the crops, +and fruit, and set the town of Mantes on fire. But, in an evil hour; +for, as he rode over the hot ruins, his horse, setting his hoofs upon +some burning embers, started, threw him forward against the pommel of the +saddle, and gave him a mortal hurt. For six weeks he lay dying in a +monastery near Rouen, and then made his will, giving England to William, +Normandy to Robert, and five thousand pounds to Henry. And now, his +violent deeds lay heavy on his mind. He ordered money to be given to +many English churches and monasteries, and--which was much better +repentance--released his prisoners of state, some of whom had been +confined in his dungeons twenty years. + +It was a September morning, and the sun was rising, when the King was +awakened from slumber by the sound of a church bell. 'What bell is +that?' he faintly asked. They told him it was the bell of the chapel of +Saint Mary. 'I commend my soul,' said he, 'to Mary!' and died. + +Think of his name, The Conqueror, and then consider how he lay in death! +The moment he was dead, his physicians, priests, and nobles, not knowing +what contest for the throne might now take place, or what might happen in +it, hastened away, each man for himself and his own property; the +mercenary servants of the court began to rob and plunder; the body of the +King, in the indecent strife, was rolled from the bed, and lay alone, for +hours, upon the ground. O Conqueror, of whom so many great names are +proud now, of whom so many great names thought nothing then, it were +better to have conquered one true heart, than England! + +By-and-by, the priests came creeping in with prayers and candles; and a +good knight, named HERLUIN, undertook (which no one else would do) to +convey the body to Caen, in Normandy, in order that it might be buried in +St. Stephen's church there, which the Conqueror had founded. But fire, +of which he had made such bad use in his life, seemed to follow him of +itself in death. A great conflagration broke out in the town when the +body was placed in the church; and those present running out to +extinguish the flames, it was once again left alone. + +It was not even buried in peace. It was about to be let down, in its +Royal robes, into a tomb near the high altar, in presence of a great +concourse of people, when a loud voice in the crowd cried out, 'This +ground is mine! Upon it, stood my father's house. This King despoiled +me of both ground and house to build this church. In the great name of +GOD, I here forbid his body to be covered with the earth that is my +right!' The priests and bishops present, knowing the speaker's right, +and knowing that the King had often denied him justice, paid him down +sixty shillings for the grave. Even then, the corpse was not at rest. +The tomb was too small, and they tried to force it in. It broke, a +dreadful smell arose, the people hurried out into the air, and, for the +third time, it was left alone. + +Where were the Conqueror's three sons, that they were not at their +father's burial? Robert was lounging among minstrels, dancers, and +gamesters, in France or Germany. Henry was carrying his five thousand +pounds safely away in a convenient chest he had got made. William the +Red was hurrying to England, to lay hands upon the Royal treasure and the +crown. + + + + +CHAPTER IX--ENGLAND UNDER WILLIAM THE SECOND, CALLED RUFUS + + +William the Red, in breathless haste, secured the three great forts of +Dover, Pevensey, and Hastings, and made with hot speed for Winchester, +where the Royal treasure was kept. The treasurer delivering him the +keys, he found that it amounted to sixty thousand pounds in silver, +besides gold and jewels. Possessed of this wealth, he soon persuaded the +Archbishop of Canterbury to crown him, and became William the Second, +King of England. + +Rufus was no sooner on the throne, than he ordered into prison again the +unhappy state captives whom his father had set free, and directed a +goldsmith to ornament his father's tomb profusely with gold and silver. +It would have been more dutiful in him to have attended the sick +Conqueror when he was dying; but England itself, like this Red King, who +once governed it, has sometimes made expensive tombs for dead men whom it +treated shabbily when they were alive. + +The King's brother, Robert of Normandy, seeming quite content to be only +Duke of that country; and the King's other brother, Fine-Scholar, being +quiet enough with his five thousand pounds in a chest; the King flattered +himself, we may suppose, with the hope of an easy reign. But easy reigns +were difficult to have in those days. The turbulent Bishop ODO (who had +blessed the Norman army at the Battle of Hastings, and who, I dare say, +took all the credit of the victory to himself) soon began, in concert +with some powerful Norman nobles, to trouble the Red King. + +The truth seems to be that this bishop and his friends, who had lands in +England and lands in Normandy, wished to hold both under one Sovereign; +and greatly preferred a thoughtless good-natured person, such as Robert +was, to Rufus; who, though far from being an amiable man in any respect, +was keen, and not to be imposed upon. They declared in Robert's favour, +and retired to their castles (those castles were very troublesome to +kings) in a sullen humour. The Red King, seeing the Normans thus falling +from him, revenged himself upon them by appealing to the English; to whom +he made a variety of promises, which he never meant to perform--in +particular, promises to soften the cruelty of the Forest Laws; and who, +in return, so aided him with their valour, that ODO was besieged in the +Castle of Rochester, and forced to abandon it, and to depart from England +for ever: whereupon the other rebellious Norman nobles were soon reduced +and scattered. + +Then, the Red King went over to Normandy, where the people suffered +greatly under the loose rule of Duke Robert. The King's object was to +seize upon the Duke's dominions. This, the Duke, of course, prepared to +resist; and miserable war between the two brothers seemed inevitable, +when the powerful nobles on both sides, who had seen so much of war, +interfered to prevent it. A treaty was made. Each of the two brothers +agreed to give up something of his claims, and that the longer-liver of +the two should inherit all the dominions of the other. When they had +come to this loving understanding, they embraced and joined their forces +against Fine-Scholar; who had bought some territory of Robert with a part +of his five thousand pounds, and was considered a dangerous individual in +consequence. + +St. Michael's Mount, in Normandy (there is another St. Michael's Mount, +in Cornwall, wonderfully like it), was then, as it is now, a strong place +perched upon the top of a high rock, around which, when the tide is in, +the sea flows, leaving no road to the mainland. In this place, +Fine-Scholar shut himself up with his soldiers, and here he was closely +besieged by his two brothers. At one time, when he was reduced to great +distress for want of water, the generous Robert not only permitted his +men to get water, but sent Fine-Scholar wine from his own table; and, on +being remonstrated with by the Red King, said 'What! shall we let our own +brother die of thirst? Where shall we get another, when he is gone?' At +another time, the Red King riding alone on the shore of the bay, looking +up at the Castle, was taken by two of Fine-Scholar's men, one of whom was +about to kill him, when he cried out, 'Hold, knave! I am the King of +England!' The story says that the soldier raised him from the ground +respectfully and humbly, and that the King took him into his service. The +story may or may not be true; but at any rate it is true that +Fine-Scholar could not hold out against his united brothers, and that he +abandoned Mount St. Michael, and wandered about--as poor and forlorn as +other scholars have been sometimes known to be. + +The Scotch became unquiet in the Red King's time, and were twice +defeated--the second time, with the loss of their King, Malcolm, and his +son. The Welsh became unquiet too. Against them, Rufus was less +successful; for they fought among their native mountains, and did great +execution on the King's troops. Robert of Normandy became unquiet too; +and, complaining that his brother the King did not faithfully perform his +part of their agreement, took up arms, and obtained assistance from the +King of France, whom Rufus, in the end, bought off with vast sums of +money. England became unquiet too. Lord Mowbray, the powerful Earl of +Northumberland, headed a great conspiracy to depose the King, and to +place upon the throne, STEPHEN, the Conqueror's near relative. The plot +was discovered; all the chief conspirators were seized; some were fined, +some were put in prison, some were put to death. The Earl of +Northumberland himself was shut up in a dungeon beneath Windsor Castle, +where he died, an old man, thirty long years afterwards. The Priests in +England were more unquiet than any other class or power; for the Red King +treated them with such small ceremony that he refused to appoint new +bishops or archbishops when the old ones died, but kept all the wealth +belonging to those offices in his own hands. In return for this, the +Priests wrote his life when he was dead, and abused him well. I am +inclined to think, myself, that there was little to choose between the +Priests and the Red King; that both sides were greedy and designing; and +that they were fairly matched. + +The Red King was false of heart, selfish, covetous, and mean. He had a +worthy minister in his favourite, Ralph, nicknamed--for almost every +famous person had a nickname in those rough days--Flambard, or the +Firebrand. Once, the King being ill, became penitent, and made ANSELM, a +foreign priest and a good man, Archbishop of Canterbury. But he no +sooner got well again than he repented of his repentance, and persisted +in wrongfully keeping to himself some of the wealth belonging to the +archbishopric. This led to violent disputes, which were aggravated by +there being in Rome at that time two rival Popes; each of whom declared +he was the only real original infallible Pope, who couldn't make a +mistake. At last, Anselm, knowing the Red King's character, and not +feeling himself safe in England, asked leave to return abroad. The Red +King gladly gave it; for he knew that as soon as Anselm was gone, he +could begin to store up all the Canterbury money again, for his own use. + +By such means, and by taxing and oppressing the English people in every +possible way, the Red King became very rich. When he wanted money for +any purpose, he raised it by some means or other, and cared nothing for +the injustice he did, or the misery he caused. Having the opportunity of +buying from Robert the whole duchy of Normandy for five years, he taxed +the English people more than ever, and made the very convents sell their +plate and valuables to supply him with the means to make the purchase. +But he was as quick and eager in putting down revolt as he was in raising +money; for, a part of the Norman people objecting--very naturally, I +think--to being sold in this way, he headed an army against them with all +the speed and energy of his father. He was so impatient, that he +embarked for Normandy in a great gale of wind. And when the sailors told +him it was dangerous to go to sea in such angry weather, he replied, +'Hoist sail and away! Did you ever hear of a king who was drowned?' + +You will wonder how it was that even the careless Robert came to sell his +dominions. It happened thus. It had long been the custom for many +English people to make journeys to Jerusalem, which were called +pilgrimages, in order that they might pray beside the tomb of Our Saviour +there. Jerusalem belonging to the Turks, and the Turks hating +Christianity, these Christian travellers were often insulted and ill +used. The Pilgrims bore it patiently for some time, but at length a +remarkable man, of great earnestness and eloquence, called PETER THE +HERMIT, began to preach in various places against the Turks, and to +declare that it was the duty of good Christians to drive away those +unbelievers from the tomb of Our Saviour, and to take possession of it, +and protect it. An excitement such as the world had never known before +was created. Thousands and thousands of men of all ranks and conditions +departed for Jerusalem to make war against the Turks. The war is called +in history the first Crusade, and every Crusader wore a cross marked on +his right shoulder. + +All the Crusaders were not zealous Christians. Among them were vast +numbers of the restless, idle, profligate, and adventurous spirit of the +time. Some became Crusaders for the love of change; some, in the hope of +plunder; some, because they had nothing to do at home; some, because they +did what the priests told them; some, because they liked to see foreign +countries; some, because they were fond of knocking men about, and would +as soon knock a Turk about as a Christian. Robert of Normandy may have +been influenced by all these motives; and by a kind desire, besides, to +save the Christian Pilgrims from bad treatment in future. He wanted to +raise a number of armed men, and to go to the Crusade. He could not do +so without money. He had no money; and he sold his dominions to his +brother, the Red King, for five years. With the large sum he thus +obtained, he fitted out his Crusaders gallantly, and went away to +Jerusalem in martial state. The Red King, who made money out of +everything, stayed at home, busily squeezing more money out of Normans +and English. + +After three years of great hardship and suffering--from shipwreck at sea; +from travel in strange lands; from hunger, thirst, and fever, upon the +burning sands of the desert; and from the fury of the Turks--the valiant +Crusaders got possession of Our Saviour's tomb. The Turks were still +resisting and fighting bravely, but this success increased the general +desire in Europe to join the Crusade. Another great French Duke was +proposing to sell his dominions for a term to the rich Red King, when the +Red King's reign came to a sudden and violent end. + +You have not forgotten the New Forest which the Conqueror made, and which +the miserable people whose homes he had laid waste, so hated. The +cruelty of the Forest Laws, and the torture and death they brought upon +the peasantry, increased this hatred. The poor persecuted country people +believed that the New Forest was enchanted. They said that in thunder- +storms, and on dark nights, demons appeared, moving beneath the branches +of the gloomy trees. They said that a terrible spectre had foretold to +Norman hunters that the Red King should be punished there. And now, in +the pleasant season of May, when the Red King had reigned almost thirteen +years; and a second Prince of the Conqueror's blood--another Richard, the +son of Duke Robert--was killed by an arrow in this dreaded Forest; the +people said that the second time was not the last, and that there was +another death to come. + +It was a lonely forest, accursed in the people's hearts for the wicked +deeds that had been done to make it; and no man save the King and his +Courtiers and Huntsmen, liked to stray there. But, in reality, it was +like any other forest. In the spring, the green leaves broke out of the +buds; in the summer, flourished heartily, and made deep shades; in the +winter, shrivelled and blew down, and lay in brown heaps on the moss. +Some trees were stately, and grew high and strong; some had fallen of +themselves; some were felled by the forester's axe; some were hollow, and +the rabbits burrowed at their roots; some few were struck by lightning, +and stood white and bare. There were hill-sides covered with rich fern, +on which the morning dew so beautifully sparkled; there were brooks, +where the deer went down to drink, or over which the whole herd bounded, +flying from the arrows of the huntsmen; there were sunny glades, and +solemn places where but little light came through the rustling leaves. +The songs of the birds in the New Forest were pleasanter to hear than the +shouts of fighting men outside; and even when the Red King and his Court +came hunting through its solitudes, cursing loud and riding hard, with a +jingling of stirrups and bridles and knives and daggers, they did much +less harm there than among the English or Normans, and the stags died (as +they lived) far easier than the people. + +Upon a day in August, the Red King, now reconciled to his brother, Fine- +Scholar, came with a great train to hunt in the New Forest. Fine-Scholar +was of the party. They were a merry party, and had lain all night at +Malwood-Keep, a hunting-lodge in the forest, where they had made good +cheer, both at supper and breakfast, and had drunk a deal of wine. The +party dispersed in various directions, as the custom of hunters then was. +The King took with him only SIR WALTER TYRREL, who was a famous +sportsman, and to whom he had given, before they mounted horse that +morning, two fine arrows. + +The last time the King was ever seen alive, he was riding with Sir Walter +Tyrrel, and their dogs were hunting together. + +It was almost night, when a poor charcoal-burner, passing through the +forest with his cart, came upon the solitary body of a dead man, shot +with an arrow in the breast, and still bleeding. He got it into his +cart. It was the body of the King. Shaken and tumbled, with its red +beard all whitened with lime and clotted with blood, it was driven in the +cart by the charcoal-burner next day to Winchester Cathedral, where it +was received and buried. + +Sir Walter Tyrrel, who escaped to Normandy, and claimed the protection of +the King of France, swore in France that the Red King was suddenly shot +dead by an arrow from an unseen hand, while they were hunting together; +that he was fearful of being suspected as the King's murderer; and that +he instantly set spurs to his horse, and fled to the sea-shore. Others +declared that the King and Sir Walter Tyrrel were hunting in company, a +little before sunset, standing in bushes opposite one another, when a +stag came between them. That the King drew his bow and took aim, but the +string broke. That the King then cried, 'Shoot, Walter, in the Devil's +name!' That Sir Walter shot. That the arrow glanced against a tree, was +turned aside from the stag, and struck the King from his horse, dead. + +By whose hand the Red King really fell, and whether that hand despatched +the arrow to his breast by accident or by design, is only known to GOD. +Some think his brother may have caused him to be killed; but the Red King +had made so many enemies, both among priests and people, that suspicion +may reasonably rest upon a less unnatural murderer. Men know no more +than that he was found dead in the New Forest, which the suffering people +had regarded as a doomed ground for his race. + + + + +CHAPTER X--ENGLAND UNDER HENRY THE FIRST, CALLED FINE-SCHOLAR + + +Fine-scholar, on hearing of the Red King's death, hurried to Winchester +with as much speed as Rufus himself had made, to seize the Royal +treasure. But the keeper of the treasure who had been one of the hunting- +party in the Forest, made haste to Winchester too, and, arriving there at +about the same time, refused to yield it up. Upon this, Fine-Scholar +drew his sword, and threatened to kill the treasurer; who might have paid +for his fidelity with his life, but that he knew longer resistance to be +useless when he found the Prince supported by a company of powerful +barons, who declared they were determined to make him King. The +treasurer, therefore, gave up the money and jewels of the Crown: and on +the third day after the death of the Red King, being a Sunday, +Fine-Scholar stood before the high altar in Westminster Abbey, and made a +solemn declaration that he would resign the Church property which his +brother had seized; that he would do no wrong to the nobles; and that he +would restore to the people the laws of Edward the Confessor, with all +the improvements of William the Conqueror. So began the reign of KING +HENRY THE FIRST. + +The people were attached to their new King, both because he had known +distresses, and because he was an Englishman by birth and not a Norman. +To strengthen this last hold upon them, the King wished to marry an +English lady; and could think of no other wife than MAUD THE GOOD, the +daughter of the King of Scotland. Although this good Princess did not +love the King, she was so affected by the representations the nobles made +to her of the great charity it would be in her to unite the Norman and +Saxon races, and prevent hatred and bloodshed between them for the +future, that she consented to become his wife. After some disputing +among the priests, who said that as she had been in a convent in her +youth, and had worn the veil of a nun, she could not lawfully be +married--against which the Princess stated that her aunt, with whom she +had lived in her youth, had indeed sometimes thrown a piece of black +stuff over her, but for no other reason than because the nun's veil was +the only dress the conquering Normans respected in girl or woman, and not +because she had taken the vows of a nun, which she never had--she was +declared free to marry, and was made King Henry's Queen. A good Queen +she was; beautiful, kind-hearted, and worthy of a better husband than the +King. + +For he was a cunning and unscrupulous man, though firm and clever. He +cared very little for his word, and took any means to gain his ends. All +this is shown in his treatment of his brother Robert--Robert, who had +suffered him to be refreshed with water, and who had sent him the wine +from his own table, when he was shut up, with the crows flying below him, +parched with thirst, in the castle on the top of St. Michael's Mount, +where his Red brother would have let him die. + +Before the King began to deal with Robert, he removed and disgraced all +the favourites of the late King; who were for the most part base +characters, much detested by the people. Flambard, or Firebrand, whom +the late King had made Bishop of Durham, of all things in the world, +Henry imprisoned in the Tower; but Firebrand was a great joker and a +jolly companion, and made himself so popular with his guards that they +pretended to know nothing about a long rope that was sent into his prison +at the bottom of a deep flagon of wine. The guards took the wine, and +Firebrand took the rope; with which, when they were fast asleep, he let +himself down from a window in the night, and so got cleverly aboard ship +and away to Normandy. + +Now Robert, when his brother Fine-Scholar came to the throne, was still +absent in the Holy Land. Henry pretended that Robert had been made +Sovereign of that country; and he had been away so long, that the +ignorant people believed it. But, behold, when Henry had been some time +King of England, Robert came home to Normandy; having leisurely returned +from Jerusalem through Italy, in which beautiful country he had enjoyed +himself very much, and had married a lady as beautiful as itself! In +Normandy, he found Firebrand waiting to urge him to assert his claim to +the English crown, and declare war against King Henry. This, after great +loss of time in feasting and dancing with his beautiful Italian wife +among his Norman friends, he at last did. + +The English in general were on King Henry's side, though many of the +Normans were on Robert's. But the English sailors deserted the King, and +took a great part of the English fleet over to Normandy; so that Robert +came to invade this country in no foreign vessels, but in English ships. +The virtuous Anselm, however, whom Henry had invited back from abroad, +and made Archbishop of Canterbury, was steadfast in the King's cause; and +it was so well supported that the two armies, instead of fighting, made a +peace. Poor Robert, who trusted anybody and everybody, readily trusted +his brother, the King; and agreed to go home and receive a pension from +England, on condition that all his followers were fully pardoned. This +the King very faithfully promised, but Robert was no sooner gone than he +began to punish them. + +Among them was the Earl of Shrewsbury, who, on being summoned by the King +to answer to five-and-forty accusations, rode away to one of his strong +castles, shut himself up therein, called around him his tenants and +vassals, and fought for his liberty, but was defeated and banished. +Robert, with all his faults, was so true to his word, that when he first +heard of this nobleman having risen against his brother, he laid waste +the Earl of Shrewsbury's estates in Normandy, to show the King that he +would favour no breach of their treaty. Finding, on better information, +afterwards, that the Earl's only crime was having been his friend, he +came over to England, in his old thoughtless, warm-hearted way, to +intercede with the King, and remind him of the solemn promise to pardon +all his followers. + +This confidence might have put the false King to the blush, but it did +not. Pretending to be very friendly, he so surrounded his brother with +spies and traps, that Robert, who was quite in his power, had nothing for +it but to renounce his pension and escape while he could. Getting home +to Normandy, and understanding the King better now, he naturally allied +himself with his old friend the Earl of Shrewsbury, who had still thirty +castles in that country. This was exactly what Henry wanted. He +immediately declared that Robert had broken the treaty, and next year +invaded Normandy. + +He pretended that he came to deliver the Normans, at their own request, +from his brother's misrule. There is reason to fear that his misrule was +bad enough; for his beautiful wife had died, leaving him with an infant +son, and his court was again so careless, dissipated, and ill-regulated, +that it was said he sometimes lay in bed of a day for want of clothes to +put on--his attendants having stolen all his dresses. But he headed his +army like a brave prince and a gallant soldier, though he had the +misfortune to be taken prisoner by King Henry, with four hundred of his +Knights. Among them was poor harmless Edgar Atheling, who loved Robert +well. Edgar was not important enough to be severe with. The King +afterwards gave him a small pension, which he lived upon and died upon, +in peace, among the quiet woods and fields of England. + +And Robert--poor, kind, generous, wasteful, heedless Robert, with so many +faults, and yet with virtues that might have made a better and a happier +man--what was the end of him? If the King had had the magnanimity to say +with a kind air, 'Brother, tell me, before these noblemen, that from this +time you will be my faithful follower and friend, and never raise your +hand against me or my forces more!' he might have trusted Robert to the +death. But the King was not a magnanimous man. He sentenced his brother +to be confined for life in one of the Royal Castles. In the beginning of +his imprisonment, he was allowed to ride out, guarded; but he one day +broke away from his guard and galloped of. He had the evil fortune to +ride into a swamp, where his horse stuck fast and he was taken. When the +King heard of it he ordered him to be blinded, which was done by putting +a red-hot metal basin on his eyes. + +And so, in darkness and in prison, many years, he thought of all his past +life, of the time he had wasted, of the treasure he had squandered, of +the opportunities he had lost, of the youth he had thrown away, of the +talents he had neglected. Sometimes, on fine autumn mornings, he would +sit and think of the old hunting parties in the free Forest, where he had +been the foremost and the gayest. Sometimes, in the still nights, he +would wake, and mourn for the many nights that had stolen past him at the +gaming-table; sometimes, would seem to hear, upon the melancholy wind, +the old songs of the minstrels; sometimes, would dream, in his blindness, +of the light and glitter of the Norman Court. Many and many a time, he +groped back, in his fancy, to Jerusalem, where he had fought so well; or, +at the head of his brave companions, bowed his feathered helmet to the +shouts of welcome greeting him in Italy, and seemed again to walk among +the sunny vineyards, or on the shore of the blue sea, with his lovely +wife. And then, thinking of her grave, and of his fatherless boy, he +would stretch out his solitary arms and weep. + +At length, one day, there lay in prison, dead, with cruel and disfiguring +scars upon his eyelids, bandaged from his jailer's sight, but on which +the eternal Heavens looked down, a worn old man of eighty. He had once +been Robert of Normandy. Pity him! + +{Duke Robert of Normandy: p52.jpg} + +At the time when Robert of Normandy was taken prisoner by his brother, +Robert's little son was only five years old. This child was taken, too, +and carried before the King, sobbing and crying; for, young as he was, he +knew he had good reason to be afraid of his Royal uncle. The King was +not much accustomed to pity those who were in his power, but his cold +heart seemed for the moment to soften towards the boy. He was observed +to make a great effort, as if to prevent himself from being cruel, and +ordered the child to be taken away; whereupon a certain Baron, who had +married a daughter of Duke Robert's (by name, Helie of Saint Saen), took +charge of him, tenderly. The King's gentleness did not last long. Before +two years were over, he sent messengers to this lord's Castle to seize +the child and bring him away. The Baron was not there at the time, but +his servants were faithful, and carried the boy off in his sleep and hid +him. When the Baron came home, and was told what the King had done, he +took the child abroad, and, leading him by the hand, went from King to +King and from Court to Court, relating how the child had a claim to the +throne of England, and how his uncle the King, knowing that he had that +claim, would have murdered him, perhaps, but for his escape. + +The youth and innocence of the pretty little WILLIAM FITZ-ROBERT (for +that was his name) made him many friends at that time. When he became a +young man, the King of France, uniting with the French Counts of Anjou +and Flanders, supported his cause against the King of England, and took +many of the King's towns and castles in Normandy. But, King Henry, +artful and cunning always, bribed some of William's friends with money, +some with promises, some with power. He bought off the Count of Anjou, +by promising to marry his eldest son, also named WILLIAM, to the Count's +daughter; and indeed the whole trust of this King's life was in such +bargains, and he believed (as many another King has done since, and as +one King did in France a very little time ago) that every man's truth and +honour can be bought at some price. For all this, he was so afraid of +William Fitz-Robert and his friends, that, for a long time, he believed +his life to be in danger; and never lay down to sleep, even in his palace +surrounded by his guards, without having a sword and buckler at his +bedside. + +To strengthen his power, the King with great ceremony betrothed his +eldest daughter MATILDA, then a child only eight years old, to be the +wife of Henry the Fifth, the Emperor of Germany. To raise her marriage- +portion, he taxed the English people in a most oppressive manner; then +treated them to a great procession, to restore their good humour; and +sent Matilda away, in fine state, with the German ambassadors, to be +educated in the country of her future husband. + +And now his Queen, Maud the Good, unhappily died. It was a sad thought +for that gentle lady, that the only hope with which she had married a man +whom she had never loved--the hope of reconciling the Norman and English +races--had failed. At the very time of her death, Normandy and all +France was in arms against England; for, so soon as his last danger was +over, King Henry had been false to all the French powers he had promised, +bribed, and bought, and they had naturally united against him. After +some fighting, however, in which few suffered but the unhappy common +people (who always suffered, whatsoever was the matter), he began to +promise, bribe, and buy again; and by those means, and by the help of the +Pope, who exerted himself to save more bloodshed, and by solemnly +declaring, over and over again, that he really was in earnest this time, +and would keep his word, the King made peace. + +One of the first consequences of this peace was, that the King went over +to Normandy with his son Prince William and a great retinue, to have the +Prince acknowledged as his successor by the Norman Nobles, and to +contract the promised marriage (this was one of the many promises the +King had broken) between him and the daughter of the Count of Anjou. Both +these things were triumphantly done, with great show and rejoicing; and +on the twenty-fifth of November, in the year one thousand one hundred and +twenty, the whole retinue prepared to embark at the Port of Barfleur, for +the voyage home. + +On that day, and at that place, there came to the King, Fitz-Stephen, a +sea-captain, and said: + +'My liege, my father served your father all his life, upon the sea. He +steered the ship with the golden boy upon the prow, in which your father +sailed to conquer England. I beseech you to grant me the same office. I +have a fair vessel in the harbour here, called The White Ship, manned by +fifty sailors of renown. I pray you, Sire, to let your servant have the +honour of steering you in The White Ship to England!' + +'I am sorry, friend,' replied the King, 'that my vessel is already +chosen, and that I cannot (therefore) sail with the son of the man who +served my father. But the Prince and all his company shall go along with +you, in the fair White Ship, manned by the fifty sailors of renown.' + +An hour or two afterwards, the King set sail in the vessel he had chosen, +accompanied by other vessels, and, sailing all night with a fair and +gentle wind, arrived upon the coast of England in the morning. While it +was yet night, the people in some of those ships heard a faint wild cry +come over the sea, and wondered what it was. + +Now, the Prince was a dissolute, debauched young man of eighteen, who +bore no love to the English, and had declared that when he came to the +throne he would yoke them to the plough like oxen. He went aboard The +White Ship, with one hundred and forty youthful Nobles like himself, +among whom were eighteen noble ladies of the highest rank. All this gay +company, with their servants and the fifty sailors, made three hundred +souls aboard the fair White Ship. + +'Give three casks of wine, Fitz-Stephen,' said the Prince, 'to the fifty +sailors of renown! My father the King has sailed out of the harbour. +What time is there to make merry here, and yet reach England with the +rest?' + +'Prince!' said Fitz-Stephen, 'before morning, my fifty and The White Ship +shall overtake the swiftest vessel in attendance on your father the King, +if we sail at midnight!' + +Then the Prince commanded to make merry; and the sailors drank out the +three casks of wine; and the Prince and all the noble company danced in +the moonlight on the deck of The White Ship. + +When, at last, she shot out of the harbour of Barfleur, there was not a +sober seaman on board. But the sails were all set, and the oars all +going merrily. Fitz-Stephen had the helm. The gay young nobles and the +beautiful ladies, wrapped in mantles of various bright colours to protect +them from the cold, talked, laughed, and sang. The Prince encouraged the +fifty sailors to row harder yet, for the honour of The White Ship. + +Crash! A terrific cry broke from three hundred hearts. It was the cry +the people in the distant vessels of the King heard faintly on the water. +The White Ship had struck upon a rock--was filling--going down! + +Fitz-Stephen hurried the Prince into a boat, with some few Nobles. 'Push +off,' he whispered; 'and row to land. It is not far, and the sea is +smooth. The rest of us must die.' + +But, as they rowed away, fast, from the sinking ship, the Prince heard +the voice of his sister MARIE, the Countess of Perche, calling for help. +He never in his life had been so good as he was then. He cried in an +agony, 'Row back at any risk! I cannot bear to leave her!' + +They rowed back. As the Prince held out his arms to catch his sister, +such numbers leaped in, that the boat was overset. And in the same +instant The White Ship went down. + +Only two men floated. They both clung to the main yard of the ship, +which had broken from the mast, and now supported them. One asked the +other who he was? He said, 'I am a nobleman, GODFREY by name, the son of +GILBERT DE L'AIGLE. And you?' said he. 'I am BEROLD, a poor butcher of +Rouen,' was the answer. Then, they said together, 'Lord be merciful to +us both!' and tried to encourage one another, as they drifted in the cold +benumbing sea on that unfortunate November night. + +By-and-by, another man came swimming towards them, whom they knew, when +he pushed aside his long wet hair, to be Fitz-Stephen. 'Where is the +Prince?' said he. 'Gone! Gone!' the two cried together. 'Neither he, +nor his brother, nor his sister, nor the King's niece, nor her brother, +nor any one of all the brave three hundred, noble or commoner, except we +three, has risen above the water!' Fitz-Stephen, with a ghastly face, +cried, 'Woe! woe, to me!' and sunk to the bottom. + +The other two clung to the yard for some hours. At length the young +noble said faintly, 'I am exhausted, and chilled with the cold, and can +hold no longer. Farewell, good friend! God preserve you!' So, he +dropped and sunk; and of all the brilliant crowd, the poor Butcher of +Rouen alone was saved. In the morning, some fishermen saw him floating +in his sheep-skin coat, and got him into their boat--the sole relater of +the dismal tale. + +For three days, no one dared to carry the intelligence to the King. At +length, they sent into his presence a little boy, who, weeping bitterly, +and kneeling at his feet, told him that The White Ship was lost with all +on board. The King fell to the ground like a dead man, and never, never +afterwards, was seen to smile. + +But he plotted again, and promised again, and bribed and bought again, in +his old deceitful way. Having no son to succeed him, after all his pains +('The Prince will never yoke us to the plough, now!' said the English +people), he took a second wife--ADELAIS or ALICE, a duke's daughter, and +the Pope's niece. Having no more children, however, he proposed to the +Barons to swear that they would recognise as his successor, his daughter +Matilda, whom, as she was now a widow, he married to the eldest son of +the Count of Anjou, GEOFFREY, surnamed PLANTAGENET, from a custom he had +of wearing a sprig of flowering broom (called Genet in French) in his cap +for a feather. As one false man usually makes many, and as a false King, +in particular, is pretty certain to make a false Court, the Barons took +the oath about the succession of Matilda (and her children after her), +twice over, without in the least intending to keep it. The King was now +relieved from any remaining fears of William Fitz-Robert, by his death in +the Monastery of St. Omer, in France, at twenty-six years old, of a pike- +wound in the hand. And as Matilda gave birth to three sons, he thought +the succession to the throne secure. + +He spent most of the latter part of his life, which was troubled by +family quarrels, in Normandy, to be near Matilda. When he had reigned +upward of thirty-five years, and was sixty-seven years old, he died of an +indigestion and fever, brought on by eating, when he was far from well, +of a fish called Lamprey, against which he had often been cautioned by +his physicians. His remains were brought over to Reading Abbey to be +buried. + +You may perhaps hear the cunning and promise-breaking of King Henry the +First, called 'policy' by some people, and 'diplomacy' by others. Neither +of these fine words will in the least mean that it was true; and nothing +that is not true can possibly be good. + +His greatest merit, that I know of, was his love of learning--I should +have given him greater credit even for that, if it had been strong enough +to induce him to spare the eyes of a certain poet he once took prisoner, +who was a knight besides. But he ordered the poet's eyes to be torn from +his head, because he had laughed at him in his verses; and the poet, in +the pain of that torture, dashed out his own brains against his prison +wall. King Henry the First was avaricious, revengeful, and so false, +that I suppose a man never lived whose word was less to be relied upon. + + + + +CHAPTER XI--ENGLAND UNDER MATILDA AND STEPHEN + + +The King was no sooner dead than all the plans and schemes he had +laboured at so long, and lied so much for, crumbled away like a hollow +heap of sand. STEPHEN, whom he had never mistrusted or suspected, +started up to claim the throne. + +Stephen was the son of ADELA, the Conqueror's daughter, married to the +Count of Blois. To Stephen, and to his brother HENRY, the late King had +been liberal; making Henry Bishop of Winchester, and finding a good +marriage for Stephen, and much enriching him. This did not prevent +Stephen from hastily producing a false witness, a servant of the late +King, to swear that the King had named him for his heir upon his death- +bed. On this evidence the Archbishop of Canterbury crowned him. The new +King, so suddenly made, lost not a moment in seizing the Royal treasure, +and hiring foreign soldiers with some of it to protect his throne. + +If the dead King had even done as the false witness said, he would have +had small right to will away the English people, like so many sheep or +oxen, without their consent. But he had, in fact, bequeathed all his +territory to Matilda; who, supported by ROBERT, Earl of Gloucester, soon +began to dispute the crown. Some of the powerful barons and priests took +her side; some took Stephen's; all fortified their castles; and again the +miserable English people were involved in war, from which they could +never derive advantage whosoever was victorious, and in which all parties +plundered, tortured, starved, and ruined them. + +Five years had passed since the death of Henry the First--and during +those five years there had been two terrible invasions by the people of +Scotland under their King, David, who was at last defeated with all his +army--when Matilda, attended by her brother Robert and a large force, +appeared in England to maintain her claim. A battle was fought between +her troops and King Stephen's at Lincoln; in which the King himself was +taken prisoner, after bravely fighting until his battle-axe and sword +were broken, and was carried into strict confinement at Gloucester. +Matilda then submitted herself to the Priests, and the Priests crowned +her Queen of England. + +She did not long enjoy this dignity. The people of London had a great +affection for Stephen; many of the Barons considered it degrading to be +ruled by a woman; and the Queen's temper was so haughty that she made +innumerable enemies. The people of London revolted; and, in alliance +with the troops of Stephen, besieged her at Winchester, where they took +her brother Robert prisoner, whom, as her best soldier and chief general, +she was glad to exchange for Stephen himself, who thus regained his +liberty. Then, the long war went on afresh. Once, she was pressed so +hard in the Castle of Oxford, in the winter weather when the snow lay +thick upon the ground, that her only chance of escape was to dress +herself all in white, and, accompanied by no more than three faithful +Knights, dressed in like manner that their figures might not be seen from +Stephen's camp as they passed over the snow, to steal away on foot, cross +the frozen Thames, walk a long distance, and at last gallop away on +horseback. All this she did, but to no great purpose then; for her +brother dying while the struggle was yet going on, she at last withdrew +to Normandy. + +In two or three years after her withdrawal her cause appeared in England, +afresh, in the person of her son Henry, young Plantagenet, who, at only +eighteen years of age, was very powerful: not only on account of his +mother having resigned all Normandy to him, but also from his having +married ELEANOR, the divorced wife of the French King, a bad woman, who +had great possessions in France. Louis, the French King, not relishing +this arrangement, helped EUSTACE, King Stephen's son, to invade Normandy: +but Henry drove their united forces out of that country, and then +returned here, to assist his partisans, whom the King was then besieging +at Wallingford upon the Thames. Here, for two days, divided only by the +river, the two armies lay encamped opposite to one another--on the eve, +as it seemed to all men, of another desperate fight, when the EARL OF +ARUNDEL took heart and said 'that it was not reasonable to prolong the +unspeakable miseries of two kingdoms to minister to the ambition of two +princes.' + +Many other noblemen repeating and supporting this when it was once +uttered, Stephen and young Plantagenet went down, each to his own bank of +the river, and held a conversation across it, in which they arranged a +truce; very much to the dissatisfaction of Eustace, who swaggered away +with some followers, and laid violent hands on the Abbey of St. Edmund's- +Bury, where he presently died mad. The truce led to a solemn council at +Winchester, in which it was agreed that Stephen should retain the crown, +on condition of his declaring Henry his successor; that WILLIAM, another +son of the King's, should inherit his father's rightful possessions; and +that all the Crown lands which Stephen had given away should be recalled, +and all the Castles he had permitted to be built demolished. Thus +terminated the bitter war, which had now lasted fifteen years, and had +again laid England waste. In the next year STEPHEN died, after a +troubled reign of nineteen years. + +Although King Stephen was, for the time in which he lived, a humane and +moderate man, with many excellent qualities; and although nothing worse +is known of him than his usurpation of the Crown, which he probably +excused to himself by the consideration that King Henry the First was a +usurper too--which was no excuse at all; the people of England suffered +more in these dread nineteen years, than at any former period even of +their suffering history. In the division of the nobility between the two +rival claimants of the Crown, and in the growth of what is called the +Feudal System (which made the peasants the born vassals and mere slaves +of the Barons), every Noble had his strong Castle, where he reigned the +cruel king of all the neighbouring people. Accordingly, he perpetrated +whatever cruelties he chose. And never were worse cruelties committed +upon earth than in wretched England in those nineteen years. + +The writers who were living then describe them fearfully. They say that +the castles were filled with devils rather than with men; that the +peasants, men and women, were put into dungeons for their gold and +silver, were tortured with fire and smoke, were hung up by the thumbs, +were hung up by the heels with great weights to their heads, were torn +with jagged irons, killed with hunger, broken to death in narrow chests +filled with sharp-pointed stones, murdered in countless fiendish ways. In +England there was no corn, no meat, no cheese, no butter, there were no +tilled lands, no harvests. Ashes of burnt towns, and dreary wastes, were +all that the traveller, fearful of the robbers who prowled abroad at all +hours, would see in a long day's journey; and from sunrise until night, +he would not come upon a home. + +The clergy sometimes suffered, and heavily too, from pillage, but many of +them had castles of their own, and fought in helmet and armour like the +barons, and drew lots with other fighting men for their share of booty. +The Pope (or Bishop of Rome), on King Stephen's resisting his ambition, +laid England under an Interdict at one period of this reign; which means +that he allowed no service to be performed in the churches, no couples to +be married, no bells to be rung, no dead bodies to be buried. Any man +having the power to refuse these things, no matter whether he were called +a Pope or a Poulterer, would, of course, have the power of afflicting +numbers of innocent people. That nothing might be wanting to the +miseries of King Stephen's time, the Pope threw in this contribution to +the public store--not very like the widow's contribution, as I think, +when Our Saviour sat in Jerusalem over-against the Treasury, 'and she +threw in two mites, which make a farthing.' + + + + +CHAPTER XII--ENGLAND UNDER HENRY THE SECOND + + +PART THE FIRST + + +Henry Plantagenet, when he was but twenty-one years old, quietly +succeeded to the throne of England, according to his agreement made with +the late King at Winchester. Six weeks after Stephen's death, he and his +Queen, Eleanor, were crowned in that city; into which they rode on +horseback in great state, side by side, amidst much shouting and +rejoicing, and clashing of music, and strewing of flowers. + +The reign of King Henry the Second began well. The King had great +possessions, and (what with his own rights, and what with those of his +wife) was lord of one-third part of France. He was a young man of +vigour, ability, and resolution, and immediately applied himself to +remove some of the evils which had arisen in the last unhappy reign. He +revoked all the grants of land that had been hastily made, on either +side, during the late struggles; he obliged numbers of disorderly +soldiers to depart from England; he reclaimed all the castles belonging +to the Crown; and he forced the wicked nobles to pull down their own +castles, to the number of eleven hundred, in which such dismal cruelties +had been inflicted on the people. The King's brother, GEOFFREY, rose +against him in France, while he was so well employed, and rendered it +necessary for him to repair to that country; where, after he had subdued +and made a friendly arrangement with his brother (who did not live long), +his ambition to increase his possessions involved him in a war with the +French King, Louis, with whom he had been on such friendly terms just +before, that to the French King's infant daughter, then a baby in the +cradle, he had promised one of his little sons in marriage, who was a +child of five years old. However, the war came to nothing at last, and +the Pope made the two Kings friends again. + +Now, the clergy, in the troubles of the last reign, had gone on very ill +indeed. There were all kinds of criminals among them--murderers, +thieves, and vagabonds; and the worst of the matter was, that the good +priests would not give up the bad priests to justice, when they committed +crimes, but persisted in sheltering and defending them. The King, well +knowing that there could be no peace or rest in England while such things +lasted, resolved to reduce the power of the clergy; and, when he had +reigned seven years, found (as he considered) a good opportunity for +doing so, in the death of the Archbishop of Canterbury. 'I will have for +the new Archbishop,' thought the King, 'a friend in whom I can trust, who +will help me to humble these rebellious priests, and to have them dealt +with, when they do wrong, as other men who do wrong are dealt with.' So, +he resolved to make his favourite, the new Archbishop; and this favourite +was so extraordinary a man, and his story is so curious, that I must tell +you all about him. + +Once upon a time, a worthy merchant of London, named GILBERT A BECKET, +made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and was taken prisoner by a Saracen +lord. This lord, who treated him kindly and not like a slave, had one +fair daughter, who fell in love with the merchant; and who told him that +she wanted to become a Christian, and was willing to marry him if they +could fly to a Christian country. The merchant returned her love, until +he found an opportunity to escape, when he did not trouble himself about +the Saracen lady, but escaped with his servant Richard, who had been +taken prisoner along with him, and arrived in England and forgot her. The +Saracen lady, who was more loving than the merchant, left her father's +house in disguise to follow him, and made her way, under many hardships, +to the sea-shore. The merchant had taught her only two English words +(for I suppose he must have learnt the Saracen tongue himself, and made +love in that language), of which LONDON was one, and his own name, +GILBERT, the other. She went among the ships, saying, 'London! London!' +over and over again, until the sailors understood that she wanted to find +an English vessel that would carry her there; so they showed her such a +ship, and she paid for her passage with some of her jewels, and sailed +away. Well! The merchant was sitting in his counting-house in London +one day, when he heard a great noise in the street; and presently Richard +came running in from the warehouse, with his eyes wide open and his +breath almost gone, saying, 'Master, master, here is the Saracen lady!' +The merchant thought Richard was mad; but Richard said, 'No, master! As +I live, the Saracen lady is going up and down the city, calling Gilbert! +Gilbert!' Then, he took the merchant by the sleeve, and pointed out of +window; and there they saw her among the gables and water-spouts of the +dark, dirty street, in her foreign dress, so forlorn, surrounded by a +wondering crowd, and passing slowly along, calling Gilbert, Gilbert! When +the merchant saw her, and thought of the tenderness she had shown him in +his captivity, and of her constancy, his heart was moved, and he ran down +into the street; and she saw him coming, and with a great cry fainted in +his arms. They were married without loss of time, and Richard (who was +an excellent man) danced with joy the whole day of the wedding; and they +all lived happy ever afterwards. + +This merchant and this Saracen lady had one son, THOMAS A BECKET. He it +was who became the Favourite of King Henry the Second. + +He had become Chancellor, when the King thought of making him Archbishop. +He was clever, gay, well educated, brave; had fought in several battles +in France; had defeated a French knight in single combat, and brought his +horse away as a token of the victory. He lived in a noble palace, he was +the tutor of the young Prince Henry, he was served by one hundred and +forty knights, his riches were immense. The King once sent him as his +ambassador to France; and the French people, beholding in what state he +travelled, cried out in the streets, 'How splendid must the King of +England be, when this is only the Chancellor!' They had good reason to +wonder at the magnificence of Thomas a Becket, for, when he entered a +French town, his procession was headed by two hundred and fifty singing +boys; then, came his hounds in couples; then, eight waggons, each drawn +by five horses driven by five drivers: two of the waggons filled with +strong ale to be given away to the people; four, with his gold and silver +plate and stately clothes; two, with the dresses of his numerous +servants. Then, came twelve horses, each with a monkey on his back; +then, a train of people bearing shields and leading fine war-horses +splendidly equipped; then, falconers with hawks upon their wrists; then, +a host of knights, and gentlemen and priests; then, the Chancellor with +his brilliant garments flashing in the sun, and all the people capering +and shouting with delight. + +The King was well pleased with all this, thinking that it only made +himself the more magnificent to have so magnificent a favourite; but he +sometimes jested with the Chancellor upon his splendour too. Once, when +they were riding together through the streets of London in hard winter +weather, they saw a shivering old man in rags. 'Look at the poor +object!' said the King. 'Would it not be a charitable act to give that +aged man a comfortable warm cloak?' 'Undoubtedly it would,' said Thomas +a Becket, 'and you do well, Sir, to think of such Christian duties.' +'Come!' cried the King, 'then give him your cloak!' It was made of rich +crimson trimmed with ermine. The King tried to pull it off, the +Chancellor tried to keep it on, both were near rolling from their saddles +in the mud, when the Chancellor submitted, and the King gave the cloak to +the old beggar: much to the beggar's astonishment, and much to the +merriment of all the courtiers in attendance. For, courtiers are not +only eager to laugh when the King laughs, but they really do enjoy a +laugh against a Favourite. + +'I will make,' thought King Henry the second, 'this Chancellor of mine, +Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. He will then be the head of +the Church, and, being devoted to me, will help me to correct the Church. +He has always upheld my power against the power of the clergy, and once +publicly told some bishops (I remember), that men of the Church were +equally bound to me, with men of the sword. Thomas a Becket is the man, +of all other men in England, to help me in my great design.' So the +King, regardless of all objection, either that he was a fighting man, or +a lavish man, or a courtly man, or a man of pleasure, or anything but a +likely man for the office, made him Archbishop accordingly. + +Now, Thomas a Becket was proud and loved to be famous. He was already +famous for the pomp of his life, for his riches, his gold and silver +plate, his waggons, horses, and attendants. He could do no more in that +way than he had done; and being tired of that kind of fame (which is a +very poor one), he longed to have his name celebrated for something else. +Nothing, he knew, would render him so famous in the world, as the setting +of his utmost power and ability against the utmost power and ability of +the King. He resolved with the whole strength of his mind to do it. + +He may have had some secret grudge against the King besides. The King +may have offended his proud humour at some time or other, for anything I +know. I think it likely, because it is a common thing for Kings, +Princes, and other great people, to try the tempers of their favourites +rather severely. Even the little affair of the crimson cloak must have +been anything but a pleasant one to a haughty man. Thomas a Becket knew +better than any one in England what the King expected of him. In all his +sumptuous life, he had never yet been in a position to disappoint the +King. He could take up that proud stand now, as head of the Church; and +he determined that it should be written in history, either that he +subdued the King, or that the King subdued him. + +So, of a sudden, he completely altered the whole manner of his life. He +turned off all his brilliant followers, ate coarse food, drank bitter +water, wore next his skin sackcloth covered with dirt and vermin (for it +was then thought very religious to be very dirty), flogged his back to +punish himself, lived chiefly in a little cell, washed the feet of +thirteen poor people every day, and looked as miserable as he possibly +could. If he had put twelve hundred monkeys on horseback instead of +twelve, and had gone in procession with eight thousand waggons instead of +eight, he could not have half astonished the people so much as by this +great change. It soon caused him to be more talked about as an +Archbishop than he had been as a Chancellor. + +The King was very angry; and was made still more so, when the new +Archbishop, claiming various estates from the nobles as being rightfully +Church property, required the King himself, for the same reason, to give +up Rochester Castle, and Rochester City too. Not satisfied with this, he +declared that no power but himself should appoint a priest to any Church +in the part of England over which he was Archbishop; and when a certain +gentleman of Kent made such an appointment, as he claimed to have the +right to do, Thomas a Becket excommunicated him. + +Excommunication was, next to the Interdict I told you of at the close of +the last chapter, the great weapon of the clergy. It consisted in +declaring the person who was excommunicated, an outcast from the Church +and from all religious offices; and in cursing him all over, from the top +of his head to the sole of his foot, whether he was standing up, lying +down, sitting, kneeling, walking, running, hopping, jumping, gaping, +coughing, sneezing, or whatever else he was doing. This unchristian +nonsense would of course have made no sort of difference to the person +cursed--who could say his prayers at home if he were shut out of church, +and whom none but GOD could judge--but for the fears and superstitions of +the people, who avoided excommunicated persons, and made their lives +unhappy. So, the King said to the New Archbishop, 'Take off this +Excommunication from this gentleman of Kent.' To which the Archbishop +replied, 'I shall do no such thing.' + +The quarrel went on. A priest in Worcestershire committed a most +dreadful murder, that aroused the horror of the whole nation. The King +demanded to have this wretch delivered up, to be tried in the same court +and in the same way as any other murderer. The Archbishop refused, and +kept him in the Bishop's prison. The King, holding a solemn assembly in +Westminster Hall, demanded that in future all priests found guilty before +their Bishops of crimes against the law of the land should be considered +priests no longer, and should be delivered over to the law of the land +for punishment. The Archbishop again refused. The King required to know +whether the clergy would obey the ancient customs of the country? Every +priest there, but one, said, after Thomas a Becket, 'Saving my order.' +This really meant that they would only obey those customs when they did +not interfere with their own claims; and the King went out of the Hall in +great wrath. + +Some of the clergy began to be afraid, now, that they were going too far. +Though Thomas a Becket was otherwise as unmoved as Westminster Hall, they +prevailed upon him, for the sake of their fears, to go to the King at +Woodstock, and promise to observe the ancient customs of the country, +without saying anything about his order. The King received this +submission favourably, and summoned a great council of the clergy to meet +at the Castle of Clarendon, by Salisbury. But when the council met, the +Archbishop again insisted on the words 'saying my order;' and he still +insisted, though lords entreated him, and priests wept before him and +knelt to him, and an adjoining room was thrown open, filled with armed +soldiers of the King, to threaten him. At length he gave way, for that +time, and the ancient customs (which included what the King had demanded +in vain) were stated in writing, and were signed and sealed by the chief +of the clergy, and were called the Constitutions of Clarendon. + +The quarrel went on, for all that. The Archbishop tried to see the King. +The King would not see him. The Archbishop tried to escape from England. +The sailors on the coast would launch no boat to take him away. Then, he +again resolved to do his worst in opposition to the King, and began +openly to set the ancient customs at defiance. + +The King summoned him before a great council at Northampton, where he +accused him of high treason, and made a claim against him, which was not +a just one, for an enormous sum of money. Thomas a Becket was alone +against the whole assembly, and the very Bishops advised him to resign +his office and abandon his contest with the King. His great anxiety and +agitation stretched him on a sick-bed for two days, but he was still +undaunted. He went to the adjourned council, carrying a great cross in +his right hand, and sat down holding it erect before him. The King +angrily retired into an inner room. The whole assembly angrily retired +and left him there. But there he sat. The Bishops came out again in a +body, and renounced him as a traitor. He only said, 'I hear!' and sat +there still. They retired again into the inner room, and his trial +proceeded without him. By-and-by, the Earl of Leicester, heading the +barons, came out to read his sentence. He refused to hear it, denied the +power of the court, and said he would refer his cause to the Pope. As he +walked out of the hall, with the cross in his hand, some of those present +picked up rushes--rushes were strewn upon the floors in those days by way +of carpet--and threw them at him. He proudly turned his head, and said +that were he not Archbishop, he would chastise those cowards with the +sword he had known how to use in bygone days. He then mounted his horse, +and rode away, cheered and surrounded by the common people, to whom he +threw open his house that night and gave a supper, supping with them +himself. That same night he secretly departed from the town; and so, +travelling by night and hiding by day, and calling himself 'Brother +Dearman,' got away, not without difficulty, to Flanders. + +The struggle still went on. The angry King took possession of the +revenues of the archbishopric, and banished all the relations and +servants of Thomas a Becket, to the number of four hundred. The Pope and +the French King both protected him, and an abbey was assigned for his +residence. Stimulated by this support, Thomas a Becket, on a great +festival day, formally proceeded to a great church crowded with people, +and going up into the pulpit publicly cursed and excommunicated all who +had supported the Constitutions of Clarendon: mentioning many English +noblemen by name, and not distantly hinting at the King of England +himself. + +When intelligence of this new affront was carried to the King in his +chamber, his passion was so furious that he tore his clothes, and rolled +like a madman on his bed of straw and rushes. But he was soon up and +doing. He ordered all the ports and coasts of England to be narrowly +watched, that no letters of Interdict might be brought into the kingdom; +and sent messengers and bribes to the Pope's palace at Rome. Meanwhile, +Thomas a Becket, for his part, was not idle at Rome, but constantly +employed his utmost arts in his own behalf. Thus the contest stood, +until there was peace between France and England (which had been for some +time at war), and until the two children of the two Kings were married in +celebration of it. Then, the French King brought about a meeting between +Henry and his old favourite, so long his enemy. + +Even then, though Thomas a Becket knelt before the King, he was obstinate +and immovable as to those words about his order. King Louis of France +was weak enough in his veneration for Thomas a Becket and such men, but +this was a little too much for him. He said that a Becket 'wanted to be +greater than the saints and better than St. Peter,' and rode away from +him with the King of England. His poor French Majesty asked a Becket's +pardon for so doing, however, soon afterwards, and cut a very pitiful +figure. + +At last, and after a world of trouble, it came to this. There was +another meeting on French ground between King Henry and Thomas a Becket, +and it was agreed that Thomas a Becket should be Archbishop of +Canterbury, according to the customs of former Archbishops, and that the +King should put him in possession of the revenues of that post. And now, +indeed, you might suppose the struggle at an end, and Thomas a Becket at +rest. NO, not even yet. For Thomas a Becket hearing, by some means, +that King Henry, when he was in dread of his kingdom being placed under +an interdict, had had his eldest son Prince Henry secretly crowned, not +only persuaded the Pope to suspend the Archbishop of York who had +performed that ceremony, and to excommunicate the Bishops who had +assisted at it, but sent a messenger of his own into England, in spite of +all the King's precautions along the coast, who delivered the letters of +excommunication into the Bishops' own hands. Thomas a Becket then came +over to England himself, after an absence of seven years. He was +privately warned that it was dangerous to come, and that an ireful +knight, named RANULF DE BROC, had threatened that he should not live to +eat a loaf of bread in England; but he came. + +The common people received him well, and marched about with him in a +soldierly way, armed with such rustic weapons as they could get. He +tried to see the young prince who had once been his pupil, but was +prevented. He hoped for some little support among the nobles and +priests, but found none. He made the most of the peasants who attended +him, and feasted them, and went from Canterbury to Harrow-on-the-Hill, +and from Harrow-on-the-Hill back to Canterbury, and on Christmas Day +preached in the Cathedral there, and told the people in his sermon that +he had come to die among them, and that it was likely he would be +murdered. He had no fear, however--or, if he had any, he had much more +obstinacy--for he, then and there, excommunicated three of his enemies, +of whom Ranulf de Broc, the ireful knight, was one. + +As men in general had no fancy for being cursed, in their sitting and +walking, and gaping and sneezing, and all the rest of it, it was very +natural in the persons so freely excommunicated to complain to the King. +It was equally natural in the King, who had hoped that this troublesome +opponent was at last quieted, to fall into a mighty rage when he heard of +these new affronts; and, on the Archbishop of York telling him that he +never could hope for rest while Thomas a Becket lived, to cry out hastily +before his court, 'Have I no one here who will deliver me from this man?' +There were four knights present, who, hearing the King's words, looked at +one another, and went out. + +The names of these knights were REGINALD FITZURSE, WILLIAM TRACY, HUGH DE +MORVILLE, and RICHARD BRITO; three of whom had been in the train of +Thomas a Becket in the old days of his splendour. They rode away on +horseback, in a very secret manner, and on the third day after Christmas +Day arrived at Saltwood House, not far from Canterbury, which belonged to +the family of Ranulf de Broc. They quietly collected some followers +here, in case they should need any; and proceeding to Canterbury, +suddenly appeared (the four knights and twelve men) before the +Archbishop, in his own house, at two o'clock in the afternoon. They +neither bowed nor spoke, but sat down on the floor in silence, staring at +the Archbishop. + +Thomas a Becket said, at length, 'What do you want?' + +'We want,' said Reginald Fitzurse, 'the excommunication taken from the +Bishops, and you to answer for your offences to the King.' Thomas a +Becket defiantly replied, that the power of the clergy was above the +power of the King. That it was not for such men as they were, to +threaten him. That if he were threatened by all the swords in England, +he would never yield. + +'Then we will do more than threaten!' said the knights. And they went +out with the twelve men, and put on their armour, and drew their shining +swords, and came back. + +His servants, in the meantime, had shut up and barred the great gate of +the palace. At first, the knights tried to shatter it with their battle- +axes; but, being shown a window by which they could enter, they let the +gate alone, and climbed in that way. While they were battering at the +door, the attendants of Thomas a Becket had implored him to take refuge +in the Cathedral; in which, as a sanctuary or sacred place, they thought +the knights would dare to do no violent deed. He told them, again and +again, that he would not stir. Hearing the distant voices of the monks +singing the evening service, however, he said it was now his duty to +attend, and therefore, and for no other reason, he would go. + +There was a near way between his Palace and the Cathedral, by some +beautiful old cloisters which you may yet see. He went into the +Cathedral, without any hurry, and having the Cross carried before him as +usual. When he was safely there, his servants would have fastened the +door, but he said NO! it was the house of God and not a fortress. + +As he spoke, the shadow of Reginald Fitzurse appeared in the Cathedral +doorway, darkening the little light there was outside, on the dark winter +evening. This knight said, in a strong voice, 'Follow me, loyal servants +of the King!' The rattle of the armour of the other knights echoed +through the Cathedral, as they came clashing in. + +It was so dark, in the lofty aisles and among the stately pillars of the +church, and there were so many hiding-places in the crypt below and in +the narrow passages above, that Thomas a Becket might even at that pass +have saved himself if he would. But he would not. He told the monks +resolutely that he would not. And though they all dispersed and left him +there with no other follower than EDWARD GRYME, his faithful +cross-bearer, he was as firm then, as ever he had been in his life. + +The knights came on, through the darkness, making a terrible noise with +their armed tread upon the stone pavement of the church. 'Where is the +traitor?' they cried out. He made no answer. But when they cried, +'Where is the Archbishop?' he said proudly, 'I am here!' and came out of +the shade and stood before them. + +The knights had no desire to kill him, if they could rid the King and +themselves of him by any other means. They told him he must either fly +or go with them. He said he would do neither; and he threw William Tracy +off with such force when he took hold of his sleeve, that Tracy reeled +again. By his reproaches and his steadiness, he so incensed them, and +exasperated their fierce humour, that Reginald Fitzurse, whom he called +by an ill name, said, 'Then die!' and struck at his head. But the +faithful Edward Gryme put out his arm, and there received the main force +of the blow, so that it only made his master bleed. Another voice from +among the knights again called to Thomas a Becket to fly; but, with his +blood running down his face, and his hands clasped, and his head bent, he +commanded himself to God, and stood firm. Then they cruelly killed him +close to the altar of St. Bennet; and his body fell upon the pavement, +which was dirtied with his blood and brains. + +It is an awful thing to think of the murdered mortal, who had so showered +his curses about, lying, all disfigured, in the church, where a few lamps +here and there were but red specks on a pall of darkness; and to think of +the guilty knights riding away on horseback, looking over their shoulders +at the dim Cathedral, and remembering what they had left inside. + + + +PART THE SECOND + + +When the King heard how Thomas a Becket had lost his life in Canterbury +Cathedral, through the ferocity of the four Knights, he was filled with +dismay. Some have supposed that when the King spoke those hasty words, +'Have I no one here who will deliver me from this man?' he wished, and +meant a Becket to be slain. But few things are more unlikely; for, +besides that the King was not naturally cruel (though very passionate), +he was wise, and must have known full well what any stupid man in his +dominions must have known, namely, that such a murder would rouse the +Pope and the whole Church against him. + +He sent respectful messengers to the Pope, to represent his innocence +(except in having uttered the hasty words); and he swore solemnly and +publicly to his innocence, and contrived in time to make his peace. As +to the four guilty Knights, who fled into Yorkshire, and never again +dared to show themselves at Court, the Pope excommunicated them; and they +lived miserably for some time, shunned by all their countrymen. At last, +they went humbly to Jerusalem as a penance, and there died and were +buried. + +It happened, fortunately for the pacifying of the Pope, that an +opportunity arose very soon after the murder of a Becket, for the King to +declare his power in Ireland--which was an acceptable undertaking to the +Pope, as the Irish, who had been converted to Christianity by one +Patricius (otherwise Saint Patrick) long ago, before any Pope existed, +considered that the Pope had nothing at all to do with them, or they with +the Pope, and accordingly refused to pay him Peter's Pence, or that tax +of a penny a house which I have elsewhere mentioned. The King's +opportunity arose in this way. + +The Irish were, at that time, as barbarous a people as you can well +imagine. They were continually quarrelling and fighting, cutting one +another's throats, slicing one another's noses, burning one another's +houses, carrying away one another's wives, and committing all sorts of +violence. The country was divided into five kingdoms--DESMOND, THOMOND, +CONNAUGHT, ULSTER, and LEINSTER--each governed by a separate King, of +whom one claimed to be the chief of the rest. Now, one of these Kings, +named DERMOND MAC MURROUGH (a wild kind of name, spelt in more than one +wild kind of way), had carried off the wife of a friend of his, and +concealed her on an island in a bog. The friend resenting this (though +it was quite the custom of the country), complained to the chief King, +and, with the chief King's help, drove Dermond Mac Murrough out of his +dominions. Dermond came over to England for revenge; and offered to hold +his realm as a vassal of King Henry, if King Henry would help him to +regain it. The King consented to these terms; but only assisted him, +then, with what were called Letters Patent, authorising any English +subjects who were so disposed, to enter into his service, and aid his +cause. + +There was, at Bristol, a certain EARL RICHARD DE CLARE, called STRONGBOW; +of no very good character; needy and desperate, and ready for anything +that offered him a chance of improving his fortunes. There were, in +South Wales, two other broken knights of the same good-for-nothing sort, +called ROBERT FITZ-STEPHEN, and MAURICE FITZ-GERALD. These three, each +with a small band of followers, took up Dermond's cause; and it was +agreed that if it proved successful, Strongbow should marry Dermond's +daughter EVA, and be declared his heir. + +The trained English followers of these knights were so superior in all +the discipline of battle to the Irish, that they beat them against +immense superiority of numbers. In one fight, early in the war, they cut +off three hundred heads, and laid them before Mac Murrough; who turned +them every one up with his hands, rejoicing, and, coming to one which was +the head of a man whom he had much disliked, grasped it by the hair and +ears, and tore off the nose and lips with his teeth. You may judge from +this, what kind of a gentleman an Irish King in those times was. The +captives, all through this war, were horribly treated; the victorious +party making nothing of breaking their limbs, and casting them into the +sea from the tops of high rocks. It was in the midst of the miseries and +cruelties attendant on the taking of Waterford, where the dead lay piled +in the streets, and the filthy gutters ran with blood, that Strongbow +married Eva. An odious marriage-company those mounds of corpse's must +have made, I think, and one quite worthy of the young lady's father. + +He died, after Waterford and Dublin had been taken, and various successes +achieved; and Strongbow became King of Leinster. Now came King Henry's +opportunity. To restrain the growing power of Strongbow, he himself +repaired to Dublin, as Strongbow's Royal Master, and deprived him of his +kingdom, but confirmed him in the enjoyment of great possessions. The +King, then, holding state in Dublin, received the homage of nearly all +the Irish Kings and Chiefs, and so came home again with a great addition +to his reputation as Lord of Ireland, and with a new claim on the favour +of the Pope. And now, their reconciliation was completed--more easily +and mildly by the Pope, than the King might have expected, I think. + +At this period of his reign, when his troubles seemed so few and his +prospects so bright, those domestic miseries began which gradually made +the King the most unhappy of men, reduced his great spirit, wore away his +health, and broke his heart. + +He had four sons. HENRY, now aged eighteen--his secret crowning of whom +had given such offence to Thomas a Becket. RICHARD, aged sixteen; +GEOFFREY, fifteen; and JOHN, his favourite, a young boy whom the +courtiers named LACKLAND, because he had no inheritance, but to whom the +King meant to give the Lordship of Ireland. All these misguided boys, in +their turn, were unnatural sons to him, and unnatural brothers to each +other. Prince Henry, stimulated by the French King, and by his bad +mother, Queen Eleanor, began the undutiful history, + +First, he demanded that his young wife, MARGARET, the French King's +daughter, should be crowned as well as he. His father, the King, +consented, and it was done. It was no sooner done, than he demanded to +have a part of his father's dominions, during his father's life. This +being refused, he made off from his father in the night, with his bad +heart full of bitterness, and took refuge at the French King's Court. +Within a day or two, his brothers Richard and Geoffrey followed. Their +mother tried to join them--escaping in man's clothes--but she was seized +by King Henry's men, and immured in prison, where she lay, deservedly, +for sixteen years. Every day, however, some grasping English noblemen, +to whom the King's protection of his people from their avarice and +oppression had given offence, deserted him and joined the Princes. Every +day he heard some fresh intelligence of the Princes levying armies +against him; of Prince Henry's wearing a crown before his own ambassadors +at the French Court, and being called the Junior King of England; of all +the Princes swearing never to make peace with him, their father, without +the consent and approval of the Barons of France. But, with his +fortitude and energy unshaken, King Henry met the shock of these +disasters with a resolved and cheerful face. He called upon all Royal +fathers who had sons, to help him, for his cause was theirs; he hired, +out of his riches, twenty thousand men to fight the false French King, +who stirred his own blood against him; and he carried on the war with +such vigour, that Louis soon proposed a conference to treat for peace. + +The conference was held beneath an old wide-spreading green elm-tree, +upon a plain in France. It led to nothing. The war recommenced. Prince +Richard began his fighting career, by leading an army against his father; +but his father beat him and his army back; and thousands of his men would +have rued the day in which they fought in such a wicked cause, had not +the King received news of an invasion of England by the Scots, and +promptly come home through a great storm to repress it. And whether he +really began to fear that he suffered these troubles because a Becket had +been murdered; or whether he wished to rise in the favour of the Pope, +who had now declared a Becket to be a saint, or in the favour of his own +people, of whom many believed that even a Becket's senseless tomb could +work miracles, I don't know: but the King no sooner landed in England +than he went straight to Canterbury; and when he came within sight of the +distant Cathedral, he dismounted from his horse, took off his shoes, and +walked with bare and bleeding feet to a Becket's grave. There, he lay +down on the ground, lamenting, in the presence of many people; and by-and- +by he went into the Chapter House, and, removing his clothes from his +back and shoulders, submitted himself to be beaten with knotted cords +(not beaten very hard, I dare say though) by eighty Priests, one after +another. It chanced that on the very day when the King made this curious +exhibition of himself, a complete victory was obtained over the Scots; +which very much delighted the Priests, who said that it was won because +of his great example of repentance. For the Priests in general had found +out, since a Becket's death, that they admired him of all things--though +they had hated him very cordially when he was alive. + +The Earl of Flanders, who was at the head of the base conspiracy of the +King's undutiful sons and their foreign friends, took the opportunity of +the King being thus employed at home, to lay siege to Rouen, the capital +of Normandy. But the King, who was extraordinarily quick and active in +all his movements, was at Rouen, too, before it was supposed possible +that he could have left England; and there he so defeated the said Earl +of Flanders, that the conspirators proposed peace, and his bad sons Henry +and Geoffrey submitted. Richard resisted for six weeks; but, being +beaten out of castle after castle, he at last submitted too, and his +father forgave him. + +To forgive these unworthy princes was only to afford them breathing-time +for new faithlessness. They were so false, disloyal, and dishonourable, +that they were no more to be trusted than common thieves. In the very +next year, Prince Henry rebelled again, and was again forgiven. In eight +years more, Prince Richard rebelled against his elder brother; and Prince +Geoffrey infamously said that the brothers could never agree well +together, unless they were united against their father. In the very next +year after their reconciliation by the King, Prince Henry again rebelled +against his father; and again submitted, swearing to be true; and was +again forgiven; and again rebelled with Geoffrey. + +But the end of this perfidious Prince was come. He fell sick at a French +town; and his conscience terribly reproaching him with his baseness, he +sent messengers to the King his father, imploring him to come and see +him, and to forgive him for the last time on his bed of death. The +generous King, who had a royal and forgiving mind towards his children +always, would have gone; but this Prince had been so unnatural, that the +noblemen about the King suspected treachery, and represented to him that +he could not safely trust his life with such a traitor, though his own +eldest son. Therefore the King sent him a ring from off his finger as a +token of forgiveness; and when the Prince had kissed it, with much grief +and many tears, and had confessed to those around him how bad, and +wicked, and undutiful a son he had been; he said to the attendant +Priests: 'O, tie a rope about my body, and draw me out of bed, and lay me +down upon a bed of ashes, that I may die with prayers to God in a +repentant manner!' And so he died, at twenty-seven years old. + +Three years afterwards, Prince Geoffrey, being unhorsed at a tournament, +had his brains trampled out by a crowd of horses passing over him. So, +there only remained Prince Richard, and Prince John--who had grown to be +a young man now, and had solemnly sworn to be faithful to his father. +Richard soon rebelled again, encouraged by his friend the French King, +PHILIP THE SECOND (son of Louis, who was dead); and soon submitted and +was again forgiven, swearing on the New Testament never to rebel again; +and in another year or so, rebelled again; and, in the presence of his +father, knelt down on his knee before the King of France; and did the +French King homage: and declared that with his aid he would possess +himself, by force, of all his father's French dominions. + +And yet this Richard called himself a soldier of Our Saviour! And yet +this Richard wore the Cross, which the Kings of France and England had +both taken, in the previous year, at a brotherly meeting underneath the +old wide-spreading elm-tree on the plain, when they had sworn (like him) +to devote themselves to a new Crusade, for the love and honour of the +Truth! + +Sick at heart, wearied out by the falsehood of his sons, and almost ready +to lie down and die, the unhappy King who had so long stood firm, began +to fail. But the Pope, to his honour, supported him; and obliged the +French King and Richard, though successful in fight, to treat for peace. +Richard wanted to be Crowned King of England, and pretended that he +wanted to be married (which he really did not) to the French King's +sister, his promised wife, whom King Henry detained in England. King +Henry wanted, on the other hand, that the French King's sister should be +married to his favourite son, John: the only one of his sons (he said) +who had never rebelled against him. At last King Henry, deserted by his +nobles one by one, distressed, exhausted, broken-hearted, consented to +establish peace. + +One final heavy sorrow was reserved for him, even yet. When they brought +him the proposed treaty of peace, in writing, as he lay very ill in bed, +they brought him also the list of the deserters from their allegiance, +whom he was required to pardon. The first name upon this list was John, +his favourite son, in whom he had trusted to the last. + +'O John! child of my heart!' exclaimed the King, in a great agony of +mind. 'O John, whom I have loved the best! O John, for whom I have +contended through these many troubles! Have you betrayed me too!' And +then he lay down with a heavy groan, and said, 'Now let the world go as +it will. I care for nothing more!' + +After a time, he told his attendants to take him to the French town of +Chinon--a town he had been fond of, during many years. But he was fond +of no place now; it was too true that he could care for nothing more upon +this earth. He wildly cursed the hour when he was born, and cursed the +children whom he left behind him; and expired. + +As, one hundred years before, the servile followers of the Court had +abandoned the Conqueror in the hour of his death, so they now abandoned +his descendant. The very body was stripped, in the plunder of the Royal +chamber; and it was not easy to find the means of carrying it for burial +to the abbey church of Fontevraud. + +Richard was said in after years, by way of flattery, to have the heart of +a Lion. It would have been far better, I think, to have had the heart of +a Man. His heart, whatever it was, had cause to beat remorsefully within +his breast, when he came--as he did--into the solemn abbey, and looked on +his dead father's uncovered face. His heart, whatever it was, had been a +black and perjured heart, in all its dealings with the deceased King, and +more deficient in a single touch of tenderness than any wild beast's in +the forest. + +There is a pretty story told of this Reign, called the story of FAIR +ROSAMOND. It relates how the King doted on Fair Rosamond, who was the +loveliest girl in all the world; and how he had a beautiful Bower built +for her in a Park at Woodstock; and how it was erected in a labyrinth, +and could only be found by a clue of silk. How the bad Queen Eleanor, +becoming jealous of Fair Rosamond, found out the secret of the clue, and +one day, appeared before her, with a dagger and a cup of poison, and left +her to the choice between those deaths. How Fair Rosamond, after +shedding many piteous tears and offering many useless prayers to the +cruel Queen, took the poison, and fell dead in the midst of the beautiful +bower, while the unconscious birds sang gaily all around her. + +Now, there _was_ a fair Rosamond, and she was (I dare say) the loveliest +girl in all the world, and the King was certainly very fond of her, and +the bad Queen Eleanor was certainly made jealous. But I am afraid--I say +afraid, because I like the story so much--that there was no bower, no +labyrinth, no silken clue, no dagger, no poison. I am afraid fair +Rosamond retired to a nunnery near Oxford, and died there, peaceably; her +sister-nuns hanging a silken drapery over her tomb, and often dressing it +with flowers, in remembrance of the youth and beauty that had enchanted +the King when he too was young, and when his life lay fair before him. + +It was dark and ended now; faded and gone. Henry Plantagenet lay quiet +in the abbey church of Fontevraud, in the fifty-seventh year of his +age--never to be completed--after governing England well, for nearly +thirty-five years. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII--ENGLAND UNDER RICHARD THE FIRST, CALLED THE LION-HEART + + +In the year of our Lord one thousand one hundred and eighty-nine, Richard +of the Lion Heart succeeded to the throne of King Henry the Second, whose +paternal heart he had done so much to break. He had been, as we have +seen, a rebel from his boyhood; but, the moment he became a king against +whom others might rebel, he found out that rebellion was a great +wickedness. In the heat of this pious discovery, he punished all the +leading people who had befriended him against his father. He could +scarcely have done anything that would have been a better instance of his +real nature, or a better warning to fawners and parasites not to trust in +lion-hearted princes. + +He likewise put his late father's treasurer in chains, and locked him up +in a dungeon from which he was not set free until he had relinquished, +not only all the Crown treasure, but all his own money too. So, Richard +certainly got the Lion's share of the wealth of this wretched treasurer, +whether he had a Lion's heart or not. + +He was crowned King of England, with great pomp, at Westminster: walking +to the Cathedral under a silken canopy stretched on the tops of four +lances, each carried by a great lord. On the day of his coronation, a +dreadful murdering of the Jews took place, which seems to have given +great delight to numbers of savage persons calling themselves Christians. +The King had issued a proclamation forbidding the Jews (who were +generally hated, though they were the most useful merchants in England) +to appear at the ceremony; but as they had assembled in London from all +parts, bringing presents to show their respect for the new Sovereign, +some of them ventured down to Westminster Hall with their gifts; which +were very readily accepted. It is supposed, now, that some noisy fellow +in the crowd, pretending to be a very delicate Christian, set up a howl +at this, and struck a Jew who was trying to get in at the Hall door with +his present. A riot arose. The Jews who had got into the Hall, were +driven forth; and some of the rabble cried out that the new King had +commanded the unbelieving race to be put to death. Thereupon the crowd +rushed through the narrow streets of the city, slaughtering all the Jews +they met; and when they could find no more out of doors (on account of +their having fled to their houses, and fastened themselves in), they ran +madly about, breaking open all the houses where the Jews lived, rushing +in and stabbing or spearing them, sometimes even flinging old people and +children out of window into blazing fires they had lighted up below. This +great cruelty lasted four-and-twenty hours, and only three men were +punished for it. Even they forfeited their lives not for murdering and +robbing the Jews, but for burning the houses of some Christians. + +King Richard, who was a strong, restless, burly man, with one idea always +in his head, and that the very troublesome idea of breaking the heads of +other men, was mightily impatient to go on a Crusade to the Holy Land, +with a great army. As great armies could not be raised to go, even to +the Holy Land, without a great deal of money, he sold the Crown domains, +and even the high offices of State; recklessly appointing noblemen to +rule over his English subjects, not because they were fit to govern, but +because they could pay high for the privilege. In this way, and by +selling pardons at a dear rate and by varieties of avarice and +oppression, he scraped together a large treasure. He then appointed two +Bishops to take care of his kingdom in his absence, and gave great powers +and possessions to his brother John, to secure his friendship. John +would rather have been made Regent of England; but he was a sly man, and +friendly to the expedition; saying to himself, no doubt, 'The more +fighting, the more chance of my brother being killed; and when he _is_ +killed, then I become King John!' + +Before the newly levied army departed from England, the recruits and the +general populace distinguished themselves by astonishing cruelties on the +unfortunate Jews: whom, in many large towns, they murdered by hundreds in +the most horrible manner. + +At York, a large body of Jews took refuge in the Castle, in the absence +of its Governor, after the wives and children of many of them had been +slain before their eyes. Presently came the Governor, and demanded +admission. 'How can we give it thee, O Governor!' said the Jews upon the +walls, 'when, if we open the gate by so much as the width of a foot, the +roaring crowd behind thee will press in and kill us?' + +Upon this, the unjust Governor became angry, and told the people that he +approved of their killing those Jews; and a mischievous maniac of a +friar, dressed all in white, put himself at the head of the assault, and +they assaulted the Castle for three days. + +Then said JOCEN, the head-Jew (who was a Rabbi or Priest), to the rest, +'Brethren, there is no hope for us with the Christians who are hammering +at the gates and walls, and who must soon break in. As we and our wives +and children must die, either by Christian hands, or by our own, let it +be by our own. Let us destroy by fire what jewels and other treasure we +have here, then fire the castle, and then perish!' + +A few could not resolve to do this, but the greater part complied. They +made a blazing heap of all their valuables, and, when those were +consumed, set the castle in flames. While the flames roared and crackled +around them, and shooting up into the sky, turned it blood-red, Jocen cut +the throat of his beloved wife, and stabbed himself. All the others who +had wives or children, did the like dreadful deed. When the populace +broke in, they found (except the trembling few, cowering in corners, whom +they soon killed) only heaps of greasy cinders, with here and there +something like part of the blackened trunk of a burnt tree, but which had +lately been a human creature, formed by the beneficent hand of the +Creator as they were. + +After this bad beginning, Richard and his troops went on, in no very good +manner, with the Holy Crusade. It was undertaken jointly by the King of +England and his old friend Philip of France. They commenced the business +by reviewing their forces, to the number of one hundred thousand men. +Afterwards, they severally embarked their troops for Messina, in Sicily, +which was appointed as the next place of meeting. + +King Richard's sister had married the King of this place, but he was +dead: and his uncle TANCRED had usurped the crown, cast the Royal Widow +into prison, and possessed himself of her estates. Richard fiercely +demanded his sister's release, the restoration of her lands, and +(according to the Royal custom of the Island) that she should have a +golden chair, a golden table, four-and-twenty silver cups, and four-and- +twenty silver dishes. As he was too powerful to be successfully +resisted, Tancred yielded to his demands; and then the French King grew +jealous, and complained that the English King wanted to be absolute in +the Island of Messina and everywhere else. Richard, however, cared +little or nothing for this complaint; and in consideration of a present +of twenty thousand pieces of gold, promised his pretty little nephew +ARTHUR, then a child of two years old, in marriage to Tancred's daughter. +We shall hear again of pretty little Arthur by-and-by. + +This Sicilian affair arranged without anybody's brains being knocked out +(which must have rather disappointed him), King Richard took his sister +away, and also a fair lady named BERENGARIA, with whom he had fallen in +love in France, and whom his mother, Queen Eleanor (so long in prison, +you remember, but released by Richard on his coming to the Throne), had +brought out there to be his wife; and sailed with them for Cyprus. + +He soon had the pleasure of fighting the King of the Island of Cyprus, +for allowing his subjects to pillage some of the English troops who were +shipwrecked on the shore; and easily conquering this poor monarch, he +seized his only daughter, to be a companion to the lady Berengaria, and +put the King himself into silver fetters. He then sailed away again with +his mother, sister, wife, and the captive princess; and soon arrived +before the town of Acre, which the French King with his fleet was +besieging from the sea. But the French King was in no triumphant +condition, for his army had been thinned by the swords of the Saracens, +and wasted by the plague; and SALADIN, the brave Sultan of the Turks, at +the head of a numerous army, was at that time gallantly defending the +place from the hills that rise above it. + +Wherever the united army of Crusaders went, they agreed in few points +except in gaming, drinking, and quarrelling, in a most unholy manner; in +debauching the people among whom they tarried, whether they were friends +or foes; and in carrying disturbance and ruin into quiet places. The +French King was jealous of the English King, and the English King was +jealous of the French King, and the disorderly and violent soldiers of +the two nations were jealous of one another; consequently, the two Kings +could not at first agree, even upon a joint assault on Acre; but when +they did make up their quarrel for that purpose, the Saracens promised to +yield the town, to give up to the Christians the wood of the Holy Cross, +to set at liberty all their Christian captives, and to pay two hundred +thousand pieces of gold. All this was to be done within forty days; but, +not being done, King Richard ordered some three thousand Saracen +prisoners to be brought out in the front of his camp, and there, in full +view of their own countrymen, to be butchered. + +The French King had no part in this crime; for he was by that time +travelling homeward with the greater part of his men; being offended by +the overbearing conduct of the English King; being anxious to look after +his own dominions; and being ill, besides, from the unwholesome air of +that hot and sandy country. King Richard carried on the war without him; +and remained in the East, meeting with a variety of adventures, nearly a +year and a half. Every night when his army was on the march, and came to +a halt, the heralds cried out three times, to remind all the soldiers of +the cause in which they were engaged, 'Save the Holy Sepulchre!' and then +all the soldiers knelt and said 'Amen!' Marching or encamping, the army +had continually to strive with the hot air of the glaring desert, or with +the Saracen soldiers animated and directed by the brave Saladin, or with +both together. Sickness and death, battle and wounds, were always among +them; but through every difficulty King Richard fought like a giant, and +worked like a common labourer. Long and long after he was quiet in his +grave, his terrible battle-axe, with twenty English pounds of English +steel in its mighty head, was a legend among the Saracens; and when all +the Saracen and Christian hosts had been dust for many a year, if a +Saracen horse started at any object by the wayside, his rider would +exclaim, 'What dost thou fear, Fool? Dost thou think King Richard is +behind it?' + +No one admired this King's renown for bravery more than Saladin himself, +who was a generous and gallant enemy. When Richard lay ill of a fever, +Saladin sent him fresh fruits from Damascus, and snow from the mountain- +tops. Courtly messages and compliments were frequently exchanged between +them--and then King Richard would mount his horse and kill as many +Saracens as he could; and Saladin would mount his, and kill as many +Christians as he could. In this way King Richard fought to his heart's +content at Arsoof and at Jaffa; and finding himself with nothing exciting +to do at Ascalon, except to rebuild, for his own defence, some +fortifications there which the Saracens had destroyed, he kicked his ally +the Duke of Austria, for being too proud to work at them. + +The army at last came within sight of the Holy City of Jerusalem; but, +being then a mere nest of jealousy, and quarrelling and fighting, soon +retired, and agreed with the Saracens upon a truce for three years, three +months, three days, and three hours. Then, the English Christians, +protected by the noble Saladin from Saracen revenge, visited Our +Saviour's tomb; and then King Richard embarked with a small force at Acre +to return home. + +But he was shipwrecked in the Adriatic Sea, and was fain to pass through +Germany, under an assumed name. Now, there were many people in Germany +who had served in the Holy Land under that proud Duke of Austria who had +been kicked; and some of them, easily recognising a man so remarkable as +King Richard, carried their intelligence to the kicked Duke, who +straightway took him prisoner at a little inn near Vienna. + +The Duke's master the Emperor of Germany, and the King of France, were +equally delighted to have so troublesome a monarch in safe keeping. +Friendships which are founded on a partnership in doing wrong, are never +true; and the King of France was now quite as heartily King Richard's +foe, as he had ever been his friend in his unnatural conduct to his +father. He monstrously pretended that King Richard had designed to +poison him in the East; he charged him with having murdered, there, a man +whom he had in truth befriended; he bribed the Emperor of Germany to keep +him close prisoner; and, finally, through the plotting of these two +princes, Richard was brought before the German legislature, charged with +the foregoing crimes, and many others. But he defended himself so well, +that many of the assembly were moved to tears by his eloquence and +earnestness. It was decided that he should be treated, during the rest +of his captivity, in a manner more becoming his dignity than he had been, +and that he should be set free on the payment of a heavy ransom. This +ransom the English people willingly raised. When Queen Eleanor took it +over to Germany, it was at first evaded and refused. But she appealed to +the honour of all the princes of the German Empire in behalf of her son, +and appealed so well that it was accepted, and the King released. +Thereupon, the King of France wrote to Prince John--'Take care of +thyself. The devil is unchained!' + +Prince John had reason to fear his brother, for he had been a traitor to +him in his captivity. He had secretly joined the French King; had vowed +to the English nobles and people that his brother was dead; and had +vainly tried to seize the crown. He was now in France, at a place called +Evreux. Being the meanest and basest of men, he contrived a mean and +base expedient for making himself acceptable to his brother. He invited +the French officers of the garrison in that town to dinner, murdered them +all, and then took the fortress. With this recommendation to the good +will of a lion-hearted monarch, he hastened to King Richard, fell on his +knees before him, and obtained the intercession of Queen Eleanor. 'I +forgive him,' said the King, 'and I hope I may forget the injury he has +done me, as easily as I know he will forget my pardon.' + +While King Richard was in Sicily, there had been trouble in his dominions +at home: one of the bishops whom he had left in charge thereof, arresting +the other; and making, in his pride and ambition, as great a show as if +he were King himself. But the King hearing of it at Messina, and +appointing a new Regency, this LONGCHAMP (for that was his name) had fled +to France in a woman's dress, and had there been encouraged and supported +by the French King. With all these causes of offence against Philip in +his mind, King Richard had no sooner been welcomed home by his +enthusiastic subjects with great display and splendour, and had no sooner +been crowned afresh at Winchester, than he resolved to show the French +King that the Devil was unchained indeed, and made war against him with +great fury. + +There was fresh trouble at home about this time, arising out of the +discontents of the poor people, who complained that they were far more +heavily taxed than the rich, and who found a spirited champion in WILLIAM +FITZ-OSBERT, called LONGBEARD. He became the leader of a secret society, +comprising fifty thousand men; he was seized by surprise; he stabbed the +citizen who first laid hands upon him; and retreated, bravely fighting, +to a church, which he maintained four days, until he was dislodged by +fire, and run through the body as he came out. He was not killed, +though; for he was dragged, half dead, at the tail of a horse to +Smithfield, and there hanged. Death was long a favourite remedy for +silencing the people's advocates; but as we go on with this history, I +fancy we shall find them difficult to make an end of, for all that. + +The French war, delayed occasionally by a truce, was still in progress +when a certain Lord named VIDOMAR, Viscount of Limoges, chanced to find +in his ground a treasure of ancient coins. As the King's vassal, he sent +the King half of it; but the King claimed the whole. The lord refused to +yield the whole. The King besieged the lord in his castle, swore that he +would take the castle by storm, and hang every man of its defenders on +the battlements. + +There was a strange old song in that part of the country, to the effect +that in Limoges an arrow would be made by which King Richard would die. +It may be that BERTRAND DE GOURDON, a young man who was one of the +defenders of the castle, had often sung it or heard it sung of a winter +night, and remembered it when he saw, from his post upon the ramparts, +the King attended only by his chief officer riding below the walls +surveying the place. He drew an arrow to the head, took steady aim, said +between his teeth, 'Now I pray God speed thee well, arrow!' discharged +it, and struck the King in the left shoulder. + +Although the wound was not at first considered dangerous, it was severe +enough to cause the King to retire to his tent, and direct the assault to +be made without him. The castle was taken; and every man of its +defenders was hanged, as the King had sworn all should be, except +Bertrand de Gourdon, who was reserved until the royal pleasure respecting +him should be known. + +By that time unskilful treatment had made the wound mortal and the King +knew that he was dying. He directed Bertrand to be brought into his +tent. The young man was brought there, heavily chained, King Richard +looked at him steadily. He looked, as steadily, at the King. + +'Knave!' said King Richard. 'What have I done to thee that thou +shouldest take my life?' + +'What hast thou done to me?' replied the young man. 'With thine own +hands thou hast killed my father and my two brothers. Myself thou +wouldest have hanged. Let me die now, by any torture that thou wilt. My +comfort is, that no torture can save Thee. Thou too must die; and, +through me, the world is quit of thee!' + +Again the King looked at the young man steadily. Again the young man +looked steadily at him. Perhaps some remembrance of his generous enemy +Saladin, who was not a Christian, came into the mind of the dying King. + +'Youth!' he said, 'I forgive thee. Go unhurt!' Then, turning to the +chief officer who had been riding in his company when he received the +wound, King Richard said: + +'Take off his chains, give him a hundred shillings, and let him depart.' + +He sunk down on his couch, and a dark mist seemed in his weakened eyes to +fill the tent wherein he had so often rested, and he died. His age was +forty-two; he had reigned ten years. His last command was not obeyed; +for the chief officer flayed Bertrand de Gourdon alive, and hanged him. + +There is an old tune yet known--a sorrowful air will sometimes outlive +many generations of strong men, and even last longer than battle-axes +with twenty pounds of steel in the head--by which this King is said to +have been discovered in his captivity. BLONDEL, a favourite Minstrel of +King Richard, as the story relates, faithfully seeking his Royal master, +went singing it outside the gloomy walls of many foreign fortresses and +prisons; until at last he heard it echoed from within a dungeon, and knew +the voice, and cried out in ecstasy, 'O Richard, O my King!' You may +believe it, if you like; it would be easy to believe worse things. +Richard was himself a Minstrel and a Poet. If he had not been a Prince +too, he might have been a better man perhaps, and might have gone out of +the world with less bloodshed and waste of life to answer for. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV--ENGLAND UNDER KING JOHN, CALLED LACKLAND + + +At two-and-thirty years of age, JOHN became King of England. His pretty +little nephew ARTHUR had the best claim to the throne; but John seized +the treasure, and made fine promises to the nobility, and got himself +crowned at Westminster within a few weeks after his brother Richard's +death. I doubt whether the crown could possibly have been put upon the +head of a meaner coward, or a more detestable villain, if England had +been searched from end to end to find him out. + +The French King, Philip, refused to acknowledge the right of John to his +new dignity, and declared in favour of Arthur. You must not suppose that +he had any generosity of feeling for the fatherless boy; it merely suited +his ambitious schemes to oppose the King of England. So John and the +French King went to war about Arthur. + +He was a handsome boy, at that time only twelve years old. He was not +born when his father, Geoffrey, had his brains trampled out at the +tournament; and, besides the misfortune of never having known a father's +guidance and protection, he had the additional misfortune to have a +foolish mother (CONSTANCE by name), lately married to her third husband. +She took Arthur, upon John's accession, to the French King, who pretended +to be very much his friend, and who made him a Knight, and promised him +his daughter in marriage; but, who cared so little about him in reality, +that finding it his interest to make peace with King John for a time, he +did so without the least consideration for the poor little Prince, and +heartlessly sacrificed all his interests. + +Young Arthur, for two years afterwards, lived quietly; and in the course +of that time his mother died. But, the French King then finding it his +interest to quarrel with King John again, again made Arthur his pretence, +and invited the orphan boy to court. 'You know your rights, Prince,' +said the French King, 'and you would like to be a King. Is it not so?' +'Truly,' said Prince Arthur, 'I should greatly like to be a King!' +'Then,' said Philip, 'you shall have two hundred gentlemen who are +Knights of mine, and with them you shall go to win back the provinces +belonging to you, of which your uncle, the usurping King of England, has +taken possession. I myself, meanwhile, will head a force against him in +Normandy.' Poor Arthur was so flattered and so grateful that he signed a +treaty with the crafty French King, agreeing to consider him his superior +Lord, and that the French King should keep for himself whatever he could +take from King John. + +Now, King John was so bad in all ways, and King Philip was so perfidious, +that Arthur, between the two, might as well have been a lamb between a +fox and a wolf. But, being so young, he was ardent and flushed with +hope; and, when the people of Brittany (which was his inheritance) sent +him five hundred more knights and five thousand foot soldiers, he +believed his fortune was made. The people of Brittany had been fond of +him from his birth, and had requested that he might be called Arthur, in +remembrance of that dimly-famous English Arthur, of whom I told you early +in this book, whom they believed to have been the brave friend and +companion of an old King of their own. They had tales among them about a +prophet called MERLIN (of the same old time), who had foretold that their +own King should be restored to them after hundreds of years; and they +believed that the prophecy would be fulfilled in Arthur; that the time +would come when he would rule them with a crown of Brittany upon his +head; and when neither King of France nor King of England would have any +power over them. When Arthur found himself riding in a glittering suit +of armour on a richly caparisoned horse, at the head of his train of +knights and soldiers, he began to believe this too, and to consider old +Merlin a very superior prophet. + +He did not know--how could he, being so innocent and inexperienced?--that +his little army was a mere nothing against the power of the King of +England. The French King knew it; but the poor boy's fate was little to +him, so that the King of England was worried and distressed. Therefore, +King Philip went his way into Normandy and Prince Arthur went his way +towards Mirebeau, a French town near Poictiers, both very well pleased. + +Prince Arthur went to attack the town of Mirebeau, because his +grandmother Eleanor, who has so often made her appearance in this history +(and who had always been his mother's enemy), was living there, and +because his Knights said, 'Prince, if you can take her prisoner, you will +be able to bring the King your uncle to terms!' But she was not to be +easily taken. She was old enough by this time--eighty--but she was as +full of stratagem as she was full of years and wickedness. Receiving +intelligence of young Arthur's approach, she shut herself up in a high +tower, and encouraged her soldiers to defend it like men. Prince Arthur +with his little army besieged the high tower. King John, hearing how +matters stood, came up to the rescue, with _his_ army. So here was a +strange family-party! The boy-Prince besieging his grandmother, and his +uncle besieging him! + +This position of affairs did not last long. One summer night King John, +by treachery, got his men into the town, surprised Prince Arthur's force, +took two hundred of his knights, and seized the Prince himself in his +bed. The Knights were put in heavy irons, and driven away in open carts +drawn by bullocks, to various dungeons where they were most inhumanly +treated, and where some of them were starved to death. Prince Arthur was +sent to the castle of Falaise. + +One day, while he was in prison at that castle, mournfully thinking it +strange that one so young should be in so much trouble, and looking out +of the small window in the deep dark wall, at the summer sky and the +birds, the door was softly opened, and he saw his uncle the King standing +in the shadow of the archway, looking very grim. + +'Arthur,' said the King, with his wicked eyes more on the stone floor +than on his nephew, 'will you not trust to the gentleness, the +friendship, and the truthfulness of your loving uncle?' + +'I will tell my loving uncle that,' replied the boy, 'when he does me +right. Let him restore to me my kingdom of England, and then come to me +and ask the question.' + +The King looked at him and went out. 'Keep that boy close prisoner,' +said he to the warden of the castle. + +Then, the King took secret counsel with the worst of his nobles how the +Prince was to be got rid of. Some said, 'Put out his eyes and keep him +in prison, as Robort of Normandy was kept.' Others said, 'Have him +stabbed.' Others, 'Have him hanged.' Others, 'Have him poisoned.' + +King John, feeling that in any case, whatever was done afterwards, it +would be a satisfaction to his mind to have those handsome eyes burnt out +that had looked at him so proudly while his own royal eyes were blinking +at the stone floor, sent certain ruffians to Falaise to blind the boy +with red-hot irons. But Arthur so pathetically entreated them, and shed +such piteous tears, and so appealed to HUBERT DE BOURG (or BURGH), the +warden of the castle, who had a love for him, and was an honourable, +tender man, that Hubert could not bear it. To his eternal honour he +prevented the torture from being performed, and, at his own risk, sent +the savages away. + +The chafed and disappointed King bethought himself of the stabbing +suggestion next, and, with his shuffling manner and his cruel face, +proposed it to one William de Bray. 'I am a gentleman and not an +executioner,' said William de Bray, and left the presence with disdain. + +But it was not difficult for a King to hire a murderer in those days. +King John found one for his money, and sent him down to the castle of +Falaise. 'On what errand dost thou come?' said Hubert to this fellow. +'To despatch young Arthur,' he returned. 'Go back to him who sent thee,' +answered Hubert, 'and say that I will do it!' + +King John very well knowing that Hubert would never do it, but that he +courageously sent this reply to save the Prince or gain time, despatched +messengers to convey the young prisoner to the castle of Rouen. + +Arthur was soon forced from the good Hubert--of whom he had never stood +in greater need than then--carried away by night, and lodged in his new +prison: where, through his grated window, he could hear the deep waters +of the river Seine, rippling against the stone wall below. + +One dark night, as he lay sleeping, dreaming perhaps of rescue by those +unfortunate gentlemen who were obscurely suffering and dying in his +cause, he was roused, and bidden by his jailer to come down the staircase +to the foot of the tower. He hurriedly dressed himself and obeyed. When +they came to the bottom of the winding stairs, and the night air from the +river blew upon their faces, the jailer trod upon his torch and put it +out. Then, Arthur, in the darkness, was hurriedly drawn into a solitary +boat. And in that boat, he found his uncle and one other man. + +He knelt to them, and prayed them not to murder him. Deaf to his +entreaties, they stabbed him and sunk his body in the river with heavy +stones. When the spring-morning broke, the tower-door was closed, the +boat was gone, the river sparkled on its way, and never more was any +trace of the poor boy beheld by mortal eyes. + +The news of this atrocious murder being spread in England, awakened a +hatred of the King (already odious for his many vices, and for his having +stolen away and married a noble lady while his own wife was living) that +never slept again through his whole reign. In Brittany, the indignation +was intense. Arthur's own sister ELEANOR was in the power of John and +shut up in a convent at Bristol, but his half-sister ALICE was in +Brittany. The people chose her, and the murdered prince's father-in-law, +the last husband of Constance, to represent them; and carried their fiery +complaints to King Philip. King Philip summoned King John (as the holder +of territory in France) to come before him and defend himself. King John +refusing to appear, King Philip declared him false, perjured, and guilty; +and again made war. In a little time, by conquering the greater part of +his French territory, King Philip deprived him of one-third of his +dominions. And, through all the fighting that took place, King John was +always found, either to be eating and drinking, like a gluttonous fool, +when the danger was at a distance, or to be running away, like a beaten +cur, when it was near. + +You might suppose that when he was losing his dominions at this rate, and +when his own nobles cared so little for him or his cause that they +plainly refused to follow his banner out of England, he had enemies +enough. But he made another enemy of the Pope, which he did in this way. + +The Archbishop of Canterbury dying, and the junior monks of that place +wishing to get the start of the senior monks in the appointment of his +successor, met together at midnight, secretly elected a certain REGINALD, +and sent him off to Rome to get the Pope's approval. The senior monks +and the King soon finding this out, and being very angry about it, the +junior monks gave way, and all the monks together elected the Bishop of +Norwich, who was the King's favourite. The Pope, hearing the whole +story, declared that neither election would do for him, and that _he_ +elected STEPHEN LANGTON. The monks submitting to the Pope, the King +turned them all out bodily, and banished them as traitors. The Pope sent +three bishops to the King, to threaten him with an Interdict. The King +told the bishops that if any Interdict were laid upon his kingdom, he +would tear out the eyes and cut off the noses of all the monks he could +lay hold of, and send them over to Rome in that undecorated state as a +present for their master. The bishops, nevertheless, soon published the +Interdict, and fled. + +After it had lasted a year, the Pope proceeded to his next step; which +was Excommunication. King John was declared excommunicated, with all the +usual ceremonies. The King was so incensed at this, and was made so +desperate by the disaffection of his Barons and the hatred of his people, +that it is said he even privately sent ambassadors to the Turks in Spain, +offering to renounce his religion and hold his kingdom of them if they +would help him. It is related that the ambassadors were admitted to the +presence of the Turkish Emir through long lines of Moorish guards, and +that they found the Emir with his eyes seriously fixed on the pages of a +large book, from which he never once looked up. That they gave him a +letter from the King containing his proposals, and were gravely +dismissed. That presently the Emir sent for one of them, and conjured +him, by his faith in his religion, to say what kind of man the King of +England truly was? That the ambassador, thus pressed, replied that the +King of England was a false tyrant, against whom his own subjects would +soon rise. And that this was quite enough for the Emir. + +Money being, in his position, the next best thing to men, King John +spared no means of getting it. He set on foot another oppressing and +torturing of the unhappy Jews (which was quite in his way), and invented +a new punishment for one wealthy Jew of Bristol. Until such time as that +Jew should produce a certain large sum of money, the King sentenced him +to be imprisoned, and, every day, to have one tooth violently wrenched +out of his head--beginning with the double teeth. For seven days, the +oppressed man bore the daily pain and lost the daily tooth; but, on the +eighth, he paid the money. With the treasure raised in such ways, the +King made an expedition into Ireland, where some English nobles had +revolted. It was one of the very few places from which he did not run +away; because no resistance was shown. He made another expedition into +Wales--whence he _did_ run away in the end: but not before he had got +from the Welsh people, as hostages, twenty-seven young men of the best +families; every one of whom he caused to be slain in the following year. + +To Interdict and Excommunication, the Pope now added his last sentence; +Deposition. He proclaimed John no longer King, absolved all his subjects +from their allegiance, and sent Stephen Langton and others to the King of +France to tell him that, if he would invade England, he should be +forgiven all his sins--at least, should be forgiven them by the Pope, if +that would do. + +As there was nothing that King Philip desired more than to invade +England, he collected a great army at Rouen, and a fleet of seventeen +hundred ships to bring them over. But the English people, however +bitterly they hated the King, were not a people to suffer invasion +quietly. They flocked to Dover, where the English standard was, in such +great numbers to enrol themselves as defenders of their native land, that +there were not provisions for them, and the King could only select and +retain sixty thousand. But, at this crisis, the Pope, who had his own +reasons for objecting to either King John or King Philip being too +powerful, interfered. He entrusted a legate, whose name was PANDOLF, +with the easy task of frightening King John. He sent him to the English +Camp, from France, to terrify him with exaggerations of King Philip's +power, and his own weakness in the discontent of the English Barons and +people. Pandolf discharged his commission so well, that King John, in a +wretched panic, consented to acknowledge Stephen Langton; to resign his +kingdom 'to God, Saint Peter, and Saint Paul'--which meant the Pope; and +to hold it, ever afterwards, by the Pope's leave, on payment of an annual +sum of money. To this shameful contract he publicly bound himself in the +church of the Knights Templars at Dover: where he laid at the legate's +feet a part of the tribute, which the legate haughtily trampled upon. But +they _do_ say, that this was merely a genteel flourish, and that he was +afterwards seen to pick it up and pocket it. + +There was an unfortunate prophet, the name of Peter, who had greatly +increased King John's terrors by predicting that he would be unknighted +(which the King supposed to signify that he would die) before the Feast +of the Ascension should be past. That was the day after this +humiliation. When the next morning came, and the King, who had been +trembling all night, found himself alive and safe, he ordered the +prophet--and his son too--to be dragged through the streets at the tails +of horses, and then hanged, for having frightened him. + +As King John had now submitted, the Pope, to King Philip's great +astonishment, took him under his protection, and informed King Philip +that he found he could not give him leave to invade England. The angry +Philip resolved to do it without his leave but he gained nothing and lost +much; for, the English, commanded by the Earl of Salisbury, went over, in +five hundred ships, to the French coast, before the French fleet had +sailed away from it, and utterly defeated the whole. + +The Pope then took off his three sentences, one after another, and +empowered Stephen Langton publicly to receive King John into the favour +of the Church again, and to ask him to dinner. The King, who hated +Langton with all his might and main--and with reason too, for he was a +great and a good man, with whom such a King could have no +sympathy--pretended to cry and to be _very_ grateful. There was a little +difficulty about settling how much the King should pay as a recompense to +the clergy for the losses he had caused them; but, the end of it was, +that the superior clergy got a good deal, and the inferior clergy got +little or nothing--which has also happened since King John's time, I +believe. + +When all these matters were arranged, the King in his triumph became more +fierce, and false, and insolent to all around him than he had ever been. +An alliance of sovereigns against King Philip, gave him an opportunity of +landing an army in France; with which he even took a town! But, on the +French King's gaining a great victory, he ran away, of course, and made a +truce for five years. + +And now the time approached when he was to be still further humbled, and +made to feel, if he could feel anything, what a wretched creature he was. +Of all men in the world, Stephen Langton seemed raised up by Heaven to +oppose and subdue him. When he ruthlessly burnt and destroyed the +property of his own subjects, because their Lords, the Barons, would not +serve him abroad, Stephen Langton fearlessly reproved and threatened him. +When he swore to restore the laws of King Edward, or the laws of King +Henry the First, Stephen Langton knew his falsehood, and pursued him +through all his evasions. When the Barons met at the abbey of Saint +Edmund's-Bury, to consider their wrongs and the King's oppressions, +Stephen Langton roused them by his fervid words to demand a solemn +charter of rights and liberties from their perjured master, and to swear, +one by one, on the High Altar, that they would have it, or would wage war +against him to the death. When the King hid himself in London from the +Barons, and was at last obliged to receive them, they told him roundly +they would not believe him unless Stephen Langton became a surety that he +would keep his word. When he took the Cross to invest himself with some +interest, and belong to something that was received with favour, Stephen +Langton was still immovable. When he appealed to the Pope, and the Pope +wrote to Stephen Langton in behalf of his new favourite, Stephen Langton +was deaf, even to the Pope himself, and saw before him nothing but the +welfare of England and the crimes of the English King. + +At Easter-time, the Barons assembled at Stamford, in Lincolnshire, in +proud array, and, marching near to Oxford where the King was, delivered +into the hands of Stephen Langton and two others, a list of grievances. +'And these,' they said, 'he must redress, or we will do it for +ourselves!' When Stephen Langton told the King as much, and read the +list to him, he went half mad with rage. But that did him no more good +than his afterwards trying to pacify the Barons with lies. They called +themselves and their followers, 'The army of God and the Holy Church.' +Marching through the country, with the people thronging to them +everywhere (except at Northampton, where they failed in an attack upon +the castle), they at last triumphantly set up their banner in London +itself, whither the whole land, tired of the tyrant, seemed to flock to +join them. Seven knights alone, of all the knights in England, remained +with the King; who, reduced to this strait, at last sent the Earl of +Pembroke to the Barons to say that he approved of everything, and would +meet them to sign their charter when they would. 'Then,' said the +Barons, 'let the day be the fifteenth of June, and the place, +Runny-Mead.' + +On Monday, the fifteenth of June, one thousand two hundred and fourteen, +the King came from Windsor Castle, and the Barons came from the town of +Staines, and they met on Runny-Mead, which is still a pleasant meadow by +the Thames, where rushes grow in the clear water of the winding river, +and its banks are green with grass and trees. On the side of the Barons, +came the General of their army, ROBERT FITZ-WALTER, and a great concourse +of the nobility of England. With the King, came, in all, some four-and- +twenty persons of any note, most of whom despised him, and were merely +his advisers in form. On that great day, and in that great company, the +King signed MAGNA CHARTA--the great charter of England--by which he +pledged himself to maintain the Church in its rights; to relieve the +Barons of oppressive obligations as vassals of the Crown--of which the +Barons, in their turn, pledged themselves to relieve _their_ vassals, the +people; to respect the liberties of London and all other cities and +boroughs; to protect foreign merchants who came to England; to imprison +no man without a fair trial; and to sell, delay, or deny justice to none. +As the Barons knew his falsehood well, they further required, as their +securities, that he should send out of his kingdom all his foreign +troops; that for two months they should hold possession of the city of +London, and Stephen Langton of the Tower; and that five-and-twenty of +their body, chosen by themselves, should be a lawful committee to watch +the keeping of the charter, and to make war upon him if he broke it. + +All this he was obliged to yield. He signed the charter with a smile, +and, if he could have looked agreeable, would have done so, as he +departed from the splendid assembly. When he got home to Windsor Castle, +he was quite a madman in his helpless fury. And he broke the charter +immediately afterwards. + +He sent abroad for foreign soldiers, and sent to the Pope for help, and +plotted to take London by surprise, while the Barons should be holding a +great tournament at Stamford, which they had agreed to hold there as a +celebration of the charter. The Barons, however, found him out and put +it off. Then, when the Barons desired to see him and tax him with his +treachery, he made numbers of appointments with them, and kept none, and +shifted from place to place, and was constantly sneaking and skulking +about. At last he appeared at Dover, to join his foreign soldiers, of +whom numbers came into his pay; and with them he besieged and took +Rochester Castle, which was occupied by knights and soldiers of the +Barons. He would have hanged them every one; but the leader of the +foreign soldiers, fearful of what the English people might afterwards do +to him, interfered to save the knights; therefore the King was fain to +satisfy his vengeance with the death of all the common men. Then, he +sent the Earl of Salisbury, with one portion of his army, to ravage the +eastern part of his own dominions, while he carried fire and slaughter +into the northern part; torturing, plundering, killing, and inflicting +every possible cruelty upon the people; and, every morning, setting a +worthy example to his men by setting fire, with his own monster-hands, to +the house where he had slept last night. Nor was this all; for the Pope, +coming to the aid of his precious friend, laid the kingdom under an +Interdict again, because the people took part with the Barons. It did +not much matter, for the people had grown so used to it now, that they +had begun to think nothing about it. It occurred to them--perhaps to +Stephen Langton too--that they could keep their churches open, and ring +their bells, without the Pope's permission as well as with it. So, they +tried the experiment--and found that it succeeded perfectly. + +It being now impossible to bear the country, as a wilderness of cruelty, +or longer to hold any terms with such a forsworn outlaw of a King, the +Barons sent to Louis, son of the French monarch, to offer him the English +crown. Caring as little for the Pope's excommunication of him if he +accepted the offer, as it is possible his father may have cared for the +Pope's forgiveness of his sins, he landed at Sandwich (King John +immediately running away from Dover, where he happened to be), and went +on to London. The Scottish King, with whom many of the Northern English +Lords had taken refuge; numbers of the foreign soldiers, numbers of the +Barons, and numbers of the people went over to him every day;--King John, +the while, continually running away in all directions. + +The career of Louis was checked however, by the suspicions of the Barons, +founded on the dying declaration of a French Lord, that when the kingdom +was conquered he was sworn to banish them as traitors, and to give their +estates to some of his own Nobles. Rather than suffer this, some of the +Barons hesitated: others even went over to King John. + +It seemed to be the turning-point of King John's fortunes, for, in his +savage and murderous course, he had now taken some towns and met with +some successes. But, happily for England and humanity, his death was +near. Crossing a dangerous quicksand, called the Wash, not very far from +Wisbeach, the tide came up and nearly drowned his army. He and his +soldiers escaped; but, looking back from the shore when he was safe, he +saw the roaring water sweep down in a torrent, overturn the waggons, +horses, and men, that carried his treasure, and engulf them in a raging +whirlpool from which nothing could be delivered. + +Cursing, and swearing, and gnawing his fingers, he went on to Swinestead +Abbey, where the monks set before him quantities of pears, and peaches, +and new cider--some say poison too, but there is very little reason to +suppose so--of which he ate and drank in an immoderate and beastly way. +All night he lay ill of a burning fever, and haunted with horrible fears. +Next day, they put him in a horse-litter, and carried him to Sleaford +Castle, where he passed another night of pain and horror. Next day, they +carried him, with greater difficulty than on the day before, to the +castle of Newark upon Trent; and there, on the eighteenth of October, in +the forty-ninth year of his age, and the seventeenth of his vile reign, +was an end of this miserable brute. + + + + +CHAPTER XV--ENGLAND UNDER HENRY THE THIRD, CALLED, OF WINCHESTER + + +If any of the English Barons remembered the murdered Arthur's sister, +Eleanor the fair maid of Brittany, shut up in her convent at Bristol, +none among them spoke of her now, or maintained her right to the Crown. +The dead Usurper's eldest boy, HENRY by name, was taken by the Earl of +Pembroke, the Marshal of England, to the city of Gloucester, and there +crowned in great haste when he was only ten years old. As the Crown +itself had been lost with the King's treasure in the raging water, and as +there was no time to make another, they put a circle of plain gold upon +his head instead. 'We have been the enemies of this child's father,' +said Lord Pembroke, a good and true gentleman, to the few Lords who were +present, 'and he merited our ill-will; but the child himself is innocent, +and his youth demands our friendship and protection.' Those Lords felt +tenderly towards the little boy, remembering their own young children; +and they bowed their heads, and said, 'Long live King Henry the Third!' + +Next, a great council met at Bristol, revised Magna Charta, and made Lord +Pembroke Regent or Protector of England, as the King was too young to +reign alone. The next thing to be done, was to get rid of Prince Louis +of France, and to win over those English Barons who were still ranged +under his banner. He was strong in many parts of England, and in London +itself; and he held, among other places, a certain Castle called the +Castle of Mount Sorel, in Leicestershire. To this fortress, after some +skirmishing and truce-making, Lord Pembroke laid siege. Louis despatched +an army of six hundred knights and twenty thousand soldiers to relieve +it. Lord Pembroke, who was not strong enough for such a force, retired +with all his men. The army of the French Prince, which had marched there +with fire and plunder, marched away with fire and plunder, and came, in a +boastful swaggering manner, to Lincoln. The town submitted; but the +Castle in the town, held by a brave widow lady, named NICHOLA DE CAMVILLE +(whose property it was), made such a sturdy resistance, that the French +Count in command of the army of the French Prince found it necessary to +besiege this Castle. While he was thus engaged, word was brought to him +that Lord Pembroke, with four hundred knights, two hundred and fifty men +with cross-bows, and a stout force both of horse and foot, was marching +towards him. 'What care I?' said the French Count. 'The Englishman is +not so mad as to attack me and my great army in a walled town!' But the +Englishman did it for all that, and did it--not so madly but so wisely, +that he decoyed the great army into the narrow, ill-paved lanes and +byways of Lincoln, where its horse-soldiers could not ride in any strong +body; and there he made such havoc with them, that the whole force +surrendered themselves prisoners, except the Count; who said that he +would never yield to any English traitor alive, and accordingly got +killed. The end of this victory, which the English called, for a joke, +the Fair of Lincoln, was the usual one in those times--the common men +were slain without any mercy, and the knights and gentlemen paid ransom +and went home. + +The wife of Louis, the fair BLANCHE OF CASTILE, dutifully equipped a +fleet of eighty good ships, and sent it over from France to her husband's +aid. An English fleet of forty ships, some good and some bad, gallantly +met them near the mouth of the Thames, and took or sunk sixty-five in one +fight. This great loss put an end to the French Prince's hopes. A +treaty was made at Lambeth, in virtue of which the English Barons who had +remained attached to his cause returned to their allegiance, and it was +engaged on both sides that the Prince and all his troops should retire +peacefully to France. It was time to go; for war had made him so poor +that he was obliged to borrow money from the citizens of London to pay +his expenses home. + +Lord Pembroke afterwards applied himself to governing the country justly, +and to healing the quarrels and disturbances that had arisen among men in +the days of the bad King John. He caused Magna Charta to be still more +improved, and so amended the Forest Laws that a Peasant was no longer put +to death for killing a stag in a Royal Forest, but was only imprisoned. +It would have been well for England if it could have had so good a +Protector many years longer, but that was not to be. Within three years +after the young King's Coronation, Lord Pembroke died; and you may see +his tomb, at this day, in the old Temple Church in London. + +The Protectorship was now divided. PETER DE ROCHES, whom King John had +made Bishop of Winchester, was entrusted with the care of the person of +the young sovereign; and the exercise of the Royal authority was confided +to EARL HUBERT DE BURGH. These two personages had from the first no +liking for each other, and soon became enemies. When the young King was +declared of age, Peter de Roches, finding that Hubert increased in power +and favour, retired discontentedly, and went abroad. For nearly ten +years afterwards Hubert had full sway alone. + +But ten years is a long time to hold the favour of a King. This King, +too, as he grew up, showed a strong resemblance to his father, in +feebleness, inconsistency, and irresolution. The best that can be said +of him is that he was not cruel. De Roches coming home again, after ten +years, and being a novelty, the King began to favour him and to look +coldly on Hubert. Wanting money besides, and having made Hubert rich, he +began to dislike Hubert. At last he was made to believe, or pretended to +believe, that Hubert had misappropriated some of the Royal treasure; and +ordered him to furnish an account of all he had done in his +administration. Besides which, the foolish charge was brought against +Hubert that he had made himself the King's favourite by magic. Hubert +very well knowing that he could never defend himself against such +nonsense, and that his old enemy must be determined on his ruin, instead +of answering the charges fled to Merton Abbey. Then the King, in a +violent passion, sent for the Mayor of London, and said to the Mayor, +'Take twenty thousand citizens, and drag me Hubert de Burgh out of that +abbey, and bring him here.' The Mayor posted off to do it, but the +Archbishop of Dublin (who was a friend of Hubert's) warning the King that +an abbey was a sacred place, and that if he committed any violence there, +he must answer for it to the Church, the King changed his mind and called +the Mayor back, and declared that Hubert should have four months to +prepare his defence, and should be safe and free during that time. + +Hubert, who relied upon the King's word, though I think he was old enough +to have known better, came out of Merton Abbey upon these conditions, and +journeyed away to see his wife: a Scottish Princess who was then at St. +Edmund's-Bury. + +Almost as soon as he had departed from the Sanctuary, his enemies +persuaded the weak King to send out one SIR GODFREY DE CRANCUMB, who +commanded three hundred vagabonds called the Black Band, with orders to +seize him. They came up with him at a little town in Essex, called +Brentwood, when he was in bed. He leaped out of bed, got out of the +house, fled to the church, ran up to the altar, and laid his hand upon +the cross. Sir Godfrey and the Black Band, caring neither for church, +altar, nor cross, dragged him forth to the church door, with their drawn +swords flashing round his head, and sent for a Smith to rivet a set of +chains upon him. When the Smith (I wish I knew his name!) was brought, +all dark and swarthy with the smoke of his forge, and panting with the +speed he had made; and the Black Band, falling aside to show him the +Prisoner, cried with a loud uproar, 'Make the fetters heavy! make them +strong!' the Smith dropped upon his knee--but not to the Black Band--and +said, 'This is the brave Earl Hubert de Burgh, who fought at Dover +Castle, and destroyed the French fleet, and has done his country much +good service. You may kill me, if you like, but I will never make a +chain for Earl Hubert de Burgh!' + +The Black Band never blushed, or they might have blushed at this. They +knocked the Smith about from one to another, and swore at him, and tied +the Earl on horseback, undressed as he was, and carried him off to the +Tower of London. The Bishops, however, were so indignant at the +violation of the Sanctuary of the Church, that the frightened King soon +ordered the Black Band to take him back again; at the same time +commanding the Sheriff of Essex to prevent his escaping out of Brentwood +Church. Well! the Sheriff dug a deep trench all round the church, and +erected a high fence, and watched the church night and day; the Black +Band and their Captain watched it too, like three hundred and one black +wolves. For thirty-nine days, Hubert de Burgh remained within. At +length, upon the fortieth day, cold and hunger were too much for him, and +he gave himself up to the Black Band, who carried him off, for the second +time, to the Tower. When his trial came on, he refused to plead; but at +last it was arranged that he should give up all the royal lands which had +been bestowed upon him, and should be kept at the Castle of Devizes, in +what was called 'free prison,' in charge of four knights appointed by +four lords. There, he remained almost a year, until, learning that a +follower of his old enemy the Bishop was made Keeper of the Castle, and +fearing that he might be killed by treachery, he climbed the ramparts one +dark night, dropped from the top of the high Castle wall into the moat, +and coming safely to the ground, took refuge in another church. From +this place he was delivered by a party of horse despatched to his help by +some nobles, who were by this time in revolt against the King, and +assembled in Wales. He was finally pardoned and restored to his estates, +but he lived privately, and never more aspired to a high post in the +realm, or to a high place in the King's favour. And thus end--more +happily than the stories of many favourites of Kings--the adventures of +Earl Hubert de Burgh. + +The nobles, who had risen in revolt, were stirred up to rebellion by the +overbearing conduct of the Bishop of Winchester, who, finding that the +King secretly hated the Great Charter which had been forced from his +father, did his utmost to confirm him in that dislike, and in the +preference he showed to foreigners over the English. Of this, and of his +even publicly declaring that the Barons of England were inferior to those +of France, the English Lords complained with such bitterness, that the +King, finding them well supported by the clergy, became frightened for +his throne, and sent away the Bishop and all his foreign associates. On +his marriage, however, with ELEANOR, a French lady, the daughter of the +Count of Provence, he openly favoured the foreigners again; and so many +of his wife's relations came over, and made such an immense family-party +at court, and got so many good things, and pocketed so much money, and +were so high with the English whose money they pocketed, that the bolder +English Barons murmured openly about a clause there was in the Great +Charter, which provided for the banishment of unreasonable favourites. +But, the foreigners only laughed disdainfully, and said, 'What are your +English laws to us?' + +King Philip of France had died, and had been succeeded by Prince Louis, +who had also died after a short reign of three years, and had been +succeeded by his son of the same name--so moderate and just a man that he +was not the least in the world like a King, as Kings went. ISABELLA, +King Henry's mother, wished very much (for a certain spite she had) that +England should make war against this King; and, as King Henry was a mere +puppet in anybody's hands who knew how to manage his feebleness, she +easily carried her point with him. But, the Parliament were determined +to give him no money for such a war. So, to defy the Parliament, he +packed up thirty large casks of silver--I don't know how he got so much; +I dare say he screwed it out of the miserable Jews--and put them aboard +ship, and went away himself to carry war into France: accompanied by his +mother and his brother Richard, Earl of Cornwall, who was rich and +clever. But he only got well beaten, and came home. + +The good-humour of the Parliament was not restored by this. They +reproached the King with wasting the public money to make greedy +foreigners rich, and were so stern with him, and so determined not to let +him have more of it to waste if they could help it, that he was at his +wit's end for some, and tried so shamelessly to get all he could from his +subjects, by excuses or by force, that the people used to say the King +was the sturdiest beggar in England. He took the Cross, thinking to get +some money by that means; but, as it was very well known that he never +meant to go on a crusade, he got none. In all this contention, the +Londoners were particularly keen against the King, and the King hated +them warmly in return. Hating or loving, however, made no difference; he +continued in the same condition for nine or ten years, when at last the +Barons said that if he would solemnly confirm their liberties afresh, the +Parliament would vote him a large sum. + +As he readily consented, there was a great meeting held in Westminster +Hall, one pleasant day in May, when all the clergy, dressed in their +robes and holding every one of them a burning candle in his hand, stood +up (the Barons being also there) while the Archbishop of Canterbury read +the sentence of excommunication against any man, and all men, who should +henceforth, in any way, infringe the Great Charter of the Kingdom. When +he had done, they all put out their burning candles with a curse upon the +soul of any one, and every one, who should merit that sentence. The King +concluded with an oath to keep the Charter, 'As I am a man, as I am a +Christian, as I am a Knight, as I am a King!' + +It was easy to make oaths, and easy to break them; and the King did both, +as his father had done before him. He took to his old courses again when +he was supplied with money, and soon cured of their weakness the few who +had ever really trusted him. When his money was gone, and he was once +more borrowing and begging everywhere with a meanness worthy of his +nature, he got into a difficulty with the Pope respecting the Crown of +Sicily, which the Pope said he had a right to give away, and which he +offered to King Henry for his second son, PRINCE EDMUND. But, if you or +I give away what we have not got, and what belongs to somebody else, it +is likely that the person to whom we give it, will have some trouble in +taking it. It was exactly so in this case. It was necessary to conquer +the Sicilian Crown before it could be put upon young Edmund's head. It +could not be conquered without money. The Pope ordered the clergy to +raise money. The clergy, however, were not so obedient to him as usual; +they had been disputing with him for some time about his unjust +preference of Italian Priests in England; and they had begun to doubt +whether the King's chaplain, whom he allowed to be paid for preaching in +seven hundred churches, could possibly be, even by the Pope's favour, in +seven hundred places at once. 'The Pope and the King together,' said the +Bishop of London, 'may take the mitre off my head; but, if they do, they +will find that I shall put on a soldier's helmet. I pay nothing.' The +Bishop of Worcester was as bold as the Bishop of London, and would pay +nothing either. Such sums as the more timid or more helpless of the +clergy did raise were squandered away, without doing any good to the +King, or bringing the Sicilian Crown an inch nearer to Prince Edmund's +head. The end of the business was, that the Pope gave the Crown to the +brother of the King of France (who conquered it for himself), and sent +the King of England in, a bill of one hundred thousand pounds for the +expenses of not having won it. + +The King was now so much distressed that we might almost pity him, if it +were possible to pity a King so shabby and ridiculous. His clever +brother, Richard, had bought the title of King of the Romans from the +German people, and was no longer near him, to help him with advice. The +clergy, resisting the very Pope, were in alliance with the Barons. The +Barons were headed by SIMON DE MONTFORT, Earl of Leicester, married to +King Henry's sister, and, though a foreigner himself, the most popular +man in England against the foreign favourites. When the King next met +his Parliament, the Barons, led by this Earl, came before him, armed from +head to foot, and cased in armour. When the Parliament again assembled, +in a month's time, at Oxford, this Earl was at their head, and the King +was obliged to consent, on oath, to what was called a Committee of +Government: consisting of twenty-four members: twelve chosen by the +Barons, and twelve chosen by himself. + +But, at a good time for him, his brother Richard came back. Richard's +first act (the Barons would not admit him into England on other terms) +was to swear to be faithful to the Committee of Government--which he +immediately began to oppose with all his might. Then, the Barons began +to quarrel among themselves; especially the proud Earl of Gloucester with +the Earl of Leicester, who went abroad in disgust. Then, the people +began to be dissatisfied with the Barons, because they did not do enough +for them. The King's chances seemed so good again at length, that he +took heart enough--or caught it from his brother--to tell the Committee +of Government that he abolished them--as to his oath, never mind that, +the Pope said!--and to seize all the money in the Mint, and to shut +himself up in the Tower of London. Here he was joined by his eldest son, +Prince Edward; and, from the Tower, he made public a letter of the Pope's +to the world in general, informing all men that he had been an excellent +and just King for five-and-forty years. + +As everybody knew he had been nothing of the sort, nobody cared much for +this document. It so chanced that the proud Earl of Gloucester dying, +was succeeded by his son; and that his son, instead of being the enemy of +the Earl of Leicester, was (for the time) his friend. It fell out, +therefore, that these two Earls joined their forces, took several of the +Royal Castles in the country, and advanced as hard as they could on +London. The London people, always opposed to the King, declared for them +with great joy. The King himself remained shut up, not at all +gloriously, in the Tower. Prince Edward made the best of his way to +Windsor Castle. His mother, the Queen, attempted to follow him by water; +but, the people seeing her barge rowing up the river, and hating her with +all their hearts, ran to London Bridge, got together a quantity of stones +and mud, and pelted the barge as it came through, crying furiously, +'Drown the Witch! Drown her!' They were so near doing it, that the +Mayor took the old lady under his protection, and shut her up in St. +Paul's until the danger was past. + +It would require a great deal of writing on my part, and a great deal of +reading on yours, to follow the King through his disputes with the +Barons, and to follow the Barons through their disputes with one +another--so I will make short work of it for both of us, and only relate +the chief events that arose out of these quarrels. The good King of +France was asked to decide between them. He gave it as his opinion that +the King must maintain the Great Charter, and that the Barons must give +up the Committee of Government, and all the rest that had been done by +the Parliament at Oxford: which the Royalists, or King's party, +scornfully called the Mad Parliament. The Barons declared that these +were not fair terms, and they would not accept them. Then they caused +the great bell of St. Paul's to be tolled, for the purpose of rousing up +the London people, who armed themselves at the dismal sound and formed +quite an army in the streets. I am sorry to say, however, that instead +of falling upon the King's party with whom their quarrel was, they fell +upon the miserable Jews, and killed at least five hundred of them. They +pretended that some of these Jews were on the King's side, and that they +kept hidden in their houses, for the destruction of the people, a certain +terrible composition called Greek Fire, which could not be put out with +water, but only burnt the fiercer for it. What they really did keep in +their houses was money; and this their cruel enemies wanted, and this +their cruel enemies took, like robbers and murderers. + +The Earl of Leicester put himself at the head of these Londoners and +other forces, and followed the King to Lewes in Sussex, where he lay +encamped with his army. Before giving the King's forces battle here, the +Earl addressed his soldiers, and said that King Henry the Third had +broken so many oaths, that he had become the enemy of God, and therefore +they would wear white crosses on their breasts, as if they were arrayed, +not against a fellow-Christian, but against a Turk. White-crossed +accordingly, they rushed into the fight. They would have lost the +day--the King having on his side all the foreigners in England: and, from +Scotland, JOHN COMYN, JOHN BALIOL, and ROBERT BRUCE, with all their +men--but for the impatience of PRINCE EDWARD, who, in his hot desire to +have vengeance on the people of London, threw the whole of his father's +army into confusion. He was taken Prisoner; so was the King; so was the +King's brother the King of the Romans; and five thousand Englishmen were +left dead upon the bloody grass. + +For this success, the Pope excommunicated the Earl of Leicester: which +neither the Earl nor the people cared at all about. The people loved him +and supported him, and he became the real King; having all the power of +the government in his own hands, though he was outwardly respectful to +King Henry the Third, whom he took with him wherever he went, like a poor +old limp court-card. He summoned a Parliament (in the year one thousand +two hundred and sixty-five) which was the first Parliament in England +that the people had any real share in electing; and he grew more and more +in favour with the people every day, and they stood by him in whatever he +did. + +Many of the other Barons, and particularly the Earl of Gloucester, who +had become by this time as proud as his father, grew jealous of this +powerful and popular Earl, who was proud too, and began to conspire +against him. Since the battle of Lewes, Prince Edward had been kept as a +hostage, and, though he was otherwise treated like a Prince, had never +been allowed to go out without attendants appointed by the Earl of +Leicester, who watched him. The conspiring Lords found means to propose +to him, in secret, that they should assist him to escape, and should make +him their leader; to which he very heartily consented. + +So, on a day that was agreed upon, he said to his attendants after dinner +(being then at Hereford), 'I should like to ride on horseback, this fine +afternoon, a little way into the country.' As they, too, thought it +would be very pleasant to have a canter in the sunshine, they all rode +out of the town together in a gay little troop. When they came to a fine +level piece of turf, the Prince fell to comparing their horses one with +another, and offering bets that one was faster than another; and the +attendants, suspecting no harm, rode galloping matches until their horses +were quite tired. The Prince rode no matches himself, but looked on from +his saddle, and staked his money. Thus they passed the whole merry +afternoon. Now, the sun was setting, and they were all going slowly up a +hill, the Prince's horse very fresh and all the other horses very weary, +when a strange rider mounted on a grey steed appeared at the top of the +hill, and waved his hat. 'What does the fellow mean?' said the +attendants one to another. The Prince answered on the instant by setting +spurs to his horse, dashing away at his utmost speed, joining the man, +riding into the midst of a little crowd of horsemen who were then seen +waiting under some trees, and who closed around him; and so he departed +in a cloud of dust, leaving the road empty of all but the baffled +attendants, who sat looking at one another, while their horses drooped +their ears and panted. + +The Prince joined the Earl of Gloucester at Ludlow. The Earl of +Leicester, with a part of the army and the stupid old King, was at +Hereford. One of the Earl of Leicester's sons, Simon de Montfort, with +another part of the army, was in Sussex. To prevent these two parts from +uniting was the Prince's first object. He attacked Simon de Montfort by +night, defeated him, seized his banners and treasure, and forced him into +Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire, which belonged to his family. + +His father, the Earl of Leicester, in the meanwhile, not knowing what had +happened, marched out of Hereford, with his part of the army and the +King, to meet him. He came, on a bright morning in August, to Evesham, +which is watered by the pleasant river Avon. Looking rather anxiously +across the prospect towards Kenilworth, he saw his own banners advancing; +and his face brightened with joy. But, it clouded darkly when he +presently perceived that the banners were captured, and in the enemy's +hands; and he said, 'It is over. The Lord have mercy on our souls, for +our bodies are Prince Edward's!' + +He fought like a true Knight, nevertheless. When his horse was killed +under him, he fought on foot. It was a fierce battle, and the dead lay +in heaps everywhere. The old King, stuck up in a suit of armour on a big +war-horse, which didn't mind him at all, and which carried him into all +sorts of places where he didn't want to go, got into everybody's way, and +very nearly got knocked on the head by one of his son's men. But he +managed to pipe out, 'I am Harry of Winchester!' and the Prince, who +heard him, seized his bridle, and took him out of peril. The Earl of +Leicester still fought bravely, until his best son Henry was killed, and +the bodies of his best friends choked his path; and then he fell, still +fighting, sword in hand. They mangled his body, and sent it as a present +to a noble lady--but a very unpleasant lady, I should think--who was the +wife of his worst enemy. They could not mangle his memory in the minds +of the faithful people, though. Many years afterwards, they loved him +more than ever, and regarded him as a Saint, and always spoke of him as +'Sir Simon the Righteous.' + +And even though he was dead, the cause for which he had fought still +lived, and was strong, and forced itself upon the King in the very hour +of victory. Henry found himself obliged to respect the Great Charter, +however much he hated it, and to make laws similar to the laws of the +Great Earl of Leicester, and to be moderate and forgiving towards the +people at last--even towards the people of London, who had so long +opposed him. There were more risings before all this was done, but they +were set at rest by these means, and Prince Edward did his best in all +things to restore peace. One Sir Adam de Gourdon was the last +dissatisfied knight in arms; but, the Prince vanquished him in single +combat, in a wood, and nobly gave him his life, and became his friend, +instead of slaying him. Sir Adam was not ungrateful. He ever afterwards +remained devoted to his generous conqueror. + +When the troubles of the Kingdom were thus calmed, Prince Edward and his +cousin Henry took the Cross, and went away to the Holy Land, with many +English Lords and Knights. Four years afterwards the King of the Romans +died, and, next year (one thousand two hundred and seventy-two), his +brother the weak King of England died. He was sixty-eight years old +then, and had reigned fifty-six years. He was as much of a King in +death, as he had ever been in life. He was the mere pale shadow of a +King at all times. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI--ENGLAND UNDER EDWARD THE FIRST, CALLED LONGSHANKS + + +It was now the year of our Lord one thousand two hundred and seventy-two; +and Prince Edward, the heir to the throne, being away in the Holy Land, +knew nothing of his father's death. The Barons, however, proclaimed him +King, immediately after the Royal funeral; and the people very willingly +consented, since most men knew too well by this time what the horrors of +a contest for the crown were. So King Edward the First, called, in a not +very complimentary manner, LONGSHANKS, because of the slenderness of his +legs, was peacefully accepted by the English Nation. + +His legs had need to be strong, however long and thin they were; for they +had to support him through many difficulties on the fiery sands of Asia, +where his small force of soldiers fainted, died, deserted, and seemed to +melt away. But his prowess made light of it, and he said, 'I will go on, +if I go on with no other follower than my groom!' + +A Prince of this spirit gave the Turks a deal of trouble. He stormed +Nazareth, at which place, of all places on earth, I am sorry to relate, +he made a frightful slaughter of innocent people; and then he went to +Acre, where he got a truce of ten years from the Sultan. He had very +nearly lost his life in Acre, through the treachery of a Saracen Noble, +called the Emir of Jaffa, who, making the pretence that he had some idea +of turning Christian and wanted to know all about that religion, sent a +trusty messenger to Edward very often--with a dagger in his sleeve. At +last, one Friday in Whitsun week, when it was very hot, and all the sandy +prospect lay beneath the blazing sun, burnt up like a great overdone +biscuit, and Edward was lying on a couch, dressed for coolness in only a +loose robe, the messenger, with his chocolate-coloured face and his +bright dark eyes and white teeth, came creeping in with a letter, and +kneeled down like a tame tiger. But, the moment Edward stretched out his +hand to take the letter, the tiger made a spring at his heart. He was +quick, but Edward was quick too. He seized the traitor by his chocolate +throat, threw him to the ground, and slew him with the very dagger he had +drawn. The weapon had struck Edward in the arm, and although the wound +itself was slight, it threatened to be mortal, for the blade of the +dagger had been smeared with poison. Thanks, however, to a better +surgeon than was often to be found in those times, and to some wholesome +herbs, and above all, to his faithful wife, ELEANOR, who devotedly nursed +him, and is said by some to have sucked the poison from the wound with +her own red lips (which I am very willing to believe), Edward soon +recovered and was sound again. + +As the King his father had sent entreaties to him to return home, he now +began the journey. He had got as far as Italy, when he met messengers +who brought him intelligence of the King's death. Hearing that all was +quiet at home, he made no haste to return to his own dominions, but paid +a visit to the Pope, and went in state through various Italian Towns, +where he was welcomed with acclamations as a mighty champion of the Cross +from the Holy Land, and where he received presents of purple mantles and +prancing horses, and went along in great triumph. The shouting people +little knew that he was the last English monarch who would ever embark in +a crusade, or that within twenty years every conquest which the +Christians had made in the Holy Land at the cost of so much blood, would +be won back by the Turks. But all this came to pass. + +There was, and there is, an old town standing in a plain in France, +called Chalons. When the King was coming towards this place on his way +to England, a wily French Lord, called the Count of Chalons, sent him a +polite challenge to come with his knights and hold a fair tournament with +the Count and _his_ knights, and make a day of it with sword and lance. +It was represented to the King that the Count of Chalons was not to be +trusted, and that, instead of a holiday fight for mere show and in good +humour, he secretly meant a real battle, in which the English should be +defeated by superior force. + +The King, however, nothing afraid, went to the appointed place on the +appointed day with a thousand followers. When the Count came with two +thousand and attacked the English in earnest, the English rushed at them +with such valour that the Count's men and the Count's horses soon began +to be tumbled down all over the field. The Count himself seized the King +round the neck, but the King tumbled _him_ out of his saddle in return +for the compliment, and, jumping from his own horse, and standing over +him, beat away at his iron armour like a blacksmith hammering on his +anvil. Even when the Count owned himself defeated and offered his sword, +the King would not do him the honour to take it, but made him yield it up +to a common soldier. There had been such fury shown in this fight, that +it was afterwards called the little Battle of Chalons. + +The English were very well disposed to be proud of their King after these +adventures; so, when he landed at Dover in the year one thousand two +hundred and seventy-four (being then thirty-six years old), and went on +to Westminster where he and his good Queen were crowned with great +magnificence, splendid rejoicings took place. For the coronation-feast +there were provided, among other eatables, four hundred oxen, four +hundred sheep, four hundred and fifty pigs, eighteen wild boars, three +hundred flitches of bacon, and twenty thousand fowls. The fountains and +conduits in the street flowed with red and white wine instead of water; +the rich citizens hung silks and cloths of the brightest colours out of +their windows to increase the beauty of the show, and threw out gold and +silver by whole handfuls to make scrambles for the crowd. In short, +there was such eating and drinking, such music and capering, such a +ringing of bells and tossing of caps, such a shouting, and singing, and +revelling, as the narrow overhanging streets of old London City had not +witnessed for many a long day. All the people were merry except the poor +Jews, who, trembling within their houses, and scarcely daring to peep +out, began to foresee that they would have to find the money for this +joviality sooner or later. + +To dismiss this sad subject of the Jews for the present, I am sorry to +add that in this reign they were most unmercifully pillaged. They were +hanged in great numbers, on accusations of having clipped the King's +coin--which all kinds of people had done. They were heavily taxed; they +were disgracefully badged; they were, on one day, thirteen years after +the coronation, taken up with their wives and children and thrown into +beastly prisons, until they purchased their release by paying to the King +twelve thousand pounds. Finally, every kind of property belonging to +them was seized by the King, except so little as would defray the charge +of their taking themselves away into foreign countries. Many years +elapsed before the hope of gain induced any of their race to return to +England, where they had been treated so heartlessly and had suffered so +much. + +If King Edward the First had been as bad a king to Christians as he was +to Jews, he would have been bad indeed. But he was, in general, a wise +and great monarch, under whom the country much improved. He had no love +for the Great Charter--few Kings had, through many, many years--but he +had high qualities. The first bold object which he conceived when he +came home, was, to unite under one Sovereign England, Scotland, and +Wales; the two last of which countries had each a little king of its own, +about whom the people were always quarrelling and fighting, and making a +prodigious disturbance--a great deal more than he was worth. In the +course of King Edward's reign he was engaged, besides, in a war with +France. To make these quarrels clearer, we will separate their histories +and take them thus. Wales, first. France, second. Scotland, third. + +* * * * * + +LLEWELLYN was the Prince of Wales. He had been on the side of the Barons +in the reign of the stupid old King, but had afterwards sworn allegiance +to him. When King Edward came to the throne, Llewellyn was required to +swear allegiance to him also; which he refused to do. The King, being +crowned and in his own dominions, three times more required Llewellyn to +come and do homage; and three times more Llewellyn said he would rather +not. He was going to be married to ELEANOR DE MONTFORT, a young lady of +the family mentioned in the last reign; and it chanced that this young +lady, coming from France with her youngest brother, EMERIC, was taken by +an English ship, and was ordered by the English King to be detained. Upon +this, the quarrel came to a head. The King went, with his fleet, to the +coast of Wales, where, so encompassing Llewellyn, that he could only take +refuge in the bleak mountain region of Snowdon in which no provisions +could reach him, he was soon starved into an apology, and into a treaty +of peace, and into paying the expenses of the war. The King, however, +forgave him some of the hardest conditions of the treaty, and consented +to his marriage. And he now thought he had reduced Wales to obedience. + +But the Welsh, although they were naturally a gentle, quiet, pleasant +people, who liked to receive strangers in their cottages among the +mountains, and to set before them with free hospitality whatever they had +to eat and drink, and to play to them on their harps, and sing their +native ballads to them, were a people of great spirit when their blood +was up. Englishmen, after this affair, began to be insolent in Wales, +and to assume the air of masters; and the Welsh pride could not bear it. +Moreover, they believed in that unlucky old Merlin, some of whose unlucky +old prophecies somebody always seemed doomed to remember when there was a +chance of its doing harm; and just at this time some blind old gentleman +with a harp and a long white beard, who was an excellent person, but had +become of an unknown age and tedious, burst out with a declaration that +Merlin had predicted that when English money had become round, a Prince +of Wales would be crowned in London. Now, King Edward had recently +forbidden the English penny to be cut into halves and quarters for +halfpence and farthings, and had actually introduced a round coin; +therefore, the Welsh people said this was the time Merlin meant, and rose +accordingly. + +King Edward had bought over PRINCE DAVID, Llewellyn's brother, by heaping +favours upon him; but he was the first to revolt, being perhaps troubled +in his conscience. One stormy night, he surprised the Castle of +Hawarden, in possession of which an English nobleman had been left; +killed the whole garrison, and carried off the nobleman a prisoner to +Snowdon. Upon this, the Welsh people rose like one man. King Edward, +with his army, marching from Worcester to the Menai Strait, crossed +it--near to where the wonderful tubular iron bridge now, in days so +different, makes a passage for railway trains--by a bridge of boats that +enabled forty men to march abreast. He subdued the Island of Anglesea, +and sent his men forward to observe the enemy. The sudden appearance of +the Welsh created a panic among them, and they fell back to the bridge. +The tide had in the meantime risen and separated the boats; the Welsh +pursuing them, they were driven into the sea, and there they sunk, in +their heavy iron armour, by thousands. After this victory Llewellyn, +helped by the severe winter-weather of Wales, gained another battle; but +the King ordering a portion of his English army to advance through South +Wales, and catch him between two foes, and Llewellyn bravely turning to +meet this new enemy, he was surprised and killed--very meanly, for he was +unarmed and defenceless. His head was struck off and sent to London, +where it was fixed upon the Tower, encircled with a wreath, some say of +ivy, some say of willow, some say of silver, to make it look like a +ghastly coin in ridicule of the prediction. + +David, however, still held out for six months, though eagerly sought +after by the King, and hunted by his own countrymen. One of them finally +betrayed him with his wife and children. He was sentenced to be hanged, +drawn, and quartered; and from that time this became the established +punishment of Traitors in England--a punishment wholly without excuse, as +being revolting, vile, and cruel, after its object is dead; and which has +no sense in it, as its only real degradation (and that nothing can blot +out) is to the country that permits on any consideration such abominable +barbarity. + +Wales was now subdued. The Queen giving birth to a young prince in the +Castle of Carnarvon, the King showed him to the Welsh people as their +countryman, and called him Prince of Wales; a title that has ever since +been borne by the heir-apparent to the English throne--which that little +Prince soon became, by the death of his elder brother. The King did +better things for the Welsh than that, by improving their laws and +encouraging their trade. Disturbances still took place, chiefly +occasioned by the avarice and pride of the English Lords, on whom Welsh +lands and castles had been bestowed; but they were subdued, and the +country never rose again. There is a legend that to prevent the people +from being incited to rebellion by the songs of their bards and harpers, +Edward had them all put to death. Some of them may have fallen among +other men who held out against the King; but this general slaughter is, I +think, a fancy of the harpers themselves, who, I dare say, made a song +about it many years afterwards, and sang it by the Welsh firesides until +it came to be believed. + +The foreign war of the reign of Edward the First arose in this way. The +crews of two vessels, one a Norman ship, and the other an English ship, +happened to go to the same place in their boats to fill their casks with +fresh water. Being rough angry fellows, they began to quarrel, and then +to fight--the English with their fists; the Normans with their +knives--and, in the fight, a Norman was killed. The Norman crew, instead +of revenging themselves upon those English sailors with whom they had +quarrelled (who were too strong for them, I suspect), took to their ship +again in a great rage, attacked the first English ship they met, laid +hold of an unoffending merchant who happened to be on board, and brutally +hanged him in the rigging of their own vessel with a dog at his feet. +This so enraged the English sailors that there was no restraining them; +and whenever, and wherever, English sailors met Norman sailors, they fell +upon each other tooth and nail. The Irish and Dutch sailors took part +with the English; the French and Genoese sailors helped the Normans; and +thus the greater part of the mariners sailing over the sea became, in +their way, as violent and raging as the sea itself when it is disturbed. + +King Edward's fame had been so high abroad that he had been chosen to +decide a difference between France and another foreign power, and had +lived upon the Continent three years. At first, neither he nor the +French King PHILIP (the good Louis had been dead some time) interfered in +these quarrels; but when a fleet of eighty English ships engaged and +utterly defeated a Norman fleet of two hundred, in a pitched battle +fought round a ship at anchor, in which no quarter was given, the matter +became too serious to be passed over. King Edward, as Duke of Guienne, +was summoned to present himself before the King of France, at Paris, and +answer for the damage done by his sailor subjects. At first, he sent the +Bishop of London as his representative, and then his brother EDMUND, who +was married to the French Queen's mother. I am afraid Edmund was an easy +man, and allowed himself to be talked over by his charming relations, the +French court ladies; at all events, he was induced to give up his +brother's dukedom for forty days--as a mere form, the French King said, +to satisfy his honour--and he was so very much astonished, when the time +was out, to find that the French King had no idea of giving it up again, +that I should not wonder if it hastened his death: which soon took place. + +King Edward was a King to win his foreign dukedom back again, if it could +be won by energy and valour. He raised a large army, renounced his +allegiance as Duke of Guienne, and crossed the sea to carry war into +France. Before any important battle was fought, however, a truce was +agreed upon for two years; and in the course of that time, the Pope +effected a reconciliation. King Edward, who was now a widower, having +lost his affectionate and good wife, Eleanor, married the French King's +sister, MARGARET; and the Prince of Wales was contracted to the French +King's daughter ISABELLA. + +Out of bad things, good things sometimes arise. Out of this hanging of +the innocent merchant, and the bloodshed and strife it caused, there came +to be established one of the greatest powers that the English people now +possess. The preparations for the war being very expensive, and King +Edward greatly wanting money, and being very arbitrary in his ways of +raising it, some of the Barons began firmly to oppose him. Two of them, +in particular, HUMPHREY BOHUN, Earl of Hereford, and ROGER BIGOD, Earl of +Norfolk, were so stout against him, that they maintained he had no right +to command them to head his forces in Guienne, and flatly refused to go +there. 'By Heaven, Sir Earl,' said the King to the Earl of Hereford, in +a great passion, 'you shall either go or be hanged!' 'By Heaven, Sir +King,' replied the Earl, 'I will neither go nor yet will I be hanged!' +and both he and the other Earl sturdily left the court, attended by many +Lords. The King tried every means of raising money. He taxed the +clergy, in spite of all the Pope said to the contrary; and when they +refused to pay, reduced them to submission, by saying Very well, then +they had no claim upon the government for protection, and any man might +plunder them who would--which a good many men were very ready to do, and +very readily did, and which the clergy found too losing a game to be +played at long. He seized all the wool and leather in the hands of the +merchants, promising to pay for it some fine day; and he set a tax upon +the exportation of wool, which was so unpopular among the traders that it +was called 'The evil toll.' But all would not do. The Barons, led by +those two great Earls, declared any taxes imposed without the consent of +Parliament, unlawful; and the Parliament refused to impose taxes, until +the King should confirm afresh the two Great Charters, and should +solemnly declare in writing, that there was no power in the country to +raise money from the people, evermore, but the power of Parliament +representing all ranks of the people. The King was very unwilling to +diminish his own power by allowing this great privilege in the +Parliament; but there was no help for it, and he at last complied. We +shall come to another King by-and-by, who might have saved his head from +rolling off, if he had profited by this example. + +The people gained other benefits in Parliament from the good sense and +wisdom of this King. Many of the laws were much improved; provision was +made for the greater safety of travellers, and the apprehension of +thieves and murderers; the priests were prevented from holding too much +land, and so becoming too powerful; and Justices of the Peace were first +appointed (though not at first under that name) in various parts of the +country. + +* * * * * + +And now we come to Scotland, which was the great and lasting trouble of +the reign of King Edward the First. + +About thirteen years after King Edward's coronation, Alexander the Third, +the King of Scotland, died of a fall from his horse. He had been married +to Margaret, King Edward's sister. All their children being dead, the +Scottish crown became the right of a young Princess only eight years old, +the daughter of ERIC, King of Norway, who had married a daughter of the +deceased sovereign. King Edward proposed, that the Maiden of Norway, as +this Princess was called, should be engaged to be married to his eldest +son; but, unfortunately, as she was coming over to England she fell sick, +and landing on one of the Orkney Islands, died there. A great commotion +immediately began in Scotland, where as many as thirteen noisy claimants +to the vacant throne started up and made a general confusion. + +King Edward being much renowned for his sagacity and justice, it seems to +have been agreed to refer the dispute to him. He accepted the trust, and +went, with an army, to the Border-land where England and Scotland joined. +There, he called upon the Scottish gentlemen to meet him at the Castle of +Norham, on the English side of the river Tweed; and to that Castle they +came. But, before he would take any step in the business, he required +those Scottish gentlemen, one and all, to do homage to him as their +superior Lord; and when they hesitated, he said, 'By holy Edward, whose +crown I wear, I will have my rights, or I will die in maintaining them!' +The Scottish gentlemen, who had not expected this, were disconcerted, and +asked for three weeks to think about it. + +At the end of the three weeks, another meeting took place, on a green +plain on the Scottish side of the river. Of all the competitors for the +Scottish throne, there were only two who had any real claim, in right of +their near kindred to the Royal Family. These were JOHN BALIOL and +ROBERT BRUCE: and the right was, I have no doubt, on the side of John +Baliol. At this particular meeting John Baliol was not present, but +Robert Bruce was; and on Robert Bruce being formally asked whether he +acknowledged the King of England for his superior lord, he answered, +plainly and distinctly, Yes, he did. Next day, John Baliol appeared, and +said the same. This point settled, some arrangements were made for +inquiring into their titles. + +The inquiry occupied a pretty long time--more than a year. While it was +going on, King Edward took the opportunity of making a journey through +Scotland, and calling upon the Scottish people of all degrees to +acknowledge themselves his vassals, or be imprisoned until they did. In +the meanwhile, Commissioners were appointed to conduct the inquiry, a +Parliament was held at Berwick about it, the two claimants were heard at +full length, and there was a vast amount of talking. At last, in the +great hall of the Castle of Berwick, the King gave judgment in favour of +John Baliol: who, consenting to receive his crown by the King of +England's favour and permission, was crowned at Scone, in an old stone +chair which had been used for ages in the abbey there, at the coronations +of Scottish Kings. Then, King Edward caused the great seal of Scotland, +used since the late King's death, to be broken in four pieces, and placed +in the English Treasury; and considered that he now had Scotland +(according to the common saying) under his thumb. + +Scotland had a strong will of its own yet, however. King Edward, +determined that the Scottish King should not forget he was his vassal, +summoned him repeatedly to come and defend himself and his judges before +the English Parliament when appeals from the decisions of Scottish courts +of justice were being heard. At length, John Baliol, who had no great +heart of his own, had so much heart put into him by the brave spirit of +the Scottish people, who took this as a national insult, that he refused +to come any more. Thereupon, the King further required him to help him +in his war abroad (which was then in progress), and to give up, as +security for his good behaviour in future, the three strong Scottish +Castles of Jedburgh, Roxburgh, and Berwick. Nothing of this being done; +on the contrary, the Scottish people concealing their King among their +mountains in the Highlands and showing a determination to resist; Edward +marched to Berwick with an army of thirty thousand foot, and four +thousand horse; took the Castle, and slew its whole garrison, and the +inhabitants of the town as well--men, women, and children. LORD +WARRENNE, Earl of Surrey, then went on to the Castle of Dunbar, before +which a battle was fought, and the whole Scottish army defeated with +great slaughter. The victory being complete, the Earl of Surrey was left +as guardian of Scotland; the principal offices in that kingdom were given +to Englishmen; the more powerful Scottish Nobles were obliged to come and +live in England; the Scottish crown and sceptre were brought away; and +even the old stone chair was carried off and placed in Westminster Abbey, +where you may see it now. Baliol had the Tower of London lent him for a +residence, with permission to range about within a circle of twenty +miles. Three years afterwards he was allowed to go to Normandy, where he +had estates, and where he passed the remaining six years of his life: far +more happily, I dare say, than he had lived for a long while in angry +Scotland. + +Now, there was, in the West of Scotland, a gentleman of small fortune, +named WILLIAM WALLACE, the second son of a Scottish knight. He was a man +of great size and great strength; he was very brave and daring; when he +spoke to a body of his countrymen, he could rouse them in a wonderful +manner by the power of his burning words; he loved Scotland dearly, and +he hated England with his utmost might. The domineering conduct of the +English who now held the places of trust in Scotland made them as +intolerable to the proud Scottish people as they had been, under similar +circumstances, to the Welsh; and no man in all Scotland regarded them +with so much smothered rage as William Wallace. One day, an Englishman +in office, little knowing what he was, affronted _him_. Wallace +instantly struck him dead, and taking refuge among the rocks and hills, +and there joining with his countryman, SIR WILLIAM DOUGLAS, who was also +in arms against King Edward, became the most resolute and undaunted +champion of a people struggling for their independence that ever lived +upon the earth. + +The English Guardian of the Kingdom fled before him, and, thus +encouraged, the Scottish people revolted everywhere, and fell upon the +English without mercy. The Earl of Surrey, by the King's commands, +raised all the power of the Border-counties, and two English armies +poured into Scotland. Only one Chief, in the face of those armies, stood +by Wallace, who, with a force of forty thousand men, awaited the invaders +at a place on the river Forth, within two miles of Stirling. Across the +river there was only one poor wooden bridge, called the bridge of +Kildean--so narrow, that but two men could cross it abreast. With his +eyes upon this bridge, Wallace posted the greater part of his men among +some rising grounds, and waited calmly. When the English army came up on +the opposite bank of the river, messengers were sent forward to offer +terms. Wallace sent them back with a defiance, in the name of the +freedom of Scotland. Some of the officers of the Earl of Surrey in +command of the English, with _their_ eyes also on the bridge, advised him +to be discreet and not hasty. He, however, urged to immediate battle by +some other officers, and particularly by CRESSINGHAM, King Edward's +treasurer, and a rash man, gave the word of command to advance. One +thousand English crossed the bridge, two abreast; the Scottish troops +were as motionless as stone images. Two thousand English crossed; three +thousand, four thousand, five. Not a feather, all this time, had been +seen to stir among the Scottish bonnets. Now, they all fluttered. +'Forward, one party, to the foot of the Bridge!' cried Wallace, 'and let +no more English cross! The rest, down with me on the five thousand who +have come over, and cut them all to pieces!' It was done, in the sight +of the whole remainder of the English army, who could give no help. +Cressingham himself was killed, and the Scotch made whips for their +horses of his skin. + +King Edward was abroad at this time, and during the successes on the +Scottish side which followed, and which enabled bold Wallace to win the +whole country back again, and even to ravage the English borders. But, +after a few winter months, the King returned, and took the field with +more than his usual energy. One night, when a kick from his horse as +they both lay on the ground together broke two of his ribs, and a cry +arose that he was killed, he leaped into his saddle, regardless of the +pain he suffered, and rode through the camp. Day then appearing, he gave +the word (still, of course, in that bruised and aching state) Forward! +and led his army on to near Falkirk, where the Scottish forces were seen +drawn up on some stony ground, behind a morass. Here, he defeated +Wallace, and killed fifteen thousand of his men. With the shattered +remainder, Wallace drew back to Stirling; but, being pursued, set fire to +the town that it might give no help to the English, and escaped. The +inhabitants of Perth afterwards set fire to their houses for the same +reason, and the King, unable to find provisions, was forced to withdraw +his army. + +Another ROBERT BRUCE, the grandson of him who had disputed the Scottish +crown with Baliol, was now in arms against the King (that elder Bruce +being dead), and also JOHN COMYN, Baliol's nephew. These two young men +might agree in opposing Edward, but could agree in nothing else, as they +were rivals for the throne of Scotland. Probably it was because they +knew this, and knew what troubles must arise even if they could hope to +get the better of the great English King, that the principal Scottish +people applied to the Pope for his interference. The Pope, on the +principle of losing nothing for want of trying to get it, very coolly +claimed that Scotland belonged to him; but this was a little too much, +and the Parliament in a friendly manner told him so. + +In the spring time of the year one thousand three hundred and three, the +King sent SIR JOHN SEGRAVE, whom he made Governor of Scotland, with +twenty thousand men, to reduce the rebels. Sir John was not as careful +as he should have been, but encamped at Rosslyn, near Edinburgh, with his +army divided into three parts. The Scottish forces saw their advantage; +fell on each part separately; defeated each; and killed all the +prisoners. Then, came the King himself once more, as soon as a great +army could be raised; he passed through the whole north of Scotland, +laying waste whatsoever came in his way; and he took up his winter +quarters at Dunfermline. The Scottish cause now looked so hopeless, that +Comyn and the other nobles made submission and received their pardons. +Wallace alone stood out. He was invited to surrender, though on no +distinct pledge that his life should be spared; but he still defied the +ireful King, and lived among the steep crags of the Highland glens, where +the eagles made their nests, and where the mountain torrents roared, and +the white snow was deep, and the bitter winds blew round his unsheltered +head, as he lay through many a pitch-dark night wrapped up in his plaid. +Nothing could break his spirit; nothing could lower his courage; nothing +could induce him to forget or to forgive his country's wrongs. Even when +the Castle of Stirling, which had long held out, was besieged by the King +with every kind of military engine then in use; even when the lead upon +cathedral roofs was taken down to help to make them; even when the King, +though an old man, commanded in the siege as if he were a youth, being so +resolved to conquer; even when the brave garrison (then found with +amazement to be not two hundred people, including several ladies) were +starved and beaten out and were made to submit on their knees, and with +every form of disgrace that could aggravate their sufferings; even then, +when there was not a ray of hope in Scotland, William Wallace was as +proud and firm as if he had beheld the powerful and relentless Edward +lying dead at his feet. + +Who betrayed William Wallace in the end, is not quite certain. That he +was betrayed--probably by an attendant--is too true. He was taken to the +Castle of Dumbarton, under SIR JOHN MENTEITH, and thence to London, where +the great fame of his bravery and resolution attracted immense concourses +of people to behold him. He was tried in Westminster Hall, with a crown +of laurel on his head--it is supposed because he was reported to have +said that he ought to wear, or that he would wear, a crown there and was +found guilty as a robber, a murderer, and a traitor. What they called a +robber (he said to those who tried him) he was, because he had taken +spoil from the King's men. What they called a murderer, he was, because +he had slain an insolent Englishman. What they called a traitor, he was +not, for he had never sworn allegiance to the King, and had ever scorned +to do it. He was dragged at the tails of horses to West Smithfield, and +there hanged on a high gallows, torn open before he was dead, beheaded, +and quartered. His head was set upon a pole on London Bridge, his right +arm was sent to Newcastle, his left arm to Berwick, his legs to Perth and +Aberdeen. But, if King Edward had had his body cut into inches, and had +sent every separate inch into a separate town, he could not have +dispersed it half so far and wide as his fame. Wallace will be +remembered in songs and stories, while there are songs and stories in the +English tongue, and Scotland will hold him dear while her lakes and +mountains last. + +Released from this dreaded enemy, the King made a fairer plan of +Government for Scotland, divided the offices of honour among Scottish +gentlemen and English gentlemen, forgave past offences, and thought, in +his old age, that his work was done. + +But he deceived himself. Comyn and Bruce conspired, and made an +appointment to meet at Dumfries, in the church of the Minorites. There +is a story that Comyn was false to Bruce, and had informed against him to +the King; that Bruce was warned of his danger and the necessity of +flight, by receiving, one night as he sat at supper, from his friend the +Earl of Gloucester, twelve pennies and a pair of spurs; that as he was +riding angrily to keep his appointment (through a snow-storm, with his +horse's shoes reversed that he might not be tracked), he met an +evil-looking serving man, a messenger of Comyn, whom he killed, and +concealed in whose dress he found letters that proved Comyn's treachery. +However this may be, they were likely enough to quarrel in any case, +being hot-headed rivals; and, whatever they quarrelled about, they +certainly did quarrel in the church where they met, and Bruce drew his +dagger and stabbed Comyn, who fell upon the pavement. When Bruce came +out, pale and disturbed, the friends who were waiting for him asked what +was the matter? 'I think I have killed Comyn,' said he. 'You only think +so?' returned one of them; 'I will make sure!' and going into the church, +and finding him alive, stabbed him again and again. Knowing that the +King would never forgive this new deed of violence, the party then +declared Bruce King of Scotland: got him crowned at Scone--without the +chair; and set up the rebellious standard once again. + +When the King heard of it he kindled with fiercer anger than he had ever +shown yet. He caused the Prince of Wales and two hundred and seventy of +the young nobility to be knighted--the trees in the Temple Gardens were +cut down to make room for their tents, and they watched their armour all +night, according to the old usage: some in the Temple Church: some in +Westminster Abbey--and at the public Feast which then took place, he +swore, by Heaven, and by two swans covered with gold network which his +minstrels placed upon the table, that he would avenge the death of Comyn, +and would punish the false Bruce. And before all the company, he charged +the Prince his son, in case that he should die before accomplishing his +vow, not to bury him until it was fulfilled. Next morning the Prince and +the rest of the young Knights rode away to the Border-country to join the +English army; and the King, now weak and sick, followed in a +horse-litter. + +Bruce, after losing a battle and undergoing many dangers and much misery, +fled to Ireland, where he lay concealed through the winter. That winter, +Edward passed in hunting down and executing Bruce's relations and +adherents, sparing neither youth nor age, and showing no touch of pity or +sign of mercy. In the following spring, Bruce reappeared and gained some +victories. In these frays, both sides were grievously cruel. For +instance--Bruce's two brothers, being taken captives desperately wounded, +were ordered by the King to instant execution. Bruce's friend Sir John +Douglas, taking his own Castle of Douglas out of the hands of an English +Lord, roasted the dead bodies of the slaughtered garrison in a great fire +made of every movable within it; which dreadful cookery his men called +the Douglas Larder. Bruce, still successful, however, drove the Earl of +Pembroke and the Earl of Gloucester into the Castle of Ayr and laid siege +to it. + +The King, who had been laid up all the winter, but had directed the army +from his sick-bed, now advanced to Carlisle, and there, causing the +litter in which he had travelled to be placed in the Cathedral as an +offering to Heaven, mounted his horse once more, and for the last time. +He was now sixty-nine years old, and had reigned thirty-five years. He +was so ill, that in four days he could go no more than six miles; still, +even at that pace, he went on and resolutely kept his face towards the +Border. At length, he lay down at the village of Burgh-upon-Sands; and +there, telling those around him to impress upon the Prince that he was to +remember his father's vow, and was never to rest until he had thoroughly +subdued Scotland, he yielded up his last breath. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII--ENGLAND UNDER EDWARD THE SECOND + + +King Edward the Second, the first Prince of Wales, was twenty-three years +old when his father died. There was a certain favourite of his, a young +man from Gascony, named PIERS GAVESTON, of whom his father had so much +disapproved that he had ordered him out of England, and had made his son +swear by the side of his sick-bed, never to bring him back. But, the +Prince no sooner found himself King, than he broke his oath, as so many +other Princes and Kings did (they were far too ready to take oaths), and +sent for his dear friend immediately. + +Now, this same Gaveston was handsome enough, but was a reckless, +insolent, audacious fellow. He was detested by the proud English Lords: +not only because he had such power over the King, and made the Court such +a dissipated place, but, also, because he could ride better than they at +tournaments, and was used, in his impudence, to cut very bad jokes on +them; calling one, the old hog; another, the stage-player; another, the +Jew; another, the black dog of Ardenne. This was as poor wit as need be, +but it made those Lords very wroth; and the surly Earl of Warwick, who +was the black dog, swore that the time should come when Piers Gaveston +should feel the black dog's teeth. + +It was not come yet, however, nor did it seem to be coming. The King +made him Earl of Cornwall, and gave him vast riches; and, when the King +went over to France to marry the French Princess, ISABELLA, daughter of +PHILIP LE BEL: who was said to be the most beautiful woman in the world: +he made Gaveston, Regent of the Kingdom. His splendid marriage-ceremony +in the Church of Our Lady at Boulogne, where there were four Kings and +three Queens present (quite a pack of Court Cards, for I dare say the +Knaves were not wanting), being over, he seemed to care little or nothing +for his beautiful wife; but was wild with impatience to meet Gaveston +again. + +When he landed at home, he paid no attention to anybody else, but ran +into the favourite's arms before a great concourse of people, and hugged +him, and kissed him, and called him his brother. At the coronation which +soon followed, Gaveston was the richest and brightest of all the +glittering company there, and had the honour of carrying the crown. This +made the proud Lords fiercer than ever; the people, too, despised the +favourite, and would never call him Earl of Cornwall, however much he +complained to the King and asked him to punish them for not doing so, but +persisted in styling him plain Piers Gaveston. + +The Barons were so unceremonious with the King in giving him to +understand that they would not bear this favourite, that the King was +obliged to send him out of the country. The favourite himself was made +to take an oath (more oaths!) that he would never come back, and the +Barons supposed him to be banished in disgrace, until they heard that he +was appointed Governor of Ireland. Even this was not enough for the +besotted King, who brought him home again in a year's time, and not only +disgusted the Court and the people by his doting folly, but offended his +beautiful wife too, who never liked him afterwards. + +He had now the old Royal want--of money--and the Barons had the new power +of positively refusing to let him raise any. He summoned a Parliament at +York; the Barons refused to make one, while the favourite was near him. +He summoned another Parliament at Westminster, and sent Gaveston away. +Then, the Barons came, completely armed, and appointed a committee of +themselves to correct abuses in the state and in the King's household. He +got some money on these conditions, and directly set off with Gaveston to +the Border-country, where they spent it in idling away the time, and +feasting, while Bruce made ready to drive the English out of Scotland. +For, though the old King had even made this poor weak son of his swear +(as some say) that he would not bury his bones, but would have them +boiled clean in a caldron, and carried before the English army until +Scotland was entirely subdued, the second Edward was so unlike the first +that Bruce gained strength and power every day. + +The committee of Nobles, after some months of deliberation, ordained that +the King should henceforth call a Parliament together, once every year, +and even twice if necessary, instead of summoning it only when he chose. +Further, that Gaveston should once more be banished, and, this time, on +pain of death if he ever came back. The King's tears were of no avail; +he was obliged to send his favourite to Flanders. As soon as he had done +so, however, he dissolved the Parliament, with the low cunning of a mere +fool, and set off to the North of England, thinking to get an army about +him to oppose the Nobles. And once again he brought Gaveston home, and +heaped upon him all the riches and titles of which the Barons had +deprived him. + +The Lords saw, now, that there was nothing for it but to put the +favourite to death. They could have done so, legally, according to the +terms of his banishment; but they did so, I am sorry to say, in a shabby +manner. Led by the Earl of Lancaster, the King's cousin, they first of +all attacked the King and Gaveston at Newcastle. They had time to escape +by sea, and the mean King, having his precious Gaveston with him, was +quite content to leave his lovely wife behind. When they were +comparatively safe, they separated; the King went to York to collect a +force of soldiers; and the favourite shut himself up, in the meantime, in +Scarborough Castle overlooking the sea. This was what the Barons wanted. +They knew that the Castle could not hold out; they attacked it, and made +Gaveston surrender. He delivered himself up to the Earl of Pembroke--that +Lord whom he had called the Jew--on the Earl's pledging his faith and +knightly word, that no harm should happen to him and no violence be done +him. + +Now, it was agreed with Gaveston that he should be taken to the Castle of +Wallingford, and there kept in honourable custody. They travelled as far +as Dedington, near Banbury, where, in the Castle of that place, they +stopped for a night to rest. Whether the Earl of Pembroke left his +prisoner there, knowing what would happen, or really left him thinking no +harm, and only going (as he pretended) to visit his wife, the Countess, +who was in the neighbourhood, is no great matter now; in any case, he was +bound as an honourable gentleman to protect his prisoner, and he did not +do it. In the morning, while the favourite was yet in bed, he was +required to dress himself and come down into the court-yard. He did so +without any mistrust, but started and turned pale when he found it full +of strange armed men. 'I think you know me?' said their leader, also +armed from head to foot. 'I am the black dog of Ardenne!' The time was +come when Piers Gaveston was to feel the black dog's teeth indeed. They +set him on a mule, and carried him, in mock state and with military +music, to the black dog's kennel--Warwick Castle--where a hasty council, +composed of some great noblemen, considered what should be done with him. +Some were for sparing him, but one loud voice--it was the black dog's +bark, I dare say--sounded through the Castle Hall, uttering these words: +'You have the fox in your power. Let him go now, and you must hunt him +again.' + +They sentenced him to death. He threw himself at the feet of the Earl of +Lancaster--the old hog--but the old hog was as savage as the dog. He was +taken out upon the pleasant road, leading from Warwick to Coventry, where +the beautiful river Avon, by which, long afterwards, WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE +was born and now lies buried, sparkled in the bright landscape of the +beautiful May-day; and there they struck off his wretched head, and +stained the dust with his blood. + +When the King heard of this black deed, in his grief and rage he +denounced relentless war against his Barons, and both sides were in arms +for half a year. But, it then became necessary for them to join their +forces against Bruce, who had used the time well while they were divided, +and had now a great power in Scotland. + +Intelligence was brought that Bruce was then besieging Stirling Castle, +and that the Governor had been obliged to pledge himself to surrender it, +unless he should be relieved before a certain day. Hereupon, the King +ordered the nobles and their fighting-men to meet him at Berwick; but, +the nobles cared so little for the King, and so neglected the summons, +and lost time, that only on the day before that appointed for the +surrender, did the King find himself at Stirling, and even then with a +smaller force than he had expected. However, he had, altogether, a +hundred thousand men, and Bruce had not more than forty thousand; but, +Bruce's army was strongly posted in three square columns, on the ground +lying between the Burn or Brook of Bannock and the walls of Stirling +Castle. + +On the very evening, when the King came up, Bruce did a brave act that +encouraged his men. He was seen by a certain HENRY DE BOHUN, an English +Knight, riding about before his army on a little horse, with a light +battle-axe in his hand, and a crown of gold on his head. This English +Knight, who was mounted on a strong war-horse, cased in steel, strongly +armed, and able (as he thought) to overthrow Bruce by crushing him with +his mere weight, set spurs to his great charger, rode on him, and made a +thrust at him with his heavy spear. Bruce parried the thrust, and with +one blow of his battle-axe split his skull. + +The Scottish men did not forget this, next day when the battle raged. +RANDOLPH, Bruce's valiant Nephew, rode, with the small body of men he +commanded, into such a host of the English, all shining in polished +armour in the sunlight, that they seemed to be swallowed up and lost, as +if they had plunged into the sea. But, they fought so well, and did such +dreadful execution, that the English staggered. Then came Bruce himself +upon them, with all the rest of his army. While they were thus hard +pressed and amazed, there appeared upon the hills what they supposed to +be a new Scottish army, but what were really only the camp followers, in +number fifteen thousand: whom Bruce had taught to show themselves at that +place and time. The Earl of Gloucester, commanding the English horse, +made a last rush to change the fortune of the day; but Bruce (like Jack +the Giant-killer in the story) had had pits dug in the ground, and +covered over with turfs and stakes. Into these, as they gave way beneath +the weight of the horses, riders and horses rolled by hundreds. The +English were completely routed; all their treasure, stores, and engines, +were taken by the Scottish men; so many waggons and other wheeled +vehicles were seized, that it is related that they would have reached, if +they had been drawn out in a line, one hundred and eighty miles. The +fortunes of Scotland were, for the time, completely changed; and never +was a battle won, more famous upon Scottish ground, than this great +battle of BANNOCKBURN. + +Plague and famine succeeded in England; and still the powerless King and +his disdainful Lords were always in contention. Some of the turbulent +chiefs of Ireland made proposals to Bruce, to accept the rule of that +country. He sent his brother Edward to them, who was crowned King of +Ireland. He afterwards went himself to help his brother in his Irish +wars, but his brother was defeated in the end and killed. Robert Bruce, +returning to Scotland, still increased his strength there. + +As the King's ruin had begun in a favourite, so it seemed likely to end +in one. He was too poor a creature to rely at all upon himself; and his +new favourite was one HUGH LE DESPENSER, the son of a gentleman of +ancient family. Hugh was handsome and brave, but he was the favourite of +a weak King, whom no man cared a rush for, and that was a dangerous place +to hold. The Nobles leagued against him, because the King liked him; and +they lay in wait, both for his ruin and his father's. Now, the King had +married him to the daughter of the late Earl of Gloucester, and had given +both him and his father great possessions in Wales. In their endeavours +to extend these, they gave violent offence to an angry Welsh gentleman, +named JOHN DE MOWBRAY, and to divers other angry Welsh gentlemen, who +resorted to arms, took their castles, and seized their estates. The Earl +of Lancaster had first placed the favourite (who was a poor relation of +his own) at Court, and he considered his own dignity offended by the +preference he received and the honours he acquired; so he, and the Barons +who were his friends, joined the Welshmen, marched on London, and sent a +message to the King demanding to have the favourite and his father +banished. At first, the King unaccountably took it into his head to be +spirited, and to send them a bold reply; but when they quartered +themselves around Holborn and Clerkenwell, and went down, armed, to the +Parliament at Westminster, he gave way, and complied with their demands. + +His turn of triumph came sooner than he expected. It arose out of an +accidental circumstance. The beautiful Queen happening to be travelling, +came one night to one of the royal castles, and demanded to be lodged and +entertained there until morning. The governor of this castle, who was +one of the enraged lords, was away, and in his absence, his wife refused +admission to the Queen; a scuffle took place among the common men on +either side, and some of the royal attendants were killed. The people, +who cared nothing for the King, were very angry that their beautiful +Queen should be thus rudely treated in her own dominions; and the King, +taking advantage of this feeling, besieged the castle, took it, and then +called the two Despensers home. Upon this, the confederate lords and the +Welshmen went over to Bruce. The King encountered them at Boroughbridge, +gained the victory, and took a number of distinguished prisoners; among +them, the Earl of Lancaster, now an old man, upon whose destruction he +was resolved. This Earl was taken to his own castle of Pontefract, and +there tried and found guilty by an unfair court appointed for the +purpose; he was not even allowed to speak in his own defence. He was +insulted, pelted, mounted on a starved pony without saddle or bridle, +carried out, and beheaded. Eight-and-twenty knights were hanged, drawn, +and quartered. When the King had despatched this bloody work, and had +made a fresh and a long truce with Bruce, he took the Despensers into +greater favour than ever, and made the father Earl of Winchester. + +One prisoner, and an important one, who was taken at Boroughbridge, made +his escape, however, and turned the tide against the King. This was +ROGER MORTIMER, always resolutely opposed to him, who was sentenced to +death, and placed for safe custody in the Tower of London. He treated +his guards to a quantity of wine into which he had put a sleeping potion; +and, when they were insensible, broke out of his dungeon, got into a +kitchen, climbed up the chimney, let himself down from the roof of the +building with a rope-ladder, passed the sentries, got down to the river, +and made away in a boat to where servants and horses were waiting for +him. He finally escaped to France, where CHARLES LE BEL, the brother of +the beautiful Queen, was King. Charles sought to quarrel with the King +of England, on pretence of his not having come to do him homage at his +coronation. It was proposed that the beautiful Queen should go over to +arrange the dispute; she went, and wrote home to the King, that as he was +sick and could not come to France himself, perhaps it would be better to +send over the young Prince, their son, who was only twelve years old, who +could do homage to her brother in his stead, and in whose company she +would immediately return. The King sent him: but, both he and the Queen +remained at the French Court, and Roger Mortimer became the Queen's +lover. + +When the King wrote, again and again, to the Queen to come home, she did +not reply that she despised him too much to live with him any more (which +was the truth), but said she was afraid of the two Despensers. In short, +her design was to overthrow the favourites' power, and the King's power, +such as it was, and invade England. Having obtained a French force of +two thousand men, and being joined by all the English exiles then in +France, she landed, within a year, at Orewell, in Suffolk, where she was +immediately joined by the Earls of Kent and Norfolk, the King's two +brothers; by other powerful noblemen; and lastly, by the first English +general who was despatched to check her: who went over to her with all +his men. The people of London, receiving these tidings, would do nothing +for the King, but broke open the Tower, let out all his prisoners, and +threw up their caps and hurrahed for the beautiful Queen. + +The King, with his two favourites, fled to Bristol, where he left old +Despenser in charge of the town and castle, while he went on with the son +to Wales. The Bristol men being opposed to the King, and it being +impossible to hold the town with enemies everywhere within the walls, +Despenser yielded it up on the third day, and was instantly brought to +trial for having traitorously influenced what was called 'the King's +mind'--though I doubt if the King ever had any. He was a venerable old +man, upwards of ninety years of age, but his age gained no respect or +mercy. He was hanged, torn open while he was yet alive, cut up into +pieces, and thrown to the dogs. His son was soon taken, tried at +Hereford before the same judge on a long series of foolish charges, found +guilty, and hanged upon a gallows fifty feet high, with a chaplet of +nettles round his head. His poor old father and he were innocent enough +of any worse crimes than the crime of having been friends of a King, on +whom, as a mere man, they would never have deigned to cast a favourable +look. It is a bad crime, I know, and leads to worse; but, many lords and +gentlemen--I even think some ladies, too, if I recollect right--have +committed it in England, who have neither been given to the dogs, nor +hanged up fifty feet high. + +The wretched King was running here and there, all this time, and never +getting anywhere in particular, until he gave himself up, and was taken +off to Kenilworth Castle. When he was safely lodged there, the Queen +went to London and met the Parliament. And the Bishop of Hereford, who +was the most skilful of her friends, said, What was to be done now? Here +was an imbecile, indolent, miserable King upon the throne; wouldn't it be +better to take him off, and put his son there instead? I don't know +whether the Queen really pitied him at this pass, but she began to cry; +so, the Bishop said, Well, my Lords and Gentlemen, what do you think, +upon the whole, of sending down to Kenilworth, and seeing if His Majesty +(God bless him, and forbid we should depose him!) won't resign? + +My Lords and Gentlemen thought it a good notion, so a deputation of them +went down to Kenilworth; and there the King came into the great hall of +the Castle, commonly dressed in a poor black gown; and when he saw a +certain bishop among them, fell down, poor feeble-headed man, and made a +wretched spectacle of himself. Somebody lifted him up, and then SIR +WILLIAM TRUSSEL, the Speaker of the House of Commons, almost frightened +him to death by making him a tremendous speech to the effect that he was +no longer a King, and that everybody renounced allegiance to him. After +which, SIR THOMAS BLOUNT, the Steward of the Household, nearly finished +him, by coming forward and breaking his white wand--which was a ceremony +only performed at a King's death. Being asked in this pressing manner +what he thought of resigning, the King said he thought it was the best +thing he could do. So, he did it, and they proclaimed his son next day. + +I wish I could close his history by saying that he lived a harmless life +in the Castle and the Castle gardens at Kenilworth, many years--that he +had a favourite, and plenty to eat and drink--and, having that, wanted +nothing. But he was shamefully humiliated. He was outraged, and +slighted, and had dirty water from ditches given him to shave with, and +wept and said he would have clean warm water, and was altogether very +miserable. He was moved from this castle to that castle, and from that +castle to the other castle, because this lord or that lord, or the other +lord, was too kind to him: until at last he came to Berkeley Castle, near +the River Severn, where (the Lord Berkeley being then ill and absent) he +fell into the hands of two black ruffians, called THOMAS GOURNAY and +WILLIAM OGLE. + +One night--it was the night of September the twenty-first, one thousand +three hundred and twenty-seven--dreadful screams were heard, by the +startled people in the neighbouring town, ringing through the thick walls +of the Castle, and the dark, deep night; and they said, as they were thus +horribly awakened from their sleep, 'May Heaven be merciful to the King; +for those cries forbode that no good is being done to him in his dismal +prison!' Next morning he was dead--not bruised, or stabbed, or marked +upon the body, but much distorted in the face; and it was whispered +afterwards, that those two villains, Gournay and Ogle, had burnt up his +inside with a red-hot iron. + +If you ever come near Gloucester, and see the centre tower of its +beautiful Cathedral, with its four rich pinnacles, rising lightly in the +air; you may remember that the wretched Edward the Second was buried in +the old abbey of that ancient city, at forty-three years old, after being +for nineteen years and a half a perfectly incapable King. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII--ENGLAND UNDER EDWARD THE THIRD + + +Roger Mortimer, the Queen's lover (who escaped to France in the last +chapter), was far from profiting by the examples he had had of the fate +of favourites. Having, through the Queen's influence, come into +possession of the estates of the two Despensers, he became extremely +proud and ambitious, and sought to be the real ruler of England. The +young King, who was crowned at fourteen years of age with all the usual +solemnities, resolved not to bear this, and soon pursued Mortimer to his +ruin. + +The people themselves were not fond of Mortimer--first, because he was a +Royal favourite; secondly, because he was supposed to have helped to make +a peace with Scotland which now took place, and in virtue of which the +young King's sister Joan, only seven years old, was promised in marriage +to David, the son and heir of Robert Bruce, who was only five years old. +The nobles hated Mortimer because of his pride, riches, and power. They +went so far as to take up arms against him; but were obliged to submit. +The Earl of Kent, one of those who did so, but who afterwards went over +to Mortimer and the Queen, was made an example of in the following cruel +manner: + +He seems to have been anything but a wise old earl; and he was persuaded +by the agents of the favourite and the Queen, that poor King Edward the +Second was not really dead; and thus was betrayed into writing letters +favouring his rightful claim to the throne. This was made out to be high +treason, and he was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to be executed. +They took the poor old lord outside the town of Winchester, and there +kept him waiting some three or four hours until they could find somebody +to cut off his head. At last, a convict said he would do it, if the +government would pardon him in return; and they gave him the pardon; and +at one blow he put the Earl of Kent out of his last suspense. + +While the Queen was in France, she had found a lovely and good young +lady, named Philippa, who she thought would make an excellent wife for +her son. The young King married this lady, soon after he came to the +throne; and her first child, Edward, Prince of Wales, afterwards became +celebrated, as we shall presently see, under the famous title of EDWARD +THE BLACK PRINCE. + +The young King, thinking the time ripe for the downfall of Mortimer, took +counsel with Lord Montacute how he should proceed. A Parliament was +going to be held at Nottingham, and that lord recommended that the +favourite should be seized by night in Nottingham Castle, where he was +sure to be. Now, this, like many other things, was more easily said than +done; because, to guard against treachery, the great gates of the Castle +were locked every night, and the great keys were carried up-stairs to the +Queen, who laid them under her own pillow. But the Castle had a +governor, and the governor being Lord Montacute's friend, confided to him +how he knew of a secret passage underground, hidden from observation by +the weeds and brambles with which it was overgrown; and how, through that +passage, the conspirators might enter in the dead of the night, and go +straight to Mortimer's room. Accordingly, upon a certain dark night, at +midnight, they made their way through this dismal place: startling the +rats, and frightening the owls and bats: and came safely to the bottom of +the main tower of the Castle, where the King met them, and took them up a +profoundly-dark staircase in a deep silence. They soon heard the voice +of Mortimer in council with some friends; and bursting into the room with +a sudden noise, took him prisoner. The Queen cried out from her +bed-chamber, 'Oh, my sweet son, my dear son, spare my gentle Mortimer!' +They carried him off, however; and, before the next Parliament, accused +him of having made differences between the young King and his mother, and +of having brought about the death of the Earl of Kent, and even of the +late King; for, as you know by this time, when they wanted to get rid of +a man in those old days, they were not very particular of what they +accused him. Mortimer was found guilty of all this, and was sentenced to +be hanged at Tyburn. The King shut his mother up in genteel confinement, +where she passed the rest of her life; and now he became King in earnest. + +The first effort he made was to conquer Scotland. The English lords who +had lands in Scotland, finding that their rights were not respected under +the late peace, made war on their own account: choosing for their +general, Edward, the son of John Baliol, who made such a vigorous fight, +that in less than two months he won the whole Scottish Kingdom. He was +joined, when thus triumphant, by the King and Parliament; and he and the +King in person besieged the Scottish forces in Berwick. The whole +Scottish army coming to the assistance of their countrymen, such a +furious battle ensued, that thirty thousand men are said to have been +killed in it. Baliol was then crowned King of Scotland, doing homage to +the King of England; but little came of his successes after all, for the +Scottish men rose against him, within no very long time, and David Bruce +came back within ten years and took his kingdom. + +France was a far richer country than Scotland, and the King had a much +greater mind to conquer it. So, he let Scotland alone, and pretended +that he had a claim to the French throne in right of his mother. He had, +in reality, no claim at all; but that mattered little in those times. He +brought over to his cause many little princes and sovereigns, and even +courted the alliance of the people of Flanders--a busy, working +community, who had very small respect for kings, and whose head man was a +brewer. With such forces as he raised by these means, Edward invaded +France; but he did little by that, except run into debt in carrying on +the war to the extent of three hundred thousand pounds. The next year he +did better; gaining a great sea-fight in the harbour of Sluys. This +success, however, was very shortlived, for the Flemings took fright at +the siege of Saint Omer and ran away, leaving their weapons and baggage +behind them. Philip, the French King, coming up with his army, and +Edward being very anxious to decide the war, proposed to settle the +difference by single combat with him, or by a fight of one hundred +knights on each side. The French King said, he thanked him; but being +very well as he was, he would rather not. So, after some skirmishing and +talking, a short peace was made. + +It was soon broken by King Edward's favouring the cause of John, Earl of +Montford; a French nobleman, who asserted a claim of his own against the +French King, and offered to do homage to England for the Crown of France, +if he could obtain it through England's help. This French lord, himself, +was soon defeated by the French King's son, and shut up in a tower in +Paris; but his wife, a courageous and beautiful woman, who is said to +have had the courage of a man, and the heart of a lion, assembled the +people of Brittany, where she then was; and, showing them her infant son, +made many pathetic entreaties to them not to desert her and their young +Lord. They took fire at this appeal, and rallied round her in the strong +castle of Hennebon. Here she was not only besieged without by the French +under Charles de Blois, but was endangered within by a dreary old bishop, +who was always representing to the people what horrors they must undergo +if they were faithful--first from famine, and afterwards from fire and +sword. But this noble lady, whose heart never failed her, encouraged her +soldiers by her own example; went from post to post like a great general; +even mounted on horseback fully armed, and, issuing from the castle by a +by-path, fell upon the French camp, set fire to the tents, and threw the +whole force into disorder. This done, she got safely back to Hennebon +again, and was received with loud shouts of joy by the defenders of the +castle, who had given her up for lost. As they were now very short of +provisions, however, and as they could not dine off enthusiasm, and as +the old bishop was always saying, 'I told you what it would come to!' +they began to lose heart, and to talk of yielding the castle up. The +brave Countess retiring to an upper room and looking with great grief out +to sea, where she expected relief from England, saw, at this very time, +the English ships in the distance, and was relieved and rescued! Sir +Walter Manning, the English commander, so admired her courage, that, +being come into the castle with the English knights, and having made a +feast there, he assaulted the French by way of dessert, and beat them off +triumphantly. Then he and the knights came back to the castle with great +joy; and the Countess who had watched them from a high tower, thanked +them with all her heart, and kissed them every one. + +This noble lady distinguished herself afterwards in a sea-fight with the +French off Guernsey, when she was on her way to England to ask for more +troops. Her great spirit roused another lady, the wife of another French +lord (whom the French King very barbarously murdered), to distinguish +herself scarcely less. The time was fast coming, however, when Edward, +Prince of Wales, was to be the great star of this French and English war. + +It was in the month of July, in the year one thousand three hundred and +forty-six, when the King embarked at Southampton for France, with an army +of about thirty thousand men in all, attended by the Prince of Wales and +by several of the chief nobles. He landed at La Hogue in Normandy; and, +burning and destroying as he went, according to custom, advanced up the +left bank of the River Seine, and fired the small towns even close to +Paris; but, being watched from the right bank of the river by the French +King and all his army, it came to this at last, that Edward found +himself, on Saturday the twenty-sixth of August, one thousand three +hundred and forty-six, on a rising ground behind the little French +village of Crecy, face to face with the French King's force. And, +although the French King had an enormous army--in number more than eight +times his--he there resolved to beat him or be beaten. + +The young Prince, assisted by the Earl of Oxford and the Earl of Warwick, +led the first division of the English army; two other great Earls led the +second; and the King, the third. When the morning dawned, the King +received the sacrament, and heard prayers, and then, mounted on horseback +with a white wand in his hand, rode from company to company, and rank to +rank, cheering and encouraging both officers and men. Then the whole +army breakfasted, each man sitting on the ground where he had stood; and +then they remained quietly on the ground with their weapons ready. + +Up came the French King with all his great force. It was dark and angry +weather; there was an eclipse of the sun; there was a thunder-storm, +accompanied with tremendous rain; the frightened birds flew screaming +above the soldiers' heads. A certain captain in the French army advised +the French King, who was by no means cheerful, not to begin the battle +until the morrow. The King, taking this advice, gave the word to halt. +But, those behind not understanding it, or desiring to be foremost with +the rest, came pressing on. The roads for a great distance were covered +with this immense army, and with the common people from the villages, who +were flourishing their rude weapons, and making a great noise. Owing to +these circumstances, the French army advanced in the greatest confusion; +every French lord doing what he liked with his own men, and putting out +the men of every other French lord. + +Now, their King relied strongly upon a great body of cross-bowmen from +Genoa; and these he ordered to the front to begin the battle, on finding +that he could not stop it. They shouted once, they shouted twice, they +shouted three times, to alarm the English archers; but, the English would +have heard them shout three thousand times and would have never moved. At +last the cross-bowmen went forward a little, and began to discharge their +bolts; upon which, the English let fly such a hail of arrows, that the +Genoese speedily made off--for their cross-bows, besides being heavy to +carry, required to be wound up with a handle, and consequently took time +to re-load; the English, on the other hand, could discharge their arrows +almost as fast as the arrows could fly. + +When the French King saw the Genoese turning, he cried out to his men to +kill those scoundrels, who were doing harm instead of service. This +increased the confusion. Meanwhile the English archers, continuing to +shoot as fast as ever, shot down great numbers of the French soldiers and +knights; whom certain sly Cornish-men and Welshmen, from the English +army, creeping along the ground, despatched with great knives. + +The Prince and his division were at this time so hard-pressed, that the +Earl of Warwick sent a message to the King, who was overlooking the +battle from a windmill, beseeching him to send more aid. + +'Is my son killed?' said the King. + +'No, sire, please God,' returned the messenger. + +'Is he wounded?' said the King. + +'No, sire.' + +'Is he thrown to the ground?' said the King. + +'No, sire, not so; but, he is very hard-pressed.' + +'Then,' said the King, 'go back to those who sent you, and tell them I +shall send no aid; because I set my heart upon my son proving himself +this day a brave knight, and because I am resolved, please God, that the +honour of a great victory shall be his!' + +These bold words, being reported to the Prince and his division, so +raised their spirits, that they fought better than ever. The King of +France charged gallantly with his men many times; but it was of no use. +Night closing in, his horse was killed under him by an English arrow, and +the knights and nobles who had clustered thick about him early in the +day, were now completely scattered. At last, some of his few remaining +followers led him off the field by force since he would not retire of +himself, and they journeyed away to Amiens. The victorious English, +lighting their watch-fires, made merry on the field, and the King, riding +to meet his gallant son, took him in his arms, kissed him, and told him +that he had acted nobly, and proved himself worthy of the day and of the +crown. While it was yet night, King Edward was hardly aware of the great +victory he had gained; but, next day, it was discovered that eleven +princes, twelve hundred knights, and thirty thousand common men lay dead +upon the French side. Among these was the King of Bohemia, an old blind +man; who, having been told that his son was wounded in the battle, and +that no force could stand against the Black Prince, called to him two +knights, put himself on horse-back between them, fastened the three +bridles together, and dashed in among the English, where he was presently +slain. He bore as his crest three white ostrich feathers, with the motto +_Ich dien_, signifying in English 'I serve.' This crest and motto were +taken by the Prince of Wales in remembrance of that famous day, and have +been borne by the Prince of Wales ever since. + +Five days after this great battle, the King laid siege to Calais. This +siege--ever afterwards memorable--lasted nearly a year. In order to +starve the inhabitants out, King Edward built so many wooden houses for +the lodgings of his troops, that it is said their quarters looked like a +second Calais suddenly sprung around the first. Early in the siege, the +governor of the town drove out what he called the useless mouths, to the +number of seventeen hundred persons, men and women, young and old. King +Edward allowed them to pass through his lines, and even fed them, and +dismissed them with money; but, later in the siege, he was not so +merciful--five hundred more, who were afterwards driven out, dying of +starvation and misery. The garrison were so hard-pressed at last, that +they sent a letter to King Philip, telling him that they had eaten all +the horses, all the dogs, and all the rats and mice that could be found +in the place; and, that if he did not relieve them, they must either +surrender to the English, or eat one another. Philip made one effort to +give them relief; but they were so hemmed in by the English power, that +he could not succeed, and was fain to leave the place. Upon this they +hoisted the English flag, and surrendered to King Edward. 'Tell your +general,' said he to the humble messengers who came out of the town, +'that I require to have sent here, six of the most distinguished +citizens, bare-legged, and in their shirts, with ropes about their necks; +and let those six men bring with them the keys of the castle and the +town.' + +When the Governor of Calais related this to the people in the +Market-place, there was great weeping and distress; in the midst of +which, one worthy citizen, named Eustace de Saint Pierre, rose up and +said, that if the six men required were not sacrificed, the whole +population would be; therefore, he offered himself as the first. +Encouraged by this bright example, five other worthy citizens rose up one +after another, and offered themselves to save the rest. The Governor, +who was too badly wounded to be able to walk, mounted a poor old horse +that had not been eaten, and conducted these good men to the gate, while +all the people cried and mourned. + +Edward received them wrathfully, and ordered the heads of the whole six +to be struck off. However, the good Queen fell upon her knees, and +besought the King to give them up to her. The King replied, 'I wish you +had been somewhere else; but I cannot refuse you.' So she had them +properly dressed, made a feast for them, and sent them back with a +handsome present, to the great rejoicing of the whole camp. I hope the +people of Calais loved the daughter to whom she gave birth soon +afterwards, for her gentle mother's sake. + +Now came that terrible disease, the Plague, into Europe, hurrying from +the heart of China; and killed the wretched people--especially the +poor--in such enormous numbers, that one-half of the inhabitants of +England are related to have died of it. It killed the cattle, in great +numbers, too; and so few working men remained alive, that there were not +enough left to till the ground. + +After eight years of differing and quarrelling, the Prince of Wales again +invaded France with an army of sixty thousand men. He went through the +south of the country, burning and plundering wheresoever he went; while +his father, who had still the Scottish war upon his hands, did the like +in Scotland, but was harassed and worried in his retreat from that +country by the Scottish men, who repaid his cruelties with interest. + +The French King, Philip, was now dead, and was succeeded by his son John. +The Black Prince, called by that name from the colour of the armour he +wore to set off his fair complexion, continuing to burn and destroy in +France, roused John into determined opposition; and so cruel had the +Black Prince been in his campaign, and so severely had the French +peasants suffered, that he could not find one who, for love, or money, or +the fear of death, would tell him what the French King was doing, or +where he was. Thus it happened that he came upon the French King's +forces, all of a sudden, near the town of Poitiers, and found that the +whole neighbouring country was occupied by a vast French army. 'God help +us!' said the Black Prince, 'we must make the best of it.' + +So, on a Sunday morning, the eighteenth of September, the Prince whose +army was now reduced to ten thousand men in all--prepared to give battle +to the French King, who had sixty thousand horse alone. While he was so +engaged, there came riding from the French camp, a Cardinal, who had +persuaded John to let him offer terms, and try to save the shedding of +Christian blood. 'Save my honour,' said the Prince to this good priest, +'and save the honour of my army, and I will make any reasonable terms.' +He offered to give up all the towns, castles, and prisoners, he had +taken, and to swear to make no war in France for seven years; but, as +John would hear of nothing but his surrender, with a hundred of his chief +knights, the treaty was broken off, and the Prince said quietly--'God +defend the right; we shall fight to-morrow.' + +Therefore, on the Monday morning, at break of day, the two armies +prepared for battle. The English were posted in a strong place, which +could only be approached by one narrow lane, skirted by hedges on both +sides. The French attacked them by this lane; but were so galled and +slain by English arrows from behind the hedges, that they were forced to +retreat. Then went six hundred English bowmen round about, and, coming +upon the rear of the French army, rained arrows on them thick and fast. +The French knights, thrown into confusion, quitted their banners and +dispersed in all directions. Said Sir John Chandos to the Prince, 'Ride +forward, noble Prince, and the day is yours. The King of France is so +valiant a gentleman, that I know he will never fly, and may be taken +prisoner.' Said the Prince to this, 'Advance, English banners, in the +name of God and St. George!' and on they pressed until they came up with +the French King, fighting fiercely with his battle-axe, and, when all his +nobles had forsaken him, attended faithfully to the last by his youngest +son Philip, only sixteen years of age. Father and son fought well, and +the King had already two wounds in his face, and had been beaten down, +when he at last delivered himself to a banished French knight, and gave +him his right-hand glove in token that he had done so. + +The Black Prince was generous as well as brave, and he invited his royal +prisoner to supper in his tent, and waited upon him at table, and, when +they afterwards rode into London in a gorgeous procession, mounted the +French King on a fine cream-coloured horse, and rode at his side on a +little pony. This was all very kind, but I think it was, perhaps, a +little theatrical too, and has been made more meritorious than it +deserved to be; especially as I am inclined to think that the greatest +kindness to the King of France would have been not to have shown him to +the people at all. However, it must be said, for these acts of +politeness, that, in course of time, they did much to soften the horrors +of war and the passions of conquerors. It was a long, long time before +the common soldiers began to have the benefit of such courtly deeds; but +they did at last; and thus it is possible that a poor soldier who asked +for quarter at the battle of Waterloo, or any other such great fight, may +have owed his life indirectly to Edward the Black Prince. + +At this time there stood in the Strand, in London, a palace called the +Savoy, which was given up to the captive King of France and his son for +their residence. As the King of Scotland had now been King Edward's +captive for eleven years too, his success was, at this time, tolerably +complete. The Scottish business was settled by the prisoner being +released under the title of Sir David, King of Scotland, and by his +engaging to pay a large ransom. The state of France encouraged England +to propose harder terms to that country, where the people rose against +the unspeakable cruelty and barbarity of its nobles; where the nobles +rose in turn against the people; where the most frightful outrages were +committed on all sides; and where the insurrection of the peasants, +called the insurrection of the Jacquerie, from Jacques, a common +Christian name among the country people of France, awakened terrors and +hatreds that have scarcely yet passed away. A treaty called the Great +Peace, was at last signed, under which King Edward agreed to give up the +greater part of his conquests, and King John to pay, within six years, a +ransom of three million crowns of gold. He was so beset by his own +nobles and courtiers for having yielded to these conditions--though they +could help him to no better--that he came back of his own will to his old +palace-prison of the Savoy, and there died. + +There was a Sovereign of Castile at that time, called PEDRO THE CRUEL, +who deserved the name remarkably well: having committed, among other +cruelties, a variety of murders. This amiable monarch being driven from +his throne for his crimes, went to the province of Bordeaux, where the +Black Prince--now married to his cousin JOAN, a pretty widow--was +residing, and besought his help. The Prince, who took to him much more +kindly than a prince of such fame ought to have taken to such a ruffian, +readily listened to his fair promises, and agreeing to help him, sent +secret orders to some troublesome disbanded soldiers of his and his +father's, who called themselves the Free Companions, and who had been a +pest to the French people, for some time, to aid this Pedro. The Prince, +himself, going into Spain to head the army of relief, soon set Pedro on +his throne again--where he no sooner found himself, than, of course, he +behaved like the villain he was, broke his word without the least shame, +and abandoned all the promises he had made to the Black Prince. + +Now, it had cost the Prince a good deal of money to pay soldiers to +support this murderous King; and finding himself, when he came back +disgusted to Bordeaux, not only in bad health, but deeply in debt, he +began to tax his French subjects to pay his creditors. They appealed to +the French King, CHARLES; war again broke out; and the French town of +Limoges, which the Prince had greatly benefited, went over to the French +King. Upon this he ravaged the province of which it was the capital; +burnt, and plundered, and killed in the old sickening way; and refused +mercy to the prisoners, men, women, and children taken in the offending +town, though he was so ill and so much in need of pity himself from +Heaven, that he was carried in a litter. He lived to come home and make +himself popular with the people and Parliament, and he died on Trinity +Sunday, the eighth of June, one thousand three hundred and seventy-six, +at forty-six years old. + +The whole nation mourned for him as one of the most renowned and beloved +princes it had ever had; and he was buried with great lamentations in +Canterbury Cathedral. Near to the tomb of Edward the Confessor, his +monument, with his figure, carved in stone, and represented in the old +black armour, lying on its back, may be seen at this day, with an ancient +coat of mail, a helmet, and a pair of gauntlets hanging from a beam above +it, which most people like to believe were once worn by the Black Prince. + +King Edward did not outlive his renowned son, long. He was old, and one +Alice Perrers, a beautiful lady, had contrived to make him so fond of her +in his old age, that he could refuse her nothing, and made himself +ridiculous. She little deserved his love, or--what I dare say she valued +a great deal more--the jewels of the late Queen, which he gave her among +other rich presents. She took the very ring from his finger on the +morning of the day when he died, and left him to be pillaged by his +faithless servants. Only one good priest was true to him, and attended +him to the last. + +Besides being famous for the great victories I have related, the reign of +King Edward the Third was rendered memorable in better ways, by the +growth of architecture and the erection of Windsor Castle. In better +ways still, by the rising up of WICKLIFFE, originally a poor parish +priest: who devoted himself to exposing, with wonderful power and +success, the ambition and corruption of the Pope, and of the whole church +of which he was the head. + +Some of those Flemings were induced to come to England in this reign too, +and to settle in Norfolk, where they made better woollen cloths than the +English had ever had before. The Order of the Garter (a very fine thing +in its way, but hardly so important as good clothes for the nation) also +dates from this period. The King is said to have picked 'up a lady's +garter at a ball, and to have said, _Honi soit qui mal y pense_--in +English, 'Evil be to him who evil thinks of it.' The courtiers were +usually glad to imitate what the King said or did, and hence from a +slight incident the Order of the Garter was instituted, and became a +great dignity. So the story goes. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX--ENGLAND UNDER RICHARD THE SECOND + + +Richard, son of the Black Prince, a boy eleven years of age, succeeded to +the Crown under the title of King Richard the Second. The whole English +nation were ready to admire him for the sake of his brave father. As to +the lords and ladies about the Court, they declared him to be the most +beautiful, the wisest, and the best--even of princes--whom the lords and +ladies about the Court, generally declare to be the most beautiful, the +wisest, and the best of mankind. To flatter a poor boy in this base +manner was not a very likely way to develop whatever good was in him; and +it brought him to anything but a good or happy end. + +The Duke of Lancaster, the young King's uncle--commonly called John of +Gaunt, from having been born at Ghent, which the common people so +pronounced--was supposed to have some thoughts of the throne himself; +but, as he was not popular, and the memory of the Black Prince was, he +submitted to his nephew. + +The war with France being still unsettled, the Government of England +wanted money to provide for the expenses that might arise out of it; +accordingly a certain tax, called the Poll-tax, which had originated in +the last reign, was ordered to be levied on the people. This was a tax +on every person in the kingdom, male and female, above the age of +fourteen, of three groats (or three four-penny pieces) a year; clergymen +were charged more, and only beggars were exempt. + +I have no need to repeat that the common people of England had long been +suffering under great oppression. They were still the mere slaves of the +lords of the land on which they lived, and were on most occasions harshly +and unjustly treated. But, they had begun by this time to think very +seriously of not bearing quite so much; and, probably, were emboldened by +that French insurrection I mentioned in the last chapter. + +The people of Essex rose against the Poll-tax, and being severely handled +by the government officers, killed some of them. At this very time one +of the tax-collectors, going his rounds from house to house, at Dartford +in Kent came to the cottage of one WAT, a tiler by trade, and claimed the +tax upon his daughter. Her mother, who was at home, declared that she +was under the age of fourteen; upon that, the collector (as other +collectors had already done in different parts of England) behaved in a +savage way, and brutally insulted Wat Tyler's daughter. The daughter +screamed, the mother screamed. Wat the Tiler, who was at work not far +off, ran to the spot, and did what any honest father under such +provocation might have done--struck the collector dead at a blow. + +Instantly the people of that town uprose as one man. They made Wat Tyler +their leader; they joined with the people of Essex, who were in arms +under a priest called JACK STRAW; they took out of prison another priest +named JOHN BALL; and gathering in numbers as they went along, advanced, +in a great confused army of poor men, to Blackheath. It is said that +they wanted to abolish all property, and to declare all men equal. I do +not think this very likely; because they stopped the travellers on the +roads and made them swear to be true to King Richard and the people. Nor +were they at all disposed to injure those who had done them no harm, +merely because they were of high station; for, the King's mother, who had +to pass through their camp at Blackheath, on her way to her young son, +lying for safety in the Tower of London, had merely to kiss a few dirty- +faced rough-bearded men who were noisily fond of royalty, and so got away +in perfect safety. Next day the whole mass marched on to London Bridge. + +There was a drawbridge in the middle, which WILLIAM WALWORTH the Mayor +caused to be raised to prevent their coming into the city; but they soon +terrified the citizens into lowering it again, and spread themselves, +with great uproar, over the streets. They broke open the prisons; they +burned the papers in Lambeth Palace; they destroyed the DUKE OF +LANCASTER'S Palace, the Savoy, in the Strand, said to be the most +beautiful and splendid in England; they set fire to the books and +documents in the Temple; and made a great riot. Many of these outrages +were committed in drunkenness; since those citizens, who had well-filled +cellars, were only too glad to throw them open to save the rest of their +property; but even the drunken rioters were very careful to steal +nothing. They were so angry with one man, who was seen to take a silver +cup at the Savoy Palace, and put it in his breast, that they drowned him +in the river, cup and all. + +The young King had been taken out to treat with them before they +committed these excesses; but, he and the people about him were so +frightened by the riotous shouts, that they got back to the Tower in the +best way they could. This made the insurgents bolder; so they went on +rioting away, striking off the heads of those who did not, at a moment's +notice, declare for King Richard and the people; and killing as many of +the unpopular persons whom they supposed to be their enemies as they +could by any means lay hold of. In this manner they passed one very +violent day, and then proclamation was made that the King would meet them +at Mile-end, and grant their requests. + +The rioters went to Mile-end to the number of sixty thousand, and the +King met them there, and to the King the rioters peaceably proposed four +conditions. First, that neither they, nor their children, nor any coming +after them, should be made slaves any more. Secondly, that the rent of +land should be fixed at a certain price in money, instead of being paid +in service. Thirdly, that they should have liberty to buy and sell in +all markets and public places, like other free men. Fourthly, that they +should be pardoned for past offences. Heaven knows, there was nothing +very unreasonable in these proposals! The young King deceitfully +pretended to think so, and kept thirty clerks up, all night, writing out +a charter accordingly. + +Now, Wat Tyler himself wanted more than this. He wanted the entire +abolition of the forest laws. He was not at Mile-end with the rest, but, +while that meeting was being held, broke into the Tower of London and +slew the archbishop and the treasurer, for whose heads the people had +cried out loudly the day before. He and his men even thrust their swords +into the bed of the Princess of Wales while the Princess was in it, to +make certain that none of their enemies were concealed there. + +So, Wat and his men still continued armed, and rode about the city. Next +morning, the King with a small train of some sixty gentlemen--among whom +was WALWORTH the Mayor--rode into Smithfield, and saw Wat and his people +at a little distance. Says Wat to his men, 'There is the King. I will +go speak with him, and tell him what we want.' + +Straightway Wat rode up to him, and began to talk. 'King,' says Wat, +'dost thou see all my men there?' + +'Ah,' says the King. 'Why?' + +'Because,' says Wat, 'they are all at my command, and have sworn to do +whatever I bid them.' + +Some declared afterwards that as Wat said this, he laid his hand on the +King's bridle. Others declared that he was seen to play with his own +dagger. I think, myself, that he just spoke to the King like a rough, +angry man as he was, and did nothing more. At any rate he was expecting +no attack, and preparing for no resistance, when Walworth the Mayor did +the not very valiant deed of drawing a short sword and stabbing him in +the throat. He dropped from his horse, and one of the King's people +speedily finished him. So fell Wat Tyler. Fawners and flatterers made a +mighty triumph of it, and set up a cry which will occasionally find an +echo to this day. But Wat was a hard-working man, who had suffered much, +and had been foully outraged; and it is probable that he was a man of a +much higher nature and a much braver spirit than any of the parasites who +exulted then, or have exulted since, over his defeat. + +Seeing Wat down, his men immediately bent their bows to avenge his fall. +If the young King had not had presence of mind at that dangerous moment, +both he and the Mayor to boot, might have followed Tyler pretty fast. But +the King riding up to the crowd, cried out that Tyler was a traitor, and +that he would be their leader. They were so taken by surprise, that they +set up a great shouting, and followed the boy until he was met at +Islington by a large body of soldiers. + +The end of this rising was the then usual end. As soon as the King found +himself safe, he unsaid all he had said, and undid all he had done; some +fifteen hundred of the rioters were tried (mostly in Essex) with great +rigour, and executed with great cruelty. Many of them were hanged on +gibbets, and left there as a terror to the country people; and, because +their miserable friends took some of the bodies down to bury, the King +ordered the rest to be chained up--which was the beginning of the +barbarous custom of hanging in chains. The King's falsehood in this +business makes such a pitiful figure, that I think Wat Tyler appears in +history as beyond comparison the truer and more respectable man of the +two. + +Richard was now sixteen years of age, and married Anne of Bohemia, an +excellent princess, who was called 'the good Queen Anne.' She deserved a +better husband; for the King had been fawned and flattered into a +treacherous, wasteful, dissolute, bad young man. + +There were two Popes at this time (as if one were not enough!), and their +quarrels involved Europe in a great deal of trouble. Scotland was still +troublesome too; and at home there was much jealousy and distrust, and +plotting and counter-plotting, because the King feared the ambition of +his relations, and particularly of his uncle, the Duke of Lancaster, and +the duke had his party against the King, and the King had his party +against the duke. Nor were these home troubles lessened when the duke +went to Castile to urge his claim to the crown of that kingdom; for then +the Duke of Gloucester, another of Richard's uncles, opposed him, and +influenced the Parliament to demand the dismissal of the King's favourite +ministers. The King said in reply, that he would not for such men +dismiss the meanest servant in his kitchen. But, it had begun to signify +little what a King said when a Parliament was determined; so Richard was +at last obliged to give way, and to agree to another Government of the +kingdom, under a commission of fourteen nobles, for a year. His uncle of +Gloucester was at the head of this commission, and, in fact, appointed +everybody composing it. + +Having done all this, the King declared as soon as he saw an opportunity +that he had never meant to do it, and that it was all illegal; and he got +the judges secretly to sign a declaration to that effect. The secret +oozed out directly, and was carried to the Duke of Gloucester. The Duke +of Gloucester, at the head of forty thousand men, met the King on his +entering into London to enforce his authority; the King was helpless +against him; his favourites and ministers were impeached and were +mercilessly executed. Among them were two men whom the people regarded +with very different feelings; one, Robert Tresilian, Chief Justice, who +was hated for having made what was called 'the bloody circuit' to try the +rioters; the other, Sir Simon Burley, an honourable knight, who had been +the dear friend of the Black Prince, and the governor and guardian of the +King. For this gentleman's life the good Queen even begged of Gloucester +on her knees; but Gloucester (with or without reason) feared and hated +him, and replied, that if she valued her husband's crown, she had better +beg no more. All this was done under what was called by some the +wonderful--and by others, with better reason, the merciless--Parliament. + +But Gloucester's power was not to last for ever. He held it for only a +year longer; in which year the famous battle of Otterbourne, sung in the +old ballad of Chevy Chase, was fought. When the year was out, the King, +turning suddenly to Gloucester, in the midst of a great council said, +'Uncle, how old am I?' 'Your highness,' returned the Duke, 'is in your +twenty-second year.' 'Am I so much?' said the King; 'then I will manage +my own affairs! I am much obliged to you, my good lords, for your past +services, but I need them no more.' He followed this up, by appointing a +new Chancellor and a new Treasurer, and announced to the people that he +had resumed the Government. He held it for eight years without +opposition. Through all that time, he kept his determination to revenge +himself some day upon his uncle Gloucester, in his own breast. + +At last the good Queen died, and then the King, desiring to take a second +wife, proposed to his council that he should marry Isabella, of France, +the daughter of Charles the Sixth: who, the French courtiers said (as the +English courtiers had said of Richard), was a marvel of beauty and wit, +and quite a phenomenon--of seven years old. The council were divided +about this marriage, but it took place. It secured peace between England +and France for a quarter of a century; but it was strongly opposed to the +prejudices of the English people. The Duke of Gloucester, who was +anxious to take the occasion of making himself popular, declaimed against +it loudly, and this at length decided the King to execute the vengeance +he had been nursing so long. + +He went with a gay company to the Duke of Gloucester's house, Pleshey +Castle, in Essex, where the Duke, suspecting nothing, came out into the +court-yard to receive his royal visitor. While the King conversed in a +friendly manner with the Duchess, the Duke was quietly seized, hurried +away, shipped for Calais, and lodged in the castle there. His friends, +the Earls of Arundel and Warwick, were taken in the same treacherous +manner, and confined to their castles. A few days after, at Nottingham, +they were impeached of high treason. The Earl of Arundel was condemned +and beheaded, and the Earl of Warwick was banished. Then, a writ was +sent by a messenger to the Governor of Calais, requiring him to send the +Duke of Gloucester over to be tried. In three days he returned an answer +that he could not do that, because the Duke of Gloucester had died in +prison. The Duke was declared a traitor, his property was confiscated to +the King, a real or pretended confession he had made in prison to one of +the Justices of the Common Pleas was produced against him, and there was +an end of the matter. How the unfortunate duke died, very few cared to +know. Whether he really died naturally; whether he killed himself; +whether, by the King's order, he was strangled, or smothered between two +beds (as a serving-man of the Governor's named Hall, did afterwards +declare), cannot be discovered. There is not much doubt that he was +killed, somehow or other, by his nephew's orders. Among the most active +nobles in these proceedings were the King's cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, +whom the King had made Duke of Hereford to smooth down the old family +quarrels, and some others: who had in the family-plotting times done just +such acts themselves as they now condemned in the duke. They seem to +have been a corrupt set of men; but such men were easily found about the +court in such days. + +The people murmured at all this, and were still very sore about the +French marriage. The nobles saw how little the King cared for law, and +how crafty he was, and began to be somewhat afraid for themselves. The +King's life was a life of continued feasting and excess; his retinue, +down to the meanest servants, were dressed in the most costly manner, and +caroused at his tables, it is related, to the number of ten thousand +persons every day. He himself, surrounded by a body of ten thousand +archers, and enriched by a duty on wool which the Commons had granted him +for life, saw no danger of ever being otherwise than powerful and +absolute, and was as fierce and haughty as a King could be. + +He had two of his old enemies left, in the persons of the Dukes of +Hereford and Norfolk. Sparing these no more than the others, he tampered +with the Duke of Hereford until he got him to declare before the Council +that the Duke of Norfolk had lately held some treasonable talk with him, +as he was riding near Brentford; and that he had told him, among other +things, that he could not believe the King's oath--which nobody could, I +should think. For this treachery he obtained a pardon, and the Duke of +Norfolk was summoned to appear and defend himself. As he denied the +charge and said his accuser was a liar and a traitor, both noblemen, +according to the manner of those times, were held in custody, and the +truth was ordered to be decided by wager of battle at Coventry. This +wager of battle meant that whosoever won the combat was to be considered +in the right; which nonsense meant in effect, that no strong man could +ever be wrong. A great holiday was made; a great crowd assembled, with +much parade and show; and the two combatants were about to rush at each +other with their lances, when the King, sitting in a pavilion to see +fair, threw down the truncheon he carried in his hand, and forbade the +battle. The Duke of Hereford was to be banished for ten years, and the +Duke of Norfolk was to be banished for life. So said the King. The Duke +of Hereford went to France, and went no farther. The Duke of Norfolk +made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and afterwards died at Venice of a +broken heart. + +Faster and fiercer, after this, the King went on in his career. The Duke +of Lancaster, who was the father of the Duke of Hereford, died soon after +the departure of his son; and, the King, although he had solemnly granted +to that son leave to inherit his father's property, if it should come to +him during his banishment, immediately seized it all, like a robber. The +judges were so afraid of him, that they disgraced themselves by declaring +this theft to be just and lawful. His avarice knew no bounds. He +outlawed seventeen counties at once, on a frivolous pretence, merely to +raise money by way of fines for misconduct. In short, he did as many +dishonest things as he could; and cared so little for the discontent of +his subjects--though even the spaniel favourites began to whisper to him +that there was such a thing as discontent afloat--that he took that time, +of all others, for leaving England and making an expedition against the +Irish. + +He was scarcely gone, leaving the DUKE OF YORK Regent in his absence, +when his cousin, Henry of Hereford, came over from France to claim the +rights of which he had been so monstrously deprived. He was immediately +joined by the two great Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland; and his +uncle, the Regent, finding the King's cause unpopular, and the +disinclination of the army to act against Henry, very strong, withdrew +with the Royal forces towards Bristol. Henry, at the head of an army, +came from Yorkshire (where he had landed) to London and followed him. +They joined their forces--how they brought that about, is not distinctly +understood--and proceeded to Bristol Castle, whither three noblemen had +taken the young Queen. The castle surrendering, they presently put those +three noblemen to death. The Regent then remained there, and Henry went +on to Chester. + +All this time, the boisterous weather had prevented the King from +receiving intelligence of what had occurred. At length it was conveyed +to him in Ireland, and he sent over the EARL OF SALISBURY, who, landing +at Conway, rallied the Welshmen, and waited for the King a whole +fortnight; at the end of that time the Welshmen, who were perhaps not +very warm for him in the beginning, quite cooled down and went home. When +the King did land on the coast at last, he came with a pretty good power, +but his men cared nothing for him, and quickly deserted. Supposing the +Welshmen to be still at Conway, he disguised himself as a priest, and +made for that place in company with his two brothers and some few of +their adherents. But, there were no Welshmen left--only Salisbury and a +hundred soldiers. In this distress, the King's two brothers, Exeter and +Surrey, offered to go to Henry to learn what his intentions were. Surrey, +who was true to Richard, was put into prison. Exeter, who was false, +took the royal badge, which was a hart, off his shield, and assumed the +rose, the badge of Henry. After this, it was pretty plain to the King +what Henry's intentions were, without sending any more messengers to ask. + +The fallen King, thus deserted--hemmed in on all sides, and pressed with +hunger--rode here and rode there, and went to this castle, and went to +that castle, endeavouring to obtain some provisions, but could find none. +He rode wretchedly back to Conway, and there surrendered himself to the +Earl of Northumberland, who came from Henry, in reality to take him +prisoner, but in appearance to offer terms; and whose men were hidden not +far off. By this earl he was conducted to the castle of Flint, where his +cousin Henry met him, and dropped on his knee as if he were still +respectful to his sovereign. + +'Fair cousin of Lancaster,' said the King, 'you are very welcome' (very +welcome, no doubt; but he would have been more so, in chains or without a +head). + +'My lord,' replied Henry, 'I am come a little before my time; but, with +your good pleasure, I will show you the reason. Your people complain +with some bitterness, that you have ruled them rigorously for two-and- +twenty years. Now, if it please God, I will help you to govern them +better in future.' + +'Fair cousin,' replied the abject King, 'since it pleaseth you, it +pleaseth me mightily.' + +After this, the trumpets sounded, and the King was stuck on a wretched +horse, and carried prisoner to Chester, where he was made to issue a +proclamation, calling a Parliament. From Chester he was taken on towards +London. At Lichfield he tried to escape by getting out of a window and +letting himself down into a garden; it was all in vain, however, and he +was carried on and shut up in the Tower, where no one pitied him, and +where the whole people, whose patience he had quite tired out, reproached +him without mercy. Before he got there, it is related, that his very dog +left him and departed from his side to lick the hand of Henry. + +The day before the Parliament met, a deputation went to this wrecked +King, and told him that he had promised the Earl of Northumberland at +Conway Castle to resign the crown. He said he was quite ready to do it, +and signed a paper in which he renounced his authority and absolved his +people from their allegiance to him. He had so little spirit left that +he gave his royal ring to his triumphant cousin Henry with his own hand, +and said, that if he could have had leave to appoint a successor, that +same Henry was the man of all others whom he would have named. Next day, +the Parliament assembled in Westminster Hall, where Henry sat at the side +of the throne, which was empty and covered with a cloth of gold. The +paper just signed by the King was read to the multitude amid shouts of +joy, which were echoed through all the streets; when some of the noise +had died away, the King was formally deposed. Then Henry arose, and, +making the sign of the cross on his forehead and breast, challenged the +realm of England as his right; the archbishops of Canterbury and York +seated him on the throne. + +The multitude shouted again, and the shouts re-echoed throughout all the +streets. No one remembered, now, that Richard the Second had ever been +the most beautiful, the wisest, and the best of princes; and he now made +living (to my thinking) a far more sorry spectacle in the Tower of +London, than Wat Tyler had made, lying dead, among the hoofs of the royal +horses in Smithfield. + +The Poll-tax died with Wat. The Smiths to the King and Royal Family, +could make no chains in which the King could hang the people's +recollection of him; so the Poll-tax was never collected. + + + + +CHAPTER XX--ENGLAND UNDER HENRY THE FOURTH, CALLED BOLINGBROKE + + +During the last reign, the preaching of Wickliffe against the pride and +cunning of the Pope and all his men, had made a great noise in England. +Whether the new King wished to be in favour with the priests, or whether +he hoped, by pretending to be very religious, to cheat Heaven itself into +the belief that he was not a usurper, I don't know. Both suppositions +are likely enough. It is certain that he began his reign by making a +strong show against the followers of Wickliffe, who were called Lollards, +or heretics--although his father, John of Gaunt, had been of that way of +thinking, as he himself had been more than suspected of being. It is no +less certain that he first established in England the detestable and +atrocious custom, brought from abroad, of burning those people as a +punishment for their opinions. It was the importation into England of +one of the practices of what was called the Holy Inquisition: which was +the most _un_holy and the most infamous tribunal that ever disgraced +mankind, and made men more like demons than followers of Our Saviour. + +No real right to the crown, as you know, was in this King. Edward +Mortimer, the young Earl of March--who was only eight or nine years old, +and who was descended from the Duke of Clarence, the elder brother of +Henry's father--was, by succession, the real heir to the throne. However, +the King got his son declared Prince of Wales; and, obtaining possession +of the young Earl of March and his little brother, kept them in +confinement (but not severely) in Windsor Castle. He then required the +Parliament to decide what was to be done with the deposed King, who was +quiet enough, and who only said that he hoped his cousin Henry would be +'a good lord' to him. The Parliament replied that they would recommend +his being kept in some secret place where the people could not resort, +and where his friends could not be admitted to see him. Henry +accordingly passed this sentence upon him, and it now began to be pretty +clear to the nation that Richard the Second would not live very long. + +It was a noisy Parliament, as it was an unprincipled one, and the Lords +quarrelled so violently among themselves as to which of them had been +loyal and which disloyal, and which consistent and which inconsistent, +that forty gauntlets are said to have been thrown upon the floor at one +time as challenges to as many battles: the truth being that they were all +false and base together, and had been, at one time with the old King, and +at another time with the new one, and seldom true for any length of time +to any one. They soon began to plot again. A conspiracy was formed to +invite the King to a tournament at Oxford, and then to take him by +surprise and kill him. This murderous enterprise, which was agreed upon +at secret meetings in the house of the Abbot of Westminster, was betrayed +by the Earl of Rutland--one of the conspirators. The King, instead of +going to the tournament or staying at Windsor (where the conspirators +suddenly went, on finding themselves discovered, with the hope of seizing +him), retired to London, proclaimed them all traitors, and advanced upon +them with a great force. They retired into the west of England, +proclaiming Richard King; but, the people rose against them, and they +were all slain. Their treason hastened the death of the deposed monarch. +Whether he was killed by hired assassins, or whether he was starved to +death, or whether he refused food on hearing of his brothers being killed +(who were in that plot), is very doubtful. He met his death somehow; and +his body was publicly shown at St. Paul's Cathedral with only the lower +part of the face uncovered. I can scarcely doubt that he was killed by +the King's orders. + +The French wife of the miserable Richard was now only ten years old; and, +when her father, Charles of France, heard of her misfortunes and of her +lonely condition in England, he went mad: as he had several times done +before, during the last five or six years. The French Dukes of Burgundy +and Bourbon took up the poor girl's cause, without caring much about it, +but on the chance of getting something out of England. The people of +Bordeaux, who had a sort of superstitious attachment to the memory of +Richard, because he was born there, swore by the Lord that he had been +the best man in all his kingdom--which was going rather far--and promised +to do great things against the English. Nevertheless, when they came to +consider that they, and the whole people of France, were ruined by their +own nobles, and that the English rule was much the better of the two, +they cooled down again; and the two dukes, although they were very great +men, could do nothing without them. Then, began negotiations between +France and England for the sending home to Paris of the poor little Queen +with all her jewels and her fortune of two hundred thousand francs in +gold. The King was quite willing to restore the young lady, and even the +jewels; but he said he really could not part with the money. So, at last +she was safely deposited at Paris without her fortune, and then the Duke +of Burgundy (who was cousin to the French King) began to quarrel with the +Duke of Orleans (who was brother to the French King) about the whole +matter; and those two dukes made France even more wretched than ever. + +As the idea of conquering Scotland was still popular at home, the King +marched to the river Tyne and demanded homage of the King of that +country. This being refused, he advanced to Edinburgh, but did little +there; for, his army being in want of provisions, and the Scotch being +very careful to hold him in check without giving battle, he was obliged +to retire. It is to his immortal honour that in this sally he burnt no +villages and slaughtered no people, but was particularly careful that his +army should be merciful and harmless. It was a great example in those +ruthless times. + +A war among the border people of England and Scotland went on for twelve +months, and then the Earl of Northumberland, the nobleman who had helped +Henry to the crown, began to rebel against him--probably because nothing +that Henry could do for him would satisfy his extravagant expectations. +There was a certain Welsh gentleman, named OWEN GLENDOWER, who had been a +student in one of the Inns of Court, and had afterwards been in the +service of the late King, whose Welsh property was taken from him by a +powerful lord related to the present King, who was his neighbour. +Appealing for redress, and getting none, he took up arms, was made an +outlaw, and declared himself sovereign of Wales. He pretended to be a +magician; and not only were the Welsh people stupid enough to believe +him, but, even Henry believed him too; for, making three expeditions into +Wales, and being three times driven back by the wildness of the country, +the bad weather, and the skill of Glendower, he thought he was defeated +by the Welshman's magic arts. However, he took Lord Grey and Sir Edmund +Mortimer, prisoners, and allowed the relatives of Lord Grey to ransom +him, but would not extend such favour to Sir Edmund Mortimer. Now, Henry +Percy, called HOTSPUR, son of the Earl of Northumberland, who was married +to Mortimer's sister, is supposed to have taken offence at this; and, +therefore, in conjunction with his father and some others, to have joined +Owen Glendower, and risen against Henry. It is by no means clear that +this was the real cause of the conspiracy; but perhaps it was made the +pretext. It was formed, and was very powerful; including SCROOP, +Archbishop of York, and the EARL OF DOUGLAS, a powerful and brave +Scottish nobleman. The King was prompt and active, and the two armies +met at Shrewsbury. + +There were about fourteen thousand men in each. The old Earl of +Northumberland being sick, the rebel forces were led by his son. The +King wore plain armour to deceive the enemy; and four noblemen, with the +same object, wore the royal arms. The rebel charge was so furious, that +every one of those gentlemen was killed, the royal standard was beaten +down, and the young Prince of Wales was severely wounded in the face. But +he was one of the bravest and best soldiers that ever lived, and he +fought so well, and the King's troops were so encouraged by his bold +example, that they rallied immediately, and cut the enemy's forces all to +pieces. Hotspur was killed by an arrow in the brain, and the rout was so +complete that the whole rebellion was struck down by this one blow. The +Earl of Northumberland surrendered himself soon after hearing of the +death of his son, and received a pardon for all his offences. + +There were some lingerings of rebellion yet: Owen Glendower being retired +to Wales, and a preposterous story being spread among the ignorant people +that King Richard was still alive. How they could have believed such +nonsense it is difficult to imagine; but they certainly did suppose that +the Court fool of the late King, who was something like him, was he, +himself; so that it seemed as if, after giving so much trouble to the +country in his life, he was still to trouble it after his death. This +was not the worst. The young Earl of March and his brother were stolen +out of Windsor Castle. Being retaken, and being found to have been +spirited away by one Lady Spencer, she accused her own brother, that Earl +of Rutland who was in the former conspiracy and was now Duke of York, of +being in the plot. For this he was ruined in fortune, though not put to +death; and then another plot arose among the old Earl of Northumberland, +some other lords, and that same Scroop, Archbishop of York, who was with +the rebels before. These conspirators caused a writing to be posted on +the church doors, accusing the King of a variety of crimes; but, the King +being eager and vigilant to oppose them, they were all taken, and the +Archbishop was executed. This was the first time that a great churchman +had been slain by the law in England; but the King was resolved that it +should be done, and done it was. + +The next most remarkable event of this time was the seizure, by Henry, of +the heir to the Scottish throne--James, a boy of nine years old. He had +been put aboard-ship by his father, the Scottish King Robert, to save him +from the designs of his uncle, when, on his way to France, he was +accidentally taken by some English cruisers. He remained a prisoner in +England for nineteen years, and became in his prison a student and a +famous poet. + +With the exception of occasional troubles with the Welsh and with the +French, the rest of King Henry's reign was quiet enough. But, the King +was far from happy, and probably was troubled in his conscience by +knowing that he had usurped the crown, and had occasioned the death of +his miserable cousin. The Prince of Wales, though brave and generous, is +said to have been wild and dissipated, and even to have drawn his sword +on GASCOIGNE, the Chief Justice of the King's Bench, because he was firm +in dealing impartially with one of his dissolute companions. Upon this +the Chief Justice is said to have ordered him immediately to prison; the +Prince of Wales is said to have submitted with a good grace; and the King +is said to have exclaimed, 'Happy is the monarch who has so just a judge, +and a son so willing to obey the laws.' This is all very doubtful, and +so is another story (of which Shakespeare has made beautiful use), that +the Prince once took the crown out of his father's chamber as he was +sleeping, and tried it on his own head. + +The King's health sank more and more, and he became subject to violent +eruptions on the face and to bad epileptic fits, and his spirits sank +every day. At last, as he was praying before the shrine of St. Edward at +Westminster Abbey, he was seized with a terrible fit, and was carried +into the Abbot's chamber, where he presently died. It had been foretold +that he would die at Jerusalem, which certainly is not, and never was, +Westminster. But, as the Abbot's room had long been called the Jerusalem +chamber, people said it was all the same thing, and were quite satisfied +with the prediction. + +The King died on the 20th of March, 1413, in the forty-seventh year of +his age, and the fourteenth of his reign. He was buried in Canterbury +Cathedral. He had been twice married, and had, by his first wife, a +family of four sons and two daughters. Considering his duplicity before +he came to the throne, his unjust seizure of it, and above all, his +making that monstrous law for the burning of what the priests called +heretics, he was a reasonably good king, as kings went. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI--ENGLAND UNDER HENRY THE FIFTH + + +FIRST PART + + +The Prince of Wales began his reign like a generous and honest man. He +set the young Earl of March free; he restored their estates and their +honours to the Percy family, who had lost them by their rebellion against +his father; he ordered the imbecile and unfortunate Richard to be +honourably buried among the Kings of England; and he dismissed all his +wild companions, with assurances that they should not want, if they would +resolve to be steady, faithful, and true. + +It is much easier to burn men than to burn their opinions; and those of +the Lollards were spreading every day. The Lollards were represented by +the priests--probably falsely for the most part--to entertain treasonable +designs against the new King; and Henry, suffering himself to be worked +upon by these representations, sacrificed his friend Sir John Oldcastle, +the Lord Cobham, to them, after trying in vain to convert him by +arguments. He was declared guilty, as the head of the sect, and +sentenced to the flames; but he escaped from the Tower before the day of +execution (postponed for fifty days by the King himself), and summoned +the Lollards to meet him near London on a certain day. So the priests +told the King, at least. I doubt whether there was any conspiracy beyond +such as was got up by their agents. On the day appointed, instead of +five-and-twenty thousand men, under the command of Sir John Oldcastle, in +the meadows of St. Giles, the King found only eighty men, and no Sir John +at all. There was, in another place, an addle-headed brewer, who had +gold trappings to his horses, and a pair of gilt spurs in his +breast--expecting to be made a knight next day by Sir John, and so to +gain the right to wear them--but there was no Sir John, nor did anybody +give information respecting him, though the King offered great rewards +for such intelligence. Thirty of these unfortunate Lollards were hanged +and drawn immediately, and were then burnt, gallows and all; and the +various prisons in and around London were crammed full of others. Some +of these unfortunate men made various confessions of treasonable designs; +but, such confessions were easily got, under torture and the fear of +fire, and are very little to be trusted. To finish the sad story of Sir +John Oldcastle at once, I may mention that he escaped into Wales, and +remained there safely, for four years. When discovered by Lord Powis, it +is very doubtful if he would have been taken alive--so great was the old +soldier's bravery--if a miserable old woman had not come behind him and +broken his legs with a stool. He was carried to London in a +horse-litter, was fastened by an iron chain to a gibbet, and so roasted +to death. + +To make the state of France as plain as I can in a few words, I should +tell you that the Duke of Orleans, and the Duke of Burgundy, commonly +called 'John without fear,' had had a grand reconciliation of their +quarrel in the last reign, and had appeared to be quite in a heavenly +state of mind. Immediately after which, on a Sunday, in the public +streets of Paris, the Duke of Orleans was murdered by a party of twenty +men, set on by the Duke of Burgundy--according to his own deliberate +confession. The widow of King Richard had been married in France to the +eldest son of the Duke of Orleans. The poor mad King was quite powerless +to help her, and the Duke of Burgundy became the real master of France. +Isabella dying, her husband (Duke of Orleans since the death of his +father) married the daughter of the Count of Armagnac, who, being a much +abler man than his young son-in-law, headed his party; thence called +after him Armagnacs. Thus, France was now in this terrible condition, +that it had in it the party of the King's son, the Dauphin Louis; the +party of the Duke of Burgundy, who was the father of the Dauphin's ill- +used wife; and the party of the Armagnacs; all hating each other; all +fighting together; all composed of the most depraved nobles that the +earth has ever known; and all tearing unhappy France to pieces. + +The late King had watched these dissensions from England, sensible (like +the French people) that no enemy of France could injure her more than her +own nobility. The present King now advanced a claim to the French +throne. His demand being, of course, refused, he reduced his proposal to +a certain large amount of French territory, and to demanding the French +princess, Catherine, in marriage, with a fortune of two millions of +golden crowns. He was offered less territory and fewer crowns, and no +princess; but he called his ambassadors home and prepared for war. Then, +he proposed to take the princess with one million of crowns. The French +Court replied that he should have the princess with two hundred thousand +crowns less; he said this would not do (he had never seen the princess in +his life), and assembled his army at Southampton. There was a short plot +at home just at that time, for deposing him, and making the Earl of March +king; but the conspirators were all speedily condemned and executed, and +the King embarked for France. + +It is dreadful to observe how long a bad example will be followed; but, +it is encouraging to know that a good example is never thrown away. The +King's first act on disembarking at the mouth of the river Seine, three +miles from Harfleur, was to imitate his father, and to proclaim his +solemn orders that the lives and property of the peaceable inhabitants +should be respected on pain of death. It is agreed by French writers, to +his lasting renown, that even while his soldiers were suffering the +greatest distress from want of food, these commands were rigidly obeyed. + +With an army in all of thirty thousand men, he besieged the town of +Harfleur both by sea and land for five weeks; at the end of which time +the town surrendered, and the inhabitants were allowed to depart with +only fivepence each, and a part of their clothes. All the rest of their +possessions was divided amongst the English army. But, that army +suffered so much, in spite of its successes, from disease and privation, +that it was already reduced one half. Still, the King was determined not +to retire until he had struck a greater blow. Therefore, against the +advice of all his counsellors, he moved on with his little force towards +Calais. When he came up to the river Somme he was unable to cross, in +consequence of the fort being fortified; and, as the English moved up the +left bank of the river looking for a crossing, the French, who had broken +all the bridges, moved up the right bank, watching them, and waiting to +attack them when they should try to pass it. At last the English found a +crossing and got safely over. The French held a council of war at Rouen, +resolved to give the English battle, and sent heralds to King Henry to +know by which road he was going. 'By the road that will take me straight +to Calais!' said the King, and sent them away with a present of a hundred +crowns. + +The English moved on, until they beheld the French, and then the King +gave orders to form in line of battle. The French not coming on, the +army broke up after remaining in battle array till night, and got good +rest and refreshment at a neighbouring village. The French were now all +lying in another village, through which they knew the English must pass. +They were resolved that the English should begin the battle. The English +had no means of retreat, if their King had any such intention; and so the +two armies passed the night, close together. + +To understand these armies well, you must bear in mind that the immense +French army had, among its notable persons, almost the whole of that +wicked nobility, whose debauchery had made France a desert; and so +besotted were they by pride, and by contempt for the common people, that +they had scarcely any bowmen (if indeed they had any at all) in their +whole enormous number: which, compared with the English army, was at +least as six to one. For these proud fools had said that the bow was not +a fit weapon for knightly hands, and that France must be defended by +gentlemen only. We shall see, presently, what hand the gentlemen made of +it. + +Now, on the English side, among the little force, there was a good +proportion of men who were not gentlemen by any means, but who were good +stout archers for all that. Among them, in the morning--having slept +little at night, while the French were carousing and making sure of +victory--the King rode, on a grey horse; wearing on his head a helmet of +shining steel, surmounted by a crown of gold, sparkling with precious +stones; and bearing over his armour, embroidered together, the arms of +England and the arms of France. The archers looked at the shining helmet +and the crown of gold and the sparkling jewels, and admired them all; +but, what they admired most was the King's cheerful face, and his bright +blue eye, as he told them that, for himself, he had made up his mind to +conquer there or to die there, and that England should never have a +ransom to pay for _him_. There was one brave knight who chanced to say +that he wished some of the many gallant gentlemen and good soldiers, who +were then idle at home in England, were there to increase their numbers. +But the King told him that, for his part, he did not wish for one more +man. 'The fewer we have,' said he, 'the greater will be the honour we +shall win!' His men, being now all in good heart, were refreshed with +bread and wine, and heard prayers, and waited quietly for the French. The +King waited for the French, because they were drawn up thirty deep (the +little English force was only three deep), on very difficult and heavy +ground; and he knew that when they moved, there must be confusion among +them. + +As they did not move, he sent off two parties:--one to lie concealed in a +wood on the left of the French: the other, to set fire to some houses +behind the French after the battle should be begun. This was scarcely +done, when three of the proud French gentlemen, who were to defend their +country without any help from the base peasants, came riding out, calling +upon the English to surrender. The King warned those gentlemen himself +to retire with all speed if they cared for their lives, and ordered the +English banners to advance. Upon that, Sir Thomas Erpingham, a great +English general, who commanded the archers, threw his truncheon into the +air, joyfully, and all the English men, kneeling down upon the ground and +biting it as if they took possession of the country, rose up with a great +shout and fell upon the French. + +Every archer was furnished with a great stake tipped with iron; and his +orders were, to thrust this stake into the ground, to discharge his +arrow, and then to fall back, when the French horsemen came on. As the +haughty French gentlemen, who were to break the English archers and +utterly destroy them with their knightly lances, came riding up, they +were received with such a blinding storm of arrows, that they broke and +turned. Horses and men rolled over one another, and the confusion was +terrific. Those who rallied and charged the archers got among the stakes +on slippery and boggy ground, and were so bewildered that the English +archers--who wore no armour, and even took off their leathern coats to be +more active--cut them to pieces, root and branch. Only three French +horsemen got within the stakes, and those were instantly despatched. All +this time the dense French army, being in armour, were sinking knee-deep +into the mire; while the light English archers, half-naked, were as fresh +and active as if they were fighting on a marble floor. + +But now, the second division of the French coming to the relief of the +first, closed up in a firm mass; the English, headed by the King, +attacked them; and the deadliest part of the battle began. The King's +brother, the Duke of Clarence, was struck down, and numbers of the French +surrounded him; but, King Henry, standing over the body, fought like a +lion until they were beaten off. + +Presently, came up a band of eighteen French knights, bearing the banner +of a certain French lord, who had sworn to kill or take the English King. +One of them struck him such a blow with a battle-axe that he reeled and +fell upon his knees; but, his faithful men, immediately closing round +him, killed every one of those eighteen knights, and so that French lord +never kept his oath. + +The French Duke of Alencon, seeing this, made a desperate charge, and cut +his way close up to the Royal Standard of England. He beat down the Duke +of York, who was standing near it; and, when the King came to his rescue, +struck off a piece of the crown he wore. But, he never struck another +blow in this world; for, even as he was in the act of saying who he was, +and that he surrendered to the King; and even as the King stretched out +his hand to give him a safe and honourable acceptance of the offer; he +fell dead, pierced by innumerable wounds. + +The death of this nobleman decided the battle. The third division of the +French army, which had never struck a blow yet, and which was, in itself, +more than double the whole English power, broke and fled. At this time +of the fight, the English, who as yet had made no prisoners, began to +take them in immense numbers, and were still occupied in doing so, or in +killing those who would not surrender, when a great noise arose in the +rear of the French--their flying banners were seen to stop--and King +Henry, supposing a great reinforcement to have arrived, gave orders that +all the prisoners should be put to death. As soon, however, as it was +found that the noise was only occasioned by a body of plundering +peasants, the terrible massacre was stopped. + +Then King Henry called to him the French herald, and asked him to whom +the victory belonged. + +The herald replied, 'To the King of England.' + +'_We_ have not made this havoc and slaughter,' said the King. 'It is the +wrath of Heaven on the sins of France. What is the name of that castle +yonder?' + +The herald answered him, 'My lord, it is the castle of Azincourt.' Said +the King, 'From henceforth this battle shall be known to posterity, by +the name of the battle of Azincourt.' + +Our English historians have made it Agincourt; but, under that name, it +will ever be famous in English annals. + +The loss upon the French side was enormous. Three Dukes were killed, two +more were taken prisoners, seven Counts were killed, three more were +taken prisoners, and ten thousand knights and gentlemen were slain upon +the field. The English loss amounted to sixteen hundred men, among whom +were the Duke of York and the Earl of Suffolk. + +War is a dreadful thing; and it is appalling to know how the English were +obliged, next morning, to kill those prisoners mortally wounded, who yet +writhed in agony upon the ground; how the dead upon the French side were +stripped by their own countrymen and countrywomen, and afterwards buried +in great pits; how the dead upon the English side were piled up in a +great barn, and how their bodies and the barn were all burned together. +It is in such things, and in many more much too horrible to relate, that +the real desolation and wickedness of war consist. Nothing can make war +otherwise than horrible. But the dark side of it was little thought of +and soon forgotten; and it cast no shade of trouble on the English +people, except on those who had lost friends or relations in the fight. +They welcomed their King home with shouts of rejoicing, and plunged into +the water to bear him ashore on their shoulders, and flocked out in +crowds to welcome him in every town through which he passed, and hung +rich carpets and tapestries out of the windows, and strewed the streets +with flowers, and made the fountains run with wine, as the great field of +Agincourt had run with blood. + + + +SECOND PART + + +That proud and wicked French nobility who dragged their country to +destruction, and who were every day and every year regarded with deeper +hatred and detestation in the hearts of the French people, learnt +nothing, even from the defeat of Agincourt. So far from uniting against +the common enemy, they became, among themselves, more violent, more +bloody, and more false--if that were possible--than they had been before. +The Count of Armagnac persuaded the French king to plunder of her +treasures Queen Isabella of Bavaria, and to make her a prisoner. She, +who had hitherto been the bitter enemy of the Duke of Burgundy, proposed +to join him, in revenge. He carried her off to Troyes, where she +proclaimed herself Regent of France, and made him her lieutenant. The +Armagnac party were at that time possessed of Paris; but, one of the +gates of the city being secretly opened on a certain night to a party of +the duke's men, they got into Paris, threw into the prisons all the +Armagnacs upon whom they could lay their hands, and, a few nights +afterwards, with the aid of a furious mob of sixty thousand people, broke +the prisons open, and killed them all. The former Dauphin was now dead, +and the King's third son bore the title. Him, in the height of this +murderous scene, a French knight hurried out of bed, wrapped in a sheet, +and bore away to Poitiers. So, when the revengeful Isabella and the Duke +of Burgundy entered Paris in triumph after the slaughter of their +enemies, the Dauphin was proclaimed at Poitiers as the real Regent. + +King Henry had not been idle since his victory of Agincourt, but had +repulsed a brave attempt of the French to recover Harfleur; had gradually +conquered a great part of Normandy; and, at this crisis of affairs, took +the important town of Rouen, after a siege of half a year. This great +loss so alarmed the French, that the Duke of Burgundy proposed that a +meeting to treat of peace should be held between the French and the +English kings in a plain by the river Seine. On the appointed day, King +Henry appeared there, with his two brothers, Clarence and Gloucester, and +a thousand men. The unfortunate French King, being more mad than usual +that day, could not come; but the Queen came, and with her the Princess +Catherine: who was a very lovely creature, and who made a real impression +on King Henry, now that he saw her for the first time. This was the most +important circumstance that arose out of the meeting. + +As if it were impossible for a French nobleman of that time to be true to +his word of honour in anything, Henry discovered that the Duke of +Burgundy was, at that very moment, in secret treaty with the Dauphin; and +he therefore abandoned the negotiation. + +The Duke of Burgundy and the Dauphin, each of whom with the best reason +distrusted the other as a noble ruffian surrounded by a party of noble +ruffians, were rather at a loss how to proceed after this; but, at length +they agreed to meet, on a bridge over the river Yonne, where it was +arranged that there should be two strong gates put up, with an empty +space between them; and that the Duke of Burgundy should come into that +space by one gate, with ten men only; and that the Dauphin should come +into that space by the other gate, also with ten men, and no more. + +So far the Dauphin kept his word, but no farther. When the Duke of +Burgundy was on his knee before him in the act of speaking, one of the +Dauphin's noble ruffians cut the said duke down with a small axe, and +others speedily finished him. + +It was in vain for the Dauphin to pretend that this base murder was not +done with his consent; it was too bad, even for France, and caused a +general horror. The duke's heir hastened to make a treaty with King +Henry, and the French Queen engaged that her husband should consent to +it, whatever it was. Henry made peace, on condition of receiving the +Princess Catherine in marriage, and being made Regent of France during +the rest of the King's lifetime, and succeeding to the French crown at +his death. He was soon married to the beautiful Princess, and took her +proudly home to England, where she was crowned with great honour and +glory. + +This peace was called the Perpetual Peace; we shall soon see how long it +lasted. It gave great satisfaction to the French people, although they +were so poor and miserable, that, at the time of the celebration of the +Royal marriage, numbers of them were dying with starvation, on the +dunghills in the streets of Paris. There was some resistance on the part +of the Dauphin in some few parts of France, but King Henry beat it all +down. + +And now, with his great possessions in France secured, and his beautiful +wife to cheer him, and a son born to give him greater happiness, all +appeared bright before him. But, in the fulness of his triumph and the +height of his power, Death came upon him, and his day was done. When he +fell ill at Vincennes, and found that he could not recover, he was very +calm and quiet, and spoke serenely to those who wept around his bed. His +wife and child, he said, he left to the loving care of his brother the +Duke of Bedford, and his other faithful nobles. He gave them his advice +that England should establish a friendship with the new Duke of Burgundy, +and offer him the regency of France; that it should not set free the +royal princes who had been taken at Agincourt; and that, whatever quarrel +might arise with France, England should never make peace without holding +Normandy. Then, he laid down his head, and asked the attendant priests +to chant the penitential psalms. Amid which solemn sounds, on the thirty- +first of August, one thousand four hundred and twenty-two, in only the +thirty-fourth year of his age and the tenth of his reign, King Henry the +Fifth passed away. + +Slowly and mournfully they carried his embalmed body in a procession of +great state to Paris, and thence to Rouen where his Queen was: from whom +the sad intelligence of his death was concealed until he had been dead +some days. Thence, lying on a bed of crimson and gold, with a golden +crown upon the head, and a golden ball and sceptre lying in the nerveless +hands, they carried it to Calais, with such a great retinue as seemed to +dye the road black. The King of Scotland acted as chief mourner, all the +Royal Household followed, the knights wore black armour and black plumes +of feathers, crowds of men bore torches, making the night as light as +day; and the widowed Princess followed last of all. At Calais there was +a fleet of ships to bring the funeral host to Dover. And so, by way of +London Bridge, where the service for the dead was chanted as it passed +along, they brought the body to Westminster Abbey, and there buried it +with great respect. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII--ENGLAND UNDER HENRY THE SIXTH + + +PART THE FIRST + + +It had been the wish of the late King, that while his infant son KING +HENRY THE SIXTH, at this time only nine months old, was under age, the +Duke of Gloucester should be appointed Regent. The English Parliament, +however, preferred to appoint a Council of Regency, with the Duke of +Bedford at its head: to be represented, in his absence only, by the Duke +of Gloucester. The Parliament would seem to have been wise in this, for +Gloucester soon showed himself to be ambitious and troublesome, and, in +the gratification of his own personal schemes, gave dangerous offence to +the Duke of Burgundy, which was with difficulty adjusted. + +As that duke declined the Regency of France, it was bestowed by the poor +French King upon the Duke of Bedford. But, the French King dying within +two months, the Dauphin instantly asserted his claim to the French +throne, and was actually crowned under the title of CHARLES THE SEVENTH. +The Duke of Bedford, to be a match for him, entered into a friendly +league with the Dukes of Burgundy and Brittany, and gave them his two +sisters in marriage. War with France was immediately renewed, and the +Perpetual Peace came to an untimely end. + +In the first campaign, the English, aided by this alliance, were speedily +successful. As Scotland, however, had sent the French five thousand men, +and might send more, or attack the North of England while England was +busy with France, it was considered that it would be a good thing to +offer the Scottish King, James, who had been so long imprisoned, his +liberty, on his paying forty thousand pounds for his board and lodging +during nineteen years, and engaging to forbid his subjects from serving +under the flag of France. It is pleasant to know, not only that the +amiable captive at last regained his freedom upon these terms, but, that +he married a noble English lady, with whom he had been long in love, and +became an excellent King. I am afraid we have met with some Kings in +this history, and shall meet with some more, who would have been very +much the better, and would have left the world much happier, if they had +been imprisoned nineteen years too. + +In the second campaign, the English gained a considerable victory at +Verneuil, in a battle which was chiefly remarkable, otherwise, for their +resorting to the odd expedient of tying their baggage-horses together by +the heads and tails, and jumbling them up with the baggage, so as to +convert them into a sort of live fortification--which was found useful to +the troops, but which I should think was not agreeable to the horses. For +three years afterwards very little was done, owing to both sides being +too poor for war, which is a very expensive entertainment; but, a council +was then held in Paris, in which it was decided to lay siege to the town +of Orleans, which was a place of great importance to the Dauphin's cause. +An English army of ten thousand men was despatched on this service, under +the command of the Earl of Salisbury, a general of fame. He being +unfortunately killed early in the siege, the Earl of Suffolk took his +place; under whom (reinforced by SIR JOHN FALSTAFF, who brought up four +hundred waggons laden with salt herrings and other provisions for the +troops, and, beating off the French who tried to intercept him, came +victorious out of a hot skirmish, which was afterwards called in jest the +Battle of the Herrings) the town of Orleans was so completely hemmed in, +that the besieged proposed to yield it up to their countryman the Duke of +Burgundy. The English general, however, replied that his English men had +won it, so far, by their blood and valour, and that his English men must +have it. There seemed to be no hope for the town, or for the Dauphin, +who was so dismayed that he even thought of flying to Scotland or to +Spain--when a peasant girl rose up and changed the whole state of +affairs. + +The story of this peasant girl I have now to tell. + + + +PART THE SECOND: THE STORY OF JOAN OF ARC + + +In a remote village among some wild hills in the province of Lorraine, +there lived a countryman whose name was JACQUES D'ARC. He had a +daughter, JOAN OF ARC, who was at this time in her twentieth year. She +had been a solitary girl from her childhood; she had often tended sheep +and cattle for whole days where no human figure was seen or human voice +heard; and she had often knelt, for hours together, in the gloomy, empty, +little village chapel, looking up at the altar and at the dim lamp +burning before it, until she fancied that she saw shadowy figures +standing there, and even that she heard them speak to her. The people in +that part of France were very ignorant and superstitious, and they had +many ghostly tales to tell about what they had dreamed, and what they saw +among the lonely hills when the clouds and the mists were resting on +them. So, they easily believed that Joan saw strange sights, and they +whispered among themselves that angels and spirits talked to her. + +At last, Joan told her father that she had one day been surprised by a +great unearthly light, and had afterwards heard a solemn voice, which +said it was Saint Michael's voice, telling her that she was to go and +help the Dauphin. Soon after this (she said), Saint Catherine and Saint +Margaret had appeared to her with sparkling crowns upon their heads, and +had encouraged her to be virtuous and resolute. These visions had +returned sometimes; but the Voices very often; and the voices always +said, 'Joan, thou art appointed by Heaven to go and help the Dauphin!' +She almost always heard them while the chapel bells were ringing. + +There is no doubt, now, that Joan believed she saw and heard these +things. It is very well known that such delusions are a disease which is +not by any means uncommon. It is probable enough that there were figures +of Saint Michael, and Saint Catherine, and Saint Margaret, in the little +chapel (where they would be very likely to have shining crowns upon their +heads), and that they first gave Joan the idea of those three personages. +She had long been a moping, fanciful girl, and, though she was a very +good girl, I dare say she was a little vain, and wishful for notoriety. + +Her father, something wiser than his neighbours, said, 'I tell thee, +Joan, it is thy fancy. Thou hadst better have a kind husband to take +care of thee, girl, and work to employ thy mind!' But Joan told him in +reply, that she had taken a vow never to have a husband, and that she +must go as Heaven directed her, to help the Dauphin. + +It happened, unfortunately for her father's persuasions, and most +unfortunately for the poor girl, too, that a party of the Dauphin's +enemies found their way into the village while Joan's disorder was at +this point, and burnt the chapel, and drove out the inhabitants. The +cruelties she saw committed, touched Joan's heart and made her worse. She +said that the voices and the figures were now continually with her; that +they told her she was the girl who, according to an old prophecy, was to +deliver France; and she must go and help the Dauphin, and must remain +with him until he should be crowned at Rheims: and that she must travel a +long way to a certain lord named BAUDRICOURT, who could and would, bring +her into the Dauphin's presence. + +As her father still said, 'I tell thee, Joan, it is thy fancy,' she set +off to find out this lord, accompanied by an uncle, a poor village +wheelwright and cart-maker, who believed in the reality of her visions. +They travelled a long way and went on and on, over a rough country, full +of the Duke of Burgundy's men, and of all kinds of robbers and marauders, +until they came to where this lord was. + +When his servants told him that there was a poor peasant girl named Joan +of Arc, accompanied by nobody but an old village wheelwright and cart- +maker, who wished to see him because she was commanded to help the +Dauphin and save France, Baudricourt burst out a-laughing, and bade them +send the girl away. But, he soon heard so much about her lingering in +the town, and praying in the churches, and seeing visions, and doing harm +to no one, that he sent for her, and questioned her. As she said the +same things after she had been well sprinkled with holy water as she had +said before the sprinkling, Baudricourt began to think there might be +something in it. At all events, he thought it worth while to send her on +to the town of Chinon, where the Dauphin was. So, he bought her a horse, +and a sword, and gave her two squires to conduct her. As the Voices had +told Joan that she was to wear a man's dress, now, she put one on, and +girded her sword to her side, and bound spurs to her heels, and mounted +her horse and rode away with her two squires. As to her uncle the +wheelwright, he stood staring at his niece in wonder until she was out of +sight--as well he might--and then went home again. The best place, too. + +Joan and her two squires rode on and on, until they came to Chinon, where +she was, after some doubt, admitted into the Dauphin's presence. Picking +him out immediately from all his court, she told him that she came +commanded by Heaven to subdue his enemies and conduct him to his +coronation at Rheims. She also told him (or he pretended so afterwards, +to make the greater impression upon his soldiers) a number of his secrets +known only to himself, and, furthermore, she said there was an old, old +sword in the cathedral of Saint Catherine at Fierbois, marked with five +old crosses on the blade, which Saint Catherine had ordered her to wear. + +{Joan of Arc: p158.jpg} + +Now, nobody knew anything about this old, old sword, but when the +cathedral came to be examined--which was immediately done--there, sure +enough, the sword was found! The Dauphin then required a number of grave +priests and bishops to give him their opinion whether the girl derived +her power from good spirits or from evil spirits, which they held +prodigiously long debates about, in the course of which several learned +men fell fast asleep and snored loudly. At last, when one gruff old +gentleman had said to Joan, 'What language do your Voices speak?' and +when Joan had replied to the gruff old gentleman, 'A pleasanter language +than yours,' they agreed that it was all correct, and that Joan of Arc +was inspired from Heaven. This wonderful circumstance put new heart into +the Dauphin's soldiers when they heard of it, and dispirited the English +army, who took Joan for a witch. + +So Joan mounted horse again, and again rode on and on, until she came to +Orleans. But she rode now, as never peasant girl had ridden yet. She +rode upon a white war-horse, in a suit of glittering armour; with the +old, old sword from the cathedral, newly burnished, in her belt; with a +white flag carried before her, upon which were a picture of God, and the +words JESUS MARIA. In this splendid state, at the head of a great body +of troops escorting provisions of all kinds for the starving inhabitants +of Orleans, she appeared before that beleaguered city. + +When the people on the walls beheld her, they cried out 'The Maid is +come! The Maid of the Prophecy is come to deliver us!' And this, and +the sight of the Maid fighting at the head of their men, made the French +so bold, and made the English so fearful, that the English line of forts +was soon broken, the troops and provisions were got into the town, and +Orleans was saved. + +Joan, henceforth called THE MAID OF ORLEANS, remained within the walls +for a few days, and caused letters to be thrown over, ordering Lord +Suffolk and his Englishmen to depart from before the town according to +the will of Heaven. As the English general very positively declined to +believe that Joan knew anything about the will of Heaven (which did not +mend the matter with his soldiers, for they stupidly said if she were not +inspired she was a witch, and it was of no use to fight against a witch), +she mounted her white war-horse again, and ordered her white banner to +advance. + +The besiegers held the bridge, and some strong towers upon the bridge; +and here the Maid of Orleans attacked them. The fight was fourteen hours +long. She planted a scaling ladder with her own hands, and mounted a +tower wall, but was struck by an English arrow in the neck, and fell into +the trench. She was carried away and the arrow was taken out, during +which operation she screamed and cried with the pain, as any other girl +might have done; but presently she said that the Voices were speaking to +her and soothing her to rest. After a while, she got up, and was again +foremost in the fight. When the English who had seen her fall and +supposed her dead, saw this, they were troubled with the strangest fears, +and some of them cried out that they beheld Saint Michael on a white +horse (probably Joan herself) fighting for the French. They lost the +bridge, and lost the towers, and next day set their chain of forts on +fire, and left the place. + +But as Lord Suffolk himself retired no farther than the town of Jargeau, +which was only a few miles off, the Maid of Orleans besieged him there, +and he was taken prisoner. As the white banner scaled the wall, she was +struck upon the head with a stone, and was again tumbled down into the +ditch; but, she only cried all the more, as she lay there, 'On, on, my +countrymen! And fear nothing, for the Lord hath delivered them into our +hands!' After this new success of the Maid's, several other fortresses +and places which had previously held out against the Dauphin were +delivered up without a battle; and at Patay she defeated the remainder of +the English army, and set up her victorious white banner on a field where +twelve hundred Englishmen lay dead. + +She now urged the Dauphin (who always kept out of the way when there was +any fighting) to proceed to Rheims, as the first part of her mission was +accomplished; and to complete the whole by being crowned there. The +Dauphin was in no particular hurry to do this, as Rheims was a long way +off, and the English and the Duke of Burgundy were still strong in the +country through which the road lay. However, they set forth, with ten +thousand men, and again the Maid of Orleans rode on and on, upon her +white war-horse, and in her shining armour. Whenever they came to a town +which yielded readily, the soldiers believed in her; but, whenever they +came to a town which gave them any trouble, they began to murmur that she +was an impostor. The latter was particularly the case at Troyes, which +finally yielded, however, through the persuasion of one Richard, a friar +of the place. Friar Richard was in the old doubt about the Maid of +Orleans, until he had sprinkled her well with holy water, and had also +well sprinkled the threshold of the gate by which she came into the city. +Finding that it made no change in her or the gate, he said, as the other +grave old gentlemen had said, that it was all right, and became her great +ally. + +So, at last, by dint of riding on and on, the Maid of Orleans, and the +Dauphin, and the ten thousand sometimes believing and sometimes +unbelieving men, came to Rheims. And in the great cathedral of Rheims, +the Dauphin actually was crowned Charles the Seventh in a great assembly +of the people. Then, the Maid, who with her white banner stood beside +the King in that hour of his triumph, kneeled down upon the pavement at +his feet, and said, with tears, that what she had been inspired to do, +was done, and that the only recompense she asked for, was, that she +should now have leave to go back to her distant home, and her sturdily +incredulous father, and her first simple escort the village wheelwright +and cart-maker. But the King said 'No!' and made her and her family as +noble as a King could, and settled upon her the income of a Count. + +Ah! happy had it been for the Maid of Orleans, if she had resumed her +rustic dress that day, and had gone home to the little chapel and the +wild hills, and had forgotten all these things, and had been a good man's +wife, and had heard no stranger voices than the voices of little +children! + +It was not to be, and she continued helping the King (she did a world for +him, in alliance with Friar Richard), and trying to improve the lives of +the coarse soldiers, and leading a religious, an unselfish, and a modest +life, herself, beyond any doubt. Still, many times she prayed the King +to let her go home; and once she even took off her bright armour and hung +it up in a church, meaning never to wear it more. But, the King always +won her back again--while she was of any use to him--and so she went on +and on and on, to her doom. + +When the Duke of Bedford, who was a very able man, began to be active for +England, and, by bringing the war back into France and by holding the +Duke of Burgundy to his faith, to distress and disturb Charles very much, +Charles sometimes asked the Maid of Orleans what the Voices said about +it? But, the Voices had become (very like ordinary voices in perplexed +times) contradictory and confused, so that now they said one thing, and +now said another, and the Maid lost credit every day. Charles marched on +Paris, which was opposed to him, and attacked the suburb of Saint Honore. +In this fight, being again struck down into the ditch, she was abandoned +by the whole army. She lay unaided among a heap of dead, and crawled out +how she could. Then, some of her believers went over to an opposition +Maid, Catherine of La Rochelle, who said she was inspired to tell where +there were treasures of buried money--though she never did--and then Joan +accidentally broke the old, old sword, and others said that her power was +broken with it. Finally, at the siege of Compiegne, held by the Duke of +Burgundy, where she did valiant service, she was basely left alone in a +retreat, though facing about and fighting to the last; and an archer +pulled her off her horse. + +O the uproar that was made, and the thanksgivings that were sung, about +the capture of this one poor country-girl! O the way in which she was +demanded to be tried for sorcery and heresy, and anything else you like, +by the Inquisitor-General of France, and by this great man, and by that +great man, until it is wearisome to think of! She was bought at last by +the Bishop of Beauvais for ten thousand francs, and was shut up in her +narrow prison: plain Joan of Arc again, and Maid of Orleans no more. + +I should never have done if I were to tell you how they had Joan out to +examine her, and cross-examine her, and re-examine her, and worry her +into saying anything and everything; and how all sorts of scholars and +doctors bestowed their utmost tediousness upon her. Sixteen times she +was brought out and shut up again, and worried, and entrapped, and argued +with, until she was heart-sick of the dreary business. On the last +occasion of this kind she was brought into a burial-place at Rouen, +dismally decorated with a scaffold, and a stake and faggots, and the +executioner, and a pulpit with a friar therein, and an awful sermon +ready. It is very affecting to know that even at that pass the poor girl +honoured the mean vermin of a King, who had so used her for his purposes +and so abandoned her; and, that while she had been regardless of +reproaches heaped upon herself, she spoke out courageously for him. + +It was natural in one so young to hold to life. To save her life, she +signed a declaration prepared for her--signed it with a cross, for she +couldn't write--that all her visions and Voices had come from the Devil. +Upon her recanting the past, and protesting that she would never wear a +man's dress in future, she was condemned to imprisonment for life, 'on +the bread of sorrow and the water of affliction.' + +But, on the bread of sorrow and the water of affliction, the visions and +the Voices soon returned. It was quite natural that they should do so, +for that kind of disease is much aggravated by fasting, loneliness, and +anxiety of mind. It was not only got out of Joan that she considered +herself inspired again, but, she was taken in a man's dress, which had +been left--to entrap her--in her prison, and which she put on, in her +solitude; perhaps, in remembrance of her past glories, perhaps, because +the imaginary Voices told her. For this relapse into the sorcery and +heresy and anything else you like, she was sentenced to be burnt to +death. And, in the market-place of Rouen, in the hideous dress which the +monks had invented for such spectacles; with priests and bishops sitting +in a gallery looking on, though some had the Christian grace to go away, +unable to endure the infamous scene; this shrieking girl--last seen +amidst the smoke and fire, holding a crucifix between her hands; last +heard, calling upon Christ--was burnt to ashes. They threw her ashes +into the river Seine; but they will rise against her murderers on the +last day. + +From the moment of her capture, neither the French King nor one single +man in all his court raised a finger to save her. It is no defence of +them that they may have never really believed in her, or that they may +have won her victories by their skill and bravery. The more they +pretended to believe in her, the more they had caused her to believe in +herself; and she had ever been true to them, ever brave, ever nobly +devoted. But, it is no wonder, that they, who were in all things false +to themselves, false to one another, false to their country, false to +Heaven, false to Earth, should be monsters of ingratitude and treachery +to a helpless peasant girl. + +In the picturesque old town of Rouen, where weeds and grass grow high on +the cathedral towers, and the venerable Norman streets are still warm in +the blessed sunlight though the monkish fires that once gleamed horribly +upon them have long grown cold, there is a statue of Joan of Arc, in the +scene of her last agony, the square to which she has given its present +name. I know some statues of modern times--even in the World's +metropolis, I think--which commemorate less constancy, less earnestness, +smaller claims upon the world's attention, and much greater impostors. + + + +PART THE THIRD + + +Bad deeds seldom prosper, happily for mankind; and the English cause +gained no advantage from the cruel death of Joan of Arc. For a long +time, the war went heavily on. The Duke of Bedford died; the alliance +with the Duke of Burgundy was broken; and Lord Talbot became a great +general on the English side in France. But, two of the consequences of +wars are, Famine--because the people cannot peacefully cultivate the +ground--and Pestilence, which comes of want, misery, and suffering. Both +these horrors broke out in both countries, and lasted for two wretched +years. Then, the war went on again, and came by slow degrees to be so +badly conducted by the English government, that, within twenty years from +the execution of the Maid of Orleans, of all the great French conquests, +the town of Calais alone remained in English hands. + +While these victories and defeats were taking place in the course of +time, many strange things happened at home. The young King, as he grew +up, proved to be very unlike his great father, and showed himself a +miserable puny creature. There was no harm in him--he had a great +aversion to shedding blood: which was something--but, he was a weak, +silly, helpless young man, and a mere shuttlecock to the great lordly +battledores about the Court. + +Of these battledores, Cardinal Beaufort, a relation of the King, and the +Duke of Gloucester, were at first the most powerful. The Duke of +Gloucester had a wife, who was nonsensically accused of practising +witchcraft to cause the King's death and lead to her husband's coming to +the throne, he being the next heir. She was charged with having, by the +help of a ridiculous old woman named Margery (who was called a witch), +made a little waxen doll in the King's likeness, and put it before a slow +fire that it might gradually melt away. It was supposed, in such cases, +that the death of the person whom the doll was made to represent, was +sure to happen. Whether the duchess was as ignorant as the rest of them, +and really did make such a doll with such an intention, I don't know; +but, you and I know very well that she might have made a thousand dolls, +if she had been stupid enough, and might have melted them all, without +hurting the King or anybody else. However, she was tried for it, and so +was old Margery, and so was one of the duke's chaplains, who was charged +with having assisted them. Both he and Margery were put to death, and +the duchess, after being taken on foot and bearing a lighted candle, +three times round the City, as a penance, was imprisoned for life. The +duke, himself, took all this pretty quietly, and made as little stir +about the matter as if he were rather glad to be rid of the duchess. + +But, he was not destined to keep himself out of trouble long. The royal +shuttlecock being three-and-twenty, the battledores were very anxious to +get him married. The Duke of Gloucester wanted him to marry a daughter +of the Count of Armagnac; but, the Cardinal and the Earl of Suffolk were +all for MARGARET, the daughter of the King of Sicily, who they knew was a +resolute, ambitious woman and would govern the King as she chose. To +make friends with this lady, the Earl of Suffolk, who went over to +arrange the match, consented to accept her for the King's wife without +any fortune, and even to give up the two most valuable possessions +England then had in France. So, the marriage was arranged, on terms very +advantageous to the lady; and Lord Suffolk brought her to England, and +she was married at Westminster. On what pretence this queen and her +party charged the Duke of Gloucester with high treason within a couple of +years, it is impossible to make out, the matter is so confused; but, they +pretended that the King's life was in danger, and they took the duke +prisoner. A fortnight afterwards, he was found dead in bed (they said), +and his body was shown to the people, and Lord Suffolk came in for the +best part of his estates. You know by this time how strangely liable +state prisoners were to sudden death. + +If Cardinal Beaufort had any hand in this matter, it did him no good, for +he died within six weeks; thinking it very hard and curious--at eighty +years old!--that he could not live to be Pope. + +This was the time when England had completed her loss of all her great +French conquests. The people charged the loss principally upon the Earl +of Suffolk, now a duke, who had made those easy terms about the Royal +Marriage, and who, they believed, had even been bought by France. So he +was impeached as a traitor, on a great number of charges, but chiefly on +accusations of having aided the French King, and of designing to make his +own son King of England. The Commons and the people being violent +against him, the King was made (by his friends) to interpose to save him, +by banishing him for five years, and proroguing the Parliament. The duke +had much ado to escape from a London mob, two thousand strong, who lay in +wait for him in St. Giles's fields; but, he got down to his own estates +in Suffolk, and sailed away from Ipswich. Sailing across the Channel, he +sent into Calais to know if he might land there; but, they kept his boat +and men in the harbour, until an English ship, carrying a hundred and +fifty men and called the Nicholas of the Tower, came alongside his little +vessel, and ordered him on board. 'Welcome, traitor, as men say,' was +the captain's grim and not very respectful salutation. He was kept on +board, a prisoner, for eight-and-forty hours, and then a small boat +appeared rowing toward the ship. As this boat came nearer, it was seen +to have in it a block, a rusty sword, and an executioner in a black mask. +The duke was handed down into it, and there his head was cut off with six +strokes of the rusty sword. Then, the little boat rowed away to Dover +beach, where the body was cast out, and left until the duchess claimed +it. By whom, high in authority, this murder was committed, has never +appeared. No one was ever punished for it. + +There now arose in Kent an Irishman, who gave himself the name of +Mortimer, but whose real name was JACK CADE. Jack, in imitation of Wat +Tyler, though he was a very different and inferior sort of man, addressed +the Kentish men upon their wrongs, occasioned by the bad government of +England, among so many battledores and such a poor shuttlecock; and the +Kentish men rose up to the number of twenty thousand. Their place of +assembly was Blackheath, where, headed by Jack, they put forth two +papers, which they called 'The Complaint of the Commons of Kent,' and +'The Requests of the Captain of the Great Assembly in Kent.' They then +retired to Sevenoaks. The royal army coming up with them here, they beat +it and killed their general. Then, Jack dressed himself in the dead +general's armour, and led his men to London. + +Jack passed into the City from Southwark, over the bridge, and entered it +in triumph, giving the strictest orders to his men not to plunder. Having +made a show of his forces there, while the citizens looked on quietly, he +went back into Southwark in good order, and passed the night. Next day, +he came back again, having got hold in the meantime of Lord Say, an +unpopular nobleman. Says Jack to the Lord Mayor and judges: 'Will you be +so good as to make a tribunal in Guildhall, and try me this nobleman?' +The court being hastily made, he was found guilty, and Jack and his men +cut his head off on Cornhill. They also cut off the head of his son-in- +law, and then went back in good order to Southwark again. + +But, although the citizens could bear the beheading of an unpopular lord, +they could not bear to have their houses pillaged. And it did so happen +that Jack, after dinner--perhaps he had drunk a little too much--began to +plunder the house where he lodged; upon which, of course, his men began +to imitate him. Wherefore, the Londoners took counsel with Lord Scales, +who had a thousand soldiers in the Tower; and defended London Bridge, and +kept Jack and his people out. This advantage gained, it was resolved by +divers great men to divide Jack's army in the old way, by making a great +many promises on behalf of the state, that were never intended to be +performed. This _did_ divide them; some of Jack's men saying that they +ought to take the conditions which were offered, and others saying that +they ought not, for they were only a snare; some going home at once; +others staying where they were; and all doubting and quarrelling among +themselves. + +Jack, who was in two minds about fighting or accepting a pardon, and who +indeed did both, saw at last that there was nothing to expect from his +men, and that it was very likely some of them would deliver him up and +get a reward of a thousand marks, which was offered for his apprehension. +So, after they had travelled and quarrelled all the way from Southwark to +Blackheath, and from Blackheath to Rochester, he mounted a good horse and +galloped away into Sussex. But, there galloped after him, on a better +horse, one Alexander Iden, who came up with him, had a hard fight with +him, and killed him. Jack's head was set aloft on London Bridge, with +the face looking towards Blackheath, where he had raised his flag; and +Alexander Iden got the thousand marks. + +It is supposed by some, that the Duke of York, who had been removed from +a high post abroad through the Queen's influence, and sent out of the +way, to govern Ireland, was at the bottom of this rising of Jack and his +men, because he wanted to trouble the government. He claimed (though not +yet publicly) to have a better right to the throne than Henry of +Lancaster, as one of the family of the Earl of March, whom Henry the +Fourth had set aside. Touching this claim, which, being through female +relationship, was not according to the usual descent, it is enough to say +that Henry the Fourth was the free choice of the people and the +Parliament, and that his family had now reigned undisputed for sixty +years. The memory of Henry the Fifth was so famous, and the English +people loved it so much, that the Duke of York's claim would, perhaps, +never have been thought of (it would have been so hopeless) but for the +unfortunate circumstance of the present King's being by this time quite +an idiot, and the country very ill governed. These two circumstances +gave the Duke of York a power he could not otherwise have had. + +Whether the Duke knew anything of Jack Cade, or not, he came over from +Ireland while Jack's head was on London Bridge; being secretly advised +that the Queen was setting up his enemy, the Duke of Somerset, against +him. He went to Westminster, at the head of four thousand men, and on +his knees before the King, represented to him the bad state of the +country, and petitioned him to summon a Parliament to consider it. This +the King promised. When the Parliament was summoned, the Duke of York +accused the Duke of Somerset, and the Duke of Somerset accused the Duke +of York; and, both in and out of Parliament, the followers of each party +were full of violence and hatred towards the other. At length the Duke +of York put himself at the head of a large force of his tenants, and, in +arms, demanded the reformation of the Government. Being shut out of +London, he encamped at Dartford, and the royal army encamped at +Blackheath. According as either side triumphed, the Duke of York was +arrested, or the Duke of Somerset was arrested. The trouble ended, for +the moment, in the Duke of York renewing his oath of allegiance, and +going in peace to one of his own castles. + +Half a year afterwards the Queen gave birth to a son, who was very ill +received by the people, and not believed to be the son of the King. It +shows the Duke of York to have been a moderate man, unwilling to involve +England in new troubles, that he did not take advantage of the general +discontent at this time, but really acted for the public good. He was +made a member of the cabinet, and the King being now so much worse that +he could not be carried about and shown to the people with any decency, +the duke was made Lord Protector of the kingdom, until the King should +recover, or the Prince should come of age. At the same time the Duke of +Somerset was committed to the Tower. So, now the Duke of Somerset was +down, and the Duke of York was up. By the end of the year, however, the +King recovered his memory and some spark of sense; upon which the Queen +used her power--which recovered with him--to get the Protector disgraced, +and her favourite released. So now the Duke of York was down, and the +Duke of Somerset was up. + +These ducal ups and downs gradually separated the whole nation into the +two parties of York and Lancaster, and led to those terrible civil wars +long known as the Wars of the Red and White Roses, because the red rose +was the badge of the House of Lancaster, and the white rose was the badge +of the House of York. + +The Duke of York, joined by some other powerful noblemen of the White +Rose party, and leading a small army, met the King with another small +army at St. Alban's, and demanded that the Duke of Somerset should be +given up. The poor King, being made to say in answer that he would +sooner die, was instantly attacked. The Duke of Somerset was killed, and +the King himself was wounded in the neck, and took refuge in the house of +a poor tanner. Whereupon, the Duke of York went to him, led him with +great submission to the Abbey, and said he was very sorry for what had +happened. Having now the King in his possession, he got a Parliament +summoned and himself once more made Protector, but, only for a few +months; for, on the King getting a little better again, the Queen and her +party got him into their possession, and disgraced the Duke once more. +So, now the Duke of York was down again. + +Some of the best men in power, seeing the danger of these constant +changes, tried even then to prevent the Red and the White Rose Wars. They +brought about a great council in London between the two parties. The +White Roses assembled in Blackfriars, the Red Roses in Whitefriars; and +some good priests communicated between them, and made the proceedings +known at evening to the King and the judges. They ended in a peaceful +agreement that there should be no more quarrelling; and there was a great +royal procession to St. Paul's, in which the Queen walked arm-in-arm with +her old enemy, the Duke of York, to show the people how comfortable they +all were. This state of peace lasted half a year, when a dispute between +the Earl of Warwick (one of the Duke's powerful friends) and some of the +King's servants at Court, led to an attack upon that Earl--who was a +White Rose--and to a sudden breaking out of all old animosities. So, +here were greater ups and downs than ever. + +There were even greater ups and downs than these, soon after. After +various battles, the Duke of York fled to Ireland, and his son the Earl +of March to Calais, with their friends the Earls of Salisbury and +Warwick; and a Parliament was held declaring them all traitors. Little +the worse for this, the Earl of Warwick presently came back, landed in +Kent, was joined by the Archbishop of Canterbury and other powerful +noblemen and gentlemen, engaged the King's forces at Northampton, +signally defeated them, and took the King himself prisoner, who was found +in his tent. Warwick would have been glad, I dare say, to have taken the +Queen and Prince too, but they escaped into Wales and thence into +Scotland. + +The King was carried by the victorious force straight to London, and made +to call a new Parliament, which immediately declared that the Duke of +York and those other noblemen were not traitors, but excellent subjects. +Then, back comes the Duke from Ireland at the head of five hundred +horsemen, rides from London to Westminster, and enters the House of +Lords. There, he laid his hand upon the cloth of gold which covered the +empty throne, as if he had half a mind to sit down in it--but he did not. +On the Archbishop of Canterbury, asking him if he would visit the King, +who was in his palace close by, he replied, 'I know no one in this +country, my lord, who ought not to visit _me_.' None of the lords +present spoke a single word; so, the duke went out as he had come in, +established himself royally in the King's palace, and, six days +afterwards, sent in to the Lords a formal statement of his claim to the +throne. The lords went to the King on this momentous subject, and after +a great deal of discussion, in which the judges and the other law +officers were afraid to give an opinion on either side, the question was +compromised. It was agreed that the present King should retain the crown +for his life, and that it should then pass to the Duke of York and his +heirs. + +But, the resolute Queen, determined on asserting her son's right, would +hear of no such thing. She came from Scotland to the north of England, +where several powerful lords armed in her cause. The Duke of York, for +his part, set off with some five thousand men, a little time before +Christmas Day, one thousand four hundred and sixty, to give her battle. +He lodged at Sandal Castle, near Wakefield, and the Red Roses defied him +to come out on Wakefield Green, and fight them then and there. His +generals said, he had best wait until his gallant son, the Earl of March, +came up with his power; but, he was determined to accept the challenge. +He did so, in an evil hour. He was hotly pressed on all sides, two +thousand of his men lay dead on Wakefield Green, and he himself was taken +prisoner. They set him down in mock state on an ant-hill, and twisted +grass about his head, and pretended to pay court to him on their knees, +saying, 'O King, without a kingdom, and Prince without a people, we hope +your gracious Majesty is very well and happy!' They did worse than this; +they cut his head off, and handed it on a pole to the Queen, who laughed +with delight when she saw it (you recollect their walking so religiously +and comfortably to St. Paul's!), and had it fixed, with a paper crown +upon its head, on the walls of York. The Earl of Salisbury lost his +head, too; and the Duke of York's second son, a handsome boy who was +flying with his tutor over Wakefield Bridge, was stabbed in the heart by +a murderous, lord--Lord Clifford by name--whose father had been killed by +the White Roses in the fight at St. Alban's. There was awful sacrifice +of life in this battle, for no quarter was given, and the Queen was wild +for revenge. When men unnaturally fight against their own countrymen, +they are always observed to be more unnaturally cruel and filled with +rage than they are against any other enemy. + +But, Lord Clifford had stabbed the second son of the Duke of York--not +the first. The eldest son, Edward Earl of March, was at Gloucester; and, +vowing vengeance for the death of his father, his brother, and their +faithful friends, he began to march against the Queen. He had to turn +and fight a great body of Welsh and Irish first, who worried his advance. +These he defeated in a great fight at Mortimer's Cross, near Hereford, +where he beheaded a number of the Red Roses taken in battle, in +retaliation for the beheading of the White Roses at Wakefield. The Queen +had the next turn of beheading. Having moved towards London, and falling +in, between St. Alban's and Barnet, with the Earl of Warwick and the Duke +of Norfolk, White Roses both, who were there with an army to oppose her, +and had got the King with them; she defeated them with great loss, and +struck off the heads of two prisoners of note, who were in the King's +tent with him, and to whom the King had promised his protection. Her +triumph, however, was very short. She had no treasure, and her army +subsisted by plunder. This caused them to be hated and dreaded by the +people, and particularly by the London people, who were wealthy. As soon +as the Londoners heard that Edward, Earl of March, united with the Earl +of Warwick, was advancing towards the city, they refused to send the +Queen supplies, and made a great rejoicing. + +The Queen and her men retreated with all speed, and Edward and Warwick +came on, greeted with loud acclamations on every side. The courage, +beauty, and virtues of young Edward could not be sufficiently praised by +the whole people. He rode into London like a conqueror, and met with an +enthusiastic welcome. A few days afterwards, Lord Falconbridge and the +Bishop of Exeter assembled the citizens in St. John's Field, Clerkenwell, +and asked them if they would have Henry of Lancaster for their King? To +this they all roared, 'No, no, no!' and 'King Edward! King Edward!' +Then, said those noblemen, would they love and serve young Edward? To +this they all cried, 'Yes, yes!' and threw up their caps and clapped +their hands, and cheered tremendously. + +Therefore, it was declared that by joining the Queen and not protecting +those two prisoners of note, Henry of Lancaster had forfeited the crown; +and Edward of York was proclaimed King. He made a great speech to the +applauding people at Westminster, and sat down as sovereign of England on +that throne, on the golden covering of which his father--worthy of a +better fate than the bloody axe which cut the thread of so many lives in +England, through so many years--had laid his hand. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII--ENGLAND UNDER EDWARD THE FOURTH + + +King Edward the Fourth was not quite twenty-one years of age when he took +that unquiet seat upon the throne of England. The Lancaster party, the +Red Roses, were then assembling in great numbers near York, and it was +necessary to give them battle instantly. But, the stout Earl of Warwick +leading for the young King, and the young King himself closely following +him, and the English people crowding round the Royal standard, the White +and the Red Roses met, on a wild March day when the snow was falling +heavily, at Towton; and there such a furious battle raged between them, +that the total loss amounted to forty thousand men--all Englishmen, +fighting, upon English ground, against one another. The young King +gained the day, took down the heads of his father and brother from the +walls of York, and put up the heads of some of the most famous noblemen +engaged in the battle on the other side. Then, he went to London and was +crowned with great splendour. + +A new Parliament met. No fewer than one hundred and fifty of the +principal noblemen and gentlemen on the Lancaster side were declared +traitors, and the King--who had very little humanity, though he was +handsome in person and agreeable in manners--resolved to do all he could, +to pluck up the Red Rose root and branch. + +Queen Margaret, however, was still active for her young son. She +obtained help from Scotland and from Normandy, and took several important +English castles. But, Warwick soon retook them; the Queen lost all her +treasure on board ship in a great storm; and both she and her son +suffered great misfortunes. Once, in the winter weather, as they were +riding through a forest, they were attacked and plundered by a party of +robbers; and, when they had escaped from these men and were passing alone +and on foot through a thick dark part of the wood, they came, all at +once, upon another robber. So the Queen, with a stout heart, took the +little Prince by the hand, and going straight up to that robber, said to +him, 'My friend, this is the young son of your lawful King! I confide +him to your care.' The robber was surprised, but took the boy in his +arms, and faithfully restored him and his mother to their friends. In +the end, the Queen's soldiers being beaten and dispersed, she went abroad +again, and kept quiet for the present. + +Now, all this time, the deposed King Henry was concealed by a Welsh +knight, who kept him close in his castle. But, next year, the Lancaster +party recovering their spirits, raised a large body of men, and called +him out of his retirement, to put him at their head. They were joined by +some powerful noblemen who had sworn fidelity to the new King, but who +were ready, as usual, to break their oaths, whenever they thought there +was anything to be got by it. One of the worst things in the history of +the war of the Red and White Roses, is the ease with which these +noblemen, who should have set an example of honour to the people, left +either side as they took slight offence, or were disappointed in their +greedy expectations, and joined the other. Well! Warwick's brother soon +beat the Lancastrians, and the false noblemen, being taken, were beheaded +without a moment's loss of time. The deposed King had a narrow escape; +three of his servants were taken, and one of them bore his cap of estate, +which was set with pearls and embroidered with two golden crowns. +However, the head to which the cap belonged, got safely into Lancashire, +and lay pretty quietly there (the people in the secret being very true) +for more than a year. At length, an old monk gave such intelligence as +led to Henry's being taken while he was sitting at dinner in a place +called Waddington Hall. He was immediately sent to London, and met at +Islington by the Earl of Warwick, by whose directions he was put upon a +horse, with his legs tied under it, and paraded three times round the +pillory. Then, he was carried off to the Tower, where they treated him +well enough. + +The White Rose being so triumphant, the young King abandoned himself +entirely to pleasure, and led a jovial life. But, thorns were springing +up under his bed of roses, as he soon found out. For, having been +privately married to ELIZABETH WOODVILLE, a young widow lady, very +beautiful and very captivating; and at last resolving to make his secret +known, and to declare her his Queen; he gave some offence to the Earl of +Warwick, who was usually called the King-Maker, because of his power and +influence, and because of his having lent such great help to placing +Edward on the throne. This offence was not lessened by the jealousy with +which the Nevil family (the Earl of Warwick's) regarded the promotion of +the Woodville family. For, the young Queen was so bent on providing for +her relations, that she made her father an earl and a great officer of +state; married her five sisters to young noblemen of the highest rank; +and provided for her younger brother, a young man of twenty, by marrying +him to an immensely rich old duchess of eighty. The Earl of Warwick took +all this pretty graciously for a man of his proud temper, until the +question arose to whom the King's sister, MARGARET, should be married. +The Earl of Warwick said, 'To one of the French King's sons,' and was +allowed to go over to the French King to make friendly proposals for that +purpose, and to hold all manner of friendly interviews with him. But, +while he was so engaged, the Woodville party married the young lady to +the Duke of Burgundy! Upon this he came back in great rage and scorn, +and shut himself up discontented, in his Castle of Middleham. + +A reconciliation, though not a very sincere one, was patched up between +the Earl of Warwick and the King, and lasted until the Earl married his +daughter, against the King's wishes, to the Duke of Clarence. While the +marriage was being celebrated at Calais, the people in the north of +England, where the influence of the Nevil family was strongest, broke out +into rebellion; their complaint was, that England was oppressed and +plundered by the Woodville family, whom they demanded to have removed +from power. As they were joined by great numbers of people, and as they +openly declared that they were supported by the Earl of Warwick, the King +did not know what to do. At last, as he wrote to the earl beseeching his +aid, he and his new son-in-law came over to England, and began to arrange +the business by shutting the King up in Middleham Castle in the safe +keeping of the Archbishop of York; so England was not only in the strange +position of having two kings at once, but they were both prisoners at the +same time. + +Even as yet, however, the King-Maker was so far true to the King, that he +dispersed a new rising of the Lancastrians, took their leader prisoner, +and brought him to the King, who ordered him to be immediately executed. +He presently allowed the King to return to London, and there innumerable +pledges of forgiveness and friendship were exchanged between them, and +between the Nevils and the Woodvilles; the King's eldest daughter was +promised in marriage to the heir of the Nevil family; and more friendly +oaths were sworn, and more friendly promises made, than this book would +hold. + +They lasted about three months. At the end of that time, the Archbishop +of York made a feast for the King, the Earl of Warwick, and the Duke of +Clarence, at his house, the Moor, in Hertfordshire. The King was washing +his hands before supper, when some one whispered him that a body of a +hundred men were lying in ambush outside the house. Whether this were +true or untrue, the King took fright, mounted his horse, and rode through +the dark night to Windsor Castle. Another reconciliation was patched up +between him and the King-Maker, but it was a short one, and it was the +last. A new rising took place in Lincolnshire, and the King marched to +repress it. Having done so, he proclaimed that both the Earl of Warwick +and the Duke of Clarence were traitors, who had secretly assisted it, and +who had been prepared publicly to join it on the following day. In these +dangerous circumstances they both took ship and sailed away to the French +court. + +And here a meeting took place between the Earl of Warwick and his old +enemy, the Dowager Queen Margaret, through whom his father had had his +head struck off, and to whom he had been a bitter foe. But, now, when he +said that he had done with the ungrateful and perfidious Edward of York, +and that henceforth he devoted himself to the restoration of the House of +Lancaster, either in the person of her husband or of her little son, she +embraced him as if he had ever been her dearest friend. She did more +than that; she married her son to his second daughter, the Lady Anne. +However agreeable this marriage was to the new friends, it was very +disagreeable to the Duke of Clarence, who perceived that his father-in- +law, the King-Maker, would never make _him_ King, now. So, being but a +weak-minded young traitor, possessed of very little worth or sense, he +readily listened to an artful court lady sent over for the purpose, and +promised to turn traitor once more, and go over to his brother, King +Edward, when a fitting opportunity should come. + +The Earl of Warwick, knowing nothing of this, soon redeemed his promise +to the Dowager Queen Margaret, by invading England and landing at +Plymouth, where he instantly proclaimed King Henry, and summoned all +Englishmen between the ages of sixteen and sixty, to join his banner. +Then, with his army increasing as he marched along, he went northward, +and came so near King Edward, who was in that part of the country, that +Edward had to ride hard for it to the coast of Norfolk, and thence to get +away in such ships as he could find, to Holland. Thereupon, the +triumphant King-Maker and his false son-in-law, the Duke of Clarence, +went to London, took the old King out of the Tower, and walked him in a +great procession to Saint Paul's Cathedral with the crown upon his head. +This did not improve the temper of the Duke of Clarence, who saw himself +farther off from being King than ever; but he kept his secret, and said +nothing. The Nevil family were restored to all their honours and +glories, and the Woodvilles and the rest were disgraced. The King-Maker, +less sanguinary than the King, shed no blood except that of the Earl of +Worcester, who had been so cruel to the people as to have gained the +title of the Butcher. Him they caught hidden in a tree, and him they +tried and executed. No other death stained the King-Maker's triumph. + +To dispute this triumph, back came King Edward again, next year, landing +at Ravenspur, coming on to York, causing all his men to cry 'Long live +King Henry!' and swearing on the altar, without a blush, that he came to +lay no claim to the crown. Now was the time for the Duke of Clarence, +who ordered his men to assume the White Rose, and declare for his +brother. The Marquis of Montague, though the Earl of Warwick's brother, +also declining to fight against King Edward, he went on successfully to +London, where the Archbishop of York let him into the City, and where the +people made great demonstrations in his favour. For this they had four +reasons. Firstly, there were great numbers of the King's adherents +hiding in the City and ready to break out; secondly, the King owed them a +great deal of money, which they could never hope to get if he were +unsuccessful; thirdly, there was a young prince to inherit the crown; and +fourthly, the King was gay and handsome, and more popular than a better +man might have been with the City ladies. After a stay of only two days +with these worthy supporters, the King marched out to Barnet Common, to +give the Earl of Warwick battle. And now it was to be seen, for the last +time, whether the King or the King-Maker was to carry the day. + +While the battle was yet pending, the fainthearted Duke of Clarence began +to repent, and sent over secret messages to his father-in-law, offering +his services in mediation with the King. But, the Earl of Warwick +disdainfully rejected them, and replied that Clarence was false and +perjured, and that he would settle the quarrel by the sword. The battle +began at four o'clock in the morning and lasted until ten, and during the +greater part of the time it was fought in a thick mist--absurdly supposed +to be raised by a magician. The loss of life was very great, for the +hatred was strong on both sides. The King-Maker was defeated, and the +King triumphed. Both the Earl of Warwick and his brother were slain, and +their bodies lay in St. Paul's, for some days, as a spectacle to the +people. + +Margaret's spirit was not broken even by this great blow. Within five +days she was in arms again, and raised her standard in Bath, whence she +set off with her army, to try and join Lord Pembroke, who had a force in +Wales. But, the King, coming up with her outside the town of Tewkesbury, +and ordering his brother, the DUKE OF GLOUCESTER, who was a brave +soldier, to attack her men, she sustained an entire defeat, and was taken +prisoner, together with her son, now only eighteen years of age. The +conduct of the King to this poor youth was worthy of his cruel character. +He ordered him to be led into his tent. 'And what,' said he, 'brought +_you_ to England?' 'I came to England,' replied the prisoner, with a +spirit which a man of spirit might have admired in a captive, 'to recover +my father's kingdom, which descended to him as his right, and from him +descends to me, as mine.' The King, drawing off his iron gauntlet, +struck him with it in the face; and the Duke of Clarence and some other +lords, who were there, drew their noble swords, and killed him. + +His mother survived him, a prisoner, for five years; after her ransom by +the King of France, she survived for six years more. Within three weeks +of this murder, Henry died one of those convenient sudden deaths which +were so common in the Tower; in plainer words, he was murdered by the +King's order. + +Having no particular excitement on his hands after this great defeat of +the Lancaster party, and being perhaps desirous to get rid of some of his +fat (for he was now getting too corpulent to be handsome), the King +thought of making war on France. As he wanted more money for this +purpose than the Parliament could give him, though they were usually +ready enough for war, he invented a new way of raising it, by sending for +the principal citizens of London, and telling them, with a grave face, +that he was very much in want of cash, and would take it very kind in +them if they would lend him some. It being impossible for them safely to +refuse, they complied, and the moneys thus forced from them were +called--no doubt to the great amusement of the King and the Court--as if +they were free gifts, 'Benevolences.' What with grants from Parliament, +and what with Benevolences, the King raised an army and passed over to +Calais. As nobody wanted war, however, the French King made proposals of +peace, which were accepted, and a truce was concluded for seven long +years. The proceedings between the Kings of France and England on this +occasion, were very friendly, very splendid, and very distrustful. They +finished with a meeting between the two Kings, on a temporary bridge over +the river Somme, where they embraced through two holes in a strong wooden +grating like a lion's cage, and made several bows and fine speeches to +one another. + +It was time, now, that the Duke of Clarence should be punished for his +treacheries; and Fate had his punishment in store. He was, probably, not +trusted by the King--for who could trust him who knew him!--and he had +certainly a powerful opponent in his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, +who, being avaricious and ambitious, wanted to marry that widowed +daughter of the Earl of Warwick's who had been espoused to the deceased +young Prince, at Calais. Clarence, who wanted all the family wealth for +himself, secreted this lady, whom Richard found disguised as a servant in +the City of London, and whom he married; arbitrators appointed by the +King, then divided the property between the brothers. This led to ill- +will and mistrust between them. Clarence's wife dying, and he wishing to +make another marriage, which was obnoxious to the King, his ruin was +hurried by that means, too. At first, the Court struck at his retainers +and dependents, and accused some of them of magic and witchcraft, and +similar nonsense. Successful against this small game, it then mounted to +the Duke himself, who was impeached by his brother the King, in person, +on a variety of such charges. He was found guilty, and sentenced to be +publicly executed. He never was publicly executed, but he met his death +somehow, in the Tower, and, no doubt, through some agency of the King or +his brother Gloucester, or both. It was supposed at the time that he was +told to choose the manner of his death, and that he chose to be drowned +in a butt of Malmsey wine. I hope the story may be true, for it would +have been a becoming death for such a miserable creature. + +The King survived him some five years. He died in the forty-second year +of his life, and the twenty-third of his reign. He had a very good +capacity and some good points, but he was selfish, careless, sensual, and +cruel. He was a favourite with the people for his showy manners; and the +people were a good example to him in the constancy of their attachment. +He was penitent on his death-bed for his 'benevolences,' and other +extortions, and ordered restitution to be made to the people who had +suffered from them. He also called about his bed the enriched members of +the Woodville family, and the proud lords whose honours were of older +date, and endeavoured to reconcile them, for the sake of the peaceful +succession of his son and the tranquillity of England. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV--ENGLAND UNDER EDWARD THE FIFTH + + +The late King's eldest son, the Prince of Wales, called EDWARD after him, +was only thirteen years of age at his father's death. He was at Ludlow +Castle with his uncle, the Earl of Rivers. The prince's brother, the +Duke of York, only eleven years of age, was in London with his mother. +The boldest, most crafty, and most dreaded nobleman in England at that +time was their uncle RICHARD, Duke of Gloucester, and everybody wondered +how the two poor boys would fare with such an uncle for a friend or a +foe. + +The Queen, their mother, being exceedingly uneasy about this, was anxious +that instructions should be sent to Lord Rivers to raise an army to +escort the young King safely to London. But, Lord Hastings, who was of +the Court party opposed to the Woodvilles, and who disliked the thought +of giving them that power, argued against the proposal, and obliged the +Queen to be satisfied with an escort of two thousand horse. The Duke of +Gloucester did nothing, at first, to justify suspicion. He came from +Scotland (where he was commanding an army) to York, and was there the +first to swear allegiance to his nephew. He then wrote a condoling +letter to the Queen-Mother, and set off to be present at the coronation +in London. + +Now, the young King, journeying towards London too, with Lord Rivers and +Lord Gray, came to Stony Stratford, as his uncle came to Northampton, +about ten miles distant; and when those two lords heard that the Duke of +Gloucester was so near, they proposed to the young King that they should +go back and greet him in his name. The boy being very willing that they +should do so, they rode off and were received with great friendliness, +and asked by the Duke of Gloucester to stay and dine with him. In the +evening, while they were merry together, up came the Duke of Buckingham +with three hundred horsemen; and next morning the two lords and the two +dukes, and the three hundred horsemen, rode away together to rejoin the +King. Just as they were entering Stony Stratford, the Duke of +Gloucester, checking his horse, turned suddenly on the two lords, charged +them with alienating from him the affections of his sweet nephew, and +caused them to be arrested by the three hundred horsemen and taken back. +Then, he and the Duke of Buckingham went straight to the King (whom they +had now in their power), to whom they made a show of kneeling down, and +offering great love and submission; and then they ordered his attendants +to disperse, and took him, alone with them, to Northampton. + +A few days afterwards they conducted him to London, and lodged him in the +Bishop's Palace. But, he did not remain there long; for, the Duke of +Buckingham with a tender face made a speech expressing how anxious he was +for the Royal boy's safety, and how much safer he would be in the Tower +until his coronation, than he could be anywhere else. So, to the Tower +he was taken, very carefully, and the Duke of Gloucester was named +Protector of the State. + +Although Gloucester had proceeded thus far with a very smooth +countenance--and although he was a clever man, fair of speech, and not +ill-looking, in spite of one of his shoulders being something higher than +the other--and although he had come into the City riding bare-headed at +the King's side, and looking very fond of him--he had made the King's +mother more uneasy yet; and when the Royal boy was taken to the Tower, +she became so alarmed that she took sanctuary in Westminster with her +five daughters. + +Nor did she do this without reason, for, the Duke of Gloucester, finding +that the lords who were opposed to the Woodville family were faithful to +the young King nevertheless, quickly resolved to strike a blow for +himself. Accordingly, while those lords met in council at the Tower, he +and those who were in his interest met in separate council at his own +residence, Crosby Palace, in Bishopsgate Street. Being at last quite +prepared, he one day appeared unexpectedly at the council in the Tower, +and appeared to be very jocular and merry. He was particularly gay with +the Bishop of Ely: praising the strawberries that grew in his garden on +Holborn Hill, and asking him to have some gathered that he might eat them +at dinner. The Bishop, quite proud of the honour, sent one of his men to +fetch some; and the Duke, still very jocular and gay, went out; and the +council all said what a very agreeable duke he was! In a little time, +however, he came back quite altered--not at all jocular--frowning and +fierce--and suddenly said,-- + +'What do those persons deserve who have compassed my destruction; I being +the King's lawful, as well as natural, protector?' + +To this strange question, Lord Hastings replied, that they deserved +death, whosoever they were. + +'Then,' said the Duke, 'I tell you that they are that sorceress my +brother's wife;' meaning the Queen: 'and that other sorceress, Jane +Shore. Who, by witchcraft, have withered my body, and caused my arm to +shrink as I now show you.' + +He then pulled up his sleeve and showed them his arm, which was shrunken, +it is true, but which had been so, as they all very well knew, from the +hour of his birth. + +Jane Shore, being then the lover of Lord Hastings, as she had formerly +been of the late King, that lord knew that he himself was attacked. So, +he said, in some confusion, 'Certainly, my Lord, if they have done this, +they be worthy of punishment.' + +'If?' said the Duke of Gloucester; 'do you talk to me of ifs? I tell you +that they _have_ so done, and I will make it good upon thy body, thou +traitor!' + +With that, he struck the table a great blow with his fist. This was a +signal to some of his people outside to cry 'Treason!' They immediately +did so, and there was a rush into the chamber of so many armed men that +it was filled in a moment. + +'First,' said the Duke of Gloucester to Lord Hastings, 'I arrest thee, +traitor! And let him,' he added to the armed men who took him, 'have a +priest at once, for by St. Paul I will not dine until I have seen his +head of!' + +Lord Hastings was hurried to the green by the Tower chapel, and there +beheaded on a log of wood that happened to be lying on the ground. Then, +the Duke dined with a good appetite, and after dinner summoning the +principal citizens to attend him, told them that Lord Hastings and the +rest had designed to murder both himself and the Duke if Buckingham, who +stood by his side, if he had not providentially discovered their design. +He requested them to be so obliging as to inform their fellow-citizens of +the truth of what he said, and issued a proclamation (prepared and neatly +copied out beforehand) to the same effect. + +On the same day that the Duke did these things in the Tower, Sir Richard +Ratcliffe, the boldest and most undaunted of his men, went down to +Pontefract; arrested Lord Rivers, Lord Gray, and two other gentlemen; and +publicly executed them on the scaffold, without any trial, for having +intended the Duke's death. Three days afterwards the Duke, not to lose +time, went down the river to Westminster in his barge, attended by divers +bishops, lords, and soldiers, and demanded that the Queen should deliver +her second son, the Duke of York, into his safe keeping. The Queen, +being obliged to comply, resigned the child after she had wept over him; +and Richard of Gloucester placed him with his brother in the Tower. Then, +he seized Jane Shore, and, because she had been the lover of the late +King, confiscated her property, and got her sentenced to do public +penance in the streets by walking in a scanty dress, with bare feet, and +carrying a lighted candle, to St. Paul's Cathedral, through the most +crowded part of the City. + +Having now all things ready for his own advancement, he caused a friar to +preach a sermon at the cross which stood in front of St. Paul's +Cathedral, in which he dwelt upon the profligate manners of the late +King, and upon the late shame of Jane Shore, and hinted that the princes +were not his children. 'Whereas, good people,' said the friar, whose +name was SHAW, 'my Lord the Protector, the noble Duke of Gloucester, that +sweet prince, the pattern of all the noblest virtues, is the perfect +image and express likeness of his father.' There had been a little plot +between the Duke and the friar, that the Duke should appear in the crowd +at this moment, when it was expected that the people would cry 'Long live +King Richard!' But, either through the friar saying the words too soon, +or through the Duke's coming too late, the Duke and the words did not +come together, and the people only laughed, and the friar sneaked off +ashamed. + +The Duke of Buckingham was a better hand at such business than the friar, +so he went to the Guildhall the next day, and addressed the citizens in +the Lord Protector's behalf. A few dirty men, who had been hired and +stationed there for the purpose, crying when he had done, 'God save King +Richard!' he made them a great bow, and thanked them with all his heart. +Next day, to make an end of it, he went with the mayor and some lords and +citizens to Bayard Castle, by the river, where Richard then was, and read +an address, humbly entreating him to accept the Crown of England. +Richard, who looked down upon them out of a window and pretended to be in +great uneasiness and alarm, assured them there was nothing he desired +less, and that his deep affection for his nephews forbade him to think of +it. To this the Duke of Buckingham replied, with pretended warmth, that +the free people of England would never submit to his nephew's rule, and +that if Richard, who was the lawful heir, refused the Crown, why then +they must find some one else to wear it. The Duke of Gloucester +returned, that since he used that strong language, it became his painful +duty to think no more of himself, and to accept the Crown. + +Upon that, the people cheered and dispersed; and the Duke of Gloucester +and the Duke of Buckingham passed a pleasant evening, talking over the +play they had just acted with so much success, and every word of which +they had prepared together. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV--ENGLAND UNDER RICHARD THE THIRD + + +King Richard the Third was up betimes in the morning, and went to +Westminster Hall. In the Hall was a marble seat, upon which he sat +himself down between two great noblemen, and told the people that he +began the new reign in that place, because the first duty of a sovereign +was to administer the laws equally to all, and to maintain justice. He +then mounted his horse and rode back to the City, where he was received +by the clergy and the crowd as if he really had a right to the throne, +and really were a just man. The clergy and the crowd must have been +rather ashamed of themselves in secret, I think, for being such +poor-spirited knaves. + +The new King and his Queen were soon crowned with a great deal of show +and noise, which the people liked very much; and then the King set forth +on a royal progress through his dominions. He was crowned a second time +at York, in order that the people might have show and noise enough; and +wherever he went was received with shouts of rejoicing--from a good many +people of strong lungs, who were paid to strain their throats in crying, +'God save King Richard!' The plan was so successful that I am told it +has been imitated since, by other usurpers, in other progresses through +other dominions. + +While he was on this journey, King Richard stayed a week at Warwick. And +from Warwick he sent instructions home for one of the wickedest murders +that ever was done--the murder of the two young princes, his nephews, who +were shut up in the Tower of London. + +Sir Robert Brackenbury was at that time Governor of the Tower. To him, +by the hands of a messenger named JOHN GREEN, did King Richard send a +letter, ordering him by some means to put the two young princes to death. +But Sir Robert--I hope because he had children of his own, and loved +them--sent John Green back again, riding and spurring along the dusty +roads, with the answer that he could not do so horrible a piece of work. +The King, having frowningly considered a little, called to him SIR JAMES +TYRREL, his master of the horse, and to him gave authority to take +command of the Tower, whenever he would, for twenty-four hours, and to +keep all the keys of the Tower during that space of time. Tyrrel, well +knowing what was wanted, looked about him for two hardened ruffians, and +chose JOHN DIGHTON, one of his own grooms, and MILES FOREST, who was a +murderer by trade. Having secured these two assistants, he went, upon a +day in August, to the Tower, showed his authority from the King, took the +command for four-and-twenty hours, and obtained possession of the keys. +And when the black night came he went creeping, creeping, like a guilty +villain as he was, up the dark, stone winding stairs, and along the dark +stone passages, until he came to the door of the room where the two young +princes, having said their prayers, lay fast asleep, clasped in each +other's arms. And while he watched and listened at the door, he sent in +those evil demons, John Dighton and Miles Forest, who smothered the two +princes with the bed and pillows, and carried their bodies down the +stairs, and buried them under a great heap of stones at the staircase +foot. And when the day came, he gave up the command of the Tower, and +restored the keys, and hurried away without once looking behind him; and +Sir Robert Brackenbury went with fear and sadness to the princes' room, +and found the princes gone for ever. + +You know, through all this history, how true it is that traitors are +never true, and you will not be surprised to learn that the Duke of +Buckingham soon turned against King Richard, and joined a great +conspiracy that was formed to dethrone him, and to place the crown upon +its rightful owner's head. Richard had meant to keep the murder secret; +but when he heard through his spies that this conspiracy existed, and +that many lords and gentlemen drank in secret to the healths of the two +young princes in the Tower, he made it known that they were dead. The +conspirators, though thwarted for a moment, soon resolved to set up for +the crown against the murderous Richard, HENRY Earl of Richmond, grandson +of Catherine: that widow of Henry the Fifth who married Owen Tudor. And +as Henry was of the house of Lancaster, they proposed that he should +marry the Princess Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of the late King, now +the heiress of the house of York, and thus by uniting the rival families +put an end to the fatal wars of the Red and White Roses. All being +settled, a time was appointed for Henry to come over from Brittany, and +for a great rising against Richard to take place in several parts of +England at the same hour. On a certain day, therefore, in October, the +revolt took place; but unsuccessfully. Richard was prepared, Henry was +driven back at sea by a storm, his followers in England were dispersed, +and the Duke of Buckingham was taken, and at once beheaded in the market- +place at Salisbury. + +The time of his success was a good time, Richard thought, for summoning a +Parliament and getting some money. So, a Parliament was called, and it +flattered and fawned upon him as much as he could possibly desire, and +declared him to be the rightful King of England, and his only son Edward, +then eleven years of age, the next heir to the throne. + +Richard knew full well that, let the Parliament say what it would, the +Princess Elizabeth was remembered by people as the heiress of the house +of York; and having accurate information besides, of its being designed +by the conspirators to marry her to Henry of Richmond, he felt that it +would much strengthen him and weaken them, to be beforehand with them, +and marry her to his son. With this view he went to the Sanctuary at +Westminster, where the late King's widow and her daughter still were, and +besought them to come to Court: where (he swore by anything and +everything) they should be safely and honourably entertained. They came, +accordingly, but had scarcely been at Court a month when his son died +suddenly--or was poisoned--and his plan was crushed to pieces. + +In this extremity, King Richard, always active, thought, 'I must make +another plan.' And he made the plan of marrying the Princess Elizabeth +himself, although she was his niece. There was one difficulty in the +way: his wife, the Queen Anne, was alive. But, he knew (remembering his +nephews) how to remove that obstacle, and he made love to the Princess +Elizabeth, telling her he felt perfectly confident that the Queen would +die in February. The Princess was not a very scrupulous young lady, for, +instead of rejecting the murderer of her brothers with scorn and hatred, +she openly declared she loved him dearly; and, when February came and the +Queen did not die, she expressed her impatient opinion that she was too +long about it. However, King Richard was not so far out in his +prediction, but, that she died in March--he took good care of that--and +then this precious pair hoped to be married. But they were disappointed, +for the idea of such a marriage was so unpopular in the country, that the +King's chief counsellors, RATCLIFFE and CATESBY, would by no means +undertake to propose it, and the King was even obliged to declare in +public that he had never thought of such a thing. + +He was, by this time, dreaded and hated by all classes of his subjects. +His nobles deserted every day to Henry's side; he dared not call another +Parliament, lest his crimes should be denounced there; and for want of +money, he was obliged to get Benevolences from the citizens, which +exasperated them all against him. It was said too, that, being stricken +by his conscience, he dreamed frightful dreams, and started up in the +night-time, wild with terror and remorse. Active to the last, through +all this, he issued vigorous proclamations against Henry of Richmond and +all his followers, when he heard that they were coming against him with a +Fleet from France; and took the field as fierce and savage as a wild +boar--the animal represented on his shield. + +Henry of Richmond landed with six thousand men at Milford Haven, and came +on against King Richard, then encamped at Leicester with an army twice as +great, through North Wales. On Bosworth Field the two armies met; and +Richard, looking along Henry's ranks, and seeing them crowded with the +English nobles who had abandoned him, turned pale when he beheld the +powerful Lord Stanley and his son (whom he had tried hard to retain) +among them. But, he was as brave as he was wicked, and plunged into the +thickest of the fight. He was riding hither and thither, laying about +him in all directions, when he observed the Earl of Northumberland--one +of his few great allies--to stand inactive, and the main body of his +troops to hesitate. At the same moment, his desperate glance caught +Henry of Richmond among a little group of his knights. Riding hard at +him, and crying 'Treason!' he killed his standard-bearer, fiercely +unhorsed another gentleman, and aimed a powerful stroke at Henry himself, +to cut him down. But, Sir William Stanley parried it as it fell, and +before Richard could raise his arm again, he was borne down in a press of +numbers, unhorsed, and killed. Lord Stanley picked up the crown, all +bruised and trampled, and stained with blood, and put it upon Richmond's +head, amid loud and rejoicing cries of 'Long live King Henry!' + +That night, a horse was led up to the church of the Grey Friars at +Leicester; across whose back was tied, like some worthless sack, a naked +body brought there for burial. It was the body of the last of the +Plantagenet line, King Richard the Third, usurper and murderer, slain at +the battle of Bosworth Field in the thirty-second year of his age, after +a reign of two years. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI--ENGLAND UNDER HENRY THE SEVENTH + + +King Henry the Seventh did not turn out to be as fine a fellow as the +nobility and people hoped, in the first joy of their deliverance from +Richard the Third. He was very cold, crafty, and calculating, and would +do almost anything for money. He possessed considerable ability, but his +chief merit appears to have been that he was not cruel when there was +nothing to be got by it. + +The new King had promised the nobles who had espoused his cause that he +would marry the Princess Elizabeth. The first thing he did, was, to +direct her to be removed from the castle of Sheriff Hutton in Yorkshire, +where Richard had placed her, and restored to the care of her mother in +London. The young Earl of Warwick, Edward Plantagenet, son and heir of +the late Duke of Clarence, had been kept a prisoner in the same old +Yorkshire Castle with her. This boy, who was now fifteen, the new King +placed in the Tower for safety. Then he came to London in great state, +and gratified the people with a fine procession; on which kind of show he +often very much relied for keeping them in good humour. The sports and +feasts which took place were followed by a terrible fever, called the +Sweating Sickness; of which great numbers of people died. Lord Mayors +and Aldermen are thought to have suffered most from it; whether, because +they were in the habit of over-eating themselves, or because they were +very jealous of preserving filth and nuisances in the City (as they have +been since), I don't know. + +The King's coronation was postponed on account of the general ill-health, +and he afterwards deferred his marriage, as if he were not very anxious +that it should take place: and, even after that, deferred the Queen's +coronation so long that he gave offence to the York party. However, he +set these things right in the end, by hanging some men and seizing on the +rich possessions of others; by granting more popular pardons to the +followers of the late King than could, at first, be got from him; and, by +employing about his Court, some very scrupulous persons who had been +employed in the previous reign. + +As this reign was principally remarkable for two very curious impostures +which have become famous in history, we will make those two stories its +principal feature. + +There was a priest at Oxford of the name of Simons, who had for a pupil a +handsome boy named Lambert Simnel, the son of a baker. Partly to gratify +his own ambitious ends, and partly to carry out the designs of a secret +party formed against the King, this priest declared that his pupil, the +boy, was no other than the young Earl of Warwick; who (as everybody might +have known) was safely locked up in the Tower of London. The priest and +the boy went over to Ireland; and, at Dublin, enlisted in their cause all +ranks of the people: who seem to have been generous enough, but +exceedingly irrational. The Earl of Kildare, the governor of Ireland, +declared that he believed the boy to be what the priest represented; and +the boy, who had been well tutored by the priest, told them such things +of his childhood, and gave them so many descriptions of the Royal Family, +that they were perpetually shouting and hurrahing, and drinking his +health, and making all kinds of noisy and thirsty demonstrations, to +express their belief in him. Nor was this feeling confined to Ireland +alone, for the Earl of Lincoln--whom the late usurper had named as his +successor--went over to the young Pretender; and, after holding a secret +correspondence with the Dowager Duchess of Burgundy--the sister of Edward +the Fourth, who detested the present King and all his race--sailed to +Dublin with two thousand German soldiers of her providing. In this +promising state of the boy's fortunes, he was crowned there, with a crown +taken off the head of a statue of the Virgin Mary; and was then, +according to the Irish custom of those days, carried home on the +shoulders of a big chieftain possessing a great deal more strength than +sense. Father Simons, you may be sure, was mighty busy at the +coronation. + +Ten days afterwards, the Germans, and the Irish, and the priest, and the +boy, and the Earl of Lincoln, all landed in Lancashire to invade England. +The King, who had good intelligence of their movements, set up his +standard at Nottingham, where vast numbers resorted to him every day; +while the Earl of Lincoln could gain but very few. With his small force +he tried to make for the town of Newark; but the King's army getting +between him and that place, he had no choice but to risk a battle at +Stoke. It soon ended in the complete destruction of the Pretender's +forces, one half of whom were killed; among them, the Earl himself. The +priest and the baker's boy were taken prisoners. The priest, after +confessing the trick, was shut up in prison, where he afterwards +died--suddenly perhaps. The boy was taken into the King's kitchen and +made a turnspit. He was afterwards raised to the station of one of the +King's falconers; and so ended this strange imposition. + +There seems reason to suspect that the Dowager Queen--always a restless +and busy woman--had had some share in tutoring the baker's son. The King +was very angry with her, whether or no. He seized upon her property, and +shut her up in a convent at Bermondsey. + +One might suppose that the end of this story would have put the Irish +people on their guard; but they were quite ready to receive a second +impostor, as they had received the first, and that same troublesome +Duchess of Burgundy soon gave them the opportunity. All of a sudden +there appeared at Cork, in a vessel arriving from Portugal, a young man +of excellent abilities, of very handsome appearance and most winning +manners, who declared himself to be Richard, Duke of York, the second son +of King Edward the Fourth. 'O,' said some, even of those ready Irish +believers, 'but surely that young Prince was murdered by his uncle in the +Tower!'--'It _is_ supposed so,' said the engaging young man; 'and my +brother _was_ killed in that gloomy prison; but I escaped--it don't +matter how, at present--and have been wandering about the world for seven +long years.' This explanation being quite satisfactory to numbers of the +Irish people, they began again to shout and to hurrah, and to drink his +health, and to make the noisy and thirsty demonstrations all over again. +And the big chieftain in Dublin began to look out for another coronation, +and another young King to be carried home on his back. + +Now, King Henry being then on bad terms with France, the French King, +Charles the Eighth, saw that, by pretending to believe in the handsome +young man, he could trouble his enemy sorely. So, he invited him over to +the French Court, and appointed him a body-guard, and treated him in all +respects as if he really were the Duke of York. Peace, however, being +soon concluded between the two Kings, the pretended Duke was turned +adrift, and wandered for protection to the Duchess of Burgundy. She, +after feigning to inquire into the reality of his claims, declared him to +be the very picture of her dear departed brother; gave him a body-guard +at her Court, of thirty halberdiers; and called him by the sounding name +of the White Rose of England. + +The leading members of the White Rose party in England sent over an +agent, named Sir Robert Clifford, to ascertain whether the White Rose's +claims were good: the King also sent over his agents to inquire into the +Rose's history. The White Roses declared the young man to be really the +Duke of York; the King declared him to be PERKIN WARBECK, the son of a +merchant of the city of Tournay, who had acquired his knowledge of +England, its language and manners, from the English merchants who traded +in Flanders; it was also stated by the Royal agents that he had been in +the service of Lady Brompton, the wife of an exiled English nobleman, and +that the Duchess of Burgundy had caused him to be trained and taught, +expressly for this deception. The King then required the Archduke +Philip--who was the sovereign of Burgundy--to banish this new Pretender, +or to deliver him up; but, as the Archduke replied that he could not +control the Duchess in her own land, the King, in revenge, took the +market of English cloth away from Antwerp, and prevented all commercial +intercourse between the two countries. + +He also, by arts and bribes, prevailed on Sir Robert Clifford to betray +his employers; and he denouncing several famous English noblemen as being +secretly the friends of Perkin Warbeck, the King had three of the +foremost executed at once. Whether he pardoned the remainder because +they were poor, I do not know; but it is only too probable that he +refused to pardon one famous nobleman against whom the same Clifford soon +afterwards informed separately, because he was rich. This was no other +than Sir William Stanley, who had saved the King's life at the battle of +Bosworth Field. It is very doubtful whether his treason amounted to much +more than his having said, that if he were sure the young man was the +Duke of York, he would not take arms against him. Whatever he had done +he admitted, like an honourable spirit; and he lost his head for it, and +the covetous King gained all his wealth. + +Perkin Warbeck kept quiet for three years; but, as the Flemings began to +complain heavily of the loss of their trade by the stoppage of the +Antwerp market on his account, and as it was not unlikely that they might +even go so far as to take his life, or give him up, he found it necessary +to do something. Accordingly he made a desperate sally, and landed, with +only a few hundred men, on the coast of Deal. But he was soon glad to +get back to the place from whence he came; for the country people rose +against his followers, killed a great many, and took a hundred and fifty +prisoners: who were all driven to London, tied together with ropes, like +a team of cattle. Every one of them was hanged on some part or other of +the sea-shore; in order, that if any more men should come over with +Perkin Warbeck, they might see the bodies as a warning before they +landed. + +Then the wary King, by making a treaty of commerce with the Flemings, +drove Perkin Warbeck out of that country; and, by completely gaining over +the Irish to his side, deprived him of that asylum too. He wandered away +to Scotland, and told his story at that Court. King James the Fourth of +Scotland, who was no friend to King Henry, and had no reason to be (for +King Henry had bribed his Scotch lords to betray him more than once; but +had never succeeded in his plots), gave him a great reception, called him +his cousin, and gave him in marriage the Lady Catherine Gordon, a +beautiful and charming creature related to the royal house of Stuart. + +Alarmed by this successful reappearance of the Pretender, the King still +undermined, and bought, and bribed, and kept his doings and Perkin +Warbeck's story in the dark, when he might, one would imagine, have +rendered the matter clear to all England. But, for all this bribing of +the Scotch lords at the Scotch King's Court, he could not procure the +Pretender to be delivered up to him. James, though not very particular +in many respects, would not betray him; and the ever-busy Duchess of +Burgundy so provided him with arms, and good soldiers, and with money +besides, that he had soon a little army of fifteen hundred men of various +nations. With these, and aided by the Scottish King in person, he +crossed the border into England, and made a proclamation to the people, +in which he called the King 'Henry Tudor;' offered large rewards to any +who should take or distress him; and announced himself as King Richard +the Fourth come to receive the homage of his faithful subjects. His +faithful subjects, however, cared nothing for him, and hated his faithful +troops: who, being of different nations, quarrelled also among +themselves. Worse than this, if worse were possible, they began to +plunder the country; upon which the White Rose said, that he would rather +lose his rights, than gain them through the miseries of the English +people. The Scottish King made a jest of his scruples; but they and +their whole force went back again without fighting a battle. + +The worst consequence of this attempt was, that a rising took place among +the people of Cornwall, who considered themselves too heavily taxed to +meet the charges of the expected war. Stimulated by Flammock, a lawyer, +and Joseph, a blacksmith, and joined by Lord Audley and some other +country gentlemen, they marched on all the way to Deptford Bridge, where +they fought a battle with the King's army. They were defeated--though +the Cornish men fought with great bravery--and the lord was beheaded, and +the lawyer and the blacksmith were hanged, drawn, and quartered. The +rest were pardoned. The King, who believed every man to be as avaricious +as himself, and thought that money could settle anything, allowed them to +make bargains for their liberty with the soldiers who had taken them. + +Perkin Warbeck, doomed to wander up and down, and never to find rest +anywhere--a sad fate: almost a sufficient punishment for an imposture, +which he seems in time to have half believed himself--lost his Scottish +refuge through a truce being made between the two Kings; and found +himself, once more, without a country before him in which he could lay +his head. But James (always honourable and true to him, alike when he +melted down his plate, and even the great gold chain he had been used to +wear, to pay soldiers in his cause; and now, when that cause was lost and +hopeless) did not conclude the treaty, until he had safely departed out +of the Scottish dominions. He, and his beautiful wife, who was faithful +to him under all reverses, and left her state and home to follow his poor +fortunes, were put aboard ship with everything necessary for their +comfort and protection, and sailed for Ireland. + +But, the Irish people had had enough of counterfeit Earls of Warwick and +Dukes of York, for one while; and would give the White Rose no aid. So, +the White Rose--encircled by thorns indeed--resolved to go with his +beautiful wife to Cornwall as a forlorn resource, and see what might be +made of the Cornish men, who had risen so valiantly a little while +before, and who had fought so bravely at Deptford Bridge. + +To Whitsand Bay, in Cornwall, accordingly, came Perkin Warbeck and his +wife; and the lovely lady he shut up for safety in the Castle of St. +Michael's Mount, and then marched into Devonshire at the head of three +thousand Cornishmen. These were increased to six thousand by the time of +his arrival in Exeter; but, there the people made a stout resistance, and +he went on to Taunton, where he came in sight of the King's army. The +stout Cornish men, although they were few in number, and badly armed, +were so bold, that they never thought of retreating; but bravely looked +forward to a battle on the morrow. Unhappily for them, the man who was +possessed of so many engaging qualities, and who attracted so many people +to his side when he had nothing else with which to tempt them, was not as +brave as they. In the night, when the two armies lay opposite to each +other, he mounted a swift horse and fled. When morning dawned, the poor +confiding Cornish men, discovering that they had no leader, surrendered +to the King's power. Some of them were hanged, and the rest were +pardoned and went miserably home. + +Before the King pursued Perkin Warbeck to the sanctuary of Beaulieu in +the New Forest, where it was soon known that he had taken refuge, he sent +a body of horsemen to St. Michael's Mount, to seize his wife. She was +soon taken and brought as a captive before the King. But she was so +beautiful, and so good, and so devoted to the man in whom she believed, +that the King regarded her with compassion, treated her with great +respect, and placed her at Court, near the Queen's person. And many +years after Perkin Warbeck was no more, and when his strange story had +become like a nursery tale, _she_ was called the White Rose, by the +people, in remembrance of her beauty. + +The sanctuary at Beaulieu was soon surrounded by the King's men; and the +King, pursuing his usual dark, artful ways, sent pretended friends to +Perkin Warbeck to persuade him to come out and surrender himself. This +he soon did; the King having taken a good look at the man of whom he had +heard so much--from behind a screen--directed him to be well mounted, and +to ride behind him at a little distance, guarded, but not bound in any +way. So they entered London with the King's favourite show--a +procession; and some of the people hooted as the Pretender rode slowly +through the streets to the Tower; but the greater part were quiet, and +very curious to see him. From the Tower, he was taken to the Palace at +Westminster, and there lodged like a gentleman, though closely watched. +He was examined every now and then as to his imposture; but the King was +so secret in all he did, that even then he gave it a consequence, which +it cannot be supposed to have in itself deserved. + +At last Perkin Warbeck ran away, and took refuge in another sanctuary +near Richmond in Surrey. From this he was again persuaded to deliver +himself up; and, being conveyed to London, he stood in the stocks for a +whole day, outside Westminster Hall, and there read a paper purporting to +be his full confession, and relating his history as the King's agents had +originally described it. He was then shut up in the Tower again, in the +company of the Earl of Warwick, who had now been there for fourteen +years: ever since his removal out of Yorkshire, except when the King had +had him at Court, and had shown him to the people, to prove the imposture +of the Baker's boy. It is but too probable, when we consider the crafty +character of Henry the Seventh, that these two were brought together for +a cruel purpose. A plot was soon discovered between them and the +keepers, to murder the Governor, get possession of the keys, and proclaim +Perkin Warbeck as King Richard the Fourth. That there was some such +plot, is likely; that they were tempted into it, is at least as likely; +that the unfortunate Earl of Warwick--last male of the Plantagenet +line--was too unused to the world, and too ignorant and simple to know +much about it, whatever it was, is perfectly certain; and that it was the +King's interest to get rid of him, is no less so. He was beheaded on +Tower Hill, and Perkin Warbeck was hanged at Tyburn. + +Such was the end of the pretended Duke of York, whose shadowy history was +made more shadowy--and ever will be--by the mystery and craft of the +King. If he had turned his great natural advantages to a more honest +account, he might have lived a happy and respected life, even in those +days. But he died upon a gallows at Tyburn, leaving the Scottish lady, +who had loved him so well, kindly protected at the Queen's Court. After +some time she forgot her old loves and troubles, as many people do with +Time's merciful assistance, and married a Welsh gentleman. Her second +husband, SIR MATTHEW CRADOC, more honest and more happy than her first, +lies beside her in a tomb in the old church of Swansea. + +The ill-blood between France and England in this reign, arose out of the +continued plotting of the Duchess of Burgundy, and disputes respecting +the affairs of Brittany. The King feigned to be very patriotic, +indignant, and warlike; but he always contrived so as never to make war +in reality, and always to make money. His taxation of the people, on +pretence of war with France, involved, at one time, a very dangerous +insurrection, headed by Sir John Egremont, and a common man called John a +Chambre. But it was subdued by the royal forces, under the command of +the Earl of Surrey. The knighted John escaped to the Duchess of +Burgundy, who was ever ready to receive any one who gave the King +trouble; and the plain John was hanged at York, in the midst of a number +of his men, but on a much higher gibbet, as being a greater traitor. Hung +high or hung low, however, hanging is much the same to the person hung. + +Within a year after her marriage, the Queen had given birth to a son, who +was called Prince Arthur, in remembrance of the old British prince of +romance and story; and who, when all these events had happened, being +then in his fifteenth year, was married to CATHERINE, the daughter of the +Spanish monarch, with great rejoicings and bright prospects; but in a +very few months he sickened and died. As soon as the King had recovered +from his grief, he thought it a pity that the fortune of the Spanish +Princess, amounting to two hundred thousand crowns, should go out of the +family; and therefore arranged that the young widow should marry his +second son HENRY, then twelve years of age, when he too should be +fifteen. There were objections to this marriage on the part of the +clergy; but, as the infallible Pope was gained over, and, as he _must_ be +right, that settled the business for the time. The King's eldest +daughter was provided for, and a long course of disturbance was +considered to be set at rest, by her being married to the Scottish King. + +And now the Queen died. When the King had got over that grief too, his +mind once more reverted to his darling money for consolation, and he +thought of marrying the Dowager Queen of Naples, who was immensely rich: +but, as it turned out not to be practicable to gain the money however +practicable it might have been to gain the lady, he gave up the idea. He +was not so fond of her but that he soon proposed to marry the Dowager +Duchess of Savoy; and, soon afterwards, the widow of the King of Castile, +who was raving mad. But he made a money-bargain instead, and married +neither. + +The Duchess of Burgundy, among the other discontented people to whom she +had given refuge, had sheltered EDMUND DE LA POLE (younger brother of +that Earl of Lincoln who was killed at Stoke), now Earl of Suffolk. The +King had prevailed upon him to return to the marriage of Prince Arthur; +but, he soon afterwards went away again; and then the King, suspecting a +conspiracy, resorted to his favourite plan of sending him some +treacherous friends, and buying of those scoundrels the secrets they +disclosed or invented. Some arrests and executions took place in +consequence. In the end, the King, on a promise of not taking his life, +obtained possession of the person of Edmund de la Pole, and shut him up +in the Tower. + +This was his last enemy. If he had lived much longer he would have made +many more among the people, by the grinding exaction to which he +constantly exposed them, and by the tyrannical acts of his two prime +favourites in all money-raising matters, EDMUND DUDLEY and RICHARD +EMPSON. But Death--the enemy who is not to be bought off or deceived, +and on whom no money, and no treachery has any effect--presented himself +at this juncture, and ended the King's reign. He died of the gout, on +the twenty-second of April, one thousand five hundred and nine, and in +the fifty-third year of his age, after reigning twenty-four years; he was +buried in the beautiful Chapel of Westminster Abbey, which he had himself +founded, and which still bears his name. + +It was in this reign that the great CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, on behalf of +Spain, discovered what was then called The New World. Great wonder, +interest, and hope of wealth being awakened in England thereby, the King +and the merchants of London and Bristol fitted out an English expedition +for further discoveries in the New World, and entrusted it to SEBASTIAN +CABOT, of Bristol, the son of a Venetian pilot there. He was very +successful in his voyage, and gained high reputation, both for himself +and England. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII--ENGLAND UNDER HENRY THE EIGHTH, CALLED BLUFF KING HAL AND +BURLY KING HARRY + + +PART THE FIRST + + +We now come to King Henry the Eighth, whom it has been too much the +fashion to call 'Bluff King Hal,' and 'Burly King Harry,' and other fine +names; but whom I shall take the liberty to call, plainly, one of the +most detestable villains that ever drew breath. You will be able to +judge, long before we come to the end of his life, whether he deserves +the character. + +He was just eighteen years of age when he came to the throne. People +said he was handsome then; but I don't believe it. He was a big, burly, +noisy, small-eyed, large-faced, double-chinned, swinish-looking fellow in +later life (as we know from the likenesses of him, painted by the famous +HANS HOLBEIN), and it is not easy to believe that so bad a character can +ever have been veiled under a prepossessing appearance. + +He was anxious to make himself popular; and the people, who had long +disliked the late King, were very willing to believe that he deserved to +be so. He was extremely fond of show and display, and so were they. +Therefore there was great rejoicing when he married the Princess +Catherine, and when they were both crowned. And the King fought at +tournaments and always came off victorious--for the courtiers took care +of that--and there was a general outcry that he was a wonderful man. +Empson, Dudley, and their supporters were accused of a variety of crimes +they had never committed, instead of the offences of which they really +had been guilty; and they were pilloried, and set upon horses with their +faces to the tails, and knocked about and beheaded, to the satisfaction +of the people, and the enrichment of the King. + +The Pope, so indefatigable in getting the world into trouble, had mixed +himself up in a war on the continent of Europe, occasioned by the +reigning Princes of little quarrelling states in Italy having at various +times married into other Royal families, and so led to _their_ claiming a +share in those petty Governments. The King, who discovered that he was +very fond of the Pope, sent a herald to the King of France, to say that +he must not make war upon that holy personage, because he was the father +of all Christians. As the French King did not mind this relationship in +the least, and also refused to admit a claim King Henry made to certain +lands in France, war was declared between the two countries. Not to +perplex this story with an account of the tricks and designs of all the +sovereigns who were engaged in it, it is enough to say that England made +a blundering alliance with Spain, and got stupidly taken in by that +country; which made its own terms with France when it could and left +England in the lurch. SIR EDWARD HOWARD, a bold admiral, son of the Earl +of Surrey, distinguished himself by his bravery against the French in +this business; but, unfortunately, he was more brave than wise, for, +skimming into the French harbour of Brest with only a few row-boats, he +attempted (in revenge for the defeat and death of SIR THOMAS KNYVETT, +another bold English admiral) to take some strong French ships, well +defended with batteries of cannon. The upshot was, that he was left on +board of one of them (in consequence of its shooting away from his own +boat), with not more than about a dozen men, and was thrown into the sea +and drowned: though not until he had taken from his breast his gold chain +and gold whistle, which were the signs of his office, and had cast them +into the sea to prevent their being made a boast of by the enemy. After +this defeat--which was a great one, for Sir Edward Howard was a man of +valour and fame--the King took it into his head to invade France in +person; first executing that dangerous Earl of Suffolk whom his father +had left in the Tower, and appointing Queen Catherine to the charge of +his kingdom in his absence. He sailed to Calais, where he was joined by +MAXIMILIAN, Emperor of Germany, who pretended to be his soldier, and who +took pay in his service: with a good deal of nonsense of that sort, +flattering enough to the vanity of a vain blusterer. The King might be +successful enough in sham fights; but his idea of real battles chiefly +consisted in pitching silken tents of bright colours that were +ignominiously blown down by the wind, and in making a vast display of +gaudy flags and golden curtains. Fortune, however, favoured him better +than he deserved; for, after much waste of time in tent pitching, flag +flying, gold curtaining, and other such masquerading, he gave the French +battle at a place called Guinegate: where they took such an unaccountable +panic, and fled with such swiftness, that it was ever afterwards called +by the English the Battle of Spurs. Instead of following up his +advantage, the King, finding that he had had enough of real fighting, +came home again. + +The Scottish King, though nearly related to Henry by marriage, had taken +part against him in this war. The Earl of Surrey, as the English +general, advanced to meet him when he came out of his own dominions and +crossed the river Tweed. The two armies came up with one another when +the Scottish King had also crossed the river Till, and was encamped upon +the last of the Cheviot Hills, called the Hill of Flodden. Along the +plain below it, the English, when the hour of battle came, advanced. The +Scottish army, which had been drawn up in five great bodies, then came +steadily down in perfect silence. So they, in their turn, advanced to +meet the English army, which came on in one long line; and they attacked +it with a body of spearmen, under LORD HOME. At first they had the best +of it; but the English recovered themselves so bravely, and fought with +such valour, that, when the Scottish King had almost made his way up to +the Royal Standard, he was slain, and the whole Scottish power routed. +Ten thousand Scottish men lay dead that day on Flodden Field; and among +them, numbers of the nobility and gentry. For a long time afterwards, +the Scottish peasantry used to believe that their King had not been +really killed in this battle, because no Englishman had found an iron +belt he wore about his body as a penance for having been an unnatural and +undutiful son. But, whatever became of his belt, the English had his +sword and dagger, and the ring from his finger, and his body too, covered +with wounds. There is no doubt of it; for it was seen and recognised by +English gentlemen who had known the Scottish King well. + +When King Henry was making ready to renew the war in France, the French +King was contemplating peace. His queen, dying at this time, he +proposed, though he was upwards of fifty years old, to marry King Henry's +sister, the Princess Mary, who, besides being only sixteen, was betrothed +to the Duke of Suffolk. As the inclinations of young Princesses were not +much considered in such matters, the marriage was concluded, and the poor +girl was escorted to France, where she was immediately left as the French +King's bride, with only one of all her English attendants. That one was +a pretty young girl named ANNE BOLEYN, niece of the Earl of Surrey, who +had been made Duke of Norfolk, after the victory of Flodden Field. Anne +Boleyn's is a name to be remembered, as you will presently find. + +And now the French King, who was very proud of his young wife, was +preparing for many years of happiness, and she was looking forward, I +dare say, to many years of misery, when he died within three months, and +left her a young widow. The new French monarch, FRANCIS THE FIRST, +seeing how important it was to his interests that she should take for her +second husband no one but an Englishman, advised her first lover, the +Duke of Suffolk, when King Henry sent him over to France to fetch her +home, to marry her. The Princess being herself so fond of that Duke, as +to tell him that he must either do so then, or for ever lose her, they +were wedded; and Henry afterwards forgave them. In making interest with +the King, the Duke of Suffolk had addressed his most powerful favourite +and adviser, THOMAS WOLSEY--a name very famous in history for its rise +and downfall. + +Wolsey was the son of a respectable butcher at Ipswich, in Suffolk and +received so excellent an education that he became a tutor to the family +of the Marquis of Dorset, who afterwards got him appointed one of the +late King's chaplains. On the accession of Henry the Eighth, he was +promoted and taken into great favour. He was now Archbishop of York; the +Pope had made him a Cardinal besides; and whoever wanted influence in +England or favour with the King--whether he were a foreign monarch or an +English nobleman--was obliged to make a friend of the great Cardinal +Wolsey. + +He was a gay man, who could dance and jest, and sing and drink; and those +were the roads to so much, or rather so little, of a heart as King Henry +had. He was wonderfully fond of pomp and glitter, and so was the King. +He knew a good deal of the Church learning of that time; much of which +consisted in finding artful excuses and pretences for almost any wrong +thing, and in arguing that black was white, or any other colour. This +kind of learning pleased the King too. For many such reasons, the +Cardinal was high in estimation with the King; and, being a man of far +greater ability, knew as well how to manage him, as a clever keeper may +know how to manage a wolf or a tiger, or any other cruel and uncertain +beast, that may turn upon him and tear him any day. Never had there been +seen in England such state as my Lord Cardinal kept. His wealth was +enormous; equal, it was reckoned, to the riches of the Crown. His +palaces were as splendid as the King's, and his retinue was eight hundred +strong. He held his Court, dressed out from top to toe in flaming +scarlet; and his very shoes were golden, set with precious stones. His +followers rode on blood horses; while he, with a wonderful affectation of +humility in the midst of his great splendour, ambled on a mule with a red +velvet saddle and bridle and golden stirrups. + +Through the influence of this stately priest, a grand meeting was +arranged to take place between the French and English Kings in France; +but on ground belonging to England. A prodigious show of friendship and +rejoicing was to be made on the occasion; and heralds were sent to +proclaim with brazen trumpets through all the principal cities of Europe, +that, on a certain day, the Kings of France and England, as companions +and brothers in arms, each attended by eighteen followers, would hold a +tournament against all knights who might choose to come. + +CHARLES, the new Emperor of Germany (the old one being dead), wanted to +prevent too cordial an alliance between these sovereigns, and came over +to England before the King could repair to the place of meeting; and, +besides making an agreeable impression upon him, secured Wolsey's +interest by promising that his influence should make him Pope when the +next vacancy occurred. On the day when the Emperor left England, the +King and all the Court went over to Calais, and thence to the place of +meeting, between Ardres and Guisnes, commonly called the Field of the +Cloth of Gold. Here, all manner of expense and prodigality was lavished +on the decorations of the show; many of the knights and gentlemen being +so superbly dressed that it was said they carried their whole estates +upon their shoulders. + +There were sham castles, temporary chapels, fountains running wine, great +cellars full of wine free as water to all comers, silk tents, gold lace +and foil, gilt lions, and such things without end; and, in the midst of +all, the rich Cardinal out-shone and out-glittered all the noblemen and +gentlemen assembled. After a treaty made between the two Kings with as +much solemnity as if they had intended to keep it, the lists--nine +hundred feet long, and three hundred and twenty broad--were opened for +the tournament; the Queens of France and England looking on with great +array of lords and ladies. Then, for ten days, the two sovereigns fought +five combats every day, and always beat their polite adversaries; though +they _do_ write that the King of England, being thrown in a wrestle one +day by the King of France, lost his kingly temper with his brother-in- +arms, and wanted to make a quarrel of it. Then, there is a great story +belonging to this Field of the Cloth of Gold, showing how the English +were distrustful of the French, and the French of the English, until +Francis rode alone one morning to Henry's tent; and, going in before he +was out of bed, told him in joke that he was his prisoner; and how Henry +jumped out of bed and embraced Francis; and how Francis helped Henry to +dress, and warmed his linen for him; and how Henry gave Francis a +splendid jewelled collar, and how Francis gave Henry, in return, a costly +bracelet. All this and a great deal more was so written about, and sung +about, and talked about at that time (and, indeed, since that time too), +that the world has had good cause to be sick of it, for ever. + +Of course, nothing came of all these fine doings but a speedy renewal of +the war between England and France, in which the two Royal companions and +brothers in arms longed very earnestly to damage one another. But, +before it broke out again, the Duke of Buckingham was shamefully executed +on Tower Hill, on the evidence of a discharged servant--really for +nothing, except the folly of having believed in a friar of the name of +HOPKINS, who had pretended to be a prophet, and who had mumbled and +jumbled out some nonsense about the Duke's son being destined to be very +great in the land. It was believed that the unfortunate Duke had given +offence to the great Cardinal by expressing his mind freely about the +expense and absurdity of the whole business of the Field of the Cloth of +Gold. At any rate, he was beheaded, as I have said, for nothing. And +the people who saw it done were very angry, and cried out that it was the +work of 'the butcher's son!' + +The new war was a short one, though the Earl of Surrey invaded France +again, and did some injury to that country. It ended in another treaty +of peace between the two kingdoms, and in the discovery that the Emperor +of Germany was not such a good friend to England in reality, as he +pretended to be. Neither did he keep his promise to Wolsey to make him +Pope, though the King urged him. Two Popes died in pretty quick +succession; but the foreign priests were too much for the Cardinal, and +kept him out of the post. So the Cardinal and King together found out +that the Emperor of Germany was not a man to keep faith with; broke off a +projected marriage between the King's daughter MARY, Princess of Wales, +and that sovereign; and began to consider whether it might not be well to +marry the young lady, either to Francis himself, or to his eldest son. + +There now arose at Wittemberg, in Germany, the great leader of the mighty +change in England which is called The Reformation, and which set the +people free from their slavery to the priests. This was a learned +Doctor, named MARTIN LUTHER, who knew all about them, for he had been a +priest, and even a monk, himself. The preaching and writing of Wickliffe +had set a number of men thinking on this subject; and Luther, finding one +day to his great surprise, that there really was a book called the New +Testament which the priests did not allow to be read, and which contained +truths that they suppressed, began to be very vigorous against the whole +body, from the Pope downward. It happened, while he was yet only +beginning his vast work of awakening the nation, that an impudent fellow +named TETZEL, a friar of very bad character, came into his neighbourhood +selling what were called Indulgences, by wholesale, to raise money for +beautifying the great Cathedral of St. Peter's, at Rome. Whoever bought +an Indulgence of the Pope was supposed to buy himself off from the +punishment of Heaven for his offences. Luther told the people that these +Indulgences were worthless bits of paper, before God, and that Tetzel and +his masters were a crew of impostors in selling them. + +The King and the Cardinal were mightily indignant at this presumption; +and the King (with the help of SIR THOMAS MORE, a wise man, whom he +afterwards repaid by striking off his head) even wrote a book about it, +with which the Pope was so well pleased that he gave the King the title +of Defender of the Faith. The King and the Cardinal also issued flaming +warnings to the people not to read Luther's books, on pain of +excommunication. But they did read them for all that; and the rumour of +what was in them spread far and wide. + +When this great change was thus going on, the King began to show himself +in his truest and worst colours. Anne Boleyn, the pretty little girl who +had gone abroad to France with his sister, was by this time grown up to +be very beautiful, and was one of the ladies in attendance on Queen +Catherine. Now, Queen Catherine was no longer young or handsome, and it +is likely that she was not particularly good-tempered; having been always +rather melancholy, and having been made more so by the deaths of four of +her children when they were very young. So, the King fell in love with +the fair Anne Boleyn, and said to himself, 'How can I be best rid of my +own troublesome wife whom I am tired of, and marry Anne?' + +{Catherine was old, so he fell in love with Anne Boleyn: p0.jpg} + +You recollect that Queen Catherine had been the wife of Henry's brother. +What does the King do, after thinking it over, but calls his favourite +priests about him, and says, O! his mind is in such a dreadful state, and +he is so frightfully uneasy, because he is afraid it was not lawful for +him to marry the Queen! Not one of those priests had the courage to hint +that it was rather curious he had never thought of that before, and that +his mind seemed to have been in a tolerably jolly condition during a +great many years, in which he certainly had not fretted himself thin; +but, they all said, Ah! that was very true, and it was a serious +business; and perhaps the best way to make it right, would be for his +Majesty to be divorced! The King replied, Yes, he thought that would be +the best way, certainly; so they all went to work. + +If I were to relate to you the intrigues and plots that took place in the +endeavour to get this divorce, you would think the History of England the +most tiresome book in the world. So I shall say no more, than that after +a vast deal of negotiation and evasion, the Pope issued a commission to +Cardinal Wolsey and CARDINAL CAMPEGGIO (whom he sent over from Italy for +the purpose), to try the whole case in England. It is supposed--and I +think with reason--that Wolsey was the Queen's enemy, because she had +reproved him for his proud and gorgeous manner of life. But, he did not +at first know that the King wanted to marry Anne Boleyn; and when he did +know it, he even went down on his knees, in the endeavour to dissuade +him. + +The Cardinals opened their court in the Convent of the Black Friars, near +to where the bridge of that name in London now stands; and the King and +Queen, that they might be near it, took up their lodgings at the +adjoining palace of Bridewell, of which nothing now remains but a bad +prison. On the opening of the court, when the King and Queen were called +on to appear, that poor ill-used lady, with a dignity and firmness and +yet with a womanly affection worthy to be always admired, went and +kneeled at the King's feet, and said that she had come, a stranger, to +his dominions; that she had been a good and true wife to him for twenty +years; and that she could acknowledge no power in those Cardinals to try +whether she should be considered his wife after all that time, or should +be put away. With that, she got up and left the court, and would never +afterwards come back to it. + +The King pretended to be very much overcome, and said, O! my lords and +gentlemen, what a good woman she was to be sure, and how delighted he +would be to live with her unto death, but for that terrible uneasiness in +his mind which was quite wearing him away! So, the case went on, and +there was nothing but talk for two months. Then Cardinal Campeggio, who, +on behalf of the Pope, wanted nothing so much as delay, adjourned it for +two more months; and before that time was elapsed, the Pope himself +adjourned it indefinitely, by requiring the King and Queen to come to +Rome and have it tried there. But by good luck for the King, word was +brought to him by some of his people, that they had happened to meet at +supper, THOMAS CRANMER, a learned Doctor of Cambridge, who had proposed +to urge the Pope on, by referring the case to all the learned doctors and +bishops, here and there and everywhere, and getting their opinions that +the King's marriage was unlawful. The King, who was now in a hurry to +marry Anne Boleyn, thought this such a good idea, that he sent for +Cranmer, post haste, and said to LORD ROCHFORT, Anne Boleyn's father, +'Take this learned Doctor down to your country-house, and there let him +have a good room for a study, and no end of books out of which to prove +that I may marry your daughter.' Lord Rochfort, not at all reluctant, +made the learned Doctor as comfortable as he could; and the learned +Doctor went to work to prove his case. All this time, the King and Anne +Boleyn were writing letters to one another almost daily, full of +impatience to have the case settled; and Anne Boleyn was showing herself +(as I think) very worthy of the fate which afterwards befel her. + +It was bad for Cardinal Wolsey that he had left Cranmer to render this +help. It was worse for him that he had tried to dissuade the King from +marrying Anne Boleyn. Such a servant as he, to such a master as Henry, +would probably have fallen in any case; but, between the hatred of the +party of the Queen that was, and the hatred of the party of the Queen +that was to be, he fell suddenly and heavily. Going down one day to the +Court of Chancery, where he now presided, he was waited upon by the Dukes +of Norfolk and Suffolk, who told him that they brought an order to him to +resign that office, and to withdraw quietly to a house he had at Esher, +in Surrey. The Cardinal refusing, they rode off to the King; and next +day came back with a letter from him, on reading which, the Cardinal +submitted. An inventory was made out of all the riches in his palace at +York Place (now Whitehall), and he went sorrowfully up the river, in his +barge, to Putney. An abject man he was, in spite of his pride; for being +overtaken, riding out of that place towards Esher, by one of the King's +chamberlains who brought him a kind message and a ring, he alighted from +his mule, took off his cap, and kneeled down in the dirt. His poor Fool, +whom in his prosperous days he had always kept in his palace to entertain +him, cut a far better figure than he; for, when the Cardinal said to the +chamberlain that he had nothing to send to his lord the King as a +present, but that jester who was a most excellent one, it took six strong +yeomen to remove the faithful fool from his master. + +The once proud Cardinal was soon further disgraced, and wrote the most +abject letters to his vile sovereign; who humbled him one day and +encouraged him the next, according to his humour, until he was at last +ordered to go and reside in his diocese of York. He said he was too +poor; but I don't know how he made that out, for he took a hundred and +sixty servants with him, and seventy-two cart-loads of furniture, food, +and wine. He remained in that part of the country for the best part of a +year, and showed himself so improved by his misfortunes, and was so mild +and so conciliating, that he won all hearts. And indeed, even in his +proud days, he had done some magnificent things for learning and +education. At last, he was arrested for high treason; and, coming slowly +on his journey towards London, got as far as Leicester. Arriving at +Leicester Abbey after dark, and very ill, he said--when the monks came +out at the gate with lighted torches to receive him--that he had come to +lay his bones among them. He had indeed; for he was taken to a bed, from +which he never rose again. His last words were, 'Had I but served God as +diligently as I have served the King, He would not have given me over, in +my grey hairs. Howbeit, this is my just reward for my pains and +diligence, not regarding my service to God, but only my duty to my +prince.' The news of his death was quickly carried to the King, who was +amusing himself with archery in the garden of the magnificent Palace at +Hampton Court, which that very Wolsey had presented to him. The greatest +emotion his royal mind displayed at the loss of a servant so faithful and +so ruined, was a particular desire to lay hold of fifteen hundred pounds +which the Cardinal was reported to have hidden somewhere. + +The opinions concerning the divorce, of the learned doctors and bishops +and others, being at last collected, and being generally in the King's +favour, were forwarded to the Pope, with an entreaty that he would now +grant it. The unfortunate Pope, who was a timid man, was half distracted +between his fear of his authority being set aside in England if he did +not do as he was asked, and his dread of offending the Emperor of +Germany, who was Queen Catherine's nephew. In this state of mind he +still evaded and did nothing. Then, THOMAS CROMWELL, who had been one of +Wolsey's faithful attendants, and had remained so even in his decline, +advised the King to take the matter into his own hands, and make himself +the head of the whole Church. This, the King by various artful means, +began to do; but he recompensed the clergy by allowing them to burn as +many people as they pleased, for holding Luther's opinions. You must +understand that Sir Thomas More, the wise man who had helped the King +with his book, had been made Chancellor in Wolsey's place. But, as he +was truly attached to the Church as it was even in its abuses, he, in +this state of things, resigned. + +Being now quite resolved to get rid of Queen Catherine, and to marry Anne +Boleyn without more ado, the King made Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury, +and directed Queen Catherine to leave the Court. She obeyed; but replied +that wherever she went, she was Queen of England still, and would remain +so, to the last. The King then married Anne Boleyn privately; and the +new Archbishop of Canterbury, within half a year, declared his marriage +with Queen Catherine void, and crowned Anne Boleyn Queen. + +She might have known that no good could ever come from such wrong, and +that the corpulent brute who had been so faithless and so cruel to his +first wife, could be more faithless and more cruel to his second. She +might have known that, even when he was in love with her, he had been a +mean and selfish coward, running away, like a frightened cur, from her +society and her house, when a dangerous sickness broke out in it, and +when she might easily have taken it and died, as several of the household +did. But, Anne Boleyn arrived at all this knowledge too late, and bought +it at a dear price. Her bad marriage with a worse man came to its +natural end. Its natural end was not, as we shall too soon see, a +natural death for her. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII--ENGLAND UNDER HENRY THE EIGHTH + + +PART THE SECOND + + +The Pope was thrown into a very angry state of mind when he heard of the +King's marriage, and fumed exceedingly. Many of the English monks and +friars, seeing that their order was in danger, did the same; some even +declaimed against the King in church before his face, and were not to be +stopped until he himself roared out 'Silence!' The King, not much the +worse for this, took it pretty quietly; and was very glad when his Queen +gave birth to a daughter, who was christened ELIZABETH, and declared +Princess of Wales as her sister Mary had already been. + +One of the most atrocious features of this reign was that Henry the +Eighth was always trimming between the reformed religion and the +unreformed one; so that the more he quarrelled with the Pope, the more of +his own subjects he roasted alive for not holding the Pope's opinions. +Thus, an unfortunate student named John Frith, and a poor simple tailor +named Andrew Hewet who loved him very much, and said that whatever John +Frith believed _he_ believed, were burnt in Smithfield--to show what a +capital Christian the King was. + +But, these were speedily followed by two much greater victims, Sir Thomas +More, and John Fisher, the Bishop of Rochester. The latter, who was a +good and amiable old man, had committed no greater offence than believing +in Elizabeth Barton, called the Maid of Kent--another of those ridiculous +women who pretended to be inspired, and to make all sorts of heavenly +revelations, though they indeed uttered nothing but evil nonsense. For +this offence--as it was pretended, but really for denying the King to be +the supreme Head of the Church--he got into trouble, and was put in +prison; but, even then, he might have been suffered to die naturally +(short work having been made of executing the Kentish Maid and her +principal followers), but that the Pope, to spite the King, resolved to +make him a cardinal. Upon that the King made a ferocious joke to the +effect that the Pope might send Fisher a red hat--which is the way they +make a cardinal--but he should have no head on which to wear it; and he +was tried with all unfairness and injustice, and sentenced to death. He +died like a noble and virtuous old man, and left a worthy name behind +him. The King supposed, I dare say, that Sir Thomas More would be +frightened by this example; but, as he was not to be easily terrified, +and, thoroughly believing in the Pope, had made up his mind that the King +was not the rightful Head of the Church, he positively refused to say +that he was. For this crime he too was tried and sentenced, after having +been in prison a whole year. When he was doomed to death, and came away +from his trial with the edge of the executioner's axe turned towards +him--as was always done in those times when a state prisoner came to that +hopeless pass--he bore it quite serenely, and gave his blessing to his +son, who pressed through the crowd in Westminster Hall and kneeled down +to receive it. But, when he got to the Tower Wharf on his way back to +his prison, and his favourite daughter, MARGARET ROPER, a very good +woman, rushed through the guards again and again, to kiss him and to weep +upon his neck, he was overcome at last. He soon recovered, and never +more showed any feeling but cheerfulness and courage. When he was going +up the steps of the scaffold to his death, he said jokingly to the +Lieutenant of the Tower, observing that they were weak and shook beneath +his tread, 'I pray you, master Lieutenant, see me safe up; and, for my +coming down, I can shift for myself.' Also he said to the executioner, +after he had laid his head upon the block, 'Let me put my beard out of +the way; for that, at least, has never committed any treason.' Then his +head was struck off at a blow. These two executions were worthy of King +Henry the Eighth. Sir Thomas More was one of the most virtuous men in +his dominions, and the Bishop was one of his oldest and truest friends. +But to be a friend of that fellow was almost as dangerous as to be his +wife. + +When the news of these two murders got to Rome, the Pope raged against +the murderer more than ever Pope raged since the world began, and +prepared a Bull, ordering his subjects to take arms against him and +dethrone him. The King took all possible precautions to keep that +document out of his dominions, and set to work in return to suppress a +great number of the English monasteries and abbeys. + +This destruction was begun by a body of commissioners, of whom Cromwell +(whom the King had taken into great favour) was the head; and was carried +on through some few years to its entire completion. There is no doubt +that many of these religious establishments were religious in nothing but +in name, and were crammed with lazy, indolent, and sensual monks. There +is no doubt that they imposed upon the people in every possible way; that +they had images moved by wires, which they pretended were miraculously +moved by Heaven; that they had among them a whole tun measure full of +teeth, all purporting to have come out of the head of one saint, who must +indeed have been a very extraordinary person with that enormous allowance +of grinders; that they had bits of coal which they said had fried Saint +Lawrence, and bits of toe-nails which they said belonged to other famous +saints; penknives, and boots, and girdles, which they said belonged to +others; and that all these bits of rubbish were called Relics, and adored +by the ignorant people. But, on the other hand, there is no doubt +either, that the King's officers and men punished the good monks with the +bad; did great injustice; demolished many beautiful things and many +valuable libraries; destroyed numbers of paintings, stained glass +windows, fine pavements, and carvings; and that the whole court were +ravenously greedy and rapacious for the division of this great spoil +among them. The King seems to have grown almost mad in the ardour of +this pursuit; for he declared Thomas a Becket a traitor, though he had +been dead so many years, and had his body dug up out of his grave. He +must have been as miraculous as the monks pretended, if they had told the +truth, for he was found with one head on his shoulders, and they had +shown another as his undoubted and genuine head ever since his death; it +had brought them vast sums of money, too. The gold and jewels on his +shrine filled two great chests, and eight men tottered as they carried +them away. How rich the monasteries were you may infer from the fact +that, when they were all suppressed, one hundred and thirty thousand +pounds a year--in those days an immense sum--came to the Crown. + +These things were not done without causing great discontent among the +people. The monks had been good landlords and hospitable entertainers of +all travellers, and had been accustomed to give away a great deal of +corn, and fruit, and meat, and other things. In those days it was +difficult to change goods into money, in consequence of the roads being +very few and very bad, and the carts, and waggons of the worst +description; and they must either have given away some of the good things +they possessed in enormous quantities, or have suffered them to spoil and +moulder. So, many of the people missed what it was more agreeable to get +idly than to work for; and the monks who were driven out of their homes +and wandered about encouraged their discontent; and there were, +consequently, great risings in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. These were +put down by terrific executions, from which the monks themselves did not +escape, and the King went on grunting and growling in his own fat way, +like a Royal pig. + +I have told all this story of the religious houses at one time, to make +it plainer, and to get back to the King's domestic affairs. + +The unfortunate Queen Catherine was by this time dead; and the King was +by this time as tired of his second Queen as he had been of his first. As +he had fallen in love with Anne when she was in the service of Catherine, +so he now fell in love with another lady in the service of Anne. See how +wicked deeds are punished, and how bitterly and self-reproachfully the +Queen must now have thought of her own rise to the throne! The new fancy +was a LADY JANE SEYMOUR; and the King no sooner set his mind on her, than +he resolved to have Anne Boleyn's head. So, he brought a number of +charges against Anne, accusing her of dreadful crimes which she had never +committed, and implicating in them her own brother and certain gentlemen +in her service: among whom one Norris, and Mark Smeaton a musician, are +best remembered. As the lords and councillors were as afraid of the King +and as subservient to him as the meanest peasant in England was, they +brought in Anne Boleyn guilty, and the other unfortunate persons accused +with her, guilty too. Those gentlemen died like men, with the exception +of Smeaton, who had been tempted by the King into telling lies, which he +called confessions, and who had expected to be pardoned; but who, I am +very glad to say, was not. There was then only the Queen to dispose of. +She had been surrounded in the Tower with women spies; had been +monstrously persecuted and foully slandered; and had received no justice. +But her spirit rose with her afflictions; and, after having in vain tried +to soften the King by writing an affecting letter to him which still +exists, 'from her doleful prison in the Tower,' she resigned herself to +death. She said to those about her, very cheerfully, that she had heard +say the executioner was a good one, and that she had a little neck (she +laughed and clasped it with her hands as she said that), and would soon +be out of her pain. And she _was_ soon out of her pain, poor creature, +on the Green inside the Tower, and her body was flung into an old box and +put away in the ground under the chapel. + +There is a story that the King sat in his palace listening very anxiously +for the sound of the cannon which was to announce this new murder; and +that, when he heard it come booming on the air, he rose up in great +spirits and ordered out his dogs to go a-hunting. He was bad enough to +do it; but whether he did it or not, it is certain that he married Jane +Seymour the very next day. + +I have not much pleasure in recording that she lived just long enough to +give birth to a son who was christened EDWARD, and then to die of a +fever: for, I cannot but think that any woman who married such a ruffian, +and knew what innocent blood was on his hands, deserved the axe that +would assuredly have fallen on the neck of Jane Seymour, if she had lived +much longer. + +Cranmer had done what he could to save some of the Church property for +purposes of religion and education; but, the great families had been so +hungry to get hold of it, that very little could be rescued for such +objects. Even MILES COVERDALE, who did the people the inestimable +service of translating the Bible into English (which the unreformed +religion never permitted to be done), was left in poverty while the great +families clutched the Church lands and money. The people had been told +that when the Crown came into possession of these funds, it would not be +necessary to tax them; but they were taxed afresh directly afterwards. It +was fortunate for them, indeed, that so many nobles were so greedy for +this wealth; since, if it had remained with the Crown, there might have +been no end to tyranny for hundreds of years. One of the most active +writers on the Church's side against the King was a member of his own +family--a sort of distant cousin, REGINALD POLE by name--who attacked him +in the most violent manner (though he received a pension from him all the +time), and fought for the Church with his pen, day and night. As he was +beyond the King's reach--being in Italy--the King politely invited him +over to discuss the subject; but he, knowing better than to come, and +wisely staying where he was, the King's rage fell upon his brother Lord +Montague, the Marquis of Exeter, and some other gentlemen: who were tried +for high treason in corresponding with him and aiding him--which they +probably did--and were all executed. The Pope made Reginald Pole a +cardinal; but, so much against his will, that it is thought he even +aspired in his own mind to the vacant throne of England, and had hopes of +marrying the Princess Mary. His being made a high priest, however, put +an end to all that. His mother, the venerable Countess of Salisbury--who +was, unfortunately for herself, within the tyrant's reach--was the last +of his relatives on whom his wrath fell. When she was told to lay her +grey head upon the block, she answered the executioner, 'No! My head +never committed treason, and if you want it, you shall seize it.' So, +she ran round and round the scaffold with the executioner striking at +her, and her grey hair bedabbled with blood; and even when they held her +down upon the block she moved her head about to the last, resolved to be +no party to her own barbarous murder. All this the people bore, as they +had borne everything else. + +Indeed they bore much more; for the slow fires of Smithfield were +continually burning, and people were constantly being roasted to +death--still to show what a good Christian the King was. He defied the +Pope and his Bull, which was now issued, and had come into England; but +he burned innumerable people whose only offence was that they differed +from the Pope's religious opinions. There was a wretched man named +LAMBERT, among others, who was tried for this before the King, and with +whom six bishops argued one after another. When he was quite exhausted +(as well he might be, after six bishops), he threw himself on the King's +mercy; but the King blustered out that he had no mercy for heretics. So, +_he_ too fed the fire. + +All this the people bore, and more than all this yet. The national +spirit seems to have been banished from the kingdom at this time. The +very people who were executed for treason, the very wives and friends of +the 'bluff' King, spoke of him on the scaffold as a good prince, and a +gentle prince--just as serfs in similar circumstances have been known to +do, under the Sultan and Bashaws of the East, or under the fierce old +tyrants of Russia, who poured boiling and freezing water on them +alternately, until they died. The Parliament were as bad as the rest, +and gave the King whatever he wanted; among other vile accommodations, +they gave him new powers of murdering, at his will and pleasure, any one +whom he might choose to call a traitor. But the worst measure they +passed was an Act of Six Articles, commonly called at the time 'the whip +with six strings;' which punished offences against the Pope's opinions, +without mercy, and enforced the very worst parts of the monkish religion. +Cranmer would have modified it, if he could; but, being overborne by the +Romish party, had not the power. As one of the articles declared that +priests should not marry, and as he was married himself, he sent his wife +and children into Germany, and began to tremble at his danger; none the +less because he was, and had long been, the King's friend. This whip of +six strings was made under the King's own eye. It should never be +forgotten of him how cruelly he supported the worst of the Popish +doctrines when there was nothing to be got by opposing them. + +This amiable monarch now thought of taking another wife. He proposed to +the French King to have some of the ladies of the French Court exhibited +before him, that he might make his Royal choice; but the French King +answered that he would rather not have his ladies trotted out to be shown +like horses at a fair. He proposed to the Dowager Duchess of Milan, who +replied that she might have thought of such a match if she had had two +heads; but, that only owning one, she must beg to keep it safe. At last +Cromwell represented that there was a Protestant Princess in +Germany--those who held the reformed religion were called Protestants, +because their leaders had Protested against the abuses and impositions of +the unreformed Church--named ANNE OF CLEVES, who was beautiful, and would +answer the purpose admirably. The King said was she a large woman, +because he must have a fat wife? 'O yes,' said Cromwell; 'she was very +large, just the thing.' On hearing this the King sent over his famous +painter, Hans Holbein, to take her portrait. Hans made her out to be so +good-looking that the King was satisfied, and the marriage was arranged. +But, whether anybody had paid Hans to touch up the picture; or whether +Hans, like one or two other painters, flattered a princess in the +ordinary way of business, I cannot say: all I know is, that when Anne +came over and the King went to Rochester to meet her, and first saw her +without her seeing him, he swore she was 'a great Flanders mare,' and +said he would never marry her. Being obliged to do it now matters had +gone so far, he would not give her the presents he had prepared, and +would never notice her. He never forgave Cromwell his part in the +affair. His downfall dates from that time. + +It was quickened by his enemies, in the interests of the unreformed +religion, putting in the King's way, at a state dinner, a niece of the +Duke of Norfolk, CATHERINE HOWARD, a young lady of fascinating manners, +though small in stature and not particularly beautiful. Falling in love +with her on the spot, the King soon divorced Anne of Cleves after making +her the subject of much brutal talk, on pretence that she had been +previously betrothed to some one else--which would never do for one of +his dignity--and married Catherine. It is probable that on his wedding +day, of all days in the year, he sent his faithful Cromwell to the +scaffold, and had his head struck off. He further celebrated the +occasion by burning at one time, and causing to be drawn to the fire on +the same hurdles, some Protestant prisoners for denying the Pope's +doctrines, and some Roman Catholic prisoners for denying his own +supremacy. Still the people bore it, and not a gentleman in England +raised his hand. + +But, by a just retribution, it soon came out that Catherine Howard, +before her marriage, had been really guilty of such crimes as the King +had falsely attributed to his second wife Anne Boleyn; so, again the +dreadful axe made the King a widower, and this Queen passed away as so +many in that reign had passed away before her. As an appropriate pursuit +under the circumstances, Henry then applied himself to superintending the +composition of a religious book called 'A necessary doctrine for any +Christian Man.' He must have been a little confused in his mind, I +think, at about this period; for he was so false to himself as to be true +to some one: that some one being Cranmer, whom the Duke of Norfolk and +others of his enemies tried to ruin; but to whom the King was steadfast, +and to whom he one night gave his ring, charging him when he should find +himself, next day, accused of treason, to show it to the council board. +This Cranmer did to the confusion of his enemies. I suppose the King +thought he might want him a little longer. + +He married yet once more. Yes, strange to say, he found in England +another woman who would become his wife, and she was CATHERINE PARR, +widow of Lord Latimer. She leaned towards the reformed religion; and it +is some comfort to know, that she tormented the King considerably by +arguing a variety of doctrinal points with him on all possible occasions. +She had very nearly done this to her own destruction. After one of these +conversations the King in a very black mood actually instructed GARDINER, +one of his Bishops who favoured the Popish opinions, to draw a bill of +accusation against her, which would have inevitably brought her to the +scaffold where her predecessors had died, but that one of her friends +picked up the paper of instructions which had been dropped in the palace, +and gave her timely notice. She fell ill with terror; but managed the +King so well when he came to entrap her into further statements--by +saying that she had only spoken on such points to divert his mind and to +get some information from his extraordinary wisdom--that he gave her a +kiss and called her his sweetheart. And, when the Chancellor came next +day actually to take her to the Tower, the King sent him about his +business, and honoured him with the epithets of a beast, a knave, and a +fool. So near was Catherine Parr to the block, and so narrow was her +escape! + +There was war with Scotland in this reign, and a short clumsy war with +France for favouring Scotland; but, the events at home were so dreadful, +and leave such an enduring stain on the country, that I need say no more +of what happened abroad. + +A few more horrors, and this reign is over. There was a lady, ANNE +ASKEW, in Lincolnshire, who inclined to the Protestant opinions, and +whose husband being a fierce Catholic, turned her out of his house. She +came to London, and was considered as offending against the six articles, +and was taken to the Tower, and put upon the rack--probably because it +was hoped that she might, in her agony, criminate some obnoxious persons; +if falsely, so much the better. She was tortured without uttering a cry, +until the Lieutenant of the Tower would suffer his men to torture her no +more; and then two priests who were present actually pulled off their +robes, and turned the wheels of the rack with their own hands, so rending +and twisting and breaking her that she was afterwards carried to the fire +in a chair. She was burned with three others, a gentleman, a clergyman, +and a tailor; and so the world went on. + +Either the King became afraid of the power of the Duke of Norfolk, and +his son the Earl of Surrey, or they gave him some offence, but he +resolved to pull _them_ down, to follow all the rest who were gone. The +son was tried first--of course for nothing--and defended himself bravely; +but of course he was found guilty, and of course he was executed. Then +his father was laid hold of, and left for death too. + +But the King himself was left for death by a Greater King, and the earth +was to be rid of him at last. He was now a swollen, hideous spectacle, +with a great hole in his leg, and so odious to every sense that it was +dreadful to approach him. When he was found to be dying, Cranmer was +sent for from his palace at Croydon, and came with all speed, but found +him speechless. Happily, in that hour he perished. He was in the fifty- +sixth year of his age, and the thirty-eighth of his reign. + +Henry the Eighth has been favoured by some Protestant writers, because +the Reformation was achieved in his time. But the mighty merit of it +lies with other men and not with him; and it can be rendered none the +worse by this monster's crimes, and none the better by any defence of +them. The plain truth is, that he was a most intolerable ruffian, a +disgrace to human nature, and a blot of blood and grease upon the History +of England. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX--ENGLAND UNDER EDWARD THE SIXTH + + +Henry the Eighth had made a will, appointing a council of sixteen to +govern the kingdom for his son while he was under age (he was now only +ten years old), and another council of twelve to help them. The most +powerful of the first council was the EARL OF HERTFORD, the young King's +uncle, who lost no time in bringing his nephew with great state up to +Enfield, and thence to the Tower. It was considered at the time a +striking proof of virtue in the young King that he was sorry for his +father's death; but, as common subjects have that virtue too, sometimes, +we will say no more about it. + +There was a curious part of the late King's will, requiring his executors +to fulfil whatever promises he had made. Some of the court wondering +what these might be, the Earl of Hertford and the other noblemen +interested, said that they were promises to advance and enrich _them_. +So, the Earl of Hertford made himself DUKE OF SOMERSET, and made his +brother EDWARD SEYMOUR a baron; and there were various similar +promotions, all very agreeable to the parties concerned, and very +dutiful, no doubt, to the late King's memory. To be more dutiful still, +they made themselves rich out of the Church lands, and were very +comfortable. The new Duke of Somerset caused himself to be declared +PROTECTOR of the kingdom, and was, indeed, the King. + +As young Edward the Sixth had been brought up in the principles of the +Protestant religion, everybody knew that they would be maintained. But +Cranmer, to whom they were chiefly entrusted, advanced them steadily and +temperately. Many superstitious and ridiculous practices were stopped; +but practices which were harmless were not interfered with. + +The Duke of Somerset, the Protector, was anxious to have the young King +engaged in marriage to the young Queen of Scotland, in order to prevent +that princess from making an alliance with any foreign power; but, as a +large party in Scotland were unfavourable to this plan, he invaded that +country. His excuse for doing so was, that the Border men--that is, the +Scotch who lived in that part of the country where England and Scotland +joined--troubled the English very much. But there were two sides to this +question; for the English Border men troubled the Scotch too; and, +through many long years, there were perpetual border quarrels which gave +rise to numbers of old tales and songs. However, the Protector invaded +Scotland; and ARRAN, the Scottish Regent, with an army twice as large as +his, advanced to meet him. They encountered on the banks of the river +Esk, within a few miles of Edinburgh; and there, after a little skirmish, +the Protector made such moderate proposals, in offering to retire if the +Scotch would only engage not to marry their princess to any foreign +prince, that the Regent thought the English were afraid. But in this he +made a horrible mistake; for the English soldiers on land, and the +English sailors on the water, so set upon the Scotch, that they broke and +fled, and more than ten thousand of them were killed. It was a dreadful +battle, for the fugitives were slain without mercy. The ground for four +miles, all the way to Edinburgh, was strewn with dead men, and with arms, +and legs, and heads. Some hid themselves in streams and were drowned; +some threw away their armour and were killed running, almost naked; but +in this battle of Pinkey the English lost only two or three hundred men. +They were much better clothed than the Scotch; at the poverty of whose +appearance and country they were exceedingly astonished. + +A Parliament was called when Somerset came back, and it repealed the whip +with six strings, and did one or two other good things; though it +unhappily retained the punishment of burning for those people who did not +make believe to believe, in all religious matters, what the Government +had declared that they must and should believe. It also made a foolish +law (meant to put down beggars), that any man who lived idly and loitered +about for three days together, should be burned with a hot iron, made a +slave, and wear an iron fetter. But this savage absurdity soon came to +an end, and went the way of a great many other foolish laws. + +The Protector was now so proud that he sat in Parliament before all the +nobles, on the right hand of the throne. Many other noblemen, who only +wanted to be as proud if they could get a chance, became his enemies of +course; and it is supposed that he came back suddenly from Scotland +because he had received news that his brother, LORD SEYMOUR, was becoming +dangerous to him. This lord was now High Admiral of England; a very +handsome man, and a great favourite with the Court ladies--even with the +young Princess Elizabeth, who romped with him a little more than young +princesses in these times do with any one. He had married Catherine +Parr, the late King's widow, who was now dead; and, to strengthen his +power, he secretly supplied the young King with money. He may even have +engaged with some of his brother's enemies in a plot to carry the boy +off. On these and other accusations, at any rate, he was confined in the +Tower, impeached, and found guilty; his own brother's name +being--unnatural and sad to tell--the first signed to the warrant of his +execution. He was executed on Tower Hill, and died denying his treason. +One of his last proceedings in this world was to write two letters, one +to the Princess Elizabeth, and one to the Princess Mary, which a servant +of his took charge of, and concealed in his shoe. These letters are +supposed to have urged them against his brother, and to revenge his +death. What they truly contained is not known; but there is no doubt +that he had, at one time, obtained great influence over the Princess +Elizabeth. + +All this while, the Protestant religion was making progress. The images +which the people had gradually come to worship, were removed from the +churches; the people were informed that they need not confess themselves +to priests unless they chose; a common prayer-book was drawn up in the +English language, which all could understand, and many other improvements +were made; still moderately. For Cranmer was a very moderate man, and +even restrained the Protestant clergy from violently abusing the +unreformed religion--as they very often did, and which was not a good +example. But the people were at this time in great distress. The +rapacious nobility who had come into possession of the Church lands, were +very bad landlords. They enclosed great quantities of ground for the +feeding of sheep, which was then more profitable than the growing of +crops; and this increased the general distress. So the people, who still +understood little of what was going on about them, and still readily +believed what the homeless monks told them--many of whom had been their +good friends in their better days--took it into their heads that all this +was owing to the reformed religion, and therefore rose, in many parts of +the country. + +The most powerful risings were in Devonshire and Norfolk. In Devonshire, +the rebellion was so strong that ten thousand men united within a few +days, and even laid siege to Exeter. But LORD RUSSELL, coming to the +assistance of the citizens who defended that town, defeated the rebels; +and, not only hanged the Mayor of one place, but hanged the vicar of +another from his own church steeple. What with hanging and killing by +the sword, four thousand of the rebels are supposed to have fallen in +that one county. In Norfolk (where the rising was more against the +enclosure of open lands than against the reformed religion), the popular +leader was a man named ROBERT KET, a tanner of Wymondham. The mob were, +in the first instance, excited against the tanner by one JOHN FLOWERDEW, +a gentleman who owed him a grudge: but the tanner was more than a match +for the gentleman, since he soon got the people on his side, and +established himself near Norwich with quite an army. There was a large +oak-tree in that place, on a spot called Moushold Hill, which Ket named +the Tree of Reformation; and under its green boughs, he and his men sat, +in the midsummer weather, holding courts of justice, and debating affairs +of state. They were even impartial enough to allow some rather tiresome +public speakers to get up into this Tree of Reformation, and point out +their errors to them, in long discourses, while they lay listening (not +always without some grumbling and growling) in the shade below. At last, +one sunny July day, a herald appeared below the tree, and proclaimed Ket +and all his men traitors, unless from that moment they dispersed and went +home: in which case they were to receive a pardon. But, Ket and his men +made light of the herald and became stronger than ever, until the Earl of +Warwick went after them with a sufficient force, and cut them all to +pieces. A few were hanged, drawn, and quartered, as traitors, and their +limbs were sent into various country places to be a terror to the people. +Nine of them were hanged upon nine green branches of the Oak of +Reformation; and so, for the time, that tree may be said to have withered +away. + +The Protector, though a haughty man, had compassion for the real +distresses of the common people, and a sincere desire to help them. But +he was too proud and too high in degree to hold even their favour +steadily; and many of the nobles always envied and hated him, because +they were as proud and not as high as he. He was at this time building a +great Palace in the Strand: to get the stone for which he blew up church +steeples with gunpowder, and pulled down bishops' houses: thus making +himself still more disliked. At length, his principal enemy, the Earl of +Warwick--Dudley by name, and the son of that Dudley who had made himself +so odious with Empson, in the reign of Henry the Seventh--joined with +seven other members of the Council against him, formed a separate +Council; and, becoming stronger in a few days, sent him to the Tower +under twenty-nine articles of accusation. After being sentenced by the +Council to the forfeiture of all his offices and lands, he was liberated +and pardoned, on making a very humble submission. He was even taken back +into the Council again, after having suffered this fall, and married his +daughter, LADY ANNE SEYMOUR, to Warwick's eldest son. But such a +reconciliation was little likely to last, and did not outlive a year. +Warwick, having got himself made Duke of Northumberland, and having +advanced the more important of his friends, then finished the history by +causing the Duke of Somerset and his friend LORD GREY, and others, to be +arrested for treason, in having conspired to seize and dethrone the King. +They were also accused of having intended to seize the new Duke of +Northumberland, with his friends LORD NORTHAMPTON and LORD PEMBROKE; to +murder them if they found need; and to raise the City to revolt. All +this the fallen Protector positively denied; except that he confessed to +having spoken of the murder of those three noblemen, but having never +designed it. He was acquitted of the charge of treason, and found guilty +of the other charges; so when the people--who remembered his having been +their friend, now that he was disgraced and in danger, saw him come out +from his trial with the axe turned from him--they thought he was +altogether acquitted, and sent up a loud shout of joy. + +But the Duke of Somerset was ordered to be beheaded on Tower Hill, at +eight o'clock in the morning, and proclamations were issued bidding the +citizens keep at home until after ten. They filled the streets, however, +and crowded the place of execution as soon as it was light; and, with sad +faces and sad hearts, saw the once powerful Protector ascend the scaffold +to lay his head upon the dreadful block. While he was yet saying his +last words to them with manly courage, and telling them, in particular, +how it comforted him, at that pass, to have assisted in reforming the +national religion, a member of the Council was seen riding up on +horseback. They again thought that the Duke was saved by his bringing a +reprieve, and again shouted for joy. But the Duke himself told them they +were mistaken, and laid down his head and had it struck off at a blow. + +Many of the bystanders rushed forward and steeped their handkerchiefs in +his blood, as a mark of their affection. He had, indeed, been capable of +many good acts, and one of them was discovered after he was no more. The +Bishop of Durham, a very good man, had been informed against to the +Council, when the Duke was in power, as having answered a treacherous +letter proposing a rebellion against the reformed religion. As the +answer could not be found, he could not be declared guilty; but it was +now discovered, hidden by the Duke himself among some private papers, in +his regard for that good man. The Bishop lost his office, and was +deprived of his possessions. + +It is not very pleasant to know that while his uncle lay in prison under +sentence of death, the young King was being vastly entertained by plays, +and dances, and sham fights: but there is no doubt of it, for he kept a +journal himself. It is pleasanter to know that not a single Roman +Catholic was burnt in this reign for holding that religion; though two +wretched victims suffered for heresy. One, a woman named JOAN BOCHER, +for professing some opinions that even she could only explain in +unintelligible jargon. The other, a Dutchman, named VON PARIS, who +practised as a surgeon in London. Edward was, to his credit, exceedingly +unwilling to sign the warrant for the woman's execution: shedding tears +before he did so, and telling Cranmer, who urged him to do it (though +Cranmer really would have spared the woman at first, but for her own +determined obstinacy), that the guilt was not his, but that of the man +who so strongly urged the dreadful act. We shall see, too soon, whether +the time ever came when Cranmer is likely to have remembered this with +sorrow and remorse. + +Cranmer and RIDLEY (at first Bishop of Rochester, and afterwards Bishop +of London) were the most powerful of the clergy of this reign. Others +were imprisoned and deprived of their property for still adhering to the +unreformed religion; the most important among whom were GARDINER Bishop +of Winchester, HEATH Bishop of Worcester, DAY Bishop of Chichester, and +BONNER that Bishop of London who was superseded by Ridley. The Princess +Mary, who inherited her mother's gloomy temper, and hated the reformed +religion as connected with her mother's wrongs and sorrows--she knew +nothing else about it, always refusing to read a single book in which it +was truly described--held by the unreformed religion too, and was the +only person in the kingdom for whom the old Mass was allowed to be +performed; nor would the young King have made that exception even in her +favour, but for the strong persuasions of Cranmer and Ridley. He always +viewed it with horror; and when he fell into a sickly condition, after +having been very ill, first of the measles and then of the small-pox, he +was greatly troubled in mind to think that if he died, and she, the next +heir to the throne, succeeded, the Roman Catholic religion would be set +up again. + +This uneasiness, the Duke of Northumberland was not slow to encourage: +for, if the Princess Mary came to the throne, he, who had taken part with +the Protestants, was sure to be disgraced. Now, the Duchess of Suffolk +was descended from King Henry the Seventh; and, if she resigned what +little or no right she had, in favour of her daughter LADY JANE GREY, +that would be the succession to promote the Duke's greatness; because +LORD GUILFORD DUDLEY, one of his sons, was, at this very time, newly +married to her. So, he worked upon the King's fears, and persuaded him +to set aside both the Princess Mary and the Princess Elizabeth, and +assert his right to appoint his successor. Accordingly the young King +handed to the Crown lawyers a writing signed half a dozen times over by +himself, appointing Lady Jane Grey to succeed to the Crown, and requiring +them to have his will made out according to law. They were much against +it at first, and told the King so; but the Duke of Northumberland--being +so violent about it that the lawyers even expected him to beat them, and +hotly declaring that, stripped to his shirt, he would fight any man in +such a quarrel--they yielded. Cranmer, also, at first hesitated; +pleading that he had sworn to maintain the succession of the Crown to the +Princess Mary; but, he was a weak man in his resolutions, and afterwards +signed the document with the rest of the council. + +It was completed none too soon; for Edward was now sinking in a rapid +decline; and, by way of making him better, they handed him over to a +woman-doctor who pretended to be able to cure it. He speedily got worse. +On the sixth of July, in the year one thousand five hundred and fifty- +three, he died, very peaceably and piously, praying God, with his last +breath, to protect the reformed religion. + +This King died in the sixteenth year of his age, and in the seventh of +his reign. It is difficult to judge what the character of one so young +might afterwards have become among so many bad, ambitious, quarrelling +nobles. But, he was an amiable boy, of very good abilities, and had +nothing coarse or cruel or brutal in his disposition--which in the son of +such a father is rather surprising. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX--ENGLAND UNDER MARY + + +The Duke of Northumberland was very anxious to keep the young King's +death a secret, in order that he might get the two Princesses into his +power. But, the Princess Mary, being informed of that event as she was +on her way to London to see her sick brother, turned her horse's head, +and rode away into Norfolk. The Earl of Arundel was her friend, and it +was he who sent her warning of what had happened. + +As the secret could not be kept, the Duke of Northumberland and the +council sent for the Lord Mayor of London and some of the aldermen, and +made a merit of telling it to them. Then, they made it known to the +people, and set off to inform Lady Jane Grey that she was to be Queen. + +She was a pretty girl of only sixteen, and was amiable, learned, and +clever. When the lords who came to her, fell on their knees before her, +and told her what tidings they brought, she was so astonished that she +fainted. On recovering, she expressed her sorrow for the young King's +death, and said that she knew she was unfit to govern the kingdom; but +that if she must be Queen, she prayed God to direct her. She was then at +Sion House, near Brentford; and the lords took her down the river in +state to the Tower, that she might remain there (as the custom was) until +she was crowned. But the people were not at all favourable to Lady Jane, +considering that the right to be Queen was Mary's, and greatly disliking +the Duke of Northumberland. They were not put into a better humour by +the Duke's causing a vintner's servant, one Gabriel Pot, to be taken up +for expressing his dissatisfaction among the crowd, and to have his ears +nailed to the pillory, and cut off. Some powerful men among the nobility +declared on Mary's side. They raised troops to support her cause, had +her proclaimed Queen at Norwich, and gathered around her at the castle of +Framlingham, which belonged to the Duke of Norfolk. For, she was not +considered so safe as yet, but that it was best to keep her in a castle +on the sea-coast, from whence she might be sent abroad, if necessary. + +The Council would have despatched Lady Jane's father, the Duke of +Suffolk, as the general of the army against this force; but, as Lady Jane +implored that her father might remain with her, and as he was known to be +but a weak man, they told the Duke of Northumberland that he must take +the command himself. He was not very ready to do so, as he mistrusted +the Council much; but there was no help for it, and he set forth with a +heavy heart, observing to a lord who rode beside him through Shoreditch +at the head of the troops, that, although the people pressed in great +numbers to look at them, they were terribly silent. + +And his fears for himself turned out to be well founded. While he was +waiting at Cambridge for further help from the Council, the Council took +it into their heads to turn their backs on Lady Jane's cause, and to take +up the Princess Mary's. This was chiefly owing to the before-mentioned +Earl of Arundel, who represented to the Lord Mayor and aldermen, in a +second interview with those sagacious persons, that, as for himself, he +did not perceive the Reformed religion to be in much danger--which Lord +Pembroke backed by flourishing his sword as another kind of persuasion. +The Lord Mayor and aldermen, thus enlightened, said there could be no +doubt that the Princess Mary ought to be Queen. So, she was proclaimed +at the Cross by St. Paul's, and barrels of wine were given to the people, +and they got very drunk, and danced round blazing bonfires--little +thinking, poor wretches, what other bonfires would soon be blazing in +Queen Mary's name. + +After a ten days' dream of royalty, Lady Jane Grey resigned the Crown +with great willingness, saying that she had only accepted it in obedience +to her father and mother; and went gladly back to her pleasant house by +the river, and her books. Mary then came on towards London; and at +Wanstead in Essex, was joined by her half-sister, the Princess Elizabeth. +They passed through the streets of London to the Tower, and there the new +Queen met some eminent prisoners then confined in it, kissed them, and +gave them their liberty. Among these was that Gardiner, Bishop of +Winchester, who had been imprisoned in the last reign for holding to the +unreformed religion. Him she soon made chancellor. + +The Duke of Northumberland had been taken prisoner, and, together with +his son and five others, was quickly brought before the Council. He, not +unnaturally, asked that Council, in his defence, whether it was treason +to obey orders that had been issued under the great seal; and, if it +were, whether they, who had obeyed them too, ought to be his judges? But +they made light of these points; and, being resolved to have him out of +the way, soon sentenced him to death. He had risen into power upon the +death of another man, and made but a poor show (as might be expected) +when he himself lay low. He entreated Gardiner to let him live, if it +were only in a mouse's hole; and, when he ascended the scaffold to be +beheaded on Tower Hill, addressed the people in a miserable way, saying +that he had been incited by others, and exhorting them to return to the +unreformed religion, which he told them was his faith. There seems +reason to suppose that he expected a pardon even then, in return for this +confession; but it matters little whether he did or not. His head was +struck off. + +Mary was now crowned Queen. She was thirty-seven years of age, short and +thin, wrinkled in the face, and very unhealthy. But she had a great +liking for show and for bright colours, and all the ladies of her Court +were magnificently dressed. She had a great liking too for old customs, +without much sense in them; and she was oiled in the oldest way, and +blessed in the oldest way, and done all manner of things to in the oldest +way, at her coronation. I hope they did her good. + +She soon began to show her desire to put down the Reformed religion, and +put up the unreformed one: though it was dangerous work as yet, the +people being something wiser than they used to be. They even cast a +shower of stones--and among them a dagger--at one of the royal chaplains +who attacked the Reformed religion in a public sermon. But the Queen and +her priests went steadily on. Ridley, the powerful bishop of the last +reign, was seized and sent to the Tower. LATIMER, also celebrated among +the Clergy of the last reign, was likewise sent to the Tower, and Cranmer +speedily followed. Latimer was an aged man; and, as his guards took him +through Smithfield, he looked round it, and said, 'This is a place that +hath long groaned for me.' For he knew well, what kind of bonfires would +soon be burning. Nor was the knowledge confined to him. The prisons +were fast filled with the chief Protestants, who were there left rotting +in darkness, hunger, dirt, and separation from their friends; many, who +had time left them for escape, fled from the kingdom; and the dullest of +the people began, now, to see what was coming. + +It came on fast. A Parliament was got together; not without strong +suspicion of unfairness; and they annulled the divorce, formerly +pronounced by Cranmer between the Queen's mother and King Henry the +Eighth, and unmade all the laws on the subject of religion that had been +made in the last King Edward's reign. They began their proceedings, in +violation of the law, by having the old mass said before them in Latin, +and by turning out a bishop who would not kneel down. They also declared +guilty of treason, Lady Jane Grey for aspiring to the Crown; her husband, +for being her husband; and Cranmer, for not believing in the mass +aforesaid. They then prayed the Queen graciously to choose a husband for +herself, as soon as might be. + +Now, the question who should be the Queen's husband had given rise to a +great deal of discussion, and to several contending parties. Some said +Cardinal Pole was the man--but the Queen was of opinion that he was _not_ +the man, he being too old and too much of a student. Others said that +the gallant young COURTENAY, whom the Queen had made Earl of Devonshire, +was the man--and the Queen thought so too, for a while; but she changed +her mind. At last it appeared that PHILIP, PRINCE OF SPAIN, was +certainly the man--though certainly not the people's man; for they +detested the idea of such a marriage from the beginning to the end, and +murmured that the Spaniard would establish in England, by the aid of +foreign soldiers, the worst abuses of the Popish religion, and even the +terrible Inquisition itself. + +These discontents gave rise to a conspiracy for marrying young Courtenay +to the Princess Elizabeth, and setting them up, with popular tumults all +over the kingdom, against the Queen. This was discovered in time by +Gardiner; but in Kent, the old bold county, the people rose in their old +bold way. SIR THOMAS WYAT, a man of great daring, was their leader. He +raised his standard at Maidstone, marched on to Rochester, established +himself in the old castle there, and prepared to hold out against the +Duke of Norfolk, who came against him with a party of the Queen's guards, +and a body of five hundred London men. The London men, however, were all +for Elizabeth, and not at all for Mary. They declared, under the castle +walls, for Wyat; the Duke retreated; and Wyat came on to Deptford, at the +head of fifteen thousand men. + +But these, in their turn, fell away. When he came to Southwark, there +were only two thousand left. Not dismayed by finding the London citizens +in arms, and the guns at the Tower ready to oppose his crossing the river +there, Wyat led them off to Kingston-upon-Thames, intending to cross the +bridge that he knew to be in that place, and so to work his way round to +Ludgate, one of the old gates of the City. He found the bridge broken +down, but mended it, came across, and bravely fought his way up Fleet +Street to Ludgate Hill. Finding the gate closed against him, he fought +his way back again, sword in hand, to Temple Bar. Here, being +overpowered, he surrendered himself, and three or four hundred of his men +were taken, besides a hundred killed. Wyat, in a moment of weakness (and +perhaps of torture) was afterwards made to accuse the Princess Elizabeth +as his accomplice to some very small extent. But his manhood soon +returned to him, and he refused to save his life by making any more false +confessions. He was quartered and distributed in the usual brutal way, +and from fifty to a hundred of his followers were hanged. The rest were +led out, with halters round their necks, to be pardoned, and to make a +parade of crying out, 'God save Queen Mary!' + +In the danger of this rebellion, the Queen showed herself to be a woman +of courage and spirit. She disdained to retreat to any place of safety, +and went down to the Guildhall, sceptre in hand, and made a gallant +speech to the Lord Mayor and citizens. But on the day after Wyat's +defeat, she did the most cruel act, even of her cruel reign, in signing +the warrant for the execution of Lady Jane Grey. + +They tried to persuade Lady Jane to accept the unreformed religion; but +she steadily refused. On the morning when she was to die, she saw from +her window the bleeding and headless body of her husband brought back in +a cart from the scaffold on Tower Hill where he had laid down his life. +But, as she had declined to see him before his execution, lest she should +be overpowered and not make a good end, so, she even now showed a +constancy and calmness that will never be forgotten. She came up to the +scaffold with a firm step and a quiet face, and addressed the bystanders +in a steady voice. They were not numerous; for she was too young, too +innocent and fair, to be murdered before the people on Tower Hill, as her +husband had just been; so, the place of her execution was within the +Tower itself. She said that she had done an unlawful act in taking what +was Queen Mary's right; but that she had done so with no bad intent, and +that she died a humble Christian. She begged the executioner to despatch +her quickly, and she asked him, 'Will you take my head off before I lay +me down?' He answered, 'No, Madam,' and then she was very quiet while +they bandaged her eyes. Being blinded, and unable to see the block on +which she was to lay her young head, she was seen to feel about for it +with her hands, and was heard to say, confused, 'O what shall I do! Where +is it?' Then they guided her to the right place, and the executioner +struck off her head. You know too well, now, what dreadful deeds the +executioner did in England, through many, many years, and how his axe +descended on the hateful block through the necks of some of the bravest, +wisest, and best in the land. But it never struck so cruel and so vile a +blow as this. + +The father of Lady Jane soon followed, but was little pitied. Queen +Mary's next object was to lay hold of Elizabeth, and this was pursued +with great eagerness. Five hundred men were sent to her retired house at +Ashridge, by Berkhampstead, with orders to bring her up, alive or dead. +They got there at ten at night, when she was sick in bed. But, their +leaders followed her lady into her bedchamber, whence she was brought out +betimes next morning, and put into a litter to be conveyed to London. She +was so weak and ill, that she was five days on the road; still, she was +so resolved to be seen by the people that she had the curtains of the +litter opened; and so, very pale and sickly, passed through the streets. +She wrote to her sister, saying she was innocent of any crime, and asking +why she was made a prisoner; but she got no answer, and was ordered to +the Tower. They took her in by the Traitor's Gate, to which she +objected, but in vain. One of the lords who conveyed her offered to +cover her with his cloak, as it was raining, but she put it away from +her, proudly and scornfully, and passed into the Tower, and sat down in a +court-yard on a stone. They besought her to come in out of the wet; but +she answered that it was better sitting there, than in a worse place. At +length she went to her apartment, where she was kept a prisoner, though +not so close a prisoner as at Woodstock, whither she was afterwards +removed, and where she is said to have one day envied a milkmaid whom she +heard singing in the sunshine as she went through the green fields. +Gardiner, than whom there were not many worse men among the fierce and +sullen priests, cared little to keep secret his stern desire for her +death: being used to say that it was of little service to shake off the +leaves, and lop the branches of the tree of heresy, if its root, the hope +of heretics, were left. He failed, however, in his benevolent design. +Elizabeth was, at length, released; and Hatfield House was assigned to +her as a residence, under the care of one SIR THOMAS POPE. + +It would seem that Philip, the Prince of Spain, was a main cause of this +change in Elizabeth's fortunes. He was not an amiable man, being, on the +contrary, proud, overbearing, and gloomy; but he and the Spanish lords +who came over with him, assuredly did discountenance the idea of doing +any violence to the Princess. It may have been mere prudence, but we +will hope it was manhood and honour. The Queen had been expecting her +husband with great impatience, and at length he came, to her great joy, +though he never cared much for her. They were married by Gardiner, at +Winchester, and there was more holiday-making among the people; but they +had their old distrust of this Spanish marriage, in which even the +Parliament shared. Though the members of that Parliament were far from +honest, and were strongly suspected to have been bought with Spanish +money, they would pass no bill to enable the Queen to set aside the +Princess Elizabeth and appoint her own successor. + +Although Gardiner failed in this object, as well as in the darker one of +bringing the Princess to the scaffold, he went on at a great pace in the +revival of the unreformed religion. A new Parliament was packed, in +which there were no Protestants. Preparations were made to receive +Cardinal Pole in England as the Pope's messenger, bringing his holy +declaration that all the nobility who had acquired Church property, +should keep it--which was done to enlist their selfish interest on the +Pope's side. Then a great scene was enacted, which was the triumph of +the Queen's plans. Cardinal Pole arrived in great splendour and dignity, +and was received with great pomp. The Parliament joined in a petition +expressive of their sorrow at the change in the national religion, and +praying him to receive the country again into the Popish Church. With +the Queen sitting on her throne, and the King on one side of her, and the +Cardinal on the other, and the Parliament present, Gardiner read the +petition aloud. The Cardinal then made a great speech, and was so +obliging as to say that all was forgotten and forgiven, and that the +kingdom was solemnly made Roman Catholic again. + +Everything was now ready for the lighting of the terrible bonfires. The +Queen having declared to the Council, in writing, that she would wish +none of her subjects to be burnt without some of the Council being +present, and that she would particularly wish there to be good sermons at +all burnings, the Council knew pretty well what was to be done next. So, +after the Cardinal had blessed all the bishops as a preface to the +burnings, the Chancellor Gardiner opened a High Court at Saint Mary +Overy, on the Southwark side of London Bridge, for the trial of heretics. +Here, two of the late Protestant clergymen, HOOPER, Bishop of Gloucester, +and ROGERS, a Prebendary of St. Paul's, were brought to be tried. Hooper +was tried first for being married, though a priest, and for not believing +in the mass. He admitted both of these accusations, and said that the +mass was a wicked imposition. Then they tried Rogers, who said the same. +Next morning the two were brought up to be sentenced; and then Rogers +said that his poor wife, being a German woman and a stranger in the land, +he hoped might be allowed to come to speak to him before he died. To +this the inhuman Gardiner replied, that she was not his wife. 'Yea, but +she is, my lord,' said Rogers, 'and she hath been my wife these eighteen +years.' His request was still refused, and they were both sent to +Newgate; all those who stood in the streets to sell things, being ordered +to put out their lights that the people might not see them. But, the +people stood at their doors with candles in their hands, and prayed for +them as they went by. Soon afterwards, Rogers was taken out of jail to +be burnt in Smithfield; and, in the crowd as he went along, he saw his +poor wife and his ten children, of whom the youngest was a little baby. +And so he was burnt to death. + +The next day, Hooper, who was to be burnt at Gloucester, was brought out +to take his last journey, and was made to wear a hood over his face that +he might not be known by the people. But, they did know him for all +that, down in his own part of the country; and, when he came near +Gloucester, they lined the road, making prayers and lamentations. His +guards took him to a lodging, where he slept soundly all night. At nine +o'clock next morning, he was brought forth leaning on a staff; for he had +taken cold in prison, and was infirm. The iron stake, and the iron chain +which was to bind him to it, were fixed up near a great elm-tree in a +pleasant open place before the cathedral, where, on peaceful Sundays, he +had been accustomed to preach and to pray, when he was bishop of +Gloucester. This tree, which had no leaves then, it being February, was +filled with people; and the priests of Gloucester College were looking +complacently on from a window, and there was a great concourse of +spectators in every spot from which a glimpse of the dreadful sight could +be beheld. When the old man kneeled down on the small platform at the +foot of the stake, and prayed aloud, the nearest people were observed to +be so attentive to his prayers that they were ordered to stand farther +back; for it did not suit the Romish Church to have those Protestant +words heard. His prayers concluded, he went up to the stake and was +stripped to his shirt, and chained ready for the fire. One of his guards +had such compassion on him that, to shorten his agonies, he tied some +packets of gunpowder about him. Then they heaped up wood and straw and +reeds, and set them all alight. But, unhappily, the wood was green and +damp, and there was a wind blowing that blew what flame there was, away. +Thus, through three-quarters of an hour, the good old man was scorched +and roasted and smoked, as the fire rose and sank; and all that time they +saw him, as he burned, moving his lips in prayer, and beating his breast +with one hand, even after the other was burnt away and had fallen off. + +Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer, were taken to Oxford to dispute with a +commission of priests and doctors about the mass. They were shamefully +treated; and it is recorded that the Oxford scholars hissed and howled +and groaned, and misconducted themselves in an anything but a scholarly +way. The prisoners were taken back to jail, and afterwards tried in St. +Mary's Church. They were all found guilty. On the sixteenth of the +month of October, Ridley and Latimer were brought out, to make another of +the dreadful bonfires. + +The scene of the suffering of these two good Protestant men was in the +City ditch, near Baliol College. On coming to the dreadful spot, they +kissed the stakes, and then embraced each other. And then a learned +doctor got up into a pulpit which was placed there, and preached a sermon +from the text, 'Though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, +it profiteth me nothing.' When you think of the charity of burning men +alive, you may imagine that this learned doctor had a rather brazen face. +Ridley would have answered his sermon when it came to an end, but was not +allowed. When Latimer was stripped, it appeared that he had dressed +himself under his other clothes, in a new shroud; and, as he stood in it +before all the people, it was noted of him, and long remembered, that, +whereas he had been stooping and feeble but a few minutes before, he now +stood upright and handsome, in the knowledge that he was dying for a just +and a great cause. Ridley's brother-in-law was there with bags of +gunpowder; and when they were both chained up, he tied them round their +bodies. Then, a light was thrown upon the pile to fire it. 'Be of good +comfort, Master Ridley,' said Latimer, at that awful moment, 'and play +the man! We shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in +England, as I trust shall never be put out.' And then he was seen to +make motions with his hands as if he were washing them in the flames, and +to stroke his aged face with them, and was heard to cry, 'Father of +Heaven, receive my soul!' He died quickly, but the fire, after having +burned the legs of Ridley, sunk. There he lingered, chained to the iron +post, and crying, 'O! I cannot burn! O! for Christ's sake let the fire +come unto me!' And still, when his brother-in-law had heaped on more +wood, he was heard through the blinding smoke, still dismally crying, 'O! +I cannot burn, I cannot burn!' At last, the gunpowder caught fire, and +ended his miseries. + +Five days after this fearful scene, Gardiner went to his tremendous +account before God, for the cruelties he had so much assisted in +committing. + +Cranmer remained still alive and in prison. He was brought out again in +February, for more examining and trying, by Bonner, Bishop of London: +another man of blood, who had succeeded to Gardiner's work, even in his +lifetime, when Gardiner was tired of it. Cranmer was now degraded as a +priest, and left for death; but, if the Queen hated any one on earth, she +hated him, and it was resolved that he should be ruined and disgraced to +the utmost. There is no doubt that the Queen and her husband personally +urged on these deeds, because they wrote to the Council, urging them to +be active in the kindling of the fearful fires. As Cranmer was known not +to be a firm man, a plan was laid for surrounding him with artful people, +and inducing him to recant to the unreformed religion. Deans and friars +visited him, played at bowls with him, showed him various attentions, +talked persuasively with him, gave him money for his prison comforts, and +induced him to sign, I fear, as many as six recantations. But when, +after all, he was taken out to be burnt, he was nobly true to his better +self, and made a glorious end. + +After prayers and a sermon, Dr. Cole, the preacher of the day (who had +been one of the artful priests about Cranmer in prison), required him to +make a public confession of his faith before the people. This, Cole did, +expecting that he would declare himself a Roman Catholic. 'I will make a +profession of my faith,' said Cranmer, 'and with a good will too.' + +Then, he arose before them all, and took from the sleeve of his robe a +written prayer and read it aloud. That done, he kneeled and said the +Lord's Prayer, all the people joining; and then he arose again and told +them that he believed in the Bible, and that in what he had lately +written, he had written what was not the truth, and that, because his +right hand had signed those papers, he would burn his right hand first +when he came to the fire. As for the Pope, he did refuse him and +denounce him as the enemy of Heaven. Hereupon the pious Dr. Cole cried +out to the guards to stop that heretic's mouth and take him away. + +So they took him away, and chained him to the stake, where he hastily +took off his own clothes to make ready for the flames. And he stood +before the people with a bald head and a white and flowing beard. He was +so firm now when the worst was come, that he again declared against his +recantation, and was so impressive and so undismayed, that a certain +lord, who was one of the directors of the execution, called out to the +men to make haste! When the fire was lighted, Cranmer, true to his +latest word, stretched out his right hand, and crying out, 'This hand +hath offended!' held it among the flames, until it blazed and burned +away. His heart was found entire among his ashes, and he left at last a +memorable name in English history. Cardinal Pole celebrated the day by +saying his first mass, and next day he was made Archbishop of Canterbury +in Cranmer's place. + +The Queen's husband, who was now mostly abroad in his own dominions, and +generally made a coarse jest of her to his more familiar courtiers, was +at war with France, and came over to seek the assistance of England. +England was very unwilling to engage in a French war for his sake; but it +happened that the King of France, at this very time, aided a descent upon +the English coast. Hence, war was declared, greatly to Philip's +satisfaction; and the Queen raised a sum of money with which to carry it +on, by every unjustifiable means in her power. It met with no profitable +return, for the French Duke of Guise surprised Calais, and the English +sustained a complete defeat. The losses they met with in France greatly +mortified the national pride, and the Queen never recovered the blow. + +There was a bad fever raging in England at this time, and I am glad to +write that the Queen took it, and the hour of her death came. 'When I am +dead and my body is opened,' she said to those around those around her, +'ye shall find CALAIS written on my heart.' I should have thought, if +anything were written on it, they would have found the words--JANE GREY, +HOOPER, ROGERS, RIDLEY, LATIMER, CRANMER, AND THREE HUNDRED PEOPLE BURNT +ALIVE WITHIN FOUR YEARS OF MY WICKED REIGN, INCLUDING SIXTY WOMEN AND +FORTY LITTLE CHILDREN. But it is enough that their deaths were written +in Heaven. + +The Queen died on the seventeenth of November, fifteen hundred and fifty- +eight, after reigning not quite five years and a half, and in the forty- +fourth year of her age. Cardinal Pole died of the same fever next day. + +As BLOODY QUEEN MARY, this woman has become famous, and as BLOODY QUEEN +MARY, she will ever be justly remembered with horror and detestation in +Great Britain. Her memory has been held in such abhorrence that some +writers have arisen in later years to take her part, and to show that she +was, upon the whole, quite an amiable and cheerful sovereign! 'By their +fruits ye shall know them,' said OUR SAVIOUR. The stake and the fire +were the fruits of this reign, and you will judge this Queen by nothing +else. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI--ENGLAND UNDER ELIZABETH + + +There was great rejoicing all over the land when the Lords of the Council +went down to Hatfield, to hail the Princess Elizabeth as the new Queen of +England. Weary of the barbarities of Mary's reign, the people looked +with hope and gladness to the new Sovereign. The nation seemed to wake +from a horrible dream; and Heaven, so long hidden by the smoke of the +fires that roasted men and women to death, appeared to brighten once +more. + +Queen Elizabeth was five-and-twenty years of age when she rode through +the streets of London, from the Tower to Westminster Abbey, to be +crowned. Her countenance was strongly marked, but on the whole, +commanding and dignified; her hair was red, and her nose something too +long and sharp for a woman's. She was not the beautiful creature her +courtiers made out; but she was well enough, and no doubt looked all the +better for coming after the dark and gloomy Mary. She was well educated, +but a roundabout writer, and rather a hard swearer and coarse talker. She +was clever, but cunning and deceitful, and inherited much of her father's +violent temper. I mention this now, because she has been so over-praised +by one party, and so over-abused by another, that it is hardly possible +to understand the greater part of her reign without first understanding +what kind of woman she really was. + +She began her reign with the great advantage of having a very wise and +careful Minister, SIR WILLIAM CECIL, whom she afterwards made LORD +BURLEIGH. Altogether, the people had greater reason for rejoicing than +they usually had, when there were processions in the streets; and they +were happy with some reason. All kinds of shows and images were set up; +GOG and MAGOG were hoisted to the top of Temple Bar, and (which was more +to the purpose) the Corporation dutifully presented the young Queen with +the sum of a thousand marks in gold--so heavy a present, that she was +obliged to take it into her carriage with both hands. The coronation was +a great success; and, on the next day, one of the courtiers presented a +petition to the new Queen, praying that as it was the custom to release +some prisoners on such occasions, she would have the goodness to release +the four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and also the Apostle +Saint Paul, who had been for some time shut up in a strange language so +that the people could not get at them. + +To this, the Queen replied that it would be better first to inquire of +themselves whether they desired to be released or not; and, as a means of +finding out, a great public discussion--a sort of religious +tournament--was appointed to take place between certain champions of the +two religions, in Westminster Abbey. You may suppose that it was soon +made pretty clear to common sense, that for people to benefit by what +they repeat or read, it is rather necessary they should understand +something about it. Accordingly, a Church Service in plain English was +settled, and other laws and regulations were made, completely +establishing the great work of the Reformation. The Romish bishops and +champions were not harshly dealt with, all things considered; and the +Queen's Ministers were both prudent and merciful. + +The one great trouble of this reign, and the unfortunate cause of the +greater part of such turmoil and bloodshed as occurred in it, was MARY +STUART, QUEEN OF SCOTS. We will try to understand, in as few words as +possible, who Mary was, what she was, and how she came to be a thorn in +the royal pillow of Elizabeth. + +She was the daughter of the Queen Regent of Scotland, MARY OF GUISE. She +had been married, when a mere child, to the Dauphin, the son and heir of +the King of France. The Pope, who pretended that no one could rightfully +wear the crown of England without his gracious permission, was strongly +opposed to Elizabeth, who had not asked for the said gracious permission. +And as Mary Queen of Scots would have inherited the English crown in +right of her birth, supposing the English Parliament not to have altered +the succession, the Pope himself, and most of the discontented who were +followers of his, maintained that Mary was the rightful Queen of England, +and Elizabeth the wrongful Queen. Mary being so closely connected with +France, and France being jealous of England, there was far greater danger +in this than there would have been if she had had no alliance with that +great power. And when her young husband, on the death of his father, +became FRANCIS THE SECOND, King of France, the matter grew very serious. +For, the young couple styled themselves King and Queen of England, and +the Pope was disposed to help them by doing all the mischief he could. + +Now, the reformed religion, under the guidance of a stern and powerful +preacher, named JOHN KNOX, and other such men, had been making fierce +progress in Scotland. It was still a half savage country, where there +was a great deal of murdering and rioting continually going on; and the +Reformers, instead of reforming those evils as they should have done, +went to work in the ferocious old Scottish spirit, laying churches and +chapels waste, pulling down pictures and altars, and knocking about the +Grey Friars, and the Black Friars, and the White Friars, and the friars +of all sorts of colours, in all directions. This obdurate and harsh +spirit of the Scottish Reformers (the Scotch have always been rather a +sullen and frowning people in religious matters) put up the blood of the +Romish French court, and caused France to send troops over to Scotland, +with the hope of setting the friars of all sorts of colours on their legs +again; of conquering that country first, and England afterwards; and so +crushing the Reformation all to pieces. The Scottish Reformers, who had +formed a great league which they called The Congregation of the Lord, +secretly represented to Elizabeth that, if the reformed religion got the +worst of it with them, it would be likely to get the worst of it in +England too; and thus, Elizabeth, though she had a high notion of the +rights of Kings and Queens to do anything they liked, sent an army to +Scotland to support the Reformers, who were in arms against their +sovereign. All these proceedings led to a treaty of peace at Edinburgh, +under which the French consented to depart from the kingdom. By a +separate treaty, Mary and her young husband engaged to renounce their +assumed title of King and Queen of England. But this treaty they never +fulfilled. + +It happened, soon after matters had got to this state, that the young +French King died, leaving Mary a young widow. She was then invited by +her Scottish subjects to return home and reign over them; and as she was +not now happy where she was, she, after a little time, complied. + +Elizabeth had been Queen three years, when Mary Queen of Scots embarked +at Calais for her own rough, quarrelling country. As she came out of the +harbour, a vessel was lost before her eyes, and she said, 'O! good God! +what an omen this is for such a voyage!' She was very fond of France, +and sat on the deck, looking back at it and weeping, until it was quite +dark. When she went to bed, she directed to be called at daybreak, if +the French coast were still visible, that she might behold it for the +last time. As it proved to be a clear morning, this was done, and she +again wept for the country she was leaving, and said many times, +'Farewell, France! Farewell, France! I shall never see thee again!' All +this was long remembered afterwards, as sorrowful and interesting in a +fair young princess of nineteen. Indeed, I am afraid it gradually came, +together with her other distresses, to surround her with greater sympathy +than she deserved. + +When she came to Scotland, and took up her abode at the palace of +Holyrood in Edinburgh, she found herself among uncouth strangers and wild +uncomfortable customs very different from her experiences in the court of +France. The very people who were disposed to love her, made her head +ache when she was tired out by her voyage, with a serenade of discordant +music--a fearful concert of bagpipes, I suppose--and brought her and her +train home to her palace on miserable little Scotch horses that appeared +to be half starved. Among the people who were not disposed to love her, +she found the powerful leaders of the Reformed Church, who were bitter +upon her amusements, however innocent, and denounced music and dancing as +works of the devil. John Knox himself often lectured her, violently and +angrily, and did much to make her life unhappy. All these reasons +confirmed her old attachment to the Romish religion, and caused her, +there is no doubt, most imprudently and dangerously both for herself and +for England too, to give a solemn pledge to the heads of the Romish +Church that if she ever succeeded to the English crown, she would set up +that religion again. In reading her unhappy history, you must always +remember this; and also that during her whole life she was constantly put +forward against the Queen, in some form or other, by the Romish party. + +That Elizabeth, on the other hand, was not inclined to like her, is +pretty certain. Elizabeth was very vain and jealous, and had an +extraordinary dislike to people being married. She treated Lady +Catherine Grey, sister of the beheaded Lady Jane, with such shameful +severity, for no other reason than her being secretly married, that she +died and her husband was ruined; so, when a second marriage for Mary +began to be talked about, probably Elizabeth disliked her more. Not that +Elizabeth wanted suitors of her own, for they started up from Spain, +Austria, Sweden, and England. Her English lover at this time, and one +whom she much favoured too, was LORD ROBERT DUDLEY, Earl of +Leicester--himself secretly married to AMY ROBSART, the daughter of an +English gentleman, whom he was strongly suspected of causing to be +murdered, down at his country seat, Cumnor Hall in Berkshire, that he +might be free to marry the Queen. Upon this story, the great writer, SIR +WALTER SCOTT, has founded one of his best romances. But if Elizabeth +knew how to lead her handsome favourite on, for her own vanity and +pleasure, she knew how to stop him for her own pride; and his love, and +all the other proposals, came to nothing. The Queen always declared in +good set speeches, that she would never be married at all, but would live +and die a Maiden Queen. It was a very pleasant and meritorious +declaration, I suppose; but it has been puffed and trumpeted so much, +that I am rather tired of it myself. + +Divers princes proposed to marry Mary, but the English court had reasons +for being jealous of them all, and even proposed as a matter of policy +that she should marry that very Earl of Leicester who had aspired to be +the husband of Elizabeth. At last, LORD DARNLEY, son of the Earl of +Lennox, and himself descended from the Royal Family of Scotland, went +over with Elizabeth's consent to try his fortune at Holyrood. He was a +tall simpleton; and could dance and play the guitar; but I know of +nothing else he could do, unless it were to get very drunk, and eat +gluttonously, and make a contemptible spectacle of himself in many mean +and vain ways. However, he gained Mary's heart, not disdaining in the +pursuit of his object to ally himself with one of her secretaries, DAVID +RIZZIO, who had great influence with her. He soon married the Queen. +This marriage does not say much for her, but what followed will presently +say less. + +Mary's brother, the EARL OF MURRAY, and head of the Protestant party in +Scotland, had opposed this marriage, partly on religious grounds, and +partly perhaps from personal dislike of the very contemptible bridegroom. +When it had taken place, through Mary's gaining over to it the more +powerful of the lords about her, she banished Murray for his pains; and, +when he and some other nobles rose in arms to support the reformed +religion, she herself, within a month of her wedding day, rode against +them in armour with loaded pistols in her saddle. Driven out of +Scotland, they presented themselves before Elizabeth--who called them +traitors in public, and assisted them in private, according to her crafty +nature. + +Mary had been married but a little while, when she began to hate her +husband, who, in his turn, began to hate that David Rizzio, with whom he +had leagued to gain her favour, and whom he now believed to be her lover. +He hated Rizzio to that extent, that he made a compact with LORD RUTHVEN +and three other lords to get rid of him by murder. This wicked agreement +they made in solemn secrecy upon the first of March, fifteen hundred and +sixty-six, and on the night of Saturday the ninth, the conspirators were +brought by Darnley up a private staircase, dark and steep, into a range +of rooms where they knew that Mary was sitting at supper with her sister, +Lady Argyle, and this doomed man. When they went into the room, Darnley +took the Queen round the waist, and Lord Ruthven, who had risen from a +bed of sickness to do this murder, came in, gaunt and ghastly, leaning on +two men. Rizzio ran behind the Queen for shelter and protection. 'Let +him come out of the room,' said Ruthven. 'He shall not leave the room,' +replied the Queen; 'I read his danger in your face, and it is my will +that he remain here.' They then set upon him, struggled with him, +overturned the table, dragged him out, and killed him with fifty-six +stabs. When the Queen heard that he was dead, she said, 'No more tears. +I will think now of revenge!' + +Within a day or two, she gained her husband over, and prevailed on the +tall idiot to abandon the conspirators and fly with her to Dunbar. There, +he issued a proclamation, audaciously and falsely denying that he had any +knowledge of the late bloody business; and there they were joined by the +EARL BOTHWELL and some other nobles. With their help, they raised eight +thousand men; returned to Edinburgh, and drove the assassins into +England. Mary soon afterwards gave birth to a son--still thinking of +revenge. + +That she should have had a greater scorn for her husband after his late +cowardice and treachery than she had had before, was natural enough. +There is little doubt that she now began to love Bothwell instead, and to +plan with him means of getting rid of Darnley. Bothwell had such power +over her that he induced her even to pardon the assassins of Rizzio. The +arrangements for the Christening of the young Prince were entrusted to +him, and he was one of the most important people at the ceremony, where +the child was named JAMES: Elizabeth being his godmother, though not +present on the occasion. A week afterwards, Darnley, who had left Mary +and gone to his father's house at Glasgow, being taken ill with the small- +pox, she sent her own physician to attend him. But there is reason to +apprehend that this was merely a show and a pretence, and that she knew +what was doing, when Bothwell within another month proposed to one of the +late conspirators against Rizzio, to murder Darnley, 'for that it was the +Queen's mind that he should be taken away.' It is certain that on that +very day she wrote to her ambassador in France, complaining of him, and +yet went immediately to Glasgow, feigning to be very anxious about him, +and to love him very much. If she wanted to get him in her power, she +succeeded to her heart's content; for she induced him to go back with her +to Edinburgh, and to occupy, instead of the palace, a lone house outside +the city called the Kirk of Field. Here, he lived for about a week. One +Sunday night, she remained with him until ten o'clock, and then left him, +to go to Holyrood to be present at an entertainment given in celebration +of the marriage of one of her favourite servants. At two o'clock in the +morning the city was shaken by a great explosion, and the Kirk of Field +was blown to atoms. + +Darnley's body was found next day lying under a tree at some distance. +How it came there, undisfigured and unscorched by gunpowder, and how this +crime came to be so clumsily and strangely committed, it is impossible to +discover. The deceitful character of Mary, and the deceitful character +of Elizabeth, have rendered almost every part of their joint history +uncertain and obscure. But, I fear that Mary was unquestionably a party +to her husband's murder, and that this was the revenge she had +threatened. The Scotch people universally believed it. Voices cried out +in the streets of Edinburgh in the dead of the night, for justice on the +murderess. Placards were posted by unknown hands in the public places +denouncing Bothwell as the murderer, and the Queen as his accomplice; +and, when he afterwards married her (though himself already married), +previously making a show of taking her prisoner by force, the indignation +of the people knew no bounds. The women particularly are described as +having been quite frantic against the Queen, and to have hooted and cried +after her in the streets with terrific vehemence. + +Such guilty unions seldom prosper. This husband and wife had lived +together but a month, when they were separated for ever by the successes +of a band of Scotch nobles who associated against them for the protection +of the young Prince: whom Bothwell had vainly endeavoured to lay hold of, +and whom he would certainly have murdered, if the EARL OF MAR, in whose +hands the boy was, had not been firmly and honourably faithful to his +trust. Before this angry power, Bothwell fled abroad, where he died, a +prisoner and mad, nine miserable years afterwards. Mary being found by +the associated lords to deceive them at every turn, was sent a prisoner +to Lochleven Castle; which, as it stood in the midst of a lake, could +only be approached by boat. Here, one LORD LINDSAY, who was so much of a +brute that the nobles would have done better if they had chosen a mere +gentleman for their messenger, made her sign her abdication, and appoint +Murray, Regent of Scotland. Here, too, Murray saw her in a sorrowing and +humbled state. + +She had better have remained in the castle of Lochleven, dull prison as +it was, with the rippling of the lake against it, and the moving shadows +of the water on the room walls; but she could not rest there, and more +than once tried to escape. The first time she had nearly succeeded, +dressed in the clothes of her own washer-woman, but, putting up her hand +to prevent one of the boatmen from lifting her veil, the men suspected +her, seeing how white it was, and rowed her back again. A short time +afterwards, her fascinating manners enlisted in her cause a boy in the +Castle, called the little DOUGLAS, who, while the family were at supper, +stole the keys of the great gate, went softly out with the Queen, locked +the gate on the outside, and rowed her away across the lake, sinking the +keys as they went along. On the opposite shore she was met by another +Douglas, and some few lords; and, so accompanied, rode away on horseback +to Hamilton, where they raised three thousand men. Here, she issued a +proclamation declaring that the abdication she had signed in her prison +was illegal, and requiring the Regent to yield to his lawful Queen. Being +a steady soldier, and in no way discomposed although he was without an +army, Murray pretended to treat with her, until he had collected a force +about half equal to her own, and then he gave her battle. In one quarter +of an hour he cut down all her hopes. She had another weary ride on +horse-back of sixty long Scotch miles, and took shelter at Dundrennan +Abbey, whence she fled for safety to Elizabeth's dominions. + +Mary Queen of Scots came to England--to her own ruin, the trouble of the +kingdom, and the misery and death of many--in the year one thousand five +hundred and sixty-eight. How she left it and the world, nineteen years +afterwards, we have now to see. + + + +SECOND PART + + +When Mary Queen of Scots arrived in England, without money and even +without any other clothes than those she wore, she wrote to Elizabeth, +representing herself as an innocent and injured piece of Royalty, and +entreating her assistance to oblige her Scottish subjects to take her +back again and obey her. But, as her character was already known in +England to be a very different one from what she made it out to be, she +was told in answer that she must first clear herself. Made uneasy by +this condition, Mary, rather than stay in England, would have gone to +Spain, or to France, or would even have gone back to Scotland. But, as +her doing either would have been likely to trouble England afresh, it was +decided that she should be detained here. She first came to Carlisle, +and, after that, was moved about from castle to castle, as was considered +necessary; but England she never left again. + +After trying very hard to get rid of the necessity of clearing herself, +Mary, advised by LORD HERRIES, her best friend in England, agreed to +answer the charges against her, if the Scottish noblemen who made them +would attend to maintain them before such English noblemen as Elizabeth +might appoint for that purpose. Accordingly, such an assembly, under the +name of a conference, met, first at York, and afterwards at Hampton +Court. In its presence Lord Lennox, Darnley's father, openly charged +Mary with the murder of his son; and whatever Mary's friends may now say +or write in her behalf, there is no doubt that, when her brother Murray +produced against her a casket containing certain guilty letters and +verses which he stated to have passed between her and Bothwell, she +withdrew from the inquiry. Consequently, it is to be supposed that she +was then considered guilty by those who had the best opportunities of +judging of the truth, and that the feeling which afterwards arose in her +behalf was a very generous but not a very reasonable one. + +However, the DUKE OF NORFOLK, an honourable but rather weak nobleman, +partly because Mary was captivating, partly because he was ambitious, +partly because he was over-persuaded by artful plotters against +Elizabeth, conceived a strong idea that he would like to marry the Queen +of Scots--though he was a little frightened, too, by the letters in the +casket. This idea being secretly encouraged by some of the noblemen of +Elizabeth's court, and even by the favourite Earl of Leicester (because +it was objected to by other favourites who were his rivals), Mary +expressed her approval of it, and the King of France and the King of +Spain are supposed to have done the same. It was not so quietly planned, +though, but that it came to Elizabeth's ears, who warned the Duke 'to be +careful what sort of pillow he was going to lay his head upon.' He made +a humble reply at the time; but turned sulky soon afterwards, and, being +considered dangerous, was sent to the Tower. + +Thus, from the moment of Mary's coming to England she began to be the +centre of plots and miseries. + +A rise of the Catholics in the north was the next of these, and it was +only checked by many executions and much bloodshed. It was followed by a +great conspiracy of the Pope and some of the Catholic sovereigns of +Europe to depose Elizabeth, place Mary on the throne, and restore the +unreformed religion. It is almost impossible to doubt that Mary knew and +approved of this; and the Pope himself was so hot in the matter that he +issued a bull, in which he openly called Elizabeth the 'pretended Queen' +of England, excommunicated her, and excommunicated all her subjects who +should continue to obey her. A copy of this miserable paper got into +London, and was found one morning publicly posted on the Bishop of +London's gate. A great hue and cry being raised, another copy was found +in the chamber of a student of Lincoln's Inn, who confessed, being put +upon the rack, that he had received it from one JOHN FELTON, a rich +gentleman who lived across the Thames, near Southwark. This John Felton, +being put upon the rack too, confessed that he had posted the placard on +the Bishop's gate. For this offence he was, within four days, taken to +St. Paul's Churchyard, and there hanged and quartered. As to the Pope's +bull, the people by the reformation having thrown off the Pope, did not +care much, you may suppose, for the Pope's throwing off them. It was a +mere dirty piece of paper, and not half so powerful as a street ballad. + +On the very day when Felton was brought to his trial, the poor Duke of +Norfolk was released. It would have been well for him if he had kept +away from the Tower evermore, and from the snares that had taken him +there. But, even while he was in that dismal place he corresponded with +Mary, and as soon as he was out of it, he began to plot again. Being +discovered in correspondence with the Pope, with a view to a rising in +England which should force Elizabeth to consent to his marriage with Mary +and to repeal the laws against the Catholics, he was re-committed to the +Tower and brought to trial. He was found guilty by the unanimous verdict +of the Lords who tried him, and was sentenced to the block. + +It is very difficult to make out, at this distance of time, and between +opposite accounts, whether Elizabeth really was a humane woman, or +desired to appear so, or was fearful of shedding the blood of people of +great name who were popular in the country. Twice she commanded and +countermanded the execution of this Duke, and it did not take place until +five months after his trial. The scaffold was erected on Tower Hill, and +there he died like a brave man. He refused to have his eyes bandaged, +saying that he was not at all afraid of death; and he admitted the +justice of his sentence, and was much regretted by the people. + +Although Mary had shrunk at the most important time from disproving her +guilt, she was very careful never to do anything that would admit it. All +such proposals as were made to her by Elizabeth for her release, required +that admission in some form or other, and therefore came to nothing. +Moreover, both women being artful and treacherous, and neither ever +trusting the other, it was not likely that they could ever make an +agreement. So, the Parliament, aggravated by what the Pope had done, +made new and strong laws against the spreading of the Catholic religion +in England, and declared it treason in any one to say that the Queen and +her successors were not the lawful sovereigns of England. It would have +done more than this, but for Elizabeth's moderation. + +Since the Reformation, there had come to be three great sects of +religious people--or people who called themselves so--in England; that is +to say, those who belonged to the Reformed Church, those who belonged to +the Unreformed Church, and those who were called the Puritans, because +they said that they wanted to have everything very pure and plain in all +the Church service. These last were for the most part an uncomfortable +people, who thought it highly meritorious to dress in a hideous manner, +talk through their noses, and oppose all harmless enjoyments. But they +were powerful too, and very much in earnest, and they were one and all +the determined enemies of the Queen of Scots. The Protestant feeling in +England was further strengthened by the tremendous cruelties to which +Protestants were exposed in France and in the Netherlands. Scores of +thousands of them were put to death in those countries with every cruelty +that can be imagined, and at last, in the autumn of the year one thousand +five hundred and seventy-two, one of the greatest barbarities ever +committed in the world took place at Paris. + +It is called in history, THE MASSACRE OF SAINT BARTHOLOMEW, because it +took place on Saint Bartholomew's Eve. The day fell on Saturday the +twenty-third of August. On that day all the great leaders of the +Protestants (who were there called HUGUENOTS) were assembled together, +for the purpose, as was represented to them, of doing honour to the +marriage of their chief, the young King of Navarre, with the sister of +CHARLES THE NINTH: a miserable young King who then occupied the French +throne. This dull creature was made to believe by his mother and other +fierce Catholics about him that the Huguenots meant to take his life; and +he was persuaded to give secret orders that, on the tolling of a great +bell, they should be fallen upon by an overpowering force of armed men, +and slaughtered wherever they could be found. When the appointed hour +was close at hand, the stupid wretch, trembling from head to foot, was +taken into a balcony by his mother to see the atrocious work begun. The +moment the bell tolled, the murderers broke forth. During all that night +and the two next days, they broke into the houses, fired the houses, shot +and stabbed the Protestants, men, women, and children, and flung their +bodies into the streets. They were shot at in the streets as they passed +along, and their blood ran down the gutters. Upwards of ten thousand +Protestants were killed in Paris alone; in all France four or five times +that number. To return thanks to Heaven for these diabolical murders, +the Pope and his train actually went in public procession at Rome, and as +if this were not shame enough for them, they had a medal struck to +commemorate the event. But, however comfortable the wholesale murders +were to these high authorities, they had not that soothing effect upon +the doll-King. I am happy to state that he never knew a moment's peace +afterwards; that he was continually crying out that he saw the Huguenots +covered with blood and wounds falling dead before him; and that he died +within a year, shrieking and yelling and raving to that degree, that if +all the Popes who had ever lived had been rolled into one, they would not +have afforded His guilty Majesty the slightest consolation. + +When the terrible news of the massacre arrived in England, it made a +powerful impression indeed upon the people. If they began to run a +little wild against the Catholics at about this time, this fearful reason +for it, coming so soon after the days of bloody Queen Mary, must be +remembered in their excuse. The Court was not quite so honest as the +people--but perhaps it sometimes is not. It received the French +ambassador, with all the lords and ladies dressed in deep mourning, and +keeping a profound silence. Nevertheless, a proposal of marriage which +he had made to Elizabeth only two days before the eve of Saint +Bartholomew, on behalf of the Duke of Alencon, the French King's brother, +a boy of seventeen, still went on; while on the other hand, in her usual +crafty way, the Queen secretly supplied the Huguenots with money and +weapons. + +I must say that for a Queen who made all those fine speeches, of which I +have confessed myself to be rather tired, about living and dying a Maiden +Queen, Elizabeth was 'going' to be married pretty often. Besides always +having some English favourite or other whom she by turns encouraged and +swore at and knocked about--for the maiden Queen was very free with her +fists--she held this French Duke off and on through several years. When +he at last came over to England, the marriage articles were actually +drawn up, and it was settled that the wedding should take place in six +weeks. The Queen was then so bent upon it, that she prosecuted a poor +Puritan named STUBBS, and a poor bookseller named PAGE, for writing and +publishing a pamphlet against it. Their right hands were chopped off for +this crime; and poor Stubbs--more loyal than I should have been myself +under the circumstances--immediately pulled off his hat with his left +hand, and cried, 'God save the Queen!' Stubbs was cruelly treated; for +the marriage never took place after all, though the Queen pledged herself +to the Duke with a ring from her own finger. He went away, no better +than he came, when the courtship had lasted some ten years altogether; +and he died a couple of years afterwards, mourned by Elizabeth, who +appears to have been really fond of him. It is not much to her credit, +for he was a bad enough member of a bad family. + +To return to the Catholics. There arose two orders of priests, who were +very busy in England, and who were much dreaded. These were the JESUITS +(who were everywhere in all sorts of disguises), and the SEMINARY +PRIESTS. The people had a great horror of the first, because they were +known to have taught that murder was lawful if it were done with an +object of which they approved; and they had a great horror of the second, +because they came to teach the old religion, and to be the successors of +'Queen Mary's priests,' as those yet lingering in England were called, +when they should die out. The severest laws were made against them, and +were most unmercifully executed. Those who sheltered them in their +houses often suffered heavily for what was an act of humanity; and the +rack, that cruel torture which tore men's limbs asunder, was constantly +kept going. What these unhappy men confessed, or what was ever confessed +by any one under that agony, must always be received with great doubt, as +it is certain that people have frequently owned to the most absurd and +impossible crimes to escape such dreadful suffering. But I cannot doubt +it to have been proved by papers, that there were many plots, both among +the Jesuits, and with France, and with Scotland, and with Spain, for the +destruction of Queen Elizabeth, for the placing of Mary on the throne, +and for the revival of the old religion. + +If the English people were too ready to believe in plots, there were, as +I have said, good reasons for it. When the massacre of Saint Bartholomew +was yet fresh in their recollection, a great Protestant Dutch hero, the +PRINCE OF ORANGE, was shot by an assassin, who confessed that he had been +kept and trained for the purpose in a college of Jesuits. The Dutch, in +this surprise and distress, offered to make Elizabeth their sovereign, +but she declined the honour, and sent them a small army instead, under +the command of the Earl of Leicester, who, although a capital Court +favourite, was not much of a general. He did so little in Holland, that +his campaign there would probably have been forgotten, but for its +occasioning the death of one of the best writers, the best knights, and +the best gentlemen, of that or any age. This was SIR PHILIP SIDNEY, who +was wounded by a musket ball in the thigh as he mounted a fresh horse, +after having had his own killed under him. He had to ride back wounded, +a long distance, and was very faint with fatigue and loss of blood, when +some water, for which he had eagerly asked, was handed to him. But he +was so good and gentle even then, that seeing a poor badly wounded common +soldier lying on the ground, looking at the water with longing eyes, he +said, 'Thy necessity is greater than mine,' and gave it up to him. This +touching action of a noble heart is perhaps as well known as any incident +in history--is as famous far and wide as the blood-stained Tower of +London, with its axe, and block, and murders out of number. So +delightful is an act of true humanity, and so glad are mankind to +remember it. + +At home, intelligence of plots began to thicken every day. I suppose the +people never did live under such continual terrors as those by which they +were possessed now, of Catholic risings, and burnings, and poisonings, +and I don't know what. Still, we must always remember that they lived +near and close to awful realities of that kind, and that with their +experience it was not difficult to believe in any enormity. The +government had the same fear, and did not take the best means of +discovering the truth--for, besides torturing the suspected, it employed +paid spies, who will always lie for their own profit. It even made some +of the conspiracies it brought to light, by sending false letters to +disaffected people, inviting them to join in pretended plots, which they +too readily did. + +But, one great real plot was at length discovered, and it ended the +career of Mary, Queen of Scots. A seminary priest named BALLARD, and a +Spanish soldier named SAVAGE, set on and encouraged by certain French +priests, imparted a design to one ANTONY BABINGTON--a gentleman of +fortune in Derbyshire, who had been for some time a secret agent of +Mary's--for murdering the Queen. Babington then confided the scheme to +some other Catholic gentlemen who were his friends, and they joined in it +heartily. They were vain, weak-headed young men, ridiculously confident, +and preposterously proud of their plan; for they got a gimcrack painting +made, of the six choice spirits who were to murder Elizabeth, with +Babington in an attitude for the centre figure. Two of their number, +however, one of whom was a priest, kept Elizabeth's wisest minister, SIR +FRANCIS WALSINGHAM, acquainted with the whole project from the first. The +conspirators were completely deceived to the final point, when Babington +gave Savage, because he was shabby, a ring from his finger, and some +money from his purse, wherewith to buy himself new clothes in which to +kill the Queen. Walsingham, having then full evidence against the whole +band, and two letters of Mary's besides, resolved to seize them. +Suspecting something wrong, they stole out of the city, one by one, and +hid themselves in St. John's Wood, and other places which really were +hiding places then; but they were all taken, and all executed. When they +were seized, a gentleman was sent from Court to inform Mary of the fact, +and of her being involved in the discovery. Her friends have complained +that she was kept in very hard and severe custody. It does not appear +very likely, for she was going out a hunting that very morning. + +Queen Elizabeth had been warned long ago, by one in France who had good +information of what was secretly doing, that in holding Mary alive, she +held 'the wolf who would devour her.' The Bishop of London had, more +lately, given the Queen's favourite minister the advice in writing, +'forthwith to cut off the Scottish Queen's head.' The question now was, +what to do with her? The Earl of Leicester wrote a little note home from +Holland, recommending that she should be quietly poisoned; that noble +favourite having accustomed his mind, it is possible, to remedies of that +nature. His black advice, however, was disregarded, and she was brought +to trial at Fotheringay Castle in Northamptonshire, before a tribunal of +forty, composed of both religions. There, and in the Star Chamber at +Westminster, the trial lasted a fortnight. She defended herself with +great ability, but could only deny the confessions that had been made by +Babington and others; could only call her own letters, produced against +her by her own secretaries, forgeries; and, in short, could only deny +everything. She was found guilty, and declared to have incurred the +penalty of death. The Parliament met, approved the sentence, and prayed +the Queen to have it executed. The Queen replied that she requested them +to consider whether no means could be found of saving Mary's life without +endangering her own. The Parliament rejoined, No; and the citizens +illuminated their houses and lighted bonfires, in token of their joy that +all these plots and troubles were to be ended by the death of the Queen +of Scots. + +{Mary Queen of Scots Reading the death warrant: p240.jpg} + +She, feeling sure that her time was now come, wrote a letter to the Queen +of England, making three entreaties; first, that she might be buried in +France; secondly, that she might not be executed in secret, but before +her servants and some others; thirdly, that after her death, her servants +should not be molested, but should be suffered to go home with the +legacies she left them. It was an affecting letter, and Elizabeth shed +tears over it, but sent no answer. Then came a special ambassador from +France, and another from Scotland, to intercede for Mary's life; and then +the nation began to clamour, more and more, for her death. + +What the real feelings or intentions of Elizabeth were, can never be +known now; but I strongly suspect her of only wishing one thing more than +Mary's death, and that was to keep free of the blame of it. On the first +of February, one thousand five hundred and eighty-seven, Lord Burleigh +having drawn out the warrant for the execution, the Queen sent to the +secretary DAVISON to bring it to her, that she might sign it: which she +did. Next day, when Davison told her it was sealed, she angrily asked +him why such haste was necessary? Next day but one, she joked about it, +and swore a little. Again, next day but one, she seemed to complain that +it was not yet done, but still she would not be plain with those about +her. So, on the seventh, the Earls of Kent and Shrewsbury, with the +Sheriff of Northamptonshire, came with the warrant to Fotheringay, to +tell the Queen of Scots to prepare for death. + +When those messengers of ill omen were gone, Mary made a frugal supper, +drank to her servants, read over her will, went to bed, slept for some +hours, and then arose and passed the remainder of the night saying +prayers. In the morning she dressed herself in her best clothes; and, at +eight o'clock when the sheriff came for her to her chapel, took leave of +her servants who were there assembled praying with her, and went down- +stairs, carrying a Bible in one hand and a crucifix in the other. Two of +her women and four of her men were allowed to be present in the hall; +where a low scaffold, only two feet from the ground, was erected and +covered with black; and where the executioner from the Tower, and his +assistant, stood, dressed in black velvet. The hall was full of people. +While the sentence was being read she sat upon a stool; and, when it was +finished, she again denied her guilt, as she had done before. The Earl +of Kent and the Dean of Peterborough, in their Protestant zeal, made some +very unnecessary speeches to her; to which she replied that she died in +the Catholic religion, and they need not trouble themselves about that +matter. When her head and neck were uncovered by the executioners, she +said that she had not been used to be undressed by such hands, or before +so much company. Finally, one of her women fastened a cloth over her +face, and she laid her neck upon the block, and repeated more than once +in Latin, 'Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit!' Some say her +head was struck off in two blows, some say in three. However that be, +when it was held up, streaming with blood, the real hair beneath the +false hair she had long worn was seen to be as grey as that of a woman of +seventy, though she was at that time only in her forty-sixth year. All +her beauty was gone. + +But she was beautiful enough to her little dog, who cowered under her +dress, frightened, when she went upon the scaffold, and who lay down +beside her headless body when all her earthly sorrows were over. + + + +THIRD PART + + +On its being formally made known to Elizabeth that the sentence had been +executed on the Queen of Scots, she showed the utmost grief and rage, +drove her favourites from her with violent indignation, and sent Davison +to the Tower; from which place he was only released in the end by paying +an immense fine which completely ruined him. Elizabeth not only over- +acted her part in making these pretences, but most basely reduced to +poverty one of her faithful servants for no other fault than obeying her +commands. + +James, King of Scotland, Mary's son, made a show likewise of being very +angry on the occasion; but he was a pensioner of England to the amount of +five thousand pounds a year, and he had known very little of his mother, +and he possibly regarded her as the murderer of his father, and he soon +took it quietly. + +Philip, King of Spain, however, threatened to do greater things than ever +had been done yet, to set up the Catholic religion and punish Protestant +England. Elizabeth, hearing that he and the Prince of Parma were making +great preparations for this purpose, in order to be beforehand with them +sent out ADMIRAL DRAKE (a famous navigator, who had sailed about the +world, and had already brought great plunder from Spain) to the port of +Cadiz, where he burnt a hundred vessels full of stores. This great loss +obliged the Spaniards to put off the invasion for a year; but it was none +the less formidable for that, amounting to one hundred and thirty ships, +nineteen thousand soldiers, eight thousand sailors, two thousand slaves, +and between two and three thousand great guns. England was not idle in +making ready to resist this great force. All the men between sixteen +years old and sixty, were trained and drilled; the national fleet of +ships (in number only thirty-four at first) was enlarged by public +contributions and by private ships, fitted out by noblemen; the city of +London, of its own accord, furnished double the number of ships and men +that it was required to provide; and, if ever the national spirit was up +in England, it was up all through the country to resist the Spaniards. +Some of the Queen's advisers were for seizing the principal English +Catholics, and putting them to death; but the Queen--who, to her honour, +used to say, that she would never believe any ill of her subjects, which +a parent would not believe of her own children--rejected the advice, and +only confined a few of those who were the most suspected, in the fens in +Lincolnshire. The great body of Catholics deserved this confidence; for +they behaved most loyally, nobly, and bravely. + +So, with all England firing up like one strong, angry man, and with both +sides of the Thames fortified, and with the soldiers under arms, and with +the sailors in their ships, the country waited for the coming of the +proud Spanish fleet, which was called THE INVINCIBLE ARMADA. The Queen +herself, riding in armour on a white horse, and the Earl of Essex and the +Earl of Leicester holding her bridal rein, made a brave speech to the +troops at Tilbury Fort opposite Gravesend, which was received with such +enthusiasm as is seldom known. Then came the Spanish Armada into the +English Channel, sailing along in the form of a half moon, of such great +size that it was seven miles broad. But the English were quickly upon +it, and woe then to all the Spanish ships that dropped a little out of +the half moon, for the English took them instantly! And it soon appeared +that the great Armada was anything but invincible, for on a summer night, +bold Drake sent eight blazing fire-ships right into the midst of it. In +terrible consternation the Spaniards tried to get out to sea, and so +became dispersed; the English pursued them at a great advantage; a storm +came on, and drove the Spaniards among rocks and shoals; and the swift +end of the Invincible fleet was, that it lost thirty great ships and ten +thousand men, and, defeated and disgraced, sailed home again. Being +afraid to go by the English Channel, it sailed all round Scotland and +Ireland; some of the ships getting cast away on the latter coast in bad +weather, the Irish, who were a kind of savages, plundered those vessels +and killed their crews. So ended this great attempt to invade and +conquer England. And I think it will be a long time before any other +invincible fleet coming to England with the same object, will fare much +better than the Spanish Armada. + +Though the Spanish king had had this bitter taste of English bravery, he +was so little the wiser for it, as still to entertain his old designs, +and even to conceive the absurd idea of placing his daughter on the +English throne. But the Earl of Essex, SIR WALTER RALEIGH, SIR THOMAS +HOWARD, and some other distinguished leaders, put to sea from Plymouth, +entered the port of Cadiz once more, obtained a complete victory over the +shipping assembled there, and got possession of the town. In obedience +to the Queen's express instructions, they behaved with great humanity; +and the principal loss of the Spaniards was a vast sum of money which +they had to pay for ransom. This was one of many gallant achievements on +the sea, effected in this reign. Sir Walter Raleigh himself, after +marrying a maid of honour and giving offence to the Maiden Queen thereby, +had already sailed to South America in search of gold. + +The Earl of Leicester was now dead, and so was Sir Thomas Walsingham, +whom Lord Burleigh was soon to follow. The principal favourite was the +EARL OF ESSEX, a spirited and handsome man, a favourite with the people +too as well as with the Queen, and possessed of many admirable qualities. +It was much debated at Court whether there should be peace with Spain or +no, and he was very urgent for war. He also tried hard to have his own +way in the appointment of a deputy to govern in Ireland. One day, while +this question was in dispute, he hastily took offence, and turned his +back upon the Queen; as a gentle reminder of which impropriety, the Queen +gave him a tremendous box on the ear, and told him to go to the devil. He +went home instead, and did not reappear at Court for half a year or so, +when he and the Queen were reconciled, though never (as some suppose) +thoroughly. + +From this time the fate of the Earl of Essex and that of the Queen seemed +to be blended together. The Irish were still perpetually quarrelling and +fighting among themselves, and he went over to Ireland as Lord +Lieutenant, to the great joy of his enemies (Sir Walter Raleigh among the +rest), who were glad to have so dangerous a rival far off. Not being by +any means successful there, and knowing that his enemies would take +advantage of that circumstance to injure him with the Queen, he came home +again, though against her orders. The Queen being taken by surprise when +he appeared before her, gave him her hand to kiss, and he was +overjoyed--though it was not a very lovely hand by this time--but in the +course of the same day she ordered him to confine himself to his room, +and two or three days afterwards had him taken into custody. With the +same sort of caprice--and as capricious an old woman she now was, as ever +wore a crown or a head either--she sent him broth from her own table on +his falling ill from anxiety, and cried about him. + +He was a man who could find comfort and occupation in his books, and he +did so for a time; not the least happy time, I dare say, of his life. But +it happened unfortunately for him, that he held a monopoly in sweet +wines: which means that nobody could sell them without purchasing his +permission. This right, which was only for a term, expiring, he applied +to have it renewed. The Queen refused, with the rather strong +observation--but she _did_ make strong observations--that an unruly beast +must be stinted in his food. Upon this, the angry Earl, who had been +already deprived of many offices, thought himself in danger of complete +ruin, and turned against the Queen, whom he called a vain old woman who +had grown as crooked in her mind as she had in her figure. These +uncomplimentary expressions the ladies of the Court immediately snapped +up and carried to the Queen, whom they did not put in a better tempter, +you may believe. The same Court ladies, when they had beautiful dark +hair of their own, used to wear false red hair, to be like the Queen. So +they were not very high-spirited ladies, however high in rank. + +The worst object of the Earl of Essex, and some friends of his who used +to meet at LORD SOUTHAMPTON'S house, was to obtain possession of the +Queen, and oblige her by force to dismiss her ministers and change her +favourites. On Saturday the seventh of February, one thousand six +hundred and one, the council suspecting this, summoned the Earl to come +before them. He, pretending to be ill, declined; it was then settled +among his friends, that as the next day would be Sunday, when many of the +citizens usually assembled at the Cross by St. Paul's Cathedral, he +should make one bold effort to induce them to rise and follow him to the +Palace. + +So, on the Sunday morning, he and a small body of adherents started out +of his house--Essex House by the Strand, with steps to the river--having +first shut up in it, as prisoners, some members of the council who came +to examine him--and hurried into the City with the Earl at their head +crying out 'For the Queen! For the Queen! A plot is laid for my life!' +No one heeded them, however, and when they came to St. Paul's there were +no citizens there. In the meantime the prisoners at Essex House had been +released by one of the Earl's own friends; he had been promptly +proclaimed a traitor in the City itself; and the streets were barricaded +with carts and guarded by soldiers. The Earl got back to his house by +water, with difficulty, and after an attempt to defend his house against +the troops and cannon by which it was soon surrounded, gave himself up +that night. He was brought to trial on the nineteenth, and found guilty; +on the twenty-fifth, he was executed on Tower Hill, where he died, at +thirty-four years old, both courageously and penitently. His step-father +suffered with him. His enemy, Sir Walter Raleigh, stood near the +scaffold all the time--but not so near it as we shall see him stand, +before we finish his history. + +In this case, as in the cases of the Duke of Norfolk and Mary Queen of +Scots, the Queen had commanded, and countermanded, and again commanded, +the execution. It is probable that the death of her young and gallant +favourite in the prime of his good qualities, was never off her mind +afterwards, but she held out, the same vain, obstinate and capricious +woman, for another year. Then she danced before her Court on a state +occasion--and cut, I should think, a mighty ridiculous figure, doing so +in an immense ruff, stomacher and wig, at seventy years old. For another +year still, she held out, but, without any more dancing, and as a moody, +sorrowful, broken creature. At last, on the tenth of March, one thousand +six hundred and three, having been ill of a very bad cold, and made worse +by the death of the Countess of Nottingham who was her intimate friend, +she fell into a stupor and was supposed to be dead. She recovered her +consciousness, however, and then nothing would induce her to go to bed; +for she said that she knew that if she did, she should never get up +again. There she lay for ten days, on cushions on the floor, without any +food, until the Lord Admiral got her into bed at last, partly by +persuasions and partly by main force. When they asked her who should +succeed her, she replied that her seat had been the seat of Kings, and +that she would have for her successor, 'No rascal's son, but a King's.' +Upon this, the lords present stared at one another, and took the liberty +of asking whom she meant; to which she replied, 'Whom should I mean, but +our cousin of Scotland!' This was on the twenty-third of March. They +asked her once again that day, after she was speechless, whether she was +still in the same mind? She struggled up in bed, and joined her hands +over her head in the form of a crown, as the only reply she could make. +At three o'clock next morning, she very quietly died, in the forty-fifth +year of her reign. + +That reign had been a glorious one, and is made for ever memorable by the +distinguished men who flourished in it. Apart from the great voyagers, +statesmen, and scholars, whom it produced, the names of BACON, SPENSER, +and SHAKESPEARE, will always be remembered with pride and veneration by +the civilised world, and will always impart (though with no great reason, +perhaps) some portion of their lustre to the name of Elizabeth herself. +It was a great reign for discovery, for commerce, and for English +enterprise and spirit in general. It was a great reign for the +Protestant religion and for the Reformation which made England free. The +Queen was very popular, and in her progresses, or journeys about her +dominions, was everywhere received with the liveliest joy. I think the +truth is, that she was not half so good as she has been made out, and not +half so bad as she has been made out. She had her fine qualities, but +she was coarse, capricious, and treacherous, and had all the faults of an +excessively vain young woman long after she was an old one. On the +whole, she had a great deal too much of her father in her, to please me. + +Many improvements and luxuries were introduced in the course of these +five-and-forty years in the general manner of living; but cock-fighting, +bull-baiting, and bear-baiting, were still the national amusements; and a +coach was so rarely seen, and was such an ugly and cumbersome affair when +it was seen, that even the Queen herself, on many high occasions, rode on +horseback on a pillion behind the Lord Chancellor. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII--ENGLAND UNDER JAMES THE FIRST + + +'Our cousin of Scotland' was ugly, awkward, and shuffling both in mind +and person. His tongue was much too large for his mouth, his legs were +much too weak for his body, and his dull goggle-eyes stared and rolled +like an idiot's. He was cunning, covetous, wasteful, idle, drunken, +greedy, dirty, cowardly, a great swearer, and the most conceited man on +earth. His figure--what is commonly called rickety from his +birth--presented a most ridiculous appearance, dressed in thick padded +clothes, as a safeguard against being stabbed (of which he lived in +continual fear), of a grass-green colour from head to foot, with a +hunting-horn dangling at his side instead of a sword, and his hat and +feather sticking over one eye, or hanging on the back of his head, as he +happened to toss it on. He used to loll on the necks of his favourite +courtiers, and slobber their faces, and kiss and pinch their cheeks; and +the greatest favourite he ever had, used to sign himself in his letters +to his royal master, His Majesty's 'dog and slave,' and used to address +his majesty as 'his Sowship.' His majesty was the worst rider ever seen, +and thought himself the best. He was one of the most impertinent talkers +(in the broadest Scotch) ever heard, and boasted of being unanswerable in +all manner of argument. He wrote some of the most wearisome treatises +ever read--among others, a book upon witchcraft, in which he was a devout +believer--and thought himself a prodigy of authorship. He thought, and +wrote, and said, that a king had a right to make and unmake what laws he +pleased, and ought to be accountable to nobody on earth. This is the +plain, true character of the personage whom the greatest men about the +court praised and flattered to that degree, that I doubt if there be +anything much more shameful in the annals of human nature. + +He came to the English throne with great ease. The miseries of a +disputed succession had been felt so long, and so dreadfully, that he was +proclaimed within a few hours of Elizabeth's death, and was accepted by +the nation, even without being asked to give any pledge that he would +govern well, or that he would redress crying grievances. He took a month +to come from Edinburgh to London; and, by way of exercising his new +power, hanged a pickpocket on the journey without any trial, and knighted +everybody he could lay hold of. He made two hundred knights before he +got to his palace in London, and seven hundred before he had been in it +three months. He also shovelled sixty-two new peers into the House of +Lords--and there was a pretty large sprinkling of Scotchmen among them, +you may believe. + +His Sowship's prime Minister, CECIL (for I cannot do better than call his +majesty what his favourite called him), was the enemy of Sir Walter +Raleigh, and also of Sir Walter's political friend, LORD COBHAM; and his +Sowship's first trouble was a plot originated by these two, and entered +into by some others, with the old object of seizing the King and keeping +him in imprisonment until he should change his ministers. There were +Catholic priests in the plot, and there were Puritan noblemen too; for, +although the Catholics and Puritans were strongly opposed to each other, +they united at this time against his Sowship, because they knew that he +had a design against both, after pretending to be friendly to each; this +design being to have only one high and convenient form of the Protestant +religion, which everybody should be bound to belong to, whether they +liked it or not. This plot was mixed up with another, which may or may +not have had some reference to placing on the throne, at some time, the +LADY ARABELLA STUART; whose misfortune it was, to be the daughter of the +younger brother of his Sowship's father, but who was quite innocent of +any part in the scheme. Sir Walter Raleigh was accused on the confession +of Lord Cobham--a miserable creature, who said one thing at one time, and +another thing at another time, and could be relied upon in nothing. The +trial of Sir Walter Raleigh lasted from eight in the morning until nearly +midnight; he defended himself with such eloquence, genius, and spirit +against all accusations, and against the insults of COKE, the Attorney- +General--who, according to the custom of the time, foully abused him--that +those who went there detesting the prisoner, came away admiring him, and +declaring that anything so wonderful and so captivating was never heard. +He was found guilty, nevertheless, and sentenced to death. Execution was +deferred, and he was taken to the Tower. The two Catholic priests, less +fortunate, were executed with the usual atrocity; and Lord Cobham and two +others were pardoned on the scaffold. His Sowship thought it wonderfully +knowing in him to surprise the people by pardoning these three at the +very block; but, blundering, and bungling, as usual, he had very nearly +overreached himself. For, the messenger on horseback who brought the +pardon, came so late, that he was pushed to the outside of the crowd, and +was obliged to shout and roar out what he came for. The miserable Cobham +did not gain much by being spared that day. He lived, both as a prisoner +and a beggar, utterly despised, and miserably poor, for thirteen years, +and then died in an old outhouse belonging to one of his former servants. + +This plot got rid of, and Sir Walter Raleigh safely shut up in the Tower, +his Sowship held a great dispute with the Puritans on their presenting a +petition to him, and had it all his own way--not so very wonderful, as he +would talk continually, and would not hear anybody else--and filled the +Bishops with admiration. It was comfortably settled that there was to be +only one form of religion, and that all men were to think exactly alike. +But, although this was arranged two centuries and a half ago, and +although the arrangement was supported by much fining and imprisonment, I +do not find that it is quite successful, even yet. + +His Sowship, having that uncommonly high opinion of himself as a king, +had a very low opinion of Parliament as a power that audaciously wanted +to control him. When he called his first Parliament after he had been +king a year, he accordingly thought he would take pretty high ground with +them, and told them that he commanded them 'as an absolute king.' The +Parliament thought those strong words, and saw the necessity of upholding +their authority. His Sowship had three children: Prince Henry, Prince +Charles, and the Princess Elizabeth. It would have been well for one of +these, and we shall too soon see which, if he had learnt a little wisdom +concerning Parliaments from his father's obstinacy. + +Now, the people still labouring under their old dread of the Catholic +religion, this Parliament revived and strengthened the severe laws +against it. And this so angered ROBERT CATESBY, a restless Catholic +gentleman of an old family, that he formed one of the most desperate and +terrible designs ever conceived in the mind of man; no less a scheme than +the Gunpowder Plot. + +His object was, when the King, lords, and commons, should be assembled at +the next opening of Parliament, to blow them up, one and all, with a +great mine of gunpowder. The first person to whom he confided this +horrible idea was THOMAS WINTER, a Worcestershire gentleman who had +served in the army abroad, and had been secretly employed in Catholic +projects. While Winter was yet undecided, and when he had gone over to +the Netherlands, to learn from the Spanish Ambassador there whether there +was any hope of Catholics being relieved through the intercession of the +King of Spain with his Sowship, he found at Ostend a tall, dark, daring +man, whom he had known when they were both soldiers abroad, and whose +name was GUIDO--or GUY--FAWKES. Resolved to join the plot, he proposed +it to this man, knowing him to be the man for any desperate deed, and +they two came back to England together. Here, they admitted two other +conspirators; THOMAS PERCY, related to the Earl of Northumberland, and +JOHN WRIGHT, his brother-in-law. All these met together in a solitary +house in the open fields which were then near Clement's Inn, now a +closely blocked-up part of London; and when they had all taken a great +oath of secrecy, Catesby told the rest what his plan was. They then went +up-stairs into a garret, and received the Sacrament from FATHER GERARD, a +Jesuit, who is said not to have known actually of the Gunpowder Plot, but +who, I think, must have had his suspicions that there was something +desperate afoot. + +Percy was a Gentleman Pensioner, and as he had occasional duties to +perform about the Court, then kept at Whitehall, there would be nothing +suspicious in his living at Westminster. So, having looked well about +him, and having found a house to let, the back of which joined the +Parliament House, he hired it of a person named FERRIS, for the purpose +of undermining the wall. Having got possession of this house, the +conspirators hired another on the Lambeth side of the Thames, which they +used as a storehouse for wood, gunpowder, and other combustible matters. +These were to be removed at night (and afterwards were removed), bit by +bit, to the house at Westminster; and, that there might be some trusty +person to keep watch over the Lambeth stores, they admitted another +conspirator, by name ROBERT KAY, a very poor Catholic gentleman. + +All these arrangements had been made some months, and it was a dark, +wintry, December night, when the conspirators, who had been in the +meantime dispersed to avoid observation, met in the house at Westminster, +and began to dig. They had laid in a good stock of eatables, to avoid +going in and out, and they dug and dug with great ardour. But, the wall +being tremendously thick, and the work very severe, they took into their +plot CHRISTOPHER WRIGHT, a younger brother of John Wright, that they +might have a new pair of hands to help. And Christopher Wright fell to +like a fresh man, and they dug and dug by night and by day, and Fawkes +stood sentinel all the time. And if any man's heart seemed to fail him +at all, Fawkes said, 'Gentlemen, we have abundance of powder and shot +here, and there is no fear of our being taken alive, even if discovered.' +The same Fawkes, who, in the capacity of sentinel, was always prowling +about, soon picked up the intelligence that the King had prorogued the +Parliament again, from the seventh of February, the day first fixed upon, +until the third of October. When the conspirators knew this, they agreed +to separate until after the Christmas holidays, and to take no notice of +each other in the meanwhile, and never to write letters to one another on +any account. So, the house in Westminster was shut up again, and I +suppose the neighbours thought that those strange-looking men who lived +there so gloomily, and went out so seldom, were gone away to have a merry +Christmas somewhere. + +It was the beginning of February, sixteen hundred and five, when Catesby +met his fellow-conspirators again at this Westminster house. He had now +admitted three more; JOHN GRANT, a Warwickshire gentleman of a melancholy +temper, who lived in a doleful house near Stratford-upon-Avon, with a +frowning wall all round it, and a deep moat; ROBERT WINTER, eldest +brother of Thomas; and Catesby's own servant, THOMAS BATES, who, Catesby +thought, had had some suspicion of what his master was about. These +three had all suffered more or less for their religion in Elizabeth's +time. And now, they all began to dig again, and they dug and dug by +night and by day. + +They found it dismal work alone there, underground, with such a fearful +secret on their minds, and so many murders before them. They were filled +with wild fancies. Sometimes, they thought they heard a great bell +tolling, deep down in the earth under the Parliament House; sometimes, +they thought they heard low voices muttering about the Gunpowder Plot; +once in the morning, they really did hear a great rumbling noise over +their heads, as they dug and sweated in their mine. Every man stopped +and looked aghast at his neighbour, wondering what had happened, when +that bold prowler, Fawkes, who had been out to look, came in and told +them that it was only a dealer in coals who had occupied a cellar under +the Parliament House, removing his stock in trade to some other place. +Upon this, the conspirators, who with all their digging and digging had +not yet dug through the tremendously thick wall, changed their plan; +hired that cellar, which was directly under the House of Lords; put six- +and-thirty barrels of gunpowder in it, and covered them over with fagots +and coals. Then they all dispersed again till September, when the +following new conspirators were admitted; SIR EDWARD BAYNHAM, of +Gloucestershire; SIR EVERARD DIGBY, of Rutlandshire; AMBROSE ROOKWOOD, of +Suffolk; FRANCIS TRESHAM, of Northamptonshire. Most of these were rich, +and were to assist the plot, some with money and some with horses on +which the conspirators were to ride through the country and rouse the +Catholics after the Parliament should be blown into air. + +Parliament being again prorogued from the third of October to the fifth +of November, and the conspirators being uneasy lest their design should +have been found out, Thomas Winter said he would go up into the House of +Lords on the day of the prorogation, and see how matters looked. Nothing +could be better. The unconscious Commissioners were walking about and +talking to one another, just over the six-and-thirty barrels of +gunpowder. He came back and told the rest so, and they went on with +their preparations. They hired a ship, and kept it ready in the Thames, +in which Fawkes was to sail for Flanders after firing with a slow match +the train that was to explode the powder. A number of Catholic gentlemen +not in the secret, were invited, on pretence of a hunting party, to meet +Sir Everard Digby at Dunchurch on the fatal day, that they might be ready +to act together. And now all was ready. + +But, now, the great wickedness and danger which had been all along at the +bottom of this wicked plot, began to show itself. As the fifth of +November drew near, most of the conspirators, remembering that they had +friends and relations who would be in the House of Lords that day, felt +some natural relenting, and a wish to warn them to keep away. They were +not much comforted by Catesby's declaring that in such a cause he would +blow up his own son. LORD MOUNTEAGLE, Tresham's brother-in-law, was +certain to be in the house; and when Tresham found that he could not +prevail upon the rest to devise any means of sparing their friends, he +wrote a mysterious letter to this lord and left it at his lodging in the +dusk, urging him to keep away from the opening of Parliament, 'since God +and man had concurred to punish the wickedness of the times.' It +contained the words 'that the Parliament should receive a terrible blow, +and yet should not see who hurt them.' And it added, 'the danger is +past, as soon as you have burnt the letter.' + +The ministers and courtiers made out that his Sowship, by a direct +miracle from Heaven, found out what this letter meant. The truth is, +that they were not long (as few men would be) in finding out for +themselves; and it was decided to let the conspirators alone, until the +very day before the opening of Parliament. That the conspirators had +their fears, is certain; for, Tresham himself said before them all, that +they were every one dead men; and, although even he did not take flight, +there is reason to suppose that he had warned other persons besides Lord +Mounteagle. However, they were all firm; and Fawkes, who was a man of +iron, went down every day and night to keep watch in the cellar as usual. +He was there about two in the afternoon of the fourth, when the Lord +Chamberlain and Lord Mounteagle threw open the door and looked in. 'Who +are you, friend?' said they. 'Why,' said Fawkes, 'I am Mr. Percy's +servant, and am looking after his store of fuel here.' 'Your master has +laid in a pretty good store,' they returned, and shut the door, and went +away. Fawkes, upon this, posted off to the other conspirators to tell +them all was quiet, and went back and shut himself up in the dark, black +cellar again, where he heard the bell go twelve o'clock and usher in the +fifth of November. About two hours afterwards, he slowly opened the +door, and came out to look about him, in his old prowling way. He was +instantly seized and bound, by a party of soldiers under SIR THOMAS +KNEVETT. He had a watch upon him, some touchwood, some tinder, some slow +matches; and there was a dark lantern with a candle in it, lighted, +behind the door. He had his boots and spurs on--to ride to the ship, I +suppose--and it was well for the soldiers that they took him so suddenly. +If they had left him but a moment's time to light a match, he certainly +would have tossed it in among the powder, and blown up himself and them. + +They took him to the King's bed-chamber first of all, and there the King +(causing him to be held very tight, and keeping a good way off), asked +him how he could have the heart to intend to destroy so many innocent +people? 'Because,' said Guy Fawkes, 'desperate diseases need desperate +remedies.' To a little Scotch favourite, with a face like a terrier, who +asked him (with no particular wisdom) why he had collected so much +gunpowder, he replied, because he had meant to blow Scotchmen back to +Scotland, and it would take a deal of powder to do that. Next day he was +carried to the Tower, but would make no confession. Even after being +horribly tortured, he confessed nothing that the Government did not +already know; though he must have been in a fearful state--as his +signature, still preserved, in contrast with his natural hand-writing +before he was put upon the dreadful rack, most frightfully shows. Bates, +a very different man, soon said the Jesuits had had to do with the plot, +and probably, under the torture, would as readily have said anything. +Tresham, taken and put in the Tower too, made confessions and unmade +them, and died of an illness that was heavy upon him. Rookwood, who had +stationed relays of his own horses all the way to Dunchurch, did not +mount to escape until the middle of the day, when the news of the plot +was all over London. On the road, he came up with the two Wrights, +Catesby, and Percy; and they all galloped together into Northamptonshire. +Thence to Dunchurch, where they found the proposed party assembled. +Finding, however, that there had been a plot, and that it had been +discovered, the party disappeared in the course of the night, and left +them alone with Sir Everard Digby. Away they all rode again, through +Warwickshire and Worcestershire, to a house called Holbeach, on the +borders of Staffordshire. They tried to raise the Catholics on their +way, but were indignantly driven off by them. All this time they were +hotly pursued by the sheriff of Worcester, and a fast increasing +concourse of riders. At last, resolving to defend themselves at +Holbeach, they shut themselves up in the house, and put some wet powder +before the fire to dry. But it blew up, and Catesby was singed and +blackened, and almost killed, and some of the others were sadly hurt. +Still, knowing that they must die, they resolved to die there, and with +only their swords in their hands appeared at the windows to be shot at by +the sheriff and his assistants. Catesby said to Thomas Winter, after +Thomas had been hit in the right arm which dropped powerless by his side, +'Stand by me, Tom, and we will die together!'--which they did, being shot +through the body by two bullets from one gun. John Wright, and +Christopher Wright, and Percy, were also shot. Rookwood and Digby were +taken: the former with a broken arm and a wound in his body too. + +It was the fifteenth of January, before the trial of Guy Fawkes, and such +of the other conspirators as were left alive, came on. They were all +found guilty, all hanged, drawn, and quartered: some, in St. Paul's +Churchyard, on the top of Ludgate-hill; some, before the Parliament +House. A Jesuit priest, named HENRY GARNET, to whom the dreadful design +was said to have been communicated, was taken and tried; and two of his +servants, as well as a poor priest who was taken with him, were tortured +without mercy. He himself was not tortured, but was surrounded in the +Tower by tamperers and traitors, and so was made unfairly to convict +himself out of his own mouth. He said, upon his trial, that he had done +all he could to prevent the deed, and that he could not make public what +had been told him in confession--though I am afraid he knew of the plot +in other ways. He was found guilty and executed, after a manful defence, +and the Catholic Church made a saint of him; some rich and powerful +persons, who had had nothing to do with the project, were fined and +imprisoned for it by the Star Chamber; the Catholics, in general, who had +recoiled with horror from the idea of the infernal contrivance, were +unjustly put under more severe laws than before; and this was the end of +the Gunpowder Plot. + + + +SECOND PART + + +His Sowship would pretty willingly, I think, have blown the House of +Commons into the air himself; for, his dread and jealousy of it knew no +bounds all through his reign. When he was hard pressed for money he was +obliged to order it to meet, as he could get no money without it; and +when it asked him first to abolish some of the monopolies in necessaries +of life which were a great grievance to the people, and to redress other +public wrongs, he flew into a rage and got rid of it again. At one time +he wanted it to consent to the Union of England with Scotland, and +quarrelled about that. At another time it wanted him to put down a most +infamous Church abuse, called the High Commission Court, and he +quarrelled with it about that. At another time it entreated him not to +be quite so fond of his archbishops and bishops who made speeches in his +praise too awful to be related, but to have some little consideration for +the poor Puritan clergy who were persecuted for preaching in their own +way, and not according to the archbishops and bishops; and they +quarrelled about that. In short, what with hating the House of Commons, +and pretending not to hate it; and what with now sending some of its +members who opposed him, to Newgate or to the Tower, and now telling the +rest that they must not presume to make speeches about the public affairs +which could not possibly concern them; and what with cajoling, and +bullying, and fighting, and being frightened; the House of Commons was +the plague of his Sowship's existence. It was pretty firm, however, in +maintaining its rights, and insisting that the Parliament should make the +laws, and not the King by his own single proclamations (which he tried +hard to do); and his Sowship was so often distressed for money, in +consequence, that he sold every sort of title and public office as if +they were merchandise, and even invented a new dignity called a +Baronetcy, which anybody could buy for a thousand pounds. + +These disputes with his Parliaments, and his hunting, and his drinking, +and his lying in bed--for he was a great sluggard--occupied his Sowship +pretty well. The rest of his time he chiefly passed in hugging and +slobbering his favourites. The first of these was SIR PHILIP HERBERT, +who had no knowledge whatever, except of dogs, and horses, and hunting, +but whom he soon made EARL OF MONTGOMERY. The next, and a much more +famous one, was ROBERT CARR, or KER (for it is not certain which was his +right name), who came from the Border country, and whom he soon made +VISCOUNT ROCHESTER, and afterwards, EARL OF SOMERSET. The way in which +his Sowship doted on this handsome young man, is even more odious to +think of, than the way in which the really great men of England +condescended to bow down before him. The favourite's great friend was a +certain SIR THOMAS OVERBURY, who wrote his love-letters for him, and +assisted him in the duties of his many high places, which his own +ignorance prevented him from discharging. But this same Sir Thomas +having just manhood enough to dissuade the favourite from a wicked +marriage with the beautiful Countess of Essex, who was to get a divorce +from her husband for the purpose, the said Countess, in her rage, got Sir +Thomas put into the Tower, and there poisoned him. Then the favourite +and this bad woman were publicly married by the King's pet bishop, with +as much to-do and rejoicing, as if he had been the best man, and she the +best woman, upon the face of the earth. + +But, after a longer sunshine than might have been expected--of seven +years or so, that is to say--another handsome young man started up and +eclipsed the EARL OF SOMERSET. This was GEORGE VILLIERS, the youngest +son of a Leicestershire gentleman: who came to Court with all the Paris +fashions on him, and could dance as well as the best mountebank that ever +was seen. He soon danced himself into the good graces of his Sowship, +and danced the other favourite out of favour. Then, it was all at once +discovered that the Earl and Countess of Somerset had not deserved all +those great promotions and mighty rejoicings, and they were separately +tried for the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury, and for other crimes. But, +the King was so afraid of his late favourite's publicly telling some +disgraceful things he knew of him--which he darkly threatened to do--that +he was even examined with two men standing, one on either side of him, +each with a cloak in his hand, ready to throw it over his head and stop +his mouth if he should break out with what he had it in his power to +tell. So, a very lame affair was purposely made of the trial, and his +punishment was an allowance of four thousand pounds a year in retirement, +while the Countess was pardoned, and allowed to pass into retirement too. +They hated one another by this time, and lived to revile and torment each +other some years. + +While these events were in progress, and while his Sowship was making +such an exhibition of himself, from day to day and from year to year, as +is not often seen in any sty, three remarkable deaths took place in +England. The first was that of the Minister, Robert Cecil, Earl of +Salisbury, who was past sixty, and had never been strong, being deformed +from his birth. He said at last that he had no wish to live; and no +Minister need have had, with his experience of the meanness and +wickedness of those disgraceful times. The second was that of the Lady +Arabella Stuart, who alarmed his Sowship mightily, by privately marrying +WILLIAM SEYMOUR, son of LORD BEAUCHAMP, who was a descendant of King +Henry the Seventh, and who, his Sowship thought, might consequently +increase and strengthen any claim she might one day set up to the throne. +She was separated from her husband (who was put in the Tower) and thrust +into a boat to be confined at Durham. She escaped in a man's dress to +get away in a French ship from Gravesend to France, but unhappily missed +her husband, who had escaped too, and was soon taken. She went raving +mad in the miserable Tower, and died there after four years. The last, +and the most important of these three deaths, was that of Prince Henry, +the heir to the throne, in the nineteenth year of his age. He was a +promising young prince, and greatly liked; a quiet, well-conducted youth, +of whom two very good things are known: first, that his father was +jealous of him; secondly, that he was the friend of Sir Walter Raleigh, +languishing through all those years in the Tower, and often said that no +man but his father would keep such a bird in such a cage. On the +occasion of the preparations for the marriage of his sister the Princess +Elizabeth with a foreign prince (and an unhappy marriage it turned out), +he came from Richmond, where he had been very ill, to greet his new +brother-in-law, at the palace at Whitehall. There he played a great game +at tennis, in his shirt, though it was very cold weather, and was seized +with an alarming illness, and died within a fortnight of a putrid fever. +For this young prince Sir Walter Raleigh wrote, in his prison in the +Tower, the beginning of a History of the World: a wonderful instance how +little his Sowship could do to confine a great man's mind, however long +he might imprison his body. + +And this mention of Sir Walter Raleigh, who had many faults, but who +never showed so many merits as in trouble and adversity, may bring me at +once to the end of his sad story. After an imprisonment in the Tower of +twelve long years, he proposed to resume those old sea voyages of his, +and to go to South America in search of gold. His Sowship, divided +between his wish to be on good terms with the Spaniards through whose +territory Sir Walter must pass (he had long had an idea of marrying +Prince Henry to a Spanish Princess), and his avaricious eagerness to get +hold of the gold, did not know what to do. But, in the end, he set Sir +Walter free, taking securities for his return; and Sir Walter fitted out +an expedition at his own coast and, on the twenty-eighth of March, one +thousand six hundred and seventeen, sailed away in command of one of its +ships, which he ominously called the Destiny. The expedition failed; the +common men, not finding the gold they had expected, mutinied; a quarrel +broke out between Sir Walter and the Spaniards, who hated him for old +successes of his against them; and he took and burnt a little town called +SAINT THOMAS. For this he was denounced to his Sowship by the Spanish +Ambassador as a pirate; and returning almost broken-hearted, with his +hopes and fortunes shattered, his company of friends dispersed, and his +brave son (who had been one of them) killed, he was taken--through the +treachery of SIR LEWIS STUKELY, his near relation, a scoundrel and a Vice- +Admiral--and was once again immured in his prison-home of so many years. + +His Sowship being mightily disappointed in not getting any gold, Sir +Walter Raleigh was tried as unfairly, and with as many lies and evasions +as the judges and law officers and every other authority in Church and +State habitually practised under such a King. After a great deal of +prevarication on all parts but his own, it was declared that he must die +under his former sentence, now fifteen years old. So, on the +twenty-eighth of October, one thousand six hundred and eighteen, he was +shut up in the Gate House at Westminster to pass his late night on earth, +and there he took leave of his good and faithful lady who was worthy to +have lived in better days. At eight o'clock next morning, after a +cheerful breakfast, and a pipe, and a cup of good wine, he was taken to +Old Palace Yard in Westminster, where the scaffold was set up, and where +so many people of high degree were assembled to see him die, that it was +a matter of some difficulty to get him through the crowd. He behaved +most nobly, but if anything lay heavy on his mind, it was that Earl of +Essex, whose head he had seen roll off; and he solemnly said that he had +had no hand in bringing him to the block, and that he had shed tears for +him when he died. As the morning was very cold, the Sheriff said, would +he come down to a fire for a little space, and warm himself? But Sir +Walter thanked him, and said no, he would rather it were done at once, +for he was ill of fever and ague, and in another quarter of an hour his +shaking fit would come upon him if he were still alive, and his enemies +might then suppose that he trembled for fear. With that, he kneeled and +made a very beautiful and Christian prayer. Before he laid his head upon +the block he felt the edge of the axe, and said, with a smile upon his +face, that it was a sharp medicine, but would cure the worst disease. +When he was bent down ready for death, he said to the executioner, +finding that he hesitated, 'What dost thou fear? Strike, man!' So, the +axe came down and struck his head off, in the sixty-sixth year of his +age. + +The new favourite got on fast. He was made a viscount, he was made Duke +of Buckingham, he was made a marquis, he was made Master of the Horse, he +was made Lord High Admiral--and the Chief Commander of the gallant +English forces that had dispersed the Spanish Armada, was displaced to +make room for him. He had the whole kingdom at his disposal, and his +mother sold all the profits and honours of the State, as if she had kept +a shop. He blazed all over with diamonds and other precious stones, from +his hatband and his earrings to his shoes. Yet he was an ignorant +presumptuous, swaggering compound of knave and fool, with nothing but his +beauty and his dancing to recommend him. This is the gentleman who +called himself his Majesty's dog and slave, and called his Majesty Your +Sowship. His Sowship called him STEENIE; it is supposed, because that +was a nickname for Stephen, and because St. Stephen was generally +represented in pictures as a handsome saint. + +His Sowship was driven sometimes to his wits'-end by his trimming between +the general dislike of the Catholic religion at home, and his desire to +wheedle and flatter it abroad, as his only means of getting a rich +princess for his son's wife: a part of whose fortune he might cram into +his greasy pockets. Prince Charles--or as his Sowship called him, Baby +Charles--being now PRINCE OF WALES, the old project of a marriage with +the Spanish King's daughter had been revived for him; and as she could +not marry a Protestant without leave from the Pope, his Sowship himself +secretly and meanly wrote to his Infallibility, asking for it. The +negotiation for this Spanish marriage takes up a larger space in great +books, than you can imagine, but the upshot of it all is, that when it +had been held off by the Spanish Court for a long time, Baby Charles and +Steenie set off in disguise as Mr. Thomas Smith and Mr. John Smith, to +see the Spanish Princess; that Baby Charles pretended to be desperately +in love with her, and jumped off walls to look at her, and made a +considerable fool of himself in a good many ways; that she was called +Princess of Wales and that the whole Spanish Court believed Baby Charles +to be all but dying for her sake, as he expressly told them he was; that +Baby Charles and Steenie came back to England, and were received with as +much rapture as if they had been a blessing to it; that Baby Charles had +actually fallen in love with HENRIETTA MARIA, the French King's sister, +whom he had seen in Paris; that he thought it a wonderfully fine and +princely thing to have deceived the Spaniards, all through; and that he +openly said, with a chuckle, as soon as he was safe and sound at home +again, that the Spaniards were great fools to have believed him. + +Like most dishonest men, the Prince and the favourite complained that the +people whom they had deluded were dishonest. They made such +misrepresentations of the treachery of the Spaniards in this business of +the Spanish match, that the English nation became eager for a war with +them. Although the gravest Spaniards laughed at the idea of his Sowship +in a warlike attitude, the Parliament granted money for the beginning of +hostilities, and the treaties with Spain were publicly declared to be at +an end. The Spanish ambassador in London--probably with the help of the +fallen favourite, the Earl of Somerset--being unable to obtain speech +with his Sowship, slipped a paper into his hand, declaring that he was a +prisoner in his own house, and was entirely governed by Buckingham and +his creatures. The first effect of this letter was that his Sowship +began to cry and whine, and took Baby Charles away from Steenie, and went +down to Windsor, gabbling all sorts of nonsense. The end of it was that +his Sowship hugged his dog and slave, and said he was quite satisfied. + +He had given the Prince and the favourite almost unlimited power to +settle anything with the Pope as to the Spanish marriage; and he now, +with a view to the French one, signed a treaty that all Roman Catholics +in England should exercise their religion freely, and should never be +required to take any oath contrary thereto. In return for this, and for +other concessions much less to be defended, Henrietta Maria was to become +the Prince's wife, and was to bring him a fortune of eight hundred +thousand crowns. + +His Sowship's eyes were getting red with eagerly looking for the money, +when the end of a gluttonous life came upon him; and, after a fortnight's +illness, on Sunday the twenty-seventh of March, one thousand six hundred +and twenty-five, he died. He had reigned twenty-two years, and was fifty- +nine years old. I know of nothing more abominable in history than the +adulation that was lavished on this King, and the vice and corruption +that such a barefaced habit of lying produced in his court. It is much +to be doubted whether one man of honour, and not utterly self-disgraced, +kept his place near James the First. Lord Bacon, that able and wise +philosopher, as the First Judge in the Kingdom in this reign, became a +public spectacle of dishonesty and corruption; and in his base flattery +of his Sowship, and in his crawling servility to his dog and slave, +disgraced himself even more. But, a creature like his Sowship set upon a +throne is like the Plague, and everybody receives infection from him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII--ENGLAND UNDER CHARLES THE FIRST + + +Baby Charles became KING CHARLES THE FIRST, in the twenty-fifth year of +his age. Unlike his father, he was usually amiable in his private +character, and grave and dignified in his bearing; but, like his father, +he had monstrously exaggerated notions of the rights of a king, and was +evasive, and not to be trusted. If his word could have been relied upon, +his history might have had a different end. + +His first care was to send over that insolent upstart, Buckingham, to +bring Henrietta Maria from Paris to be his Queen; upon which occasion +Buckingham--with his usual audacity--made love to the young Queen of +Austria, and was very indignant indeed with CARDINAL RICHELIEU, the +French Minister, for thwarting his intentions. The English people were +very well disposed to like their new Queen, and to receive her with great +favour when she came among them as a stranger. But, she held the +Protestant religion in great dislike, and brought over a crowd of +unpleasant priests, who made her do some very ridiculous things, and +forced themselves upon the public notice in many disagreeable ways. +Hence, the people soon came to dislike her, and she soon came to dislike +them; and she did so much all through this reign in setting the King (who +was dotingly fond of her) against his subjects, that it would have been +better for him if she had never been born. + +Now, you are to understand that King Charles the First--of his own +determination to be a high and mighty King not to be called to account by +anybody, and urged on by his Queen besides--deliberately set himself to +put his Parliament down and to put himself up. You are also to +understand, that even in pursuit of this wrong idea (enough in itself to +have ruined any king) he never took a straight course, but always took a +crooked one. + +He was bent upon war with Spain, though neither the House of Commons nor +the people were quite clear as to the justice of that war, now that they +began to think a little more about the story of the Spanish match. But +the King rushed into it hotly, raised money by illegal means to meet its +expenses, and encountered a miserable failure at Cadiz, in the very first +year of his reign. An expedition to Cadiz had been made in the hope of +plunder, but as it was not successful, it was necessary to get a grant of +money from the Parliament; and when they met, in no very complying +humour, the King told them, 'to make haste to let him have it, or it +would be the worse for themselves.' Not put in a more complying humour +by this, they impeached the King's favourite, the Duke of Buckingham, as +the cause (which he undoubtedly was) of many great public grievances and +wrongs. The King, to save him, dissolved the Parliament without getting +the money he wanted; and when the Lords implored him to consider and +grant a little delay, he replied, 'No, not one minute.' He then began to +raise money for himself by the following means among others. + +He levied certain duties called tonnage and poundage which had not been +granted by the Parliament, and could lawfully be levied by no other +power; he called upon the seaport towns to furnish, and to pay all the +cost for three months of, a fleet of armed ships; and he required the +people to unite in lending him large sums of money, the repayment of +which was very doubtful. If the poor people refused, they were pressed +as soldiers or sailors; if the gentry refused, they were sent to prison. +Five gentlemen, named SIR THOMAS DARNEL, JOHN CORBET, WALTER EARL, JOHN +HEVENINGHAM, and EVERARD HAMPDEN, for refusing were taken up by a warrant +of the King's privy council, and were sent to prison without any cause +but the King's pleasure being stated for their imprisonment. Then the +question came to be solemnly tried, whether this was not a violation of +Magna Charta, and an encroachment by the King on the highest rights of +the English people. His lawyers contended No, because to encroach upon +the rights of the English people would be to do wrong, and the King could +do no wrong. The accommodating judges decided in favour of this wicked +nonsense; and here was a fatal division between the King and the people. + +For all this, it became necessary to call another Parliament. The +people, sensible of the danger in which their liberties were, chose for +it those who were best known for their determined opposition to the King; +but still the King, quite blinded by his determination to carry +everything before him, addressed them when they met, in a contemptuous +manner, and just told them in so many words that he had only called them +together because he wanted money. The Parliament, strong enough and +resolute enough to know that they would lower his tone, cared little for +what he said, and laid before him one of the great documents of history, +which is called the PETITION OF RIGHT, requiring that the free men of +England should no longer be called upon to lend the King money, and +should no longer be pressed or imprisoned for refusing to do so; further, +that the free men of England should no longer be seized by the King's +special mandate or warrant, it being contrary to their rights and +liberties and the laws of their country. At first the King returned an +answer to this petition, in which he tried to shirk it altogether; but, +the House of Commons then showing their determination to go on with the +impeachment of Buckingham, the King in alarm returned an answer, giving +his consent to all that was required of him. He not only afterwards +departed from his word and honour on these points, over and over again, +but, at this very time, he did the mean and dissembling act of publishing +his first answer and not his second--merely that the people might suppose +that the Parliament had not got the better of him. + +That pestilent Buckingham, to gratify his own wounded vanity, had by this +time involved the country in war with France, as well as with Spain. For +such miserable causes and such miserable creatures are wars sometimes +made! But he was destined to do little more mischief in this world. One +morning, as he was going out of his house to his carriage, he turned to +speak to a certain Colonel FRYER who was with him; and he was violently +stabbed with a knife, which the murderer left sticking in his heart. This +happened in his hall. He had had angry words up-stairs, just before, +with some French gentlemen, who were immediately suspected by his +servants, and had a close escape from being set upon and killed. In the +midst of the noise, the real murderer, who had gone to the kitchen and +might easily have got away, drew his sword and cried out, 'I am the man!' +His name was JOHN FELTON, a Protestant and a retired officer in the army. +He said he had had no personal ill-will to the Duke, but had killed him +as a curse to the country. He had aimed his blow well, for Buckingham +had only had time to cry out, 'Villain!' and then he drew out the knife, +fell against a table, and died. + +The council made a mighty business of examining John Felton about this +murder, though it was a plain case enough, one would think. He had come +seventy miles to do it, he told them, and he did it for the reason he had +declared; if they put him upon the rack, as that noble MARQUIS OF DORSET +whom he saw before him, had the goodness to threaten, he gave that +marquis warning, that he would accuse _him_ as his accomplice! The King +was unpleasantly anxious to have him racked, nevertheless; but as the +judges now found out that torture was contrary to the law of England--it +is a pity they did not make the discovery a little sooner--John Felton +was simply executed for the murder he had done. A murder it undoubtedly +was, and not in the least to be defended: though he had freed England +from one of the most profligate, contemptible, and base court favourites +to whom it has ever yielded. + +A very different man now arose. This was SIR THOMAS WENTWORTH, a +Yorkshire gentleman, who had sat in Parliament for a long time, and who +had favoured arbitrary and haughty principles, but who had gone over to +the people's side on receiving offence from Buckingham. The King, much +wanting such a man--for, besides being naturally favourable to the King's +cause, he had great abilities--made him first a Baron, and then a +Viscount, and gave him high employment, and won him most completely. + +A Parliament, however, was still in existence, and was _not_ to be won. +On the twentieth of January, one thousand six hundred and twenty-nine, +SIR JOHN ELIOT, a great man who had been active in the Petition of Right, +brought forward other strong resolutions against the King's chief +instruments, and called upon the Speaker to put them to the vote. To +this the Speaker answered, 'he was commanded otherwise by the King,' and +got up to leave the chair--which, according to the rules of the House of +Commons would have obliged it to adjourn without doing anything more--when +two members, named Mr. HOLLIS and Mr. VALENTINE, held him down. A scene +of great confusion arose among the members; and while many swords were +drawn and flashing about, the King, who was kept informed of all that was +going on, told the captain of his guard to go down to the House and force +the doors. The resolutions were by that time, however, voted, and the +House adjourned. Sir John Eliot and those two members who had held the +Speaker down, were quickly summoned before the council. As they claimed +it to be their privilege not to answer out of Parliament for anything +they had said in it, they were committed to the Tower. The King then +went down and dissolved the Parliament, in a speech wherein he made +mention of these gentlemen as 'Vipers'--which did not do him much good +that ever I have heard of. + +As they refused to gain their liberty by saying they were sorry for what +they had done, the King, always remarkably unforgiving, never overlooked +their offence. When they demanded to be brought up before the court of +King's Bench, he even resorted to the meanness of having them moved about +from prison to prison, so that the writs issued for that purpose should +not legally find them. At last they came before the court and were +sentenced to heavy fines, and to be imprisoned during the King's +pleasure. When Sir John Eliot's health had quite given way, and he so +longed for change of air and scene as to petition for his release, the +King sent back the answer (worthy of his Sowship himself) that the +petition was not humble enough. When he sent another petition by his +young son, in which he pathetically offered to go back to prison when his +health was restored, if he might be released for its recovery, the King +still disregarded it. When he died in the Tower, and his children +petitioned to be allowed to take his body down to Cornwall, there to lay +it among the ashes of his forefathers, the King returned for answer, 'Let +Sir John Eliot's body be buried in the church of that parish where he +died.' All this was like a very little King indeed, I think. + +And now, for twelve long years, steadily pursuing his design of setting +himself up and putting the people down, the King called no Parliament; +but ruled without one. If twelve thousand volumes were written in his +praise (as a good many have been) it would still remain a fact, +impossible to be denied, that for twelve years King Charles the First +reigned in England unlawfully and despotically, seized upon his subjects' +goods and money at his pleasure, and punished according to his unbridled +will all who ventured to oppose him. It is a fashion with some people to +think that this King's career was cut short; but I must say myself that I +think he ran a pretty long one. + +WILLIAM LAUD, Archbishop of Canterbury, was the King's right-hand man in +the religious part of the putting down of the people's liberties. Laud, +who was a sincere man, of large learning but small sense--for the two +things sometimes go together in very different quantities--though a +Protestant, held opinions so near those of the Catholics, that the Pope +wanted to make a Cardinal of him, if he would have accepted that favour. +He looked upon vows, robes, lighted candles, images, and so forth, as +amazingly important in religious ceremonies; and he brought in an +immensity of bowing and candle-snuffing. He also regarded archbishops +and bishops as a sort of miraculous persons, and was inveterate in the +last degree against any who thought otherwise. Accordingly, he offered +up thanks to Heaven, and was in a state of much pious pleasure, when a +Scotch clergyman, named LEIGHTON, was pilloried, whipped, branded in the +cheek, and had one of his ears cut off and one of his nostrils slit, for +calling bishops trumpery and the inventions of men. He originated on a +Sunday morning the prosecution of WILLIAM PRYNNE, a barrister who was of +similar opinions, and who was fined a thousand pounds; who was pilloried; +who had his ears cut off on two occasions--one ear at a time--and who was +imprisoned for life. He highly approved of the punishment of DOCTOR +BASTWICK, a physician; who was also fined a thousand pounds; and who +afterwards had _his_ ears cut off, and was imprisoned for life. These +were gentle methods of persuasion, some will tell you: I think, they were +rather calculated to be alarming to the people. + +In the money part of the putting down of the people's liberties, the King +was equally gentle, as some will tell you: as I think, equally alarming. +He levied those duties of tonnage and poundage, and increased them as he +thought fit. He granted monopolies to companies of merchants on their +paying him for them, notwithstanding the great complaints that had, for +years and years, been made on the subject of monopolies. He fined the +people for disobeying proclamations issued by his Sowship in direct +violation of law. He revived the detested Forest laws, and took private +property to himself as his forest right. Above all, he determined to +have what was called Ship Money; that is to say, money for the support of +the fleet--not only from the seaports, but from all the counties of +England: having found out that, in some ancient time or other, all the +counties paid it. The grievance of this ship money being somewhat too +strong, JOHN CHAMBERS, a citizen of London, refused to pay his part of +it. For this the Lord Mayor ordered John Chambers to prison, and for +that John Chambers brought a suit against the Lord Mayor. LORD SAY, +also, behaved like a real nobleman, and declared he would not pay. But, +the sturdiest and best opponent of the ship money was JOHN HAMPDEN, a +gentleman of Buckinghamshire, who had sat among the 'vipers' in the House +of Commons when there was such a thing, and who had been the bosom friend +of Sir John Eliot. This case was tried before the twelve judges in the +Court of Exchequer, and again the King's lawyers said it was impossible +that ship money could be wrong, because the King could do no wrong, +however hard he tried--and he really did try very hard during these +twelve years. Seven of the judges said that was quite true, and Mr. +Hampden was bound to pay: five of the judges said that was quite false, +and Mr. Hampden was not bound to pay. So, the King triumphed (as he +thought), by making Hampden the most popular man in England; where +matters were getting to that height now, that many honest Englishmen +could not endure their country, and sailed away across the seas to found +a colony in Massachusetts Bay in America. It is said that Hampden +himself and his relation OLIVER CROMWELL were going with a company of +such voyagers, and were actually on board ship, when they were stopped by +a proclamation, prohibiting sea captains to carry out such passengers +without the royal license. But O! it would have been well for the King +if he had let them go! This was the state of England. If Laud had been +a madman just broke loose, he could not have done more mischief than he +did in Scotland. In his endeavours (in which he was seconded by the +King, then in person in that part of his dominions) to force his own +ideas of bishops, and his own religious forms and ceremonies upon the +Scotch, he roused that nation to a perfect frenzy. They formed a solemn +league, which they called The Covenant, for the preservation of their own +religious forms; they rose in arms throughout the whole country; they +summoned all their men to prayers and sermons twice a day by beat of +drum; they sang psalms, in which they compared their enemies to all the +evil spirits that ever were heard of; and they solemnly vowed to smite +them with the sword. At first the King tried force, then treaty, then a +Scottish Parliament which did not answer at all. Then he tried the EARL +OF STRAFFORD, formerly Sir Thomas Wentworth; who, as LORD WENTWORTH, had +been governing Ireland. He, too, had carried it with a very high hand +there, though to the benefit and prosperity of that country. + +Strafford and Laud were for conquering the Scottish people by force of +arms. Other lords who were taken into council, recommended that a +Parliament should at last be called; to which the King unwillingly +consented. So, on the thirteenth of April, one thousand six hundred and +forty, that then strange sight, a Parliament, was seen at Westminster. It +is called the Short Parliament, for it lasted a very little while. While +the members were all looking at one another, doubtful who would dare to +speak, MR. PYM arose and set forth all that the King had done unlawfully +during the past twelve years, and what was the position to which England +was reduced. This great example set, other members took courage and +spoke the truth freely, though with great patience and moderation. The +King, a little frightened, sent to say that if they would grant him a +certain sum on certain terms, no more ship money should be raised. They +debated the matter for two days; and then, as they would not give him all +he asked without promise or inquiry, he dissolved them. + +But they knew very well that he must have a Parliament now; and he began +to make that discovery too, though rather late in the day. Wherefore, on +the twenty-fourth of September, being then at York with an army collected +against the Scottish people, but his own men sullen and discontented like +the rest of the nation, the King told the great council of the Lords, +whom he had called to meet him there, that he would summon another +Parliament to assemble on the third of November. The soldiers of the +Covenant had now forced their way into England and had taken possession +of the northern counties, where the coals are got. As it would never do +to be without coals, and as the King's troops could make no head against +the Covenanters so full of gloomy zeal, a truce was made, and a treaty +with Scotland was taken into consideration. Meanwhile the northern +counties paid the Covenanters to leave the coals alone, and keep quiet. + +We have now disposed of the Short Parliament. We have next to see what +memorable things were done by the Long one. + + + +SECOND PART + + +The Long Parliament assembled on the third of November, one thousand six +hundred and forty-one. That day week the Earl of Strafford arrived from +York, very sensible that the spirited and determined men who formed that +Parliament were no friends towards him, who had not only deserted the +cause of the people, but who had on all occasions opposed himself to +their liberties. The King told him, for his comfort, that the Parliament +'should not hurt one hair of his head.' But, on the very next day Mr. +Pym, in the House of Commons, and with great solemnity, impeached the +Earl of Strafford as a traitor. He was immediately taken into custody +and fell from his proud height. + +It was the twenty-second of March before he was brought to trial in +Westminster Hall; where, although he was very ill and suffered great +pain, he defended himself with such ability and majesty, that it was +doubtful whether he would not get the best of it. But on the thirteenth +day of the trial, Pym produced in the House of Commons a copy of some +notes of a council, found by young SIR HARRY VANE in a red velvet cabinet +belonging to his father (Secretary Vane, who sat at the council-table +with the Earl), in which Strafford had distinctly told the King that he +was free from all rules and obligations of government, and might do with +his people whatever he liked; and in which he had added--'You have an +army in Ireland that you may employ to reduce this kingdom to obedience.' +It was not clear whether by the words 'this kingdom,' he had really meant +England or Scotland; but the Parliament contended that he meant England, +and this was treason. At the same sitting of the House of Commons it was +resolved to bring in a bill of attainder declaring the treason to have +been committed: in preference to proceeding with the trial by +impeachment, which would have required the treason to be proved. + +So, a bill was brought in at once, was carried through the House of +Commons by a large majority, and was sent up to the House of Lords. While +it was still uncertain whether the House of Lords would pass it and the +King consent to it, Pym disclosed to the House of Commons that the King +and Queen had both been plotting with the officers of the army to bring +up the soldiers and control the Parliament, and also to introduce two +hundred soldiers into the Tower of London to effect the Earl's escape. +The plotting with the army was revealed by one GEORGE GORING, the son of +a lord of that name: a bad fellow who was one of the original plotters, +and turned traitor. The King had actually given his warrant for the +admission of the two hundred men into the Tower, and they would have got +in too, but for the refusal of the governor--a sturdy Scotchman of the +name of BALFOUR--to admit them. These matters being made public, great +numbers of people began to riot outside the Houses of Parliament, and to +cry out for the execution of the Earl of Strafford, as one of the King's +chief instruments against them. The bill passed the House of Lords while +the people were in this state of agitation, and was laid before the King +for his assent, together with another bill declaring that the Parliament +then assembled should not be dissolved or adjourned without their own +consent. The King--not unwilling to save a faithful servant, though he +had no great attachment for him--was in some doubt what to do; but he +gave his consent to both bills, although he in his heart believed that +the bill against the Earl of Strafford was unlawful and unjust. The Earl +had written to him, telling him that he was willing to die for his sake. +But he had not expected that his royal master would take him at his word +quite so readily; for, when he heard his doom, he laid his hand upon his +heart, and said, 'Put not your trust in Princes!' + +The King, who never could be straightforward and plain, through one +single day or through one single sheet of paper, wrote a letter to the +Lords, and sent it by the young Prince of Wales, entreating them to +prevail with the Commons that 'that unfortunate man should fulfil the +natural course of his life in a close imprisonment.' In a postscript to +the very same letter, he added, 'If he must die, it were charity to +reprieve him till Saturday.' If there had been any doubt of his fate, +this weakness and meanness would have settled it. The very next day, +which was the twelfth of May, he was brought out to be beheaded on Tower +Hill. + +Archbishop Laud, who had been so fond of having people's ears cropped off +and their noses slit, was now confined in the Tower too; and when the +Earl went by his window to his death, he was there, at his request, to +give him his blessing. They had been great friends in the King's cause, +and the Earl had written to him in the days of their power that he +thought it would be an admirable thing to have Mr. Hampden publicly +whipped for refusing to pay the ship money. However, those high and +mighty doings were over now, and the Earl went his way to death with +dignity and heroism. The governor wished him to get into a coach at the +Tower gate, for fear the people should tear him to pieces; but he said it +was all one to him whether he died by the axe or by the people's hands. +So, he walked, with a firm tread and a stately look, and sometimes pulled +off his hat to them as he passed along. They were profoundly quiet. He +made a speech on the scaffold from some notes he had prepared (the paper +was found lying there after his head was struck off), and one blow of the +axe killed him, in the forty-ninth year of his age. + +This bold and daring act, the Parliament accompanied by other famous +measures, all originating (as even this did) in the King's having so +grossly and so long abused his power. The name of DELINQUENTS was +applied to all sheriffs and other officers who had been concerned in +raising the ship money, or any other money, from the people, in an +unlawful manner; the Hampden judgment was reversed; the judges who had +decided against Hampden were called upon to give large securities that +they would take such consequences as Parliament might impose upon them; +and one was arrested as he sat in High Court, and carried off to prison. +Laud was impeached; the unfortunate victims whose ears had been cropped +and whose noses had been slit, were brought out of prison in triumph; and +a bill was passed declaring that a Parliament should be called every +third year, and that if the King and the King's officers did not call it, +the people should assemble of themselves and summon it, as of their own +right and power. Great illuminations and rejoicings took place over all +these things, and the country was wildly excited. That the Parliament +took advantage of this excitement and stirred them up by every means, +there is no doubt; but you are always to remember those twelve long +years, during which the King had tried so hard whether he really could do +any wrong or not. + +All this time there was a great religious outcry against the right of the +Bishops to sit in Parliament; to which the Scottish people particularly +objected. The English were divided on this subject, and, partly on this +account and partly because they had had foolish expectations that the +Parliament would be able to take off nearly all the taxes, numbers of +them sometimes wavered and inclined towards the King. + +I believe myself, that if, at this or almost any other period of his +life, the King could have been trusted by any man not out of his senses, +he might have saved himself and kept his throne. But, on the English +army being disbanded, he plotted with the officers again, as he had done +before, and established the fact beyond all doubt by putting his +signature of approval to a petition against the Parliamentary leaders, +which was drawn up by certain officers. When the Scottish army was +disbanded, he went to Edinburgh in four days--which was going very fast +at that time--to plot again, and so darkly too, that it is difficult to +decide what his whole object was. Some suppose that he wanted to gain +over the Scottish Parliament, as he did in fact gain over, by presents +and favours, many Scottish lords and men of power. Some think that he +went to get proofs against the Parliamentary leaders in England of their +having treasonably invited the Scottish people to come and help them. +With whatever object he went to Scotland, he did little good by going. At +the instigation of the EARL OF MONTROSE, a desperate man who was then in +prison for plotting, he tried to kidnap three Scottish lords who escaped. +A committee of the Parliament at home, who had followed to watch him, +writing an account of this INCIDENT, as it was called, to the Parliament, +the Parliament made a fresh stir about it; were, or feigned to be, much +alarmed for themselves; and wrote to the EARL OF ESSEX, the commander-in- +chief, for a guard to protect them. + +It is not absolutely proved that the King plotted in Ireland besides, but +it is very probable that he did, and that the Queen did, and that he had +some wild hope of gaining the Irish people over to his side by favouring +a rise among them. Whether or no, they did rise in a most brutal and +savage rebellion; in which, encouraged by their priests, they committed +such atrocities upon numbers of the English, of both sexes and of all +ages, as nobody could believe, but for their being related on oath by eye- +witnesses. Whether one hundred thousand or two hundred thousand +Protestants were murdered in this outbreak, is uncertain; but, that it +was as ruthless and barbarous an outbreak as ever was known among any +savage people, is certain. + +The King came home from Scotland, determined to make a great struggle for +his lost power. He believed that, through his presents and favours, +Scotland would take no part against him; and the Lord Mayor of London +received him with such a magnificent dinner that he thought he must have +become popular again in England. It would take a good many Lord Mayors, +however, to make a people, and the King soon found himself mistaken. + +Not so soon, though, but that there was a great opposition in the +Parliament to a celebrated paper put forth by Pym and Hampden and the +rest, called 'THE REMONSTRANCE,' which set forth all the illegal acts +that the King had ever done, but politely laid the blame of them on his +bad advisers. Even when it was passed and presented to him, the King +still thought himself strong enough to discharge Balfour from his command +in the Tower, and to put in his place a man of bad character; to whom the +Commons instantly objected, and whom he was obliged to abandon. At this +time, the old outcry about the Bishops became louder than ever, and the +old Archbishop of York was so near being murdered as he went down to the +House of Lords--being laid hold of by the mob and violently knocked +about, in return for very foolishly scolding a shrill boy who was yelping +out 'No Bishops!'--that he sent for all the Bishops who were in town, and +proposed to them to sign a declaration that, as they could no longer +without danger to their lives attend their duty in Parliament, they +protested against the lawfulness of everything done in their absence. +This they asked the King to send to the House of Lords, which he did. +Then the House of Commons impeached the whole party of Bishops and sent +them off to the Tower: + +Taking no warning from this; but encouraged by there being a moderate +party in the Parliament who objected to these strong measures, the King, +on the third of January, one thousand six hundred and forty-two, took the +rashest step that ever was taken by mortal man. + +Of his own accord and without advice, he sent the Attorney-General to the +House of Lords, to accuse of treason certain members of Parliament who as +popular leaders were the most obnoxious to him; LORD KIMBOLTON, SIR +ARTHUR HASELRIG, DENZIL HOLLIS, JOHN PYM (they used to call him King Pym, +he possessed such power and looked so big), JOHN HAMPDEN, and WILLIAM +STRODE. The houses of those members he caused to be entered, and their +papers to be sealed up. At the same time, he sent a messenger to the +House of Commons demanding to have the five gentlemen who were members of +that House immediately produced. To this the House replied that they +should appear as soon as there was any legal charge against them, and +immediately adjourned. + +Next day, the House of Commons send into the City to let the Lord Mayor +know that their privileges are invaded by the King, and that there is no +safety for anybody or anything. Then, when the five members are gone out +of the way, down comes the King himself, with all his guard and from two +to three hundred gentlemen and soldiers, of whom the greater part were +armed. These he leaves in the hall; and then, with his nephew at his +side, goes into the House, takes off his hat, and walks up to the +Speaker's chair. The Speaker leaves it, the King stands in front of it, +looks about him steadily for a little while, and says he has come for +those five members. No one speaks, and then he calls John Pym by name. +No one speaks, and then he calls Denzil Hollis by name. No one speaks, +and then he asks the Speaker of the House where those five members are? +The Speaker, answering on his knee, nobly replies that he is the servant +of that House, and that he has neither eyes to see, nor tongue to speak, +anything but what the House commands him. Upon this, the King, beaten +from that time evermore, replies that he will seek them himself, for they +have committed treason; and goes out, with his hat in his hand, amid some +audible murmurs from the members. + +No words can describe the hurry that arose out of doors when all this was +known. The five members had gone for safety to a house in +Coleman-street, in the City, where they were guarded all night; and +indeed the whole city watched in arms like an army. At ten o'clock in +the morning, the King, already frightened at what he had done, came to +the Guildhall, with only half a dozen lords, and made a speech to the +people, hoping they would not shelter those whom he accused of treason. +Next day, he issued a proclamation for the apprehension of the five +members; but the Parliament minded it so little that they made great +arrangements for having them brought down to Westminster in great state, +five days afterwards. The King was so alarmed now at his own imprudence, +if not for his own safety, that he left his palace at Whitehall, and went +away with his Queen and children to Hampton Court. + +It was the eleventh of May, when the five members were carried in state +and triumph to Westminster. They were taken by water. The river could +not be seen for the boats on it; and the five members were hemmed in by +barges full of men and great guns, ready to protect them, at any cost. +Along the Strand a large body of the train-bands of London, under their +commander, SKIPPON, marched to be ready to assist the little fleet. +Beyond them, came a crowd who choked the streets, roaring incessantly +about the Bishops and the Papists, and crying out contemptuously as they +passed Whitehall, 'What has become of the King?' With this great noise +outside the House of Commons, and with great silence within, Mr. Pym rose +and informed the House of the great kindness with which they had been +received in the City. Upon that, the House called the sheriffs in and +thanked them, and requested the train-bands, under their commander +Skippon, to guard the House of Commons every day. Then, came four +thousand men on horseback out of Buckinghamshire, offering their services +as a guard too, and bearing a petition to the King, complaining of the +injury that had been done to Mr. Hampden, who was their county man and +much beloved and honoured. + +When the King set off for Hampton Court, the gentlemen and soldiers who +had been with him followed him out of town as far as +Kingston-upon-Thames; next day, Lord Digby came to them from the King at +Hampton Court, in his coach and six, to inform them that the King +accepted their protection. This, the Parliament said, was making war +against the kingdom, and Lord Digby fled abroad. The Parliament then +immediately applied themselves to getting hold of the military power of +the country, well knowing that the King was already trying hard to use it +against them, and that he had secretly sent the Earl of Newcastle to +Hull, to secure a valuable magazine of arms and gunpowder that was there. +In those times, every county had its own magazines of arms and powder, +for its own train-bands or militia; so, the Parliament brought in a bill +claiming the right (which up to this time had belonged to the King) of +appointing the Lord Lieutenants of counties, who commanded these train- +bands; also, of having all the forts, castles, and garrisons in the +kingdom, put into the hands of such governors as they, the Parliament, +could confide in. It also passed a law depriving the Bishops of their +votes. The King gave his assent to that bill, but would not abandon the +right of appointing the Lord Lieutenants, though he said he was willing +to appoint such as might be suggested to him by the Parliament. When the +Earl of Pembroke asked him whether he would not give way on that question +for a time, he said, 'By God! not for one hour!' and upon this he and the +Parliament went to war. + +His young daughter was betrothed to the Prince of Orange. On pretence of +taking her to the country of her future husband, the Queen was already +got safely away to Holland, there to pawn the Crown jewels for money to +raise an army on the King's side. The Lord Admiral being sick, the House +of Commons now named the Earl of Warwick to hold his place for a year. +The King named another gentleman; the House of Commons took its own way, +and the Earl of Warwick became Lord Admiral without the King's consent. +The Parliament sent orders down to Hull to have that magazine removed to +London; the King went down to Hull to take it himself. The citizens +would not admit him into the town, and the governor would not admit him +into the castle. The Parliament resolved that whatever the two Houses +passed, and the King would not consent to, should be called an ORDINANCE, +and should be as much a law as if he did consent to it. The King +protested against this, and gave notice that these ordinances were not to +be obeyed. The King, attended by the majority of the House of Peers, and +by many members of the House of Commons, established himself at York. The +Chancellor went to him with the Great Seal, and the Parliament made a new +Great Seal. The Queen sent over a ship full of arms and ammunition, and +the King issued letters to borrow money at high interest. The Parliament +raised twenty regiments of foot and seventy-five troops of horse; and the +people willingly aided them with their money, plate, jewellery, and +trinkets--the married women even with their wedding-rings. Every member +of Parliament who could raise a troop or a regiment in his own part of +the country, dressed it according to his taste and in his own colours, +and commanded it. Foremost among them all, OLIVER CROMWELL raised a +troop of horse--thoroughly in earnest and thoroughly well armed--who +were, perhaps, the best soldiers that ever were seen. + +In some of their proceedings, this famous Parliament passed the bounds of +previous law and custom, yielded to and favoured riotous assemblages of +the people, and acted tyrannically in imprisoning some who differed from +the popular leaders. But again, you are always to remember that the +twelve years during which the King had had his own wilful way, had gone +before; and that nothing could make the times what they might, could, +would, or should have been, if those twelve years had never rolled away. + + + +THIRD PART + + +I shall not try to relate the particulars of the great civil war between +King Charles the First and the Long Parliament, which lasted nearly four +years, and a full account of which would fill many large books. It was a +sad thing that Englishmen should once more be fighting against Englishmen +on English ground; but, it is some consolation to know that on both sides +there was great humanity, forbearance, and honour. The soldiers of the +Parliament were far more remarkable for these good qualities than the +soldiers of the King (many of whom fought for mere pay without much +caring for the cause); but those of the nobility and gentry who were on +the King's side were so brave, and so faithful to him, that their conduct +cannot but command our highest admiration. Among them were great numbers +of Catholics, who took the royal side because the Queen was so strongly +of their persuasion. + +The King might have distinguished some of these gallant spirits, if he +had been as generous a spirit himself, by giving them the command of his +army. Instead of that, however, true to his old high notions of royalty, +he entrusted it to his two nephews, PRINCE RUPERT and PRINCE MAURICE, who +were of royal blood and came over from abroad to help him. It might have +been better for him if they had stayed away; since Prince Rupert was an +impetuous, hot-headed fellow, whose only idea was to dash into battle at +all times and seasons, and lay about him. + +The general-in-chief of the Parliamentary army was the Earl of Essex, a +gentleman of honour and an excellent soldier. A little while before the +war broke out, there had been some rioting at Westminster between certain +officious law students and noisy soldiers, and the shopkeepers and their +apprentices, and the general people in the streets. At that time the +King's friends called the crowd, Roundheads, because the apprentices wore +short hair; the crowd, in return, called their opponents Cavaliers, +meaning that they were a blustering set, who pretended to be very +military. These two words now began to be used to distinguish the two +sides in the civil war. The Royalists also called the Parliamentary men +Rebels and Rogues, while the Parliamentary men called _them_ Malignants, +and spoke of themselves as the Godly, the Honest, and so forth. + +The war broke out at Portsmouth, where that double traitor Goring had +again gone over to the King and was besieged by the Parliamentary troops. +Upon this, the King proclaimed the Earl of Essex and the officers serving +under him, traitors, and called upon his loyal subjects to meet him in +arms at Nottingham on the twenty-fifth of August. But his loyal subjects +came about him in scanty numbers, and it was a windy, gloomy day, and the +Royal Standard got blown down, and the whole affair was very melancholy. +The chief engagements after this, took place in the vale of the Red Horse +near Banbury, at Brentford, at Devizes, at Chalgrave Field (where Mr. +Hampden was so sorely wounded while fighting at the head of his men, that +he died within a week), at Newbury (in which battle LORD FALKLAND, one of +the best noblemen on the King's side, was killed), at Leicester, at +Naseby, at Winchester, at Marston Moor near York, at Newcastle, and in +many other parts of England and Scotland. These battles were attended +with various successes. At one time, the King was victorious; at another +time, the Parliament. But almost all the great and busy towns were +against the King; and when it was considered necessary to fortify London, +all ranks of people, from labouring men and women, up to lords and +ladies, worked hard together with heartiness and good will. The most +distinguished leaders on the Parliamentary side were HAMPDEN, SIR THOMAS +FAIRFAX, and, above all, OLIVER CROMWELL, and his son-in-law IRETON. + +During the whole of this war, the people, to whom it was very expensive +and irksome, and to whom it was made the more distressing by almost every +family being divided--some of its members attaching themselves to one +side and some to the other--were over and over again most anxious for +peace. So were some of the best men in each cause. Accordingly, +treaties of peace were discussed between commissioners from the +Parliament and the King; at York, at Oxford (where the King held a little +Parliament of his own), and at Uxbridge. But they came to nothing. In +all these negotiations, and in all his difficulties, the King showed +himself at his best. He was courageous, cool, self-possessed, and +clever; but, the old taint of his character was always in him, and he was +never for one single moment to be trusted. Lord Clarendon, the +historian, one of his highest admirers, supposes that he had unhappily +promised the Queen never to make peace without her consent, and that this +must often be taken as his excuse. He never kept his word from night to +morning. He signed a cessation of hostilities with the blood-stained +Irish rebels for a sum of money, and invited the Irish regiments over, to +help him against the Parliament. In the battle of Naseby, his cabinet +was seized and was found to contain a correspondence with the Queen, in +which he expressly told her that he had deceived the Parliament--a +mongrel Parliament, he called it now, as an improvement on his old term +of vipers--in pretending to recognise it and to treat with it; and from +which it further appeared that he had long been in secret treaty with the +Duke of Lorraine for a foreign army of ten thousand men. Disappointed in +this, he sent a most devoted friend of his, the EARL OF GLAMORGAN, to +Ireland, to conclude a secret treaty with the Catholic powers, to send +him an Irish army of ten thousand men; in return for which he was to +bestow great favours on the Catholic religion. And, when this treaty was +discovered in the carriage of a fighting Irish Archbishop who was killed +in one of the many skirmishes of those days, he basely denied and +deserted his attached friend, the Earl, on his being charged with high +treason; and--even worse than this--had left blanks in the secret +instructions he gave him with his own kingly hand, expressly that he +might thus save himself. + +At last, on the twenty-seventh day of April, one thousand six hundred and +forty-six, the King found himself in the city of Oxford, so surrounded by +the Parliamentary army who were closing in upon him on all sides that he +felt that if he would escape he must delay no longer. So, that night, +having altered the cut of his hair and beard, he was dressed up as a +servant and put upon a horse with a cloak strapped behind him, and rode +out of the town behind one of his own faithful followers, with a +clergyman of that country who knew the road well, for a guide. He rode +towards London as far as Harrow, and then altered his plans and resolved, +it would seem, to go to the Scottish camp. The Scottish men had been +invited over to help the Parliamentary army, and had a large force then +in England. The King was so desperately intriguing in everything he did, +that it is doubtful what he exactly meant by this step. He took it, +anyhow, and delivered himself up to the EARL OF LEVEN, the Scottish +general-in-chief, who treated him as an honourable prisoner. Negotiations +between the Parliament on the one hand and the Scottish authorities on +the other, as to what should be done with him, lasted until the following +February. Then, when the King had refused to the Parliament the +concession of that old militia point for twenty years, and had refused to +Scotland the recognition of its Solemn League and Covenant, Scotland got +a handsome sum for its army and its help, and the King into the bargain. +He was taken, by certain Parliamentary commissioners appointed to receive +him, to one of his own houses, called Holmby House, near Althorpe, in +Northamptonshire. + +While the Civil War was still in progress, John Pym died, and was buried +with great honour in Westminster Abbey--not with greater honour than he +deserved, for the liberties of Englishmen owe a mighty debt to Pym and +Hampden. The war was but newly over when the Earl of Essex died, of an +illness brought on by his having overheated himself in a stag hunt in +Windsor Forest. He, too, was buried in Westminster Abbey, with great +state. I wish it were not necessary to add that Archbishop Laud died +upon the scaffold when the war was not yet done. His trial lasted in all +nearly a year, and, it being doubtful even then whether the charges +brought against him amounted to treason, the odious old contrivance of +the worst kings was resorted to, and a bill of attainder was brought in +against him. He was a violently prejudiced and mischievous person; had +had strong ear-cropping and nose-splitting propensities, as you know; and +had done a world of harm. But he died peaceably, and like a brave old +man. + + + +FOURTH PART + + +When the Parliament had got the King into their hands, they became very +anxious to get rid of their army, in which Oliver Cromwell had begun to +acquire great power; not only because of his courage and high abilities, +but because he professed to be very sincere in the Scottish sort of +Puritan religion that was then exceedingly popular among the soldiers. +They were as much opposed to the Bishops as to the Pope himself; and the +very privates, drummers, and trumpeters, had such an inconvenient habit +of starting up and preaching long-winded discourses, that I would not +have belonged to that army on any account. + +So, the Parliament, being far from sure but that the army might begin to +preach and fight against them now it had nothing else to do, proposed to +disband the greater part of it, to send another part to serve in Ireland +against the rebels, and to keep only a small force in England. But, the +army would not consent to be broken up, except upon its own conditions; +and, when the Parliament showed an intention of compelling it, it acted +for itself in an unexpected manner. A certain cornet, of the name of +JOICE, arrived at Holmby House one night, attended by four hundred +horsemen, went into the King's room with his hat in one hand and a pistol +in the other, and told the King that he had come to take him away. The +King was willing enough to go, and only stipulated that he should be +publicly required to do so next morning. Next morning, accordingly, he +appeared on the top of the steps of the house, and asked Comet Joice +before his men and the guard set there by the Parliament, what authority +he had for taking him away? To this Cornet Joice replied, 'The authority +of the army.' 'Have you a written commission?' said the King. Joice, +pointing to his four hundred men on horseback, replied, 'That is my +commission.' 'Well,' said the King, smiling, as if he were pleased, 'I +never before read such a commission; but it is written in fair and +legible characters. This is a company of as handsome proper gentlemen as +I have seen a long while.' He was asked where he would like to live, and +he said at Newmarket. So, to Newmarket he and Cornet Joice and the four +hundred horsemen rode; the King remarking, in the same smiling way, that +he could ride as far at a spell as Cornet Joice, or any man there. + +The King quite believed, I think, that the army were his friends. He +said as much to Fairfax when that general, Oliver Cromwell, and Ireton, +went to persuade him to return to the custody of the Parliament. He +preferred to remain as he was, and resolved to remain as he was. And +when the army moved nearer and nearer London to frighten the Parliament +into yielding to their demands, they took the King with them. It was a +deplorable thing that England should be at the mercy of a great body of +soldiers with arms in their hands; but the King certainly favoured them +at this important time of his life, as compared with the more lawful +power that tried to control him. It must be added, however, that they +treated him, as yet, more respectfully and kindly than the Parliament had +done. They allowed him to be attended by his own servants, to be +splendidly entertained at various houses, and to see his children--at +Cavesham House, near Reading--for two days. Whereas, the Parliament had +been rather hard with him, and had only allowed him to ride out and play +at bowls. + +It is much to be believed that if the King could have been trusted, even +at this time, he might have been saved. Even Oliver Cromwell expressly +said that he did believe that no man could enjoy his possessions in +peace, unless the King had his rights. He was not unfriendly towards the +King; he had been present when he received his children, and had been +much affected by the pitiable nature of the scene; he saw the King often; +he frequently walked and talked with him in the long galleries and +pleasant gardens of the Palace at Hampton Court, whither he was now +removed; and in all this risked something of his influence with the army. +But, the King was in secret hopes of help from the Scottish people; and +the moment he was encouraged to join them he began to be cool to his new +friends, the army, and to tell the officers that they could not possibly +do without him. At the very time, too, when he was promising to make +Cromwell and Ireton noblemen, if they would help him up to his old +height, he was writing to the Queen that he meant to hang them. They +both afterwards declared that they had been privately informed that such +a letter would be found, on a certain evening, sewed up in a saddle which +would be taken to the Blue Boar in Holborn to be sent to Dover; and that +they went there, disguised as common soldiers, and sat drinking in the +inn-yard until a man came with the saddle, which they ripped up with +their knives, and therein found the letter. I see little reason to doubt +the story. It is certain that Oliver Cromwell told one of the King's +most faithful followers that the King could not be trusted, and that he +would not be answerable if anything amiss were to happen to him. Still, +even after that, he kept a promise he had made to the King, by letting +him know that there was a plot with a certain portion of the army to +seize him. I believe that, in fact, he sincerely wanted the King to +escape abroad, and so to be got rid of without more trouble or danger. +That Oliver himself had work enough with the army is pretty plain; for +some of the troops were so mutinous against him, and against those who +acted with him at this time, that he found it necessary to have one man +shot at the head of his regiment to overawe the rest. + +The King, when he received Oliver's warning, made his escape from Hampton +Court; after some indecision and uncertainty, he went to Carisbrooke +Castle in the Isle of Wight. At first, he was pretty free there; but, +even there, he carried on a pretended treaty with the Parliament, while +he was really treating with commissioners from Scotland to send an army +into England to take his part. When he broke off this treaty with the +Parliament (having settled with Scotland) and was treated as a prisoner, +his treatment was not changed too soon, for he had plotted to escape that +very night to a ship sent by the Queen, which was lying off the island. + +He was doomed to be disappointed in his hopes from Scotland. The +agreement he had made with the Scottish Commissioners was not favourable +enough to the religion of that country to please the Scottish clergy; and +they preached against it. The consequence was, that the army raised in +Scotland and sent over, was too small to do much; and that, although it +was helped by a rising of the Royalists in England and by good soldiers +from Ireland, it could make no head against the Parliamentary army under +such men as Cromwell and Fairfax. The King's eldest son, the Prince of +Wales, came over from Holland with nineteen ships (a part of the English +fleet having gone over to him) to help his father; but nothing came of +his voyage, and he was fain to return. The most remarkable event of this +second civil war was the cruel execution by the Parliamentary General, of +SIR CHARLES LUCAS and SIR GEORGE LISLE, two grand Royalist generals, who +had bravely defended Colchester under every disadvantage of famine and +distress for nearly three months. When Sir Charles Lucas was shot, Sir +George Lisle kissed his body, and said to the soldiers who were to shoot +him, 'Come nearer, and make sure of me.' 'I warrant you, Sir George,' +said one of the soldiers, 'we shall hit you.' 'AY?' he returned with a +smile, 'but I have been nearer to you, my friends, many a time, and you +have missed me.' + +The Parliament, after being fearfully bullied by the army--who demanded +to have seven members whom they disliked given up to them--had voted that +they would have nothing more to do with the King. On the conclusion, +however, of this second civil war (which did not last more than six +months), they appointed commissioners to treat with him. The King, then +so far released again as to be allowed to live in a private house at +Newport in the Isle of Wight, managed his own part of the negotiation +with a sense that was admired by all who saw him, and gave up, in the +end, all that was asked of him--even yielding (which he had steadily +refused, so far) to the temporary abolition of the bishops, and the +transfer of their church land to the Crown. Still, with his old fatal +vice upon him, when his best friends joined the commissioners in +beseeching him to yield all those points as the only means of saving +himself from the army, he was plotting to escape from the island; he was +holding correspondence with his friends and the Catholics in Ireland, +though declaring that he was not; and he was writing, with his own hand, +that in what he yielded he meant nothing but to get time to escape. + +Matters were at this pass when the army, resolved to defy the Parliament, +marched up to London. The Parliament, not afraid of them now, and boldly +led by Hollis, voted that the King's concessions were sufficient ground +for settling the peace of the kingdom. Upon that, COLONEL RICH and +COLONEL PRIDE went down to the House of Commons with a regiment of horse +soldiers and a regiment of foot; and Colonel Pride, standing in the lobby +with a list of the members who were obnoxious to the army in his hand, +had them pointed out to him as they came through, and took them all into +custody. This proceeding was afterwards called by the people, for a +joke, PRIDE'S PURGE. Cromwell was in the North, at the head of his men, +at the time, but when he came home, approved of what had been done. + +What with imprisoning some members and causing others to stay away, the +army had now reduced the House of Commons to some fifty or so. These +soon voted that it was treason in a king to make war against his +parliament and his people, and sent an ordinance up to the House of Lords +for the King's being tried as a traitor. The House of Lords, then +sixteen in number, to a man rejected it. Thereupon, the Commons made an +ordinance of their own, that they were the supreme government of the +country, and would bring the King to trial. + +The King had been taken for security to a place called Hurst Castle: a +lonely house on a rock in the sea, connected with the coast of Hampshire +by a rough road two miles long at low water. Thence, he was ordered to +be removed to Windsor; thence, after being but rudely used there, and +having none but soldiers to wait upon him at table, he was brought up to +St. James's Palace in London, and told that his trial was appointed for +next day. + +On Saturday, the twentieth of January, one thousand six hundred and forty- +nine, this memorable trial began. The House of Commons had settled that +one hundred and thirty-five persons should form the Court, and these were +taken from the House itself, from among the officers of the army, and +from among the lawyers and citizens. JOHN BRADSHAW, serjeant-at-law, was +appointed president. The place was Westminster Hall. At the upper end, +in a red velvet chair, sat the president, with his hat (lined with plates +of iron for his protection) on his head. The rest of the Court sat on +side benches, also wearing their hats. The King's seat was covered with +velvet, like that of the president, and was opposite to it. He was +brought from St. James's to Whitehall, and from Whitehall he came by +water to his trial. + +When he came in, he looked round very steadily on the Court, and on the +great number of spectators, and then sat down: presently he got up and +looked round again. On the indictment 'against Charles Stuart, for high +treason,' being read, he smiled several times, and he denied the +authority of the Court, saying that there could be no parliament without +a House of Lords, and that he saw no House of Lords there. Also, that +the King ought to be there, and that he saw no King in the King's right +place. Bradshaw replied, that the Court was satisfied with its +authority, and that its authority was God's authority and the kingdom's. +He then adjourned the Court to the following Monday. On that day, the +trial was resumed, and went on all the week. When the Saturday came, as +the King passed forward to his place in the Hall, some soldiers and +others cried for 'justice!' and execution on him. That day, too, +Bradshaw, like an angry Sultan, wore a red robe, instead of the black +robe he had worn before. The King was sentenced to death that day. As +he went out, one solitary soldier said, 'God bless you, Sir!' For this, +his officer struck him. The King said he thought the punishment exceeded +the offence. The silver head of his walking-stick had fallen off while +he leaned upon it, at one time of the trial. The accident seemed to +disturb him, as if he thought it ominous of the falling of his own head; +and he admitted as much, now it was all over. + +Being taken back to Whitehall, he sent to the House of Commons, saying +that as the time of his execution might be nigh, he wished he might be +allowed to see his darling children. It was granted. On the Monday he +was taken back to St. James's; and his two children then in England, the +PRINCESS ELIZABETH thirteen years old, and the DUKE OF GLOUCESTER nine +years old, were brought to take leave of him, from Sion House, near +Brentford. It was a sad and touching scene, when he kissed and fondled +those poor children, and made a little present of two diamond seals to +the Princess, and gave them tender messages to their mother (who little +deserved them, for she had a lover of her own whom she married soon +afterwards), and told them that he died 'for the laws and liberties of +the land.' I am bound to say that I don't think he did, but I dare say +he believed so. + +There were ambassadors from Holland that day, to intercede for the +unhappy King, whom you and I both wish the Parliament had spared; but +they got no answer. The Scottish Commissioners interceded too; so did +the Prince of Wales, by a letter in which he offered as the next heir to +the throne, to accept any conditions from the Parliament; so did the +Queen, by letter likewise. + +Notwithstanding all, the warrant for the execution was this day signed. +There is a story that as Oliver Cromwell went to the table with the pen +in his hand to put his signature to it, he drew his pen across the face +of one of the commissioners, who was standing near, and marked it with +ink. That commissioner had not signed his own name yet, and the story +adds that when he came to do it he marked Cromwell's face with ink in the +same way. + +The King slept well, untroubled by the knowledge that it was his last +night on earth, and rose on the thirtieth of January, two hours before +day, and dressed himself carefully. He put on two shirts lest he should +tremble with the cold, and had his hair very carefully combed. The +warrant had been directed to three officers of the army, COLONEL HACKER, +COLONEL HUNKS, and COLONEL PHAYER. At ten o'clock, the first of these +came to the door and said it was time to go to Whitehall. The King, who +had always been a quick walker, walked at his usual speed through the +Park, and called out to the guard, with his accustomed voice of command, +'March on apace!' When he came to Whitehall, he was taken to his own +bedroom, where a breakfast was set forth. As he had taken the Sacrament, +he would eat nothing more; but, at about the time when the church bells +struck twelve at noon (for he had to wait, through the scaffold not being +ready), he took the advice of the good BISHOP JUXON who was with him, and +ate a little bread and drank a glass of claret. Soon after he had taken +this refreshment, Colonel Hacker came to the chamber with the warrant in +his hand, and called for Charles Stuart. + +And then, through the long gallery of Whitehall Palace, which he had +often seen light and gay and merry and crowded, in very different times, +the fallen King passed along, until he came to the centre window of the +Banqueting House, through which he emerged upon the scaffold, which was +hung with black. He looked at the two executioners, who were dressed in +black and masked; he looked at the troops of soldiers on horseback and on +foot, and all looked up at him in silence; he looked at the vast array of +spectators, filling up the view beyond, and turning all their faces upon +him; he looked at his old Palace of St. James's; and he looked at the +block. He seemed a little troubled to find that it was so low, and +asked, 'if there were no place higher?' Then, to those upon the +scaffold, he said, 'that it was the Parliament who had begun the war, and +not he; but he hoped they might be guiltless too, as ill instruments had +gone between them. In one respect,' he said, 'he suffered justly; and +that was because he had permitted an unjust sentence to be executed on +another.' In this he referred to the Earl of Strafford. + +He was not at all afraid to die; but he was anxious to die easily. When +some one touched the axe while he was speaking, he broke off and called +out, 'Take heed of the axe! take heed of the axe!' He also said to +Colonel Hacker, 'Take care that they do not put me to pain.' He told the +executioner, 'I shall say but very short prayers, and then thrust out my +hands'--as the sign to strike. + +He put his hair up, under a white satin cap which the bishop had carried, +and said, 'I have a good cause and a gracious God on my side.' The +bishop told him that he had but one stage more to travel in this weary +world, and that, though it was a turbulent and troublesome stage, it was +a short one, and would carry him a great way--all the way from earth to +Heaven. The King's last word, as he gave his cloak and the George--the +decoration from his breast--to the bishop, was, 'Remember!' He then +kneeled down, laid his head on the block, spread out his hands, and was +instantly killed. One universal groan broke from the crowd; and the +soldiers, who had sat on their horses and stood in their ranks immovable +as statues, were of a sudden all in motion, clearing the streets. + +Thus, in the forty-ninth year of his age, falling at the same time of his +career as Strafford had fallen in his, perished Charles the First. With +all my sorrow for him, I cannot agree with him that he died 'the martyr +of the people;' for the people had been martyrs to him, and to his ideas +of a King's rights, long before. Indeed, I am afraid that he was but a +bad judge of martyrs; for he had called that infamous Duke of Buckingham +'the Martyr of his Sovereign.' + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV--ENGLAND UNDER OLIVER CROMWELL + + +Before sunset on the memorable day on which King Charles the First was +executed, the House of Commons passed an act declaring it treason in any +one to proclaim the Prince of Wales--or anybody else--King of England. +Soon afterwards, it declared that the House of Lords was useless and +dangerous, and ought to be abolished; and directed that the late King's +statue should be taken down from the Royal Exchange in the City and other +public places. Having laid hold of some famous Royalists who had escaped +from prison, and having beheaded the DUKE OF HAMILTON, LORD HOLLAND, and +LORD CAPEL, in Palace Yard (all of whom died very courageously), they +then appointed a Council of State to govern the country. It consisted of +forty-one members, of whom five were peers. Bradshaw was made president. +The House of Commons also re-admitted members who had opposed the King's +death, and made up its numbers to about a hundred and fifty. + +But, it still had an army of more than forty thousand men to deal with, +and a very hard task it was to manage them. Before the King's execution, +the army had appointed some of its officers to remonstrate between them +and the Parliament; and now the common soldiers began to take that office +upon themselves. The regiments under orders for Ireland mutinied; one +troop of horse in the city of London seized their own flag, and refused +to obey orders. For this, the ringleader was shot: which did not mend +the matter, for, both his comrades and the people made a public funeral +for him, and accompanied the body to the grave with sound of trumpets and +with a gloomy procession of persons carrying bundles of rosemary steeped +in blood. Oliver was the only man to deal with such difficulties as +these, and he soon cut them short by bursting at midnight into the town +of Burford, near Salisbury, where the mutineers were sheltered, taking +four hundred of them prisoners, and shooting a number of them by sentence +of court-martial. The soldiers soon found, as all men did, that Oliver +was not a man to be trifled with. And there was an end of the mutiny. + +The Scottish Parliament did not know Oliver yet; so, on hearing of the +King's execution, it proclaimed the Prince of Wales King Charles the +Second, on condition of his respecting the Solemn League and Covenant. +Charles was abroad at that time, and so was Montrose, from whose help he +had hopes enough to keep him holding on and off with commissioners from +Scotland, just as his father might have done. These hopes were soon at +an end; for, Montrose, having raised a few hundred exiles in Germany, and +landed with them in Scotland, found that the people there, instead of +joining him, deserted the country at his approach. He was soon taken +prisoner and carried to Edinburgh. There he was received with every +possible insult, and carried to prison in a cart, his officers going two +and two before him. He was sentenced by the Parliament to be hanged on a +gallows thirty feet high, to have his head set on a spike in Edinburgh, +and his limbs distributed in other places, according to the old barbarous +manner. He said he had always acted under the Royal orders, and only +wished he had limbs enough to be distributed through Christendom, that it +might be the more widely known how loyal he had been. He went to the +scaffold in a bright and brilliant dress, and made a bold end at thirty- +eight years of age. The breath was scarcely out of his body when Charles +abandoned his memory, and denied that he had ever given him orders to +rise in his behalf. O the family failing was strong in that Charles +then! + +Oliver had been appointed by the Parliament to command the army in +Ireland, where he took a terrible vengeance for the sanguinary rebellion, +and made tremendous havoc, particularly in the siege of Drogheda, where +no quarter was given, and where he found at least a thousand of the +inhabitants shut up together in the great church: every one of whom was +killed by his soldiers, usually known as OLIVER'S IRONSIDES. There were +numbers of friars and priests among them, and Oliver gruffly wrote home +in his despatch that these were 'knocked on the head' like the rest. + +But, Charles having got over to Scotland where the men of the Solemn +League and Covenant led him a prodigiously dull life and made him very +weary with long sermons and grim Sundays, the Parliament called the +redoubtable Oliver home to knock the Scottish men on the head for setting +up that Prince. Oliver left his son-in-law, Ireton, as general in +Ireland in his stead (he died there afterwards), and he imitated the +example of his father-in-law with such good will that he brought the +country to subjection, and laid it at the feet of the Parliament. In the +end, they passed an act for the settlement of Ireland, generally +pardoning all the common people, but exempting from this grace such of +the wealthier sort as had been concerned in the rebellion, or in any +killing of Protestants, or who refused to lay down their arms. Great +numbers of Irish were got out of the country to serve under Catholic +powers abroad, and a quantity of land was declared to have been forfeited +by past offences, and was given to people who had lent money to the +Parliament early in the war. These were sweeping measures; but, if +Oliver Cromwell had had his own way fully, and had stayed in Ireland, he +would have done more yet. + +However, as I have said, the Parliament wanted Oliver for Scotland; so, +home Oliver came, and was made Commander of all the Forces of the +Commonwealth of England, and in three days away he went with sixteen +thousand soldiers to fight the Scottish men. Now, the Scottish men, +being then--as you will generally find them now--mighty cautious, +reflected that the troops they had were not used to war like the +Ironsides, and would be beaten in an open fight. Therefore they said, +'If we live quiet in our trenches in Edinburgh here, and if all the +farmers come into the town and desert the country, the Ironsides will be +driven out by iron hunger and be forced to go away.' This was, no doubt, +the wisest plan; but as the Scottish clergy _would_ interfere with what +they knew nothing about, and would perpetually preach long sermons +exhorting the soldiers to come out and fight, the soldiers got it in +their heads that they absolutely must come out and fight. Accordingly, +in an evil hour for themselves, they came out of their safe position. +Oliver fell upon them instantly, and killed three thousand, and took ten +thousand prisoners. + +To gratify the Scottish Parliament, and preserve their favour, Charles +had signed a declaration they laid before him, reproaching the memory of +his father and mother, and representing himself as a most religious +Prince, to whom the Solemn League and Covenant was as dear as life. He +meant no sort of truth in this, and soon afterwards galloped away on +horseback to join some tiresome Highland friends, who were always +flourishing dirks and broadswords. He was overtaken and induced to +return; but this attempt, which was called 'The Start,' did him just so +much service, that they did not preach quite such long sermons at him +afterwards as they had done before. + +On the first of January, one thousand six hundred and fifty-one, the +Scottish people crowned him at Scone. He immediately took the chief +command of an army of twenty thousand men, and marched to Stirling. His +hopes were heightened, I dare say, by the redoubtable Oliver being ill of +an ague; but Oliver scrambled out of bed in no time, and went to work +with such energy that he got behind the Royalist army and cut it off from +all communication with Scotland. There was nothing for it then, but to +go on to England; so it went on as far as Worcester, where the mayor and +some of the gentry proclaimed King Charles the Second straightway. His +proclamation, however, was of little use to him, for very few Royalists +appeared; and, on the very same day, two people were publicly beheaded on +Tower Hill for espousing his cause. Up came Oliver to Worcester too, at +double quick speed, and he and his Ironsides so laid about them in the +great battle which was fought there, that they completely beat the +Scottish men, and destroyed the Royalist army; though the Scottish men +fought so gallantly that it took five hours to do. + +The escape of Charles after this battle of Worcester did him good service +long afterwards, for it induced many of the generous English people to +take a romantic interest in him, and to think much better of him than he +ever deserved. He fled in the night, with not more than sixty followers, +to the house of a Catholic lady in Staffordshire. There, for his greater +safety, the whole sixty left him. He cropped his hair, stained his face +and hands brown as if they were sunburnt, put on the clothes of a +labouring countryman, and went out in the morning with his axe in his +hand, accompanied by four wood-cutters who were brothers, and another man +who was their brother-in-law. These good fellows made a bed for him +under a tree, as the weather was very bad; and the wife of one of them +brought him food to eat; and the old mother of the four brothers came and +fell down on her knees before him in the wood, and thanked God that her +sons were engaged in saving his life. At night, he came out of the +forest and went on to another house which was near the river Severn, with +the intention of passing into Wales; but the place swarmed with soldiers, +and the bridges were guarded, and all the boats were made fast. So, +after lying in a hayloft covered over with hay, for some time, he came +out of his place, attended by COLONEL CARELESS, a Catholic gentleman who +had met him there, and with whom he lay hid, all next day, up in the +shady branches of a fine old oak. It was lucky for the King that it was +September-time, and that the leaves had not begun to fall, since he and +the Colonel, perched up in this tree, could catch glimpses of the +soldiers riding about below, and could hear the crash in the wood as they +went about beating the boughs. + +After this, he walked and walked until his feet were all blistered; and, +having been concealed all one day in a house which was searched by the +troopers while he was there, went with LORD WILMOT, another of his good +friends, to a place called Bentley, where one MISS LANE, a Protestant +lady, had obtained a pass to be allowed to ride through the guards to see +a relation of hers near Bristol. Disguised as a servant, he rode in the +saddle before this young lady to the house of SIR JOHN WINTER, while Lord +Wilmot rode there boldly, like a plain country gentleman, with dogs at +his heels. It happened that Sir John Winter's butler had been servant in +Richmond Palace, and knew Charles the moment he set eyes upon him; but, +the butler was faithful and kept the secret. As no ship could be found +to carry him abroad, it was planned that he should go--still travelling +with Miss Lane as her servant--to another house, at Trent near Sherborne +in Dorsetshire; and then Miss Lane and her cousin, MR. LASCELLES, who had +gone on horseback beside her all the way, went home. I hope Miss Lane +was going to marry that cousin, for I am sure she must have been a brave, +kind girl. If I had been that cousin, I should certainly have loved Miss +Lane. + +When Charles, lonely for the loss of Miss Lane, was safe at Trent, a ship +was hired at Lyme, the master of which engaged to take two gentlemen to +France. In the evening of the same day, the King--now riding as servant +before another young lady--set off for a public-house at a place called +Charmouth, where the captain of the vessel was to take him on board. But, +the captain's wife, being afraid of her husband getting into trouble, +locked him up and would not let him sail. Then they went away to +Bridport; and, coming to the inn there, found the stable-yard full of +soldiers who were on the look-out for Charles, and who talked about him +while they drank. He had such presence of mind, that he led the horses +of his party through the yard as any other servant might have done, and +said, 'Come out of the way, you soldiers; let us have room to pass here!' +As he went along, he met a half-tipsy ostler, who rubbed his eyes and +said to him, 'Why, I was formerly servant to Mr. Potter at Exeter, and +surely I have sometimes seen you there, young man?' He certainly had, +for Charles had lodged there. His ready answer was, 'Ah, I did live with +him once; but I have no time to talk now. We'll have a pot of beer +together when I come back.' + +From this dangerous place he returned to Trent, and lay there concealed +several days. Then he escaped to Heale, near Salisbury; where, in the +house of a widow lady, he was hidden five days, until the master of a +collier lying off Shoreham in Sussex, undertook to convey a 'gentleman' +to France. On the night of the fifteenth of October, accompanied by two +colonels and a merchant, the King rode to Brighton, then a little fishing +village, to give the captain of the ship a supper before going on board; +but, so many people knew him, that this captain knew him too, and not +only he, but the landlord and landlady also. Before he went away, the +landlord came behind his chair, kissed his hand, and said he hoped to +live to be a lord and to see his wife a lady; at which Charles laughed. +They had had a good supper by this time, and plenty of smoking and +drinking, at which the King was a first-rate hand; so, the captain +assured him that he would stand by him, and he did. It was agreed that +the captain should pretend to sail to Deal, and that Charles should +address the sailors and say he was a gentleman in debt who was running +away from his creditors, and that he hoped they would join him in +persuading the captain to put him ashore in France. As the King acted +his part very well indeed, and gave the sailors twenty shillings to +drink, they begged the captain to do what such a worthy gentleman asked. +He pretended to yield to their entreaties, and the King got safe to +Normandy. + +Ireland being now subdued, and Scotland kept quiet by plenty of forts and +soldiers put there by Oliver, the Parliament would have gone on quietly +enough, as far as fighting with any foreign enemy went, but for getting +into trouble with the Dutch, who in the spring of the year one thousand +six hundred and fifty-one sent a fleet into the Downs under their ADMIRAL +VAN TROMP, to call upon the bold English ADMIRAL BLAKE (who was there +with half as many ships as the Dutch) to strike his flag. Blake fired a +raging broadside instead, and beat off Van Tromp; who, in the autumn, +came back again with seventy ships, and challenged the bold Blake--who +still was only half as strong--to fight him. Blake fought him all day; +but, finding that the Dutch were too many for him, got quietly off at +night. What does Van Tromp upon this, but goes cruising and boasting +about the Channel, between the North Foreland and the Isle of Wight, with +a great Dutch broom tied to his masthead, as a sign that he could and +would sweep the English of the sea! Within three months, Blake lowered +his tone though, and his broom too; for, he and two other bold +commanders, DEAN and MONK, fought him three whole days, took twenty-three +of his ships, shivered his broom to pieces, and settled his business. + +Things were no sooner quiet again, than the army began to complain to the +Parliament that they were not governing the nation properly, and to hint +that they thought they could do it better themselves. Oliver, who had +now made up his mind to be the head of the state, or nothing at all, +supported them in this, and called a meeting of officers and his own +Parliamentary friends, at his lodgings in Whitehall, to consider the best +way of getting rid of the Parliament. It had now lasted just as many +years as the King's unbridled power had lasted, before it came into +existence. The end of the deliberation was, that Oliver went down to the +House in his usual plain black dress, with his usual grey worsted +stockings, but with an unusual party of soldiers behind him. These last +he left in the lobby, and then went in and sat down. Presently he got +up, made the Parliament a speech, told them that the Lord had done with +them, stamped his foot and said, 'You are no Parliament. Bring them in! +Bring them in!' At this signal the door flew open, and the soldiers +appeared. 'This is not honest,' said Sir Harry Vane, one of the members. +'Sir Harry Vane!' cried Cromwell; 'O, Sir Harry Vane! The Lord deliver +me from Sir Harry Vane!' Then he pointed out members one by one, and +said this man was a drunkard, and that man a dissipated fellow, and that +man a liar, and so on. Then he caused the Speaker to be walked out of +his chair, told the guard to clear the House, called the mace upon the +table--which is a sign that the House is sitting--'a fool's bauble,' and +said, 'here, carry it away!' Being obeyed in all these orders, he +quietly locked the door, put the key in his pocket, walked back to +Whitehall again, and told his friends, who were still assembled there, +what he had done. + +They formed a new Council of State after this extraordinary proceeding, +and got a new Parliament together in their own way: which Oliver himself +opened in a sort of sermon, and which he said was the beginning of a +perfect heaven upon earth. In this Parliament there sat a well-known +leather-seller, who had taken the singular name of Praise God Barebones, +and from whom it was called, for a joke, Barebones's Parliament, though +its general name was the Little Parliament. As it soon appeared that it +was not going to put Oliver in the first place, it turned out to be not +at all like the beginning of heaven upon earth, and Oliver said it really +was not to be borne with. So he cleared off that Parliament in much the +same way as he had disposed of the other; and then the council of +officers decided that he must be made the supreme authority of the +kingdom, under the title of the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth. + +So, on the sixteenth of December, one thousand six hundred and +fifty-three, a great procession was formed at Oliver's door, and he came +out in a black velvet suit and a big pair of boots, and got into his +coach and went down to Westminster, attended by the judges, and the lord +mayor, and the aldermen, and all the other great and wonderful personages +of the country. There, in the Court of Chancery, he publicly accepted +the office of Lord Protector. Then he was sworn, and the City sword was +handed to him, and the seal was handed to him, and all the other things +were handed to him which are usually handed to Kings and Queens on state +occasions. When Oliver had handed them all back, he was quite made and +completely finished off as Lord Protector; and several of the Ironsides +preached about it at great length, all the evening. + + + +SECOND PART + + +Oliver Cromwell--whom the people long called OLD NOLL--in accepting the +office of Protector, had bound himself by a certain paper which was +handed to him, called 'the Instrument,' to summon a Parliament, +consisting of between four and five hundred members, in the election of +which neither the Royalists nor the Catholics were to have any share. He +had also pledged himself that this Parliament should not be dissolved +without its own consent until it had sat five months. + +When this Parliament met, Oliver made a speech to them of three hours +long, very wisely advising them what to do for the credit and happiness +of the country. To keep down the more violent members, he required them +to sign a recognition of what they were forbidden by 'the Instrument' to +do; which was, chiefly, to take the power from one single person at the +head of the state or to command the army. Then he dismissed them to go +to work. With his usual vigour and resolution he went to work himself +with some frantic preachers--who were rather overdoing their sermons in +calling him a villain and a tyrant--by shutting up their chapels, and +sending a few of them off to prison. + +There was not at that time, in England or anywhere else, a man so able to +govern the country as Oliver Cromwell. Although he ruled with a strong +hand, and levied a very heavy tax on the Royalists (but not until they +had plotted against his life), he ruled wisely, and as the times +required. He caused England to be so respected abroad, that I wish some +lords and gentlemen who have governed it under kings and queens in later +days would have taken a leaf out of Oliver Cromwell's book. He sent bold +Admiral Blake to the Mediterranean Sea, to make the Duke of Tuscany pay +sixty thousand pounds for injuries he had done to British subjects, and +spoliation he had committed on English merchants. He further despatched +him and his fleet to Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, to have every English +ship and every English man delivered up to him that had been taken by +pirates in those parts. All this was gloriously done; and it began to be +thoroughly well known, all over the world, that England was governed by a +man in earnest, who would not allow the English name to be insulted or +slighted anywhere. + +These were not all his foreign triumphs. He sent a fleet to sea against +the Dutch; and the two powers, each with one hundred ships upon its side, +met in the English Channel off the North Foreland, where the fight lasted +all day long. Dean was killed in this fight; but Monk, who commanded in +the same ship with him, threw his cloak over his body, that the sailors +might not know of his death, and be disheartened. Nor were they. The +English broadsides so exceedingly astonished the Dutch that they sheered +off at last, though the redoubtable Van Tromp fired upon them with his +own guns for deserting their flag. Soon afterwards, the two fleets +engaged again, off the coast of Holland. There, the valiant Van Tromp +was shot through the heart, and the Dutch gave in, and peace was made. + +Further than this, Oliver resolved not to bear the domineering and +bigoted conduct of Spain, which country not only claimed a right to all +the gold and silver that could be found in South America, and treated the +ships of all other countries who visited those regions, as pirates, but +put English subjects into the horrible Spanish prisons of the +Inquisition. So, Oliver told the Spanish ambassador that English ships +must be free to go wherever they would, and that English merchants must +not be thrown into those same dungeons, no, not for the pleasure of all +the priests in Spain. To this, the Spanish ambassador replied that the +gold and silver country, and the Holy Inquisition, were his King's two +eyes, neither of which he could submit to have put out. Very well, said +Oliver, then he was afraid he (Oliver) must damage those two eyes +directly. + +So, another fleet was despatched under two commanders, PENN and VENABLES, +for Hispaniola; where, however, the Spaniards got the better of the +fight. Consequently, the fleet came home again, after taking Jamaica on +the way. Oliver, indignant with the two commanders who had not done what +bold Admiral Blake would have done, clapped them both into prison, +declared war against Spain, and made a treaty with France, in virtue of +which it was to shelter the King and his brother the Duke of York no +longer. Then, he sent a fleet abroad under bold Admiral Blake, which +brought the King of Portugal to his senses--just to keep its hand in--and +then engaged a Spanish fleet, sunk four great ships, and took two more, +laden with silver to the value of two millions of pounds: which dazzling +prize was brought from Portsmouth to London in waggons, with the populace +of all the towns and villages through which the waggons passed, shouting +with all their might. After this victory, bold Admiral Blake sailed away +to the port of Santa Cruz to cut off the Spanish treasure-ships coming +from Mexico. There, he found them, ten in number, with seven others to +take care of them, and a big castle, and seven batteries, all roaring and +blazing away at him with great guns. Blake cared no more for great guns +than for pop-guns--no more for their hot iron balls than for snow-balls. +He dashed into the harbour, captured and burnt every one of the ships, +and came sailing out again triumphantly, with the victorious English flag +flying at his masthead. This was the last triumph of this great +commander, who had sailed and fought until he was quite worn out. He +died, as his successful ship was coming into Plymouth Harbour amidst the +joyful acclamations of the people, and was buried in state in Westminster +Abbey. Not to lie there, long. + +Over and above all this, Oliver found that the VAUDOIS, or Protestant +people of the valleys of Lucerne, were insolently treated by the Catholic +powers, and were even put to death for their religion, in an audacious +and bloody manner. Instantly, he informed those powers that this was a +thing which Protestant England would not allow; and he speedily carried +his point, through the might of his great name, and established their +right to worship God in peace after their own harmless manner. + +Lastly, his English army won such admiration in fighting with the French +against the Spaniards, that, after they had assaulted the town of Dunkirk +together, the French King in person gave it up to the English, that it +might be a token to them of their might and valour. + +There were plots enough against Oliver among the frantic religionists +(who called themselves Fifth Monarchy Men), and among the disappointed +Republicans. He had a difficult game to play, for the Royalists were +always ready to side with either party against him. The 'King over the +water,' too, as Charles was called, had no scruples about plotting with +any one against his life; although there is reason to suppose that he +would willingly have married one of his daughters, if Oliver would have +had such a son-in-law. There was a certain COLONEL SAXBY of the army, +once a great supporter of Oliver's but now turned against him, who was a +grievous trouble to him through all this part of his career; and who came +and went between the discontented in England and Spain, and Charles who +put himself in alliance with Spain on being thrown off by France. This +man died in prison at last; but not until there had been very serious +plots between the Royalists and Republicans, and an actual rising of them +in England, when they burst into the city of Salisbury, on a Sunday +night, seized the judges who were going to hold the assizes there next +day, and would have hanged them but for the merciful objections of the +more temperate of their number. Oliver was so vigorous and shrewd that +he soon put this revolt down, as he did most other conspiracies; and it +was well for one of its chief managers--that same Lord Wilmot who had +assisted in Charles's flight, and was now EARL OF ROCHESTER--that he made +his escape. Oliver seemed to have eyes and ears everywhere, and secured +such sources of information as his enemies little dreamed of. There was +a chosen body of six persons, called the Sealed Knot, who were in the +closest and most secret confidence of Charles. One of the foremost of +these very men, a SIR RICHARD WILLIS, reported to Oliver everything that +passed among them, and had two hundred a year for it. + +MILES SYNDARCOMB, also of the old army, was another conspirator against +the Protector. He and a man named CECIL, bribed one of his Life Guards +to let them have good notice when he was going out--intending to shoot +him from a window. But, owing either to his caution or his good fortune, +they could never get an aim at him. Disappointed in this design, they +got into the chapel in Whitehall, with a basketful of combustibles, which +were to explode by means of a slow match in six hours; then, in the noise +and confusion of the fire, they hoped to kill Oliver. But, the Life +Guardsman himself disclosed this plot; and they were seized, and Miles +died (or killed himself in prison) a little while before he was ordered +for execution. A few such plotters Oliver caused to be beheaded, a few +more to be hanged, and many more, including those who rose in arms +against him, to be sent as slaves to the West Indies. If he were rigid, +he was impartial too, in asserting the laws of England. When a +Portuguese nobleman, the brother of the Portuguese ambassador, killed a +London citizen in mistake for another man with whom he had had a quarrel, +Oliver caused him to be tried before a jury of Englishmen and foreigners, +and had him executed in spite of the entreaties of all the ambassadors in +London. + +One of Oliver's own friends, the DUKE OF OLDENBURGH, in sending him a +present of six fine coach-horses, was very near doing more to please the +Royalists than all the plotters put together. One day, Oliver went with +his coach, drawn by these six horses, into Hyde Park, to dine with his +secretary and some of his other gentlemen under the trees there. After +dinner, being merry, he took it into his head to put his friends inside +and to drive them home: a postillion riding one of the foremost horses, +as the custom was. On account of Oliver's being too free with the whip, +the six fine horses went off at a gallop, the postillion got thrown, and +Oliver fell upon the coach-pole and narrowly escaped being shot by his +own pistol, which got entangled with his clothes in the harness, and went +off. He was dragged some distance by the foot, until his foot came out +of the shoe, and then he came safely to the ground under the broad body +of the coach, and was very little the worse. The gentlemen inside were +only bruised, and the discontented people of all parties were much +disappointed. + +The rest of the history of the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell is a +history of his Parliaments. His first one not pleasing him at all, he +waited until the five months were out, and then dissolved it. The next +was better suited to his views; and from that he desired to get--if he +could with safety to himself--the title of King. He had had this in his +mind some time: whether because he thought that the English people, being +more used to the title, were more likely to obey it; or whether because +he really wished to be a king himself, and to leave the succession to +that title in his family, is far from clear. He was already as high, in +England and in all the world, as he would ever be, and I doubt if he +cared for the mere name. However, a paper, called the 'Humble Petition +and Advice,' was presented to him by the House of Commons, praying him to +take a high title and to appoint his successor. That he would have taken +the title of King there is no doubt, but for the strong opposition of the +army. This induced him to forbear, and to assent only to the other +points of the petition. Upon which occasion there was another grand show +in Westminster Hall, when the Speaker of the House of Commons formally +invested him with a purple robe lined with ermine, and presented him with +a splendidly bound Bible, and put a golden sceptre in his hand. The next +time the Parliament met, he called a House of Lords of sixty members, as +the petition gave him power to do; but as that Parliament did not please +him either, and would not proceed to the business of the country, he +jumped into a coach one morning, took six Guards with him, and sent them +to the right-about. I wish this had been a warning to Parliaments to +avoid long speeches, and do more work. + +It was the month of August, one thousand six hundred and fifty-eight, +when Oliver Cromwell's favourite daughter, ELIZABETH CLAYPOLE (who had +lately lost her youngest son), lay very ill, and his mind was greatly +troubled, because he loved her dearly. Another of his daughters was +married to LORD FALCONBERG, another to the grandson of the Earl of +Warwick, and he had made his son RICHARD one of the Members of the Upper +House. He was very kind and loving to them all, being a good father and +a good husband; but he loved this daughter the best of the family, and +went down to Hampton Court to see her, and could hardly be induced to +stir from her sick room until she died. Although his religion had been +of a gloomy kind, his disposition had been always cheerful. He had been +fond of music in his home, and had kept open table once a week for all +officers of the army not below the rank of captain, and had always +preserved in his house a quiet, sensible dignity. He encouraged men of +genius and learning, and loved to have them about him. MILTON was one of +his great friends. He was good humoured too, with the nobility, whose +dresses and manners were very different from his; and to show them what +good information he had, he would sometimes jokingly tell them when they +were his guests, where they had last drunk the health of the 'King over +the water,' and would recommend them to be more private (if they could) +another time. But he had lived in busy times, had borne the weight of +heavy State affairs, and had often gone in fear of his life. He was ill +of the gout and ague; and when the death of his beloved child came upon +him in addition, he sank, never to raise his head again. He told his +physicians on the twenty-fourth of August that the Lord had assured him +that he was not to die in that illness, and that he would certainly get +better. This was only his sick fancy, for on the third of September, +which was the anniversary of the great battle of Worcester, and the day +of the year which he called his fortunate day, he died, in the sixtieth +year of his age. He had been delirious, and had lain insensible some +hours, but he had been overheard to murmur a very good prayer the day +before. The whole country lamented his death. If you want to know the +real worth of Oliver Cromwell, and his real services to his country, you +can hardly do better than compare England under him, with England under +CHARLES THE SECOND. + +He had appointed his son Richard to succeed him, and after there had +been, at Somerset House in the Strand, a lying in state more splendid +than sensible--as all such vanities after death are, I think--Richard +became Lord Protector. He was an amiable country gentleman, but had none +of his father's great genius, and was quite unfit for such a post in such +a storm of parties. Richard's Protectorate, which only lasted a year and +a half, is a history of quarrels between the officers of the army and the +Parliament, and between the officers among themselves; and of a growing +discontent among the people, who had far too many long sermons and far +too few amusements, and wanted a change. At last, General Monk got the +army well into his own hands, and then in pursuance of a secret plan he +seems to have entertained from the time of Oliver's death, declared for +the King's cause. He did not do this openly; but, in his place in the +House of Commons, as one of the members for Devonshire, strongly +advocated the proposals of one SIR JOHN GREENVILLE, who came to the House +with a letter from Charles, dated from Breda, and with whom he had +previously been in secret communication. There had been plots and +counterplots, and a recall of the last members of the Long Parliament, +and an end of the Long Parliament, and risings of the Royalists that were +made too soon; and most men being tired out, and there being no one to +head the country now great Oliver was dead, it was readily agreed to +welcome Charles Stuart. Some of the wiser and better members said--what +was most true--that in the letter from Breda, he gave no real promise to +govern well, and that it would be best to make him pledge himself +beforehand as to what he should be bound to do for the benefit of the +kingdom. Monk said, however, it would be all right when he came, and he +could not come too soon. + +So, everybody found out all in a moment that the country _must_ be +prosperous and happy, having another Stuart to condescend to reign over +it; and there was a prodigious firing off of guns, lighting of bonfires, +ringing of bells, and throwing up of caps. The people drank the King's +health by thousands in the open streets, and everybody rejoiced. Down +came the Arms of the Commonwealth, up went the Royal Arms instead, and +out came the public money. Fifty thousand pounds for the King, ten +thousand pounds for his brother the Duke of York, five thousand pounds +for his brother the Duke of Gloucester. Prayers for these gracious +Stuarts were put up in all the churches; commissioners were sent to +Holland (which suddenly found out that Charles was a great man, and that +it loved him) to invite the King home; Monk and the Kentish grandees went +to Dover, to kneel down before him as he landed. He kissed and embraced +Monk, made him ride in the coach with himself and his brothers, came on +to London amid wonderful shoutings, and passed through the army at +Blackheath on the twenty-ninth of May (his birthday), in the year one +thousand six hundred and sixty. Greeted by splendid dinners under tents, +by flags and tapestry streaming from all the houses, by delighted crowds +in all the streets, by troops of noblemen and gentlemen in rich dresses, +by City companies, train-bands, drummers, trumpeters, the great Lord +Mayor, and the majestic Aldermen, the King went on to Whitehall. On +entering it, he commemorated his Restoration with the joke that it really +would seem to have been his own fault that he had not come long ago, +since everybody told him that he had always wished for him with all his +heart. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV--ENGLAND UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND, CALLED THE MERRY MONARCH + + +There never were such profligate times in England as under Charles the +Second. Whenever you see his portrait, with his swarthy, ill-looking +face and great nose, you may fancy him in his Court at Whitehall, +surrounded by some of the very worst vagabonds in the kingdom (though +they were lords and ladies), drinking, gambling, indulging in vicious +conversation, and committing every kind of profligate excess. It has +been a fashion to call Charles the Second 'The Merry Monarch.' Let me +try to give you a general idea of some of the merry things that were +done, in the merry days when this merry gentleman sat upon his merry +throne, in merry England. + +The first merry proceeding was--of course--to declare that he was one of +the greatest, the wisest, and the noblest kings that ever shone, like the +blessed sun itself, on this benighted earth. The next merry and pleasant +piece of business was, for the Parliament, in the humblest manner, to +give him one million two hundred thousand pounds a year, and to settle +upon him for life that old disputed tonnage and poundage which had been +so bravely fought for. Then, General Monk being made EARL OF ALBEMARLE, +and a few other Royalists similarly rewarded, the law went to work to see +what was to be done to those persons (they were called Regicides) who had +been concerned in making a martyr of the late King. Ten of these were +merrily executed; that is to say, six of the judges, one of the council, +Colonel Hacker and another officer who had commanded the Guards, and HUGH +PETERS, a preacher who had preached against the martyr with all his +heart. These executions were so extremely merry, that every horrible +circumstance which Cromwell had abandoned was revived with appalling +cruelty. The hearts of the sufferers were torn out of their living +bodies; their bowels were burned before their faces; the executioner cut +jokes to the next victim, as he rubbed his filthy hands together, that +were reeking with the blood of the last; and the heads of the dead were +drawn on sledges with the living to the place of suffering. Still, even +so merry a monarch could not force one of these dying men to say that he +was sorry for what he had done. Nay, the most memorable thing said among +them was, that if the thing were to do again they would do it. + +Sir Harry Vane, who had furnished the evidence against Strafford, and was +one of the most staunch of the Republicans, was also tried, found guilty, +and ordered for execution. When he came upon the scaffold on Tower Hill, +after conducting his own defence with great power, his notes of what he +had meant to say to the people were torn away from him, and the drums and +trumpets were ordered to sound lustily and drown his voice; for, the +people had been so much impressed by what the Regicides had calmly said +with their last breath, that it was the custom now, to have the drums and +trumpets always under the scaffold, ready to strike up. Vane said no +more than this: 'It is a bad cause which cannot bear the words of a dying +man:' and bravely died. + +These merry scenes were succeeded by another, perhaps even merrier. On +the anniversary of the late King's death, the bodies of Oliver Cromwell, +Ireton, and Bradshaw, were torn out of their graves in Westminster Abbey, +dragged to Tyburn, hanged there on a gallows all day long, and then +beheaded. Imagine the head of Oliver Cromwell set upon a pole to be +stared at by a brutal crowd, not one of whom would have dared to look the +living Oliver in the face for half a moment! Think, after you have read +this reign, what England was under Oliver Cromwell who was torn out of +his grave, and what it was under this merry monarch who sold it, like a +merry Judas, over and over again. + +Of course, the remains of Oliver's wife and daughter were not to be +spared either, though they had been most excellent women. The base +clergy of that time gave up their bodies, which had been buried in the +Abbey, and--to the eternal disgrace of England--they were thrown into a +pit, together with the mouldering bones of Pym and of the brave and bold +old Admiral Blake. + +The clergy acted this disgraceful part because they hoped to get the +nonconformists, or dissenters, thoroughly put down in this reign, and to +have but one prayer-book and one service for all kinds of people, no +matter what their private opinions were. This was pretty well, I think, +for a Protestant Church, which had displaced the Romish Church because +people had a right to their own opinions in religious matters. However, +they carried it with a high hand, and a prayer-book was agreed upon, in +which the extremest opinions of Archbishop Laud were not forgotten. An +Act was passed, too, preventing any dissenter from holding any office +under any corporation. So, the regular clergy in their triumph were soon +as merry as the King. The army being by this time disbanded, and the +King crowned, everything was to go on easily for evermore. + +I must say a word here about the King's family. He had not been long +upon the throne when his brother the Duke of Gloucester, and his sister +the PRINCESS OF ORANGE, died within a few months of each other, of small- +pox. His remaining sister, the PRINCESS HENRIETTA, married the DUKE OF +ORLEANS, the brother of LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH, King of France. His +brother JAMES, DUKE OF YORK, was made High Admiral, and by-and-by became +a Catholic. He was a gloomy, sullen, bilious sort of man, with a +remarkable partiality for the ugliest women in the country. He married, +under very discreditable circumstances, ANNE HYDE, the daughter of LORD +CLARENDON, then the King's principal Minister--not at all a delicate +minister either, but doing much of the dirty work of a very dirty palace. +It became important now that the King himself should be married; and +divers foreign Monarchs, not very particular about the character of their +son-in-law, proposed their daughters to him. The KING OF PORTUGAL +offered his daughter, CATHERINE OF BRAGANZA, and fifty thousand pounds: +in addition to which, the French King, who was favourable to that match, +offered a loan of another fifty thousand. The King of Spain, on the +other hand, offered any one out of a dozen of Princesses, and other hopes +of gain. But the ready money carried the day, and Catherine came over in +state to her merry marriage. + +The whole Court was a great flaunting crowd of debauched men and +shameless women; and Catherine's merry husband insulted and outraged her +in every possible way, until she consented to receive those worthless +creatures as her very good friends, and to degrade herself by their +companionship. A MRS. PALMER, whom the King made LADY CASTLEMAINE, and +afterwards DUCHESS OF CLEVELAND, was one of the most powerful of the bad +women about the Court, and had great influence with the King nearly all +through his reign. Another merry lady named MOLL DAVIES, a dancer at the +theatre, was afterwards her rival. So was NELL GWYN, first an orange +girl and then an actress, who really had good in her, and of whom one of +the worst things I know is, that actually she does seem to have been fond +of the King. The first DUKE OF ST. ALBANS was this orange girl's child. +In like manner the son of a merry waiting-lady, whom the King created +DUCHESS OF PORTSMOUTH, became the DUKE OF RICHMOND. Upon the whole it is +not so bad a thing to be a commoner. + +The Merry Monarch was so exceedingly merry among these merry ladies, and +some equally merry (and equally infamous) lords and gentlemen, that he +soon got through his hundred thousand pounds, and then, by way of raising +a little pocket-money, made a merry bargain. He sold Dunkirk to the +French King for five millions of livres. When I think of the dignity to +which Oliver Cromwell raised England in the eyes of foreign powers, and +when I think of the manner in which he gained for England this very +Dunkirk, I am much inclined to consider that if the Merry Monarch had +been made to follow his father for this action, he would have received +his just deserts. + +Though he was like his father in none of that father's greater qualities, +he was like him in being worthy of no trust. When he sent that letter to +the Parliament, from Breda, he did expressly promise that all sincere +religious opinions should be respected. Yet he was no sooner firm in his +power than he consented to one of the worst Acts of Parliament ever +passed. Under this law, every minister who should not give his solemn +assent to the Prayer-Book by a certain day, was declared to be a minister +no longer, and to be deprived of his church. The consequence of this was +that some two thousand honest men were taken from their congregations, +and reduced to dire poverty and distress. It was followed by another +outrageous law, called the Conventicle Act, by which any person above the +age of sixteen who was present at any religious service not according to +the Prayer-Book, was to be imprisoned three months for the first offence, +six for the second, and to be transported for the third. This Act alone +filled the prisons, which were then most dreadful dungeons, to +overflowing. + +The Covenanters in Scotland had already fared no better. A base +Parliament, usually known as the Drunken Parliament, in consequence of +its principal members being seldom sober, had been got together to make +laws against the Covenanters, and to force all men to be of one mind in +religious matters. The MARQUIS OF ARGYLE, relying on the King's honour, +had given himself up to him; but, he was wealthy, and his enemies wanted +his wealth. He was tried for treason, on the evidence of some private +letters in which he had expressed opinions--as well he might--more +favourable to the government of the late Lord Protector than of the +present merry and religious King. He was executed, as were two men of +mark among the Covenanters; and SHARP, a traitor who had once been the +friend of the Presbyterians and betrayed them, was made Archbishop of St. +Andrew's, to teach the Scotch how to like bishops. + +Things being in this merry state at home, the Merry Monarch undertook a +war with the Dutch; principally because they interfered with an African +company, established with the two objects of buying gold-dust and slaves, +of which the Duke of York was a leading member. After some preliminary +hostilities, the said Duke sailed to the coast of Holland with a fleet of +ninety-eight vessels of war, and four fire-ships. This engaged with the +Dutch fleet, of no fewer than one hundred and thirteen ships. In the +great battle between the two forces, the Dutch lost eighteen ships, four +admirals, and seven thousand men. But, the English on shore were in no +mood of exultation when they heard the news. + +For, this was the year and the time of the Great Plague in London. During +the winter of one thousand six hundred and sixty-four it had been +whispered about, that some few people had died here and there of the +disease called the Plague, in some of the unwholesome suburbs around +London. News was not published at that time as it is now, and some +people believed these rumours, and some disbelieved them, and they were +soon forgotten. But, in the month of May, one thousand six hundred and +sixty-five, it began to be said all over the town that the disease had +burst out with great violence in St. Giles's, and that the people were +dying in great numbers. This soon turned out to be awfully true. The +roads out of London were choked up by people endeavouring to escape from +the infected city, and large sums were paid for any kind of conveyance. +The disease soon spread so fast, that it was necessary to shut up the +houses in which sick people were, and to cut them off from communication +with the living. Every one of these houses was marked on the outside of +the door with a red cross, and the words, Lord, have mercy upon us! The +streets were all deserted, grass grew in the public ways, and there was a +dreadful silence in the air. When night came on, dismal rumblings used +to be heard, and these were the wheels of the death-carts, attended by +men with veiled faces and holding cloths to their mouths, who rang +doleful bells and cried in a loud and solemn voice, 'Bring out your +dead!' The corpses put into these carts were buried by torchlight in +great pits; no service being performed over them; all men being afraid to +stay for a moment on the brink of the ghastly graves. In the general +fear, children ran away from their parents, and parents from their +children. Some who were taken ill, died alone, and without any help. +Some were stabbed or strangled by hired nurses who robbed them of all +their money, and stole the very beds on which they lay. Some went mad, +dropped from the windows, ran through the streets, and in their pain and +frenzy flung themselves into the river. + +These were not all the horrors of the time. The wicked and dissolute, in +wild desperation, sat in the taverns singing roaring songs, and were +stricken as they drank, and went out and died. The fearful and +superstitious persuaded themselves that they saw supernatural +sights--burning swords in the sky, gigantic arms and darts. Others +pretended that at nights vast crowds of ghosts walked round and round the +dismal pits. One madman, naked, and carrying a brazier full of burning +coals upon his head, stalked through the streets, crying out that he was +a Prophet, commissioned to denounce the vengeance of the Lord on wicked +London. Another always went to and fro, exclaiming, 'Yet forty days, and +London shall be destroyed!' A third awoke the echoes in the dismal +streets, by night and by day, and made the blood of the sick run cold, by +calling out incessantly, in a deep hoarse voice, 'O, the great and +dreadful God!' + +Through the months of July and August and September, the Great Plague +raged more and more. Great fires were lighted in the streets, in the +hope of stopping the infection; but there was a plague of rain too, and +it beat the fires out. At last, the winds which usually arise at that +time of the year which is called the equinox, when day and night are of +equal length all over the world, began to blow, and to purify the +wretched town. The deaths began to decrease, the red crosses slowly to +disappear, the fugitives to return, the shops to open, pale frightened +faces to be seen in the streets. The Plague had been in every part of +England, but in close and unwholesome London it had killed one hundred +thousand people. + +All this time, the Merry Monarch was as merry as ever, and as worthless +as ever. All this time, the debauched lords and gentlemen and the +shameless ladies danced and gamed and drank, and loved and hated one +another, according to their merry ways. + +So little humanity did the government learn from the late affliction, +that one of the first things the Parliament did when it met at Oxford +(being as yet afraid to come to London), was to make a law, called the +Five Mile Act, expressly directed against those poor ministers who, in +the time of the Plague, had manfully come back to comfort the unhappy +people. This infamous law, by forbidding them to teach in any school, or +to come within five miles of any city, town, or village, doomed them to +starvation and death. + +The fleet had been at sea, and healthy. The King of France was now in +alliance with the Dutch, though his navy was chiefly employed in looking +on while the English and Dutch fought. The Dutch gained one victory; and +the English gained another and a greater; and Prince Rupert, one of the +English admirals, was out in the Channel one windy night, looking for the +French Admiral, with the intention of giving him something more to do +than he had had yet, when the gale increased to a storm, and blew him +into Saint Helen's. That night was the third of September, one thousand +six hundred and sixty-six, and that wind fanned the Great Fire of London. + +It broke out at a baker's shop near London Bridge, on the spot on which +the Monument now stands as a remembrance of those raging flames. It +spread and spread, and burned and burned, for three days. The nights +were lighter than the days; in the daytime there was an immense cloud of +smoke, and in the night-time there was a great tower of fire mounting up +into the sky, which lighted the whole country landscape for ten miles +round. Showers of hot ashes rose into the air and fell on distant +places; flying sparks carried the conflagration to great distances, and +kindled it in twenty new spots at a time; church steeples fell down with +tremendous crashes; houses crumbled into cinders by the hundred and the +thousand. The summer had been intensely hot and dry, the streets were +very narrow, and the houses mostly built of wood and plaster. Nothing +could stop the tremendous fire, but the want of more houses to burn; nor +did it stop until the whole way from the Tower to Temple Bar was a +desert, composed of the ashes of thirteen thousand houses and eighty-nine +churches. + +This was a terrible visitation at the time, and occasioned great loss and +suffering to the two hundred thousand burnt-out people, who were obliged +to lie in the fields under the open night sky, or in hastily-made huts of +mud and straw, while the lanes and roads were rendered impassable by +carts which had broken down as they tried to save their goods. But the +Fire was a great blessing to the City afterwards, for it arose from its +ruins very much improved--built more regularly, more widely, more cleanly +and carefully, and therefore much more healthily. It might be far more +healthy than it is, but there are some people in it still--even now, at +this time, nearly two hundred years later--so selfish, so pig-headed, and +so ignorant, that I doubt if even another Great Fire would warm them up +to do their duty. + +The Catholics were accused of having wilfully set London in flames; one +poor Frenchman, who had been mad for years, even accused himself of +having with his own hand fired the first house. There is no reasonable +doubt, however, that the fire was accidental. An inscription on the +Monument long attributed it to the Catholics; but it is removed now, and +was always a malicious and stupid untruth. + + + +SECOND PART + + +That the Merry Monarch might be very merry indeed, in the merry times +when his people were suffering under pestilence and fire, he drank and +gambled and flung away among his favourites the money which the +Parliament had voted for the war. The consequence of this was that the +stout-hearted English sailors were merrily starving of want, and dying in +the streets; while the Dutch, under their admirals DE WITT and DE RUYTER, +came into the River Thames, and up the River Medway as far as Upnor, +burned the guard-ships, silenced the weak batteries, and did what they +would to the English coast for six whole weeks. Most of the English +ships that could have prevented them had neither powder nor shot on +board; in this merry reign, public officers made themselves as merry as +the King did with the public money; and when it was entrusted to them to +spend in national defences or preparations, they put it into their own +pockets with the merriest grace in the world. + +Lord Clarendon had, by this time, run as long a course as is usually +allotted to the unscrupulous ministers of bad kings. He was impeached by +his political opponents, but unsuccessfully. The King then commanded him +to withdraw from England and retire to France, which he did, after +defending himself in writing. He was no great loss at home, and died +abroad some seven years afterwards. + +There then came into power a ministry called the Cabal Ministry, because +it was composed of LORD CLIFFORD, the EARL OF ARLINGTON, the DUKE OF +BUCKINGHAM (a great rascal, and the King's most powerful favourite), LORD +ASHLEY, and the DUKE OF LAUDERDALE, C. A. B. A. L. As the French were +making conquests in Flanders, the first Cabal proceeding was to make a +treaty with the Dutch, for uniting with Spain to oppose the French. It +was no sooner made than the Merry Monarch, who always wanted to get money +without being accountable to a Parliament for his expenditure, apologised +to the King of France for having had anything to do with it, and +concluded a secret treaty with him, making himself his infamous pensioner +to the amount of two millions of livres down, and three millions more a +year; and engaging to desert that very Spain, to make war against those +very Dutch, and to declare himself a Catholic when a convenient time +should arrive. This religious king had lately been crying to his +Catholic brother on the subject of his strong desire to be a Catholic; +and now he merrily concluded this treasonable conspiracy against the +country he governed, by undertaking to become one as soon as he safely +could. For all of which, though he had had ten merry heads instead of +one, he richly deserved to lose them by the headsman's axe. + +As his one merry head might have been far from safe, if these things had +been known, they were kept very quiet, and war was declared by France and +England against the Dutch. But, a very uncommon man, afterwards most +important to English history and to the religion and liberty of this +land, arose among them, and for many long years defeated the whole +projects of France. This was WILLIAM OF NASSAU, PRINCE OF ORANGE, son of +the last Prince of Orange of the same name, who married the daughter of +Charles the First of England. He was a young man at this time, only just +of age; but he was brave, cool, intrepid, and wise. His father had been +so detested that, upon his death, the Dutch had abolished the authority +to which this son would have otherwise succeeded (Stadtholder it was +called), and placed the chief power in the hands of JOHN DE WITT, who +educated this young prince. Now, the Prince became very popular, and +John de Witt's brother CORNELIUS was sentenced to banishment on a false +accusation of conspiring to kill him. John went to the prison where he +was, to take him away to exile, in his coach; and a great mob who +collected on the occasion, then and there cruelly murdered both the +brothers. This left the government in the hands of the Prince, who was +really the choice of the nation; and from this time he exercised it with +the greatest vigour, against the whole power of France, under its famous +generals CONDE and TURENNE, and in support of the Protestant religion. It +was full seven years before this war ended in a treaty of peace made at +Nimeguen, and its details would occupy a very considerable space. It is +enough to say that William of Orange established a famous character with +the whole world; and that the Merry Monarch, adding to and improving on +his former baseness, bound himself to do everything the King of France +liked, and nothing the King of France did not like, for a pension of one +hundred thousand pounds a year, which was afterwards doubled. Besides +this, the King of France, by means of his corrupt ambassador--who wrote +accounts of his proceedings in England, which are not always to be +believed, I think--bought our English members of Parliament, as he wanted +them. So, in point of fact, during a considerable portion of this merry +reign, the King of France was the real King of this country. + +But there was a better time to come, and it was to come (though his royal +uncle little thought so) through that very William, Prince of Orange. He +came over to England, saw Mary, the elder daughter of the Duke of York, +and married her. We shall see by-and-by what came of that marriage, and +why it is never to be forgotten. + +This daughter was a Protestant, but her mother died a Catholic. She and +her sister ANNE, also a Protestant, were the only survivors of eight +children. Anne afterwards married GEORGE, PRINCE OF DENMARK, brother to +the King of that country. + +Lest you should do the Merry Monarch the injustice of supposing that he +was even good humoured (except when he had everything his own way), or +that he was high spirited and honourable, I will mention here what was +done to a member of the House of Commons, SIR JOHN COVENTRY. He made a +remark in a debate about taxing the theatres, which gave the King +offence. The King agreed with his illegitimate son, who had been born +abroad, and whom he had made DUKE OF MONMOUTH, to take the following +merry vengeance. To waylay him at night, fifteen armed men to one, and +to slit his nose with a penknife. Like master, like man. The King's +favourite, the Duke of Buckingham, was strongly suspected of setting on +an assassin to murder the DUKE OF ORMOND as he was returning home from a +dinner; and that Duke's spirited son, LORD OSSORY, was so persuaded of +his guilt, that he said to him at Court, even as he stood beside the +King, 'My lord, I know very well that you are at the bottom of this late +attempt upon my father. But I give you warning, if he ever come to a +violent end, his blood shall be upon you, and wherever I meet you I will +pistol you! I will do so, though I find you standing behind the King's +chair; and I tell you this in his Majesty's presence, that you may be +quite sure of my doing what I threaten.' Those were merry times indeed. + +There was a fellow named BLOOD, who was seized for making, with two +companions, an audacious attempt to steal the crown, the globe, and +sceptre, from the place where the jewels were kept in the Tower. This +robber, who was a swaggering ruffian, being taken, declared that he was +the man who had endeavoured to kill the Duke of Ormond, and that he had +meant to kill the King too, but was overawed by the majesty of his +appearance, when he might otherwise have done it, as he was bathing at +Battersea. The King being but an ill-looking fellow, I don't believe a +word of this. Whether he was flattered, or whether he knew that +Buckingham had really set Blood on to murder the Duke, is uncertain. But +it is quite certain that he pardoned this thief, gave him an estate of +five hundred a year in Ireland (which had had the honour of giving him +birth), and presented him at Court to the debauched lords and the +shameless ladies, who made a great deal of him--as I have no doubt they +would have made of the Devil himself, if the King had introduced him. + +Infamously pensioned as he was, the King still wanted money, and +consequently was obliged to call Parliaments. In these, the great object +of the Protestants was to thwart the Catholic Duke of York, who married a +second time; his new wife being a young lady only fifteen years old, the +Catholic sister of the DUKE OF MODENA. In this they were seconded by the +Protestant Dissenters, though to their own disadvantage: since, to +exclude Catholics from power, they were even willing to exclude +themselves. The King's object was to pretend to be a Protestant, while +he was really a Catholic; to swear to the bishops that he was devoutly +attached to the English Church, while he knew he had bargained it away to +the King of France; and by cheating and deceiving them, and all who were +attached to royalty, to become despotic and be powerful enough to confess +what a rascal he was. Meantime, the King of France, knowing his merry +pensioner well, intrigued with the King's opponents in Parliament, as +well as with the King and his friends. + +The fears that the country had of the Catholic religion being restored, +if the Duke of York should come to the throne, and the low cunning of the +King in pretending to share their alarms, led to some very terrible +results. A certain DR. TONGE, a dull clergyman in the City, fell into +the hands of a certain TITUS OATES, a most infamous character, who +pretended to have acquired among the Jesuits abroad a knowledge of a +great plot for the murder of the King, and the re-establishment if the +Catholic religion. Titus Oates, being produced by this unlucky Dr. Tonge +and solemnly examined before the council, contradicted himself in a +thousand ways, told the most ridiculous and improbable stories, and +implicated COLEMAN, the Secretary of the Duchess of York. Now, although +what he charged against Coleman was not true, and although you and I know +very well that the real dangerous Catholic plot was that one with the +King of France of which the Merry Monarch was himself the head, there +happened to be found among Coleman's papers, some letters, in which he +did praise the days of Bloody Queen Mary, and abuse the Protestant +religion. This was great good fortune for Titus, as it seemed to confirm +him; but better still was in store. SIR EDMUNDBURY GODFREY, the +magistrate who had first examined him, being unexpectedly found dead near +Primrose Hill, was confidently believed to have been killed by the +Catholics. I think there is no doubt that he had been melancholy mad, +and that he killed himself; but he had a great Protestant funeral, and +Titus was called the Saver of the Nation, and received a pension of +twelve hundred pounds a year. + +As soon as Oates's wickedness had met with this success, up started +another villain, named WILLIAM BEDLOE, who, attracted by a reward of five +hundred pounds offered for the apprehension of the murderers of Godfrey, +came forward and charged two Jesuits and some other persons with having +committed it at the Queen's desire. Oates, going into partnership with +this new informer, had the audacity to accuse the poor Queen herself of +high treason. Then appeared a third informer, as bad as either of the +two, and accused a Catholic banker named STAYLEY of having said that the +King was the greatest rogue in the world (which would not have been far +from the truth), and that he would kill him with his own hand. This +banker, being at once tried and executed, Coleman and two others were +tried and executed. Then, a miserable wretch named PRANCE, a Catholic +silversmith, being accused by Bedloe, was tortured into confessing that +he had taken part in Godfrey's murder, and into accusing three other men +of having committed it. Then, five Jesuits were accused by Oates, +Bedloe, and Prance together, and were all found guilty, and executed on +the same kind of contradictory and absurd evidence. The Queen's +physician and three monks were next put on their trial; but Oates and +Bedloe had for the time gone far enough and these four were acquitted. +The public mind, however, was so full of a Catholic plot, and so strong +against the Duke of York, that James consented to obey a written order +from his brother, and to go with his family to Brussels, provided that +his rights should never be sacrificed in his absence to the Duke of +Monmouth. The House of Commons, not satisfied with this as the King +hoped, passed a bill to exclude the Duke from ever succeeding to the +throne. In return, the King dissolved the Parliament. He had deserted +his old favourite, the Duke of Buckingham, who was now in the opposition. + +To give any sufficient idea of the miseries of Scotland in this merry +reign, would occupy a hundred pages. Because the people would not have +bishops, and were resolved to stand by their solemn League and Covenant, +such cruelties were inflicted upon them as make the blood run cold. +Ferocious dragoons galloped through the country to punish the peasants +for deserting the churches; sons were hanged up at their fathers' doors +for refusing to disclose where their fathers were concealed; wives were +tortured to death for not betraying their husbands; people were taken out +of their fields and gardens, and shot on the public roads without trial; +lighted matches were tied to the fingers of prisoners, and a most +horrible torment called the Boot was invented, and constantly applied, +which ground and mashed the victims' legs with iron wedges. Witnesses +were tortured as well as prisoners. All the prisons were full; all the +gibbets were heavy with bodies; murder and plunder devastated the whole +country. In spite of all, the Covenanters were by no means to be dragged +into the churches, and persisted in worshipping God as they thought +right. A body of ferocious Highlanders, turned upon them from the +mountains of their own country, had no greater effect than the English +dragoons under GRAHAME OF CLAVERHOUSE, the most cruel and rapacious of +all their enemies, whose name will ever be cursed through the length and +breadth of Scotland. Archbishop Sharp had ever aided and abetted all +these outrages. But he fell at last; for, when the injuries of the +Scottish people were at their height, he was seen, in his coach-and-six +coming across a moor, by a body of men, headed by one JOHN BALFOUR, who +were waiting for another of their oppressors. Upon this they cried out +that Heaven had delivered him into their hands, and killed him with many +wounds. If ever a man deserved such a death, I think Archbishop Sharp +did. + +It made a great noise directly, and the Merry Monarch--strongly suspected +of having goaded the Scottish people on, that he might have an excuse for +a greater army than the Parliament were willing to give him--sent down +his son, the Duke of Monmouth, as commander-in-chief, with instructions +to attack the Scottish rebels, or Whigs as they were called, whenever he +came up with them. Marching with ten thousand men from Edinburgh, he +found them, in number four or five thousand, drawn up at Bothwell Bridge, +by the Clyde. They were soon dispersed; and Monmouth showed a more +humane character towards them, than he had shown towards that Member of +Parliament whose nose he had caused to be slit with a penknife. But the +Duke of Lauderdale was their bitter foe, and sent Claverhouse to finish +them. + +As the Duke of York became more and more unpopular, the Duke of Monmouth +became more and more popular. It would have been decent in the latter +not to have voted in favour of the renewed bill for the exclusion of +James from the throne; but he did so, much to the King's amusement, who +used to sit in the House of Lords by the fire, hearing the debates, which +he said were as good as a play. The House of Commons passed the bill by +a large majority, and it was carried up to the House of Lords by LORD +RUSSELL, one of the best of the leaders on the Protestant side. It was +rejected there, chiefly because the bishops helped the King to get rid of +it; and the fear of Catholic plots revived again. There had been another +got up, by a fellow out of Newgate, named DANGERFIELD, which is more +famous than it deserves to be, under the name of the MEAL-TUB PLOT. This +jail-bird having been got out of Newgate by a MRS. CELLIER, a Catholic +nurse, had turned Catholic himself, and pretended that he knew of a plot +among the Presbyterians against the King's life. This was very pleasant +to the Duke of York, who hated the Presbyterians, who returned the +compliment. He gave Dangerfield twenty guineas, and sent him to the King +his brother. But Dangerfield, breaking down altogether in his charge, +and being sent back to Newgate, almost astonished the Duke out of his +five senses by suddenly swearing that the Catholic nurse had put that +false design into his head, and that what he really knew about, was, a +Catholic plot against the King; the evidence of which would be found in +some papers, concealed in a meal-tub in Mrs. Cellier's house. There they +were, of course--for he had put them there himself--and so the tub gave +the name to the plot. But, the nurse was acquitted on her trial, and it +came to nothing. + +Lord Ashley, of the Cabal, was now Lord Shaftesbury, and was strong +against the succession of the Duke of York. The House of Commons, +aggravated to the utmost extent, as we may well suppose, by suspicions of +the King's conspiracy with the King of France, made a desperate point of +the exclusion, still, and were bitter against the Catholics generally. So +unjustly bitter were they, I grieve to say, that they impeached the +venerable Lord Stafford, a Catholic nobleman seventy years old, of a +design to kill the King. The witnesses were that atrocious Oates and two +other birds of the same feather. He was found guilty, on evidence quite +as foolish as it was false, and was beheaded on Tower Hill. The people +were opposed to him when he first appeared upon the scaffold; but, when +he had addressed them and shown them how innocent he was and how wickedly +he was sent there, their better nature was aroused, and they said, 'We +believe you, my Lord. God bless you, my Lord!' + +The House of Commons refused to let the King have any money until he +should consent to the Exclusion Bill; but, as he could get it and did get +it from his master the King of France, he could afford to hold them very +cheap. He called a Parliament at Oxford, to which he went down with a +great show of being armed and protected as if he were in danger of his +life, and to which the opposition members also went armed and protected, +alleging that they were in fear of the Papists, who were numerous among +the King's guards. However, they went on with the Exclusion Bill, and +were so earnest upon it that they would have carried it again, if the +King had not popped his crown and state robes into a sedan-chair, bundled +himself into it along with them, hurried down to the chamber where the +House of Lords met, and dissolved the Parliament. After which he +scampered home, and the members of Parliament scampered home too, as fast +as their legs could carry them. + +The Duke of York, then residing in Scotland, had, under the law which +excluded Catholics from public trust, no right whatever to public +employment. Nevertheless, he was openly employed as the King's +representative in Scotland, and there gratified his sullen and cruel +nature to his heart's content by directing the dreadful cruelties against +the Covenanters. There were two ministers named CARGILL and CAMERON who +had escaped from the battle of Bothwell Bridge, and who returned to +Scotland, and raised the miserable but still brave and unsubdued +Covenanters afresh, under the name of Cameronians. As Cameron publicly +posted a declaration that the King was a forsworn tyrant, no mercy was +shown to his unhappy followers after he was slain in battle. The Duke of +York, who was particularly fond of the Boot and derived great pleasure +from having it applied, offered their lives to some of these people, if +they would cry on the scaffold 'God save the King!' But their relations, +friends, and countrymen, had been so barbarously tortured and murdered in +this merry reign, that they preferred to die, and did die. The Duke then +obtained his merry brother's permission to hold a Parliament in Scotland, +which first, with most shameless deceit, confirmed the laws for securing +the Protestant religion against Popery, and then declared that nothing +must or should prevent the succession of the Popish Duke. After this +double-faced beginning, it established an oath which no human being could +understand, but which everybody was to take, as a proof that his religion +was the lawful religion. The Earl of Argyle, taking it with the +explanation that he did not consider it to prevent him from favouring any +alteration either in the Church or State which was not inconsistent with +the Protestant religion or with his loyalty, was tried for high treason +before a Scottish jury of which the MARQUIS OF MONTROSE was foreman, and +was found guilty. He escaped the scaffold, for that time, by getting +away, in the disguise of a page, in the train of his daughter, LADY +SOPHIA LINDSAY. It was absolutely proposed, by certain members of the +Scottish Council, that this lady should be whipped through the streets of +Edinburgh. But this was too much even for the Duke, who had the +manliness then (he had very little at most times) to remark that +Englishmen were not accustomed to treat ladies in that manner. In those +merry times nothing could equal the brutal servility of the Scottish +fawners, but the conduct of similar degraded beings in England. + +After the settlement of these little affairs, the Duke returned to +England, and soon resumed his place at the Council, and his office of +High Admiral--all this by his brother's favour, and in open defiance of +the law. It would have been no loss to the country, if he had been +drowned when his ship, in going to Scotland to fetch his family, struck +on a sand-bank, and was lost with two hundred souls on board. But he +escaped in a boat with some friends; and the sailors were so brave and +unselfish, that, when they saw him rowing away, they gave three cheers, +while they themselves were going down for ever. + +The Merry Monarch, having got rid of his Parliament, went to work to make +himself despotic, with all speed. Having had the villainy to order the +execution of OLIVER PLUNKET, BISHOP OF ARMAGH, falsely accused of a plot +to establish Popery in that country by means of a French army--the very +thing this royal traitor was himself trying to do at home--and having +tried to ruin Lord Shaftesbury, and failed--he turned his hand to +controlling the corporations all over the country; because, if he could +only do that, he could get what juries he chose, to bring in perjured +verdicts, and could get what members he chose returned to Parliament. +These merry times produced, and made Chief Justice of the Court of King's +Bench, a drunken ruffian of the name of JEFFREYS; a red-faced, swollen, +bloated, horrible creature, with a bullying, roaring voice, and a more +savage nature perhaps than was ever lodged in any human breast. This +monster was the Merry Monarch's especial favourite, and he testified his +admiration of him by giving him a ring from his own finger, which the +people used to call Judge Jeffreys's Bloodstone. Him the King employed +to go about and bully the corporations, beginning with London; or, as +Jeffreys himself elegantly called it, 'to give them a lick with the rough +side of his tongue.' And he did it so thoroughly, that they soon became +the basest and most sycophantic bodies in the kingdom--except the +University of Oxford, which, in that respect, was quite pre-eminent and +unapproachable. + +Lord Shaftesbury (who died soon after the King's failure against him), +LORD WILLIAM RUSSELL, the Duke of Monmouth, LORD HOWARD, LORD JERSEY, +ALGERNON SIDNEY, JOHN HAMPDEN (grandson of the great Hampden), and some +others, used to hold a council together after the dissolution of the +Parliament, arranging what it might be necessary to do, if the King +carried his Popish plot to the utmost height. Lord Shaftesbury having +been much the most violent of this party, brought two violent men into +their secrets--RUMSEY, who had been a soldier in the Republican army; and +WEST, a lawyer. These two knew an old officer of CROMWELL'S, called +RUMBOLD, who had married a maltster's widow, and so had come into +possession of a solitary dwelling called the Rye House, near Hoddesdon, +in Hertfordshire. Rumbold said to them what a capital place this house +of his would be from which to shoot at the King, who often passed there +going to and fro from Newmarket. They liked the idea, and entertained +it. But, one of their body gave information; and they, together with +SHEPHERD a wine merchant, Lord Russell, Algernon Sidney, LORD ESSEX, LORD +HOWARD, and Hampden, were all arrested. + +Lord Russell might have easily escaped, but scorned to do so, being +innocent of any wrong; Lord Essex might have easily escaped, but scorned +to do so, lest his flight should prejudice Lord Russell. But it weighed +upon his mind that he had brought into their council, Lord Howard--who +now turned a miserable traitor--against a great dislike Lord Russell had +always had of him. He could not bear the reflection, and destroyed +himself before Lord Russell was brought to trial at the Old Bailey. + +He knew very well that he had nothing to hope, having always been manful +in the Protestant cause against the two false brothers, the one on the +throne, and the other standing next to it. He had a wife, one of the +noblest and best of women, who acted as his secretary on his trial, who +comforted him in his prison, who supped with him on the night before he +died, and whose love and virtue and devotion have made her name +imperishable. Of course, he was found guilty, and was sentenced to be +beheaded in Lincoln's Inn-fields, not many yards from his own house. When +he had parted from his children on the evening before his death, his wife +still stayed with him until ten o'clock at night; and when their final +separation in this world was over, and he had kissed her many times, he +still sat for a long while in his prison, talking of her goodness. +Hearing the rain fall fast at that time, he calmly said, 'Such a rain to- +morrow will spoil a great show, which is a dull thing on a rainy day.' At +midnight he went to bed, and slept till four; even when his servant +called him, he fell asleep again while his clothes were being made ready. +He rode to the scaffold in his own carriage, attended by two famous +clergymen, TILLOTSON and BURNET, and sang a psalm to himself very softly, +as he went along. He was as quiet and as steady as if he had been going +out for an ordinary ride. After saying that he was surprised to see so +great a crowd, he laid down his head upon the block, as if upon the +pillow of his bed, and had it struck off at the second blow. His noble +wife was busy for him even then; for that true-hearted lady printed and +widely circulated his last words, of which he had given her a copy. They +made the blood of all the honest men in England boil. + +The University of Oxford distinguished itself on the very same day by +pretending to believe that the accusation against Lord Russell was true, +and by calling the King, in a written paper, the Breath of their Nostrils +and the Anointed of the Lord. This paper the Parliament afterwards +caused to be burned by the common hangman; which I am sorry for, as I +wish it had been framed and glazed and hung up in some public place, as a +monument of baseness for the scorn of mankind. + +Next, came the trial of Algernon Sidney, at which Jeffreys presided, like +a great crimson toad, sweltering and swelling with rage. 'I pray God, +Mr. Sidney,' said this Chief Justice of a merry reign, after passing +sentence, 'to work in you a temper fit to go to the other world, for I +see you are not fit for this.' 'My lord,' said the prisoner, composedly +holding out his arm, 'feel my pulse, and see if I be disordered. I thank +Heaven I never was in better temper than I am now.' Algernon Sidney was +executed on Tower Hill, on the seventh of December, one thousand six +hundred and eighty-three. He died a hero, and died, in his own words, +'For that good old cause in which he had been engaged from his youth, and +for which God had so often and so wonderfully declared himself.' + +The Duke of Monmouth had been making his uncle, the Duke of York, very +jealous, by going about the country in a royal sort of way, playing at +the people's games, becoming godfather to their children, and even +touching for the King's evil, or stroking the faces of the sick to cure +them--though, for the matter of that, I should say he did them about as +much good as any crowned king could have done. His father had got him to +write a letter, confessing his having had a part in the conspiracy, for +which Lord Russell had been beheaded; but he was ever a weak man, and as +soon as he had written it, he was ashamed of it and got it back again. +For this, he was banished to the Netherlands; but he soon returned and +had an interview with his father, unknown to his uncle. It would seem +that he was coming into the Merry Monarch's favour again, and that the +Duke of York was sliding out of it, when Death appeared to the merry +galleries at Whitehall, and astonished the debauched lords and gentlemen, +and the shameless ladies, very considerably. + +On Monday, the second of February, one thousand six hundred and eighty- +five, the merry pensioner and servant of the King of France fell down in +a fit of apoplexy. By the Wednesday his case was hopeless, and on the +Thursday he was told so. As he made a difficulty about taking the +sacrament from the Protestant Bishop of Bath, the Duke of York got all +who were present away from the bed, and asked his brother, in a whisper, +if he should send for a Catholic priest? The King replied, 'For God's +sake, brother, do!' The Duke smuggled in, up the back stairs, disguised +in a wig and gown, a priest named HUDDLESTON, who had saved the King's +life after the battle of Worcester: telling him that this worthy man in +the wig had once saved his body, and was now come to save his soul. + +The Merry Monarch lived through that night, and died before noon on the +next day, which was Friday, the sixth. Two of the last things he said +were of a human sort, and your remembrance will give him the full benefit +of them. When the Queen sent to say she was too unwell to attend him and +to ask his pardon, he said, 'Alas! poor woman, _she_ beg _my_ pardon! I +beg hers with all my heart. Take back that answer to her.' And he also +said, in reference to Nell Gwyn, 'Do not let poor Nelly starve.' + +He died in the fifty-fifth year of his age, and the twenty-fifth of his +reign. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI--ENGLAND UNDER JAMES THE SECOND + + +King James the Second was a man so very disagreeable, that even the best +of historians has favoured his brother Charles, as becoming, by +comparison, quite a pleasant character. The one object of his short +reign was to re-establish the Catholic religion in England; and this he +doggedly pursued with such a stupid obstinacy, that his career very soon +came to a close. + +The first thing he did, was, to assure his council that he would make it +his endeavour to preserve the Government, both in Church and State, as it +was by law established; and that he would always take care to defend and +support the Church. Great public acclamations were raised over this fair +speech, and a great deal was said, from the pulpits and elsewhere, about +the word of a King which was never broken, by credulous people who little +supposed that he had formed a secret council for Catholic affairs, of +which a mischievous Jesuit, called FATHER PETRE, was one of the chief +members. With tears of joy in his eyes, he received, as the beginning of +_his_ pension from the King of France, five hundred thousand livres; yet, +with a mixture of meanness and arrogance that belonged to his +contemptible character, he was always jealous of making some show of +being independent of the King of France, while he pocketed his money. +As--notwithstanding his publishing two papers in favour of Popery (and +not likely to do it much service, I should think) written by the King, +his brother, and found in his strong-box; and his open display of himself +attending mass--the Parliament was very obsequious, and granted him a +large sum of money, he began his reign with a belief that he could do +what he pleased, and with a determination to do it. + +Before we proceed to its principal events, let us dispose of Titus Oates. +He was tried for perjury, a fortnight after the coronation, and besides +being very heavily fined, was sentenced to stand twice in the pillory, to +be whipped from Aldgate to Newgate one day, and from Newgate to Tyburn +two days afterwards, and to stand in the pillory five times a year as +long as he lived. This fearful sentence was actually inflicted on the +rascal. Being unable to stand after his first flogging, he was dragged +on a sledge from Newgate to Tyburn, and flogged as he was drawn along. He +was so strong a villain that he did not die under the torture, but lived +to be afterwards pardoned and rewarded, though not to be ever believed in +any more. Dangerfield, the only other one of that crew left alive, was +not so fortunate. He was almost killed by a whipping from Newgate to +Tyburn, and, as if that were not punishment enough, a ferocious barrister +of Gray's Inn gave him a poke in the eye with his cane, which caused his +death; for which the ferocious barrister was deservedly tried and +executed. + +As soon as James was on the throne, Argyle and Monmouth went from +Brussels to Rotterdam, and attended a meeting of Scottish exiles held +there, to concert measures for a rising in England. It was agreed that +Argyle should effect a landing in Scotland, and Monmouth in England; and +that two Englishmen should be sent with Argyle to be in his confidence, +and two Scotchmen with the Duke of Monmouth. + +Argyle was the first to act upon this contract. But, two of his men +being taken prisoners at the Orkney Islands, the Government became aware +of his intention, and was able to act against him with such vigour as to +prevent his raising more than two or three thousand Highlanders, although +he sent a fiery cross, by trusty messengers, from clan to clan and from +glen to glen, as the custom then was when those wild people were to be +excited by their chiefs. As he was moving towards Glasgow with his small +force, he was betrayed by some of his followers, taken, and carried, with +his hands tied behind his back, to his old prison in Edinburgh Castle. +James ordered him to be executed, on his old shamefully unjust sentence, +within three days; and he appears to have been anxious that his legs +should have been pounded with his old favourite the boot. However, the +boot was not applied; he was simply beheaded, and his head was set upon +the top of Edinburgh Jail. One of those Englishmen who had been assigned +to him was that old soldier Rumbold, the master of the Rye House. He was +sorely wounded, and within a week after Argyle had suffered with great +courage, was brought up for trial, lest he should die and disappoint the +King. He, too, was executed, after defending himself with great spirit, +and saying that he did not believe that God had made the greater part of +mankind to carry saddles on their backs and bridles in their mouths, and +to be ridden by a few, booted and spurred for the purpose--in which I +thoroughly agree with Rumbold. + +The Duke of Monmouth, partly through being detained and partly through +idling his time away, was five or six weeks behind his friend when he +landed at Lyme, in Dorset: having at his right hand an unlucky nobleman +called LORD GREY OF WERK, who of himself would have ruined a far more +promising expedition. He immediately set up his standard in the market- +place, and proclaimed the King a tyrant, and a Popish usurper, and I know +not what else; charging him, not only with what he had done, which was +bad enough, but with what neither he nor anybody else had done, such as +setting fire to London, and poisoning the late King. Raising some four +thousand men by these means, he marched on to Taunton, where there were +many Protestant dissenters who were strongly opposed to the Catholics. +Here, both the rich and poor turned out to receive him, ladies waved a +welcome to him from all the windows as he passed along the streets, +flowers were strewn in his way, and every compliment and honour that +could be devised was showered upon him. Among the rest, twenty young +ladies came forward, in their best clothes, and in their brightest +beauty, and gave him a Bible ornamented with their own fair hands, +together with other presents. + +Encouraged by this homage, he proclaimed himself King, and went on to +Bridgewater. But, here the Government troops, under the EARL OF +FEVERSHAM, were close at hand; and he was so dispirited at finding that +he made but few powerful friends after all, that it was a question +whether he should disband his army and endeavour to escape. It was +resolved, at the instance of that unlucky Lord Grey, to make a night +attack on the King's army, as it lay encamped on the edge of a morass +called Sedgemoor. The horsemen were commanded by the same unlucky lord, +who was not a brave man. He gave up the battle almost at the first +obstacle--which was a deep drain; and although the poor countrymen, who +had turned out for Monmouth, fought bravely with scythes, poles, +pitchforks, and such poor weapons as they had, they were soon dispersed +by the trained soldiers, and fled in all directions. When the Duke of +Monmouth himself fled, was not known in the confusion; but the unlucky +Lord Grey was taken early next day, and then another of the party was +taken, who confessed that he had parted from the Duke only four hours +before. Strict search being made, he was found disguised as a peasant, +hidden in a ditch under fern and nettles, with a few peas in his pocket +which he had gathered in the fields to eat. The only other articles he +had upon him were a few papers and little books: one of the latter being +a strange jumble, in his own writing, of charms, songs, recipes, and +prayers. He was completely broken. He wrote a miserable letter to the +King, beseeching and entreating to be allowed to see him. When he was +taken to London, and conveyed bound into the King's presence, he crawled +to him on his knees, and made a most degrading exhibition. As James +never forgave or relented towards anybody, he was not likely to soften +towards the issuer of the Lyme proclamation, so he told the suppliant to +prepare for death. + +On the fifteenth of July, one thousand six hundred and eighty-five, this +unfortunate favourite of the people was brought out to die on Tower Hill. +The crowd was immense, and the tops of all the houses were covered with +gazers. He had seen his wife, the daughter of the Duke of Buccleuch, in +the Tower, and had talked much of a lady whom he loved far better--the +LADY HARRIET WENTWORTH--who was one of the last persons he remembered in +this life. Before laying down his head upon the block he felt the edge +of the axe, and told the executioner that he feared it was not sharp +enough, and that the axe was not heavy enough. On the executioner +replying that it was of the proper kind, the Duke said, 'I pray you have +a care, and do not use me so awkwardly as you used my Lord Russell.' The +executioner, made nervous by this, and trembling, struck once and merely +gashed him in the neck. Upon this, the Duke of Monmouth raised his head +and looked the man reproachfully in the face. Then he struck twice, and +then thrice, and then threw down the axe, and cried out in a voice of +horror that he could not finish that work. The sheriffs, however, +threatening him with what should be done to himself if he did not, he +took it up again and struck a fourth time and a fifth time. Then the +wretched head at last fell off, and James, Duke of Monmouth, was dead, in +the thirty-sixth year of his age. He was a showy, graceful man, with +many popular qualities, and had found much favour in the open hearts of +the English. + +The atrocities, committed by the Government, which followed this Monmouth +rebellion, form the blackest and most lamentable page in English history. +The poor peasants, having been dispersed with great loss, and their +leaders having been taken, one would think that the implacable King might +have been satisfied. But no; he let loose upon them, among other +intolerable monsters, a COLONEL KIRK, who had served against the Moors, +and whose soldiers--called by the people Kirk's lambs, because they bore +a lamb upon their flag, as the emblem of Christianity--were worthy of +their leader. The atrocities committed by these demons in human shape +are far too horrible to be related here. It is enough to say, that +besides most ruthlessly murdering and robbing them, and ruining them by +making them buy their pardons at the price of all they possessed, it was +one of Kirk's favourite amusements, as he and his officers sat drinking +after dinner, and toasting the King, to have batches of prisoners hanged +outside the windows for the company's diversion; and that when their feet +quivered in the convulsions of death, he used to swear that they should +have music to their dancing, and would order the drums to beat and the +trumpets to play. The detestable King informed him, as an acknowledgment +of these services, that he was 'very well satisfied with his +proceedings.' But the King's great delight was in the proceedings of +Jeffreys, now a peer, who went down into the west, with four other +judges, to try persons accused of having had any share in the rebellion. +The King pleasantly called this 'Jeffreys's campaign.' The people down +in that part of the country remember it to this day as The Bloody Assize. + +It began at Winchester, where a poor deaf old lady, MRS. ALICIA LISLE, +the widow of one of the judges of Charles the First (who had been +murdered abroad by some Royalist assassins), was charged with having +given shelter in her house to two fugitives from Sedgemoor. Three times +the jury refused to find her guilty, until Jeffreys bullied and +frightened them into that false verdict. When he had extorted it from +them, he said, 'Gentlemen, if I had been one of you, and she had been my +own mother, I would have found her guilty;'--as I dare say he would. He +sentenced her to be burned alive, that very afternoon. The clergy of the +cathedral and some others interfered in her favour, and she was beheaded +within a week. As a high mark of his approbation, the King made Jeffreys +Lord Chancellor; and he then went on to Dorchester, to Exeter, to +Taunton, and to Wells. It is astonishing, when we read of the enormous +injustice and barbarity of this beast, to know that no one struck him +dead on the judgment-seat. It was enough for any man or woman to be +accused by an enemy, before Jeffreys, to be found guilty of high treason. +One man who pleaded not guilty, he ordered to be taken out of court upon +the instant, and hanged; and this so terrified the prisoners in general +that they mostly pleaded guilty at once. At Dorchester alone, in the +course of a few days, Jeffreys hanged eighty people; besides whipping, +transporting, imprisoning, and selling as slaves, great numbers. He +executed, in all, two hundred and fifty, or three hundred. + +These executions took place, among the neighbours and friends of the +sentenced, in thirty-six towns and villages. Their bodies were mangled, +steeped in caldrons of boiling pitch and tar, and hung up by the +roadsides, in the streets, over the very churches. The sight and smell +of heads and limbs, the hissing and bubbling of the infernal caldrons, +and the tears and terrors of the people, were dreadful beyond all +description. One rustic, who was forced to steep the remains in the +black pot, was ever afterwards called 'Tom Boilman.' The hangman has +ever since been called Jack Ketch, because a man of that name went +hanging and hanging, all day long, in the train of Jeffreys. You will +hear much of the horrors of the great French Revolution. Many and +terrible they were, there is no doubt; but I know of nothing worse, done +by the maddened people of France in that awful time, than was done by the +highest judge in England, with the express approval of the King of +England, in The Bloody Assize. + +Nor was even this all. Jeffreys was as fond of money for himself as of +misery for others, and he sold pardons wholesale to fill his pockets. The +King ordered, at one time, a thousand prisoners to be given to certain of +his favourites, in order that they might bargain with them for their +pardons. The young ladies of Taunton who had presented the Bible, were +bestowed upon the maids of honour at court; and those precious ladies +made very hard bargains with them indeed. When The Bloody Assize was at +its most dismal height, the King was diverting himself with horse-races +in the very place where Mrs. Lisle had been executed. When Jeffreys had +done his worst, and came home again, he was particularly complimented in +the Royal Gazette; and when the King heard that through drunkenness and +raging he was very ill, his odious Majesty remarked that such another man +could not easily be found in England. Besides all this, a former sheriff +of London, named CORNISH, was hanged within sight of his own house, after +an abominably conducted trial, for having had a share in the Rye House +Plot, on evidence given by Rumsey, which that villain was obliged to +confess was directly opposed to the evidence he had given on the trial of +Lord Russell. And on the very same day, a worthy widow, named ELIZABETH +GAUNT, was burned alive at Tyburn, for having sheltered a wretch who +himself gave evidence against her. She settled the fuel about herself +with her own hands, so that the flames should reach her quickly: and +nobly said, with her last breath, that she had obeyed the sacred command +of God, to give refuge to the outcast, and not to betray the wanderer. + +After all this hanging, beheading, burning, boiling, mutilating, +exposing, robbing, transporting, and selling into slavery, of his unhappy +subjects, the King not unnaturally thought that he could do whatever he +would. So, he went to work to change the religion of the country with +all possible speed; and what he did was this. + +He first of all tried to get rid of what was called the Test Act--which +prevented the Catholics from holding public employments--by his own power +of dispensing with the penalties. He tried it in one case, and, eleven +of the twelve judges deciding in his favour, he exercised it in three +others, being those of three dignitaries of University College, Oxford, +who had become Papists, and whom he kept in their places and sanctioned. +He revived the hated Ecclesiastical Commission, to get rid of COMPTON, +Bishop of London, who manfully opposed him. He solicited the Pope to +favour England with an ambassador, which the Pope (who was a sensible man +then) rather unwillingly did. He flourished Father Petre before the eyes +of the people on all possible occasions. He favoured the establishment +of convents in several parts of London. He was delighted to have the +streets, and even the court itself, filled with Monks and Friars in the +habits of their orders. He constantly endeavoured to make Catholics of +the Protestants about him. He held private interviews, which he called +'closetings,' with those Members of Parliament who held offices, to +persuade them to consent to the design he had in view. When they did not +consent, they were removed, or resigned of themselves, and their places +were given to Catholics. He displaced Protestant officers from the army, +by every means in his power, and got Catholics into their places too. He +tried the same thing with the corporations, and also (though not so +successfully) with the Lord Lieutenants of counties. To terrify the +people into the endurance of all these measures, he kept an army of +fifteen thousand men encamped on Hounslow Heath, where mass was openly +performed in the General's tent, and where priests went among the +soldiers endeavouring to persuade them to become Catholics. For +circulating a paper among those men advising them to be true to their +religion, a Protestant clergyman, named JOHNSON, the chaplain of the late +Lord Russell, was actually sentenced to stand three times in the pillory, +and was actually whipped from Newgate to Tyburn. He dismissed his own +brother-in-law from his Council because he was a Protestant, and made a +Privy Councillor of the before-mentioned Father Petre. He handed Ireland +over to RICHARD TALBOT, EARL OF TYRCONNELL, a worthless, dissolute knave, +who played the same game there for his master, and who played the deeper +game for himself of one day putting it under the protection of the French +King. In going to these extremities, every man of sense and judgment +among the Catholics, from the Pope to a porter, knew that the King was a +mere bigoted fool, who would undo himself and the cause he sought to +advance; but he was deaf to all reason, and, happily for England ever +afterwards, went tumbling off his throne in his own blind way. + +A spirit began to arise in the country, which the besotted blunderer +little expected. He first found it out in the University of Cambridge. +Having made a Catholic a dean at Oxford without any opposition, he tried +to make a monk a master of arts at Cambridge: which attempt the +University resisted, and defeated him. He then went back to his +favourite Oxford. On the death of the President of Magdalen College, he +commanded that there should be elected to succeed him, one MR. ANTHONY +FARMER, whose only recommendation was, that he was of the King's +religion. The University plucked up courage at last, and refused. The +King substituted another man, and it still refused, resolving to stand by +its own election of a MR. HOUGH. The dull tyrant, upon this, punished +Mr. Hough, and five-and-twenty more, by causing them to be expelled and +declared incapable of holding any church preferment; then he proceeded to +what he supposed to be his highest step, but to what was, in fact, his +last plunge head-foremost in his tumble off his throne. + +He had issued a declaration that there should be no religious tests or +penal laws, in order to let in the Catholics more easily; but the +Protestant dissenters, unmindful of themselves, had gallantly joined the +regular church in opposing it tooth and nail. The King and Father Petre +now resolved to have this read, on a certain Sunday, in all the churches, +and to order it to be circulated for that purpose by the bishops. The +latter took counsel with the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was in +disgrace; and they resolved that the declaration should not be read, and +that they would petition the King against it. The Archbishop himself +wrote out the petition, and six bishops went into the King's bedchamber +the same night to present it, to his infinite astonishment. Next day was +the Sunday fixed for the reading, and it was only read by two hundred +clergymen out of ten thousand. The King resolved against all advice to +prosecute the bishops in the Court of King's Bench, and within three +weeks they were summoned before the Privy Council, and committed to the +Tower. As the six bishops were taken to that dismal place, by water, the +people who were assembled in immense numbers fell upon their knees, and +wept for them, and prayed for them. When they got to the Tower, the +officers and soldiers on guard besought them for their blessing. While +they were confined there, the soldiers every day drank to their release +with loud shouts. When they were brought up to the Court of King's Bench +for their trial, which the Attorney-General said was for the high offence +of censuring the Government, and giving their opinion about affairs of +state, they were attended by similar multitudes, and surrounded by a +throng of noblemen and gentlemen. When the jury went out at seven +o'clock at night to consider of their verdict, everybody (except the +King) knew that they would rather starve than yield to the King's brewer, +who was one of them, and wanted a verdict for his customer. When they +came into court next morning, after resisting the brewer all night, and +gave a verdict of not guilty, such a shout rose up in Westminster Hall as +it had never heard before; and it was passed on among the people away to +Temple Bar, and away again to the Tower. It did not pass only to the +east, but passed to the west too, until it reached the camp at Hounslow, +where the fifteen thousand soldiers took it up and echoed it. And still, +when the dull King, who was then with Lord Feversham, heard the mighty +roar, asked in alarm what it was, and was told that it was 'nothing but +the acquittal of the bishops,' he said, in his dogged way, 'Call you that +nothing? It is so much the worse for them.' + +Between the petition and the trial, the Queen had given birth to a son, +which Father Petre rather thought was owing to Saint Winifred. But I +doubt if Saint Winifred had much to do with it as the King's friend, +inasmuch as the entirely new prospect of a Catholic successor (for both +the King's daughters were Protestants) determined the EARLS OF +SHREWSBURY, DANBY, and DEVONSHIRE, LORD LUMLEY, the BISHOP OF LONDON, +ADMIRAL RUSSELL, and COLONEL SIDNEY, to invite the Prince of Orange over +to England. The Royal Mole, seeing his danger at last, made, in his +fright, many great concessions, besides raising an army of forty thousand +men; but the Prince of Orange was not a man for James the Second to cope +with. His preparations were extraordinarily vigorous, and his mind was +resolved. + +For a fortnight after the Prince was ready to sail for England, a great +wind from the west prevented the departure of his fleet. Even when the +wind lulled, and it did sail, it was dispersed by a storm, and was +obliged to put back to refit. At last, on the first of November, one +thousand six hundred and eighty-eight, the Protestant east wind, as it +was long called, began to blow; and on the third, the people of Dover and +the people of Calais saw a fleet twenty miles long sailing gallantly by, +between the two places. On Monday, the fifth, it anchored at Torbay in +Devonshire, and the Prince, with a splendid retinue of officers and men, +marched into Exeter. But the people in that western part of the country +had suffered so much in The Bloody Assize, that they had lost heart. Few +people joined him; and he began to think of returning, and publishing the +invitation he had received from those lords, as his justification for +having come at all. At this crisis, some of the gentry joined him; the +Royal army began to falter; an engagement was signed, by which all who +set their hand to it declared that they would support one another in +defence of the laws and liberties of the three Kingdoms, of the +Protestant religion, and of the Prince of Orange. From that time, the +cause received no check; the greatest towns in England began, one after +another, to declare for the Prince; and he knew that it was all safe with +him when the University of Oxford offered to melt down its plate, if he +wanted any money. + +By this time the King was running about in a pitiable way, touching +people for the King's evil in one place, reviewing his troops in another, +and bleeding from the nose in a third. The young Prince was sent to +Portsmouth, Father Petre went off like a shot to France, and there was a +general and swift dispersal of all the priests and friars. One after +another, the King's most important officers and friends deserted him and +went over to the Prince. In the night, his daughter Anne fled from +Whitehall Palace; and the Bishop of London, who had once been a soldier, +rode before her with a drawn sword in his hand, and pistols at his +saddle. 'God help me,' cried the miserable King: 'my very children have +forsaken me!' In his wildness, after debating with such lords as were in +London, whether he should or should not call a Parliament, and after +naming three of them to negotiate with the Prince, he resolved to fly to +France. He had the little Prince of Wales brought back from Portsmouth; +and the child and the Queen crossed the river to Lambeth in an open boat, +on a miserable wet night, and got safely away. This was on the night of +the ninth of December. + +At one o'clock on the morning of the eleventh, the King, who had, in the +meantime, received a letter from the Prince of Orange, stating his +objects, got out of bed, told LORD NORTHUMBERLAND who lay in his room not +to open the door until the usual hour in the morning, and went down the +back stairs (the same, I suppose, by which the priest in the wig and gown +had come up to his brother) and crossed the river in a small boat: +sinking the great seal of England by the way. Horses having been +provided, he rode, accompanied by SIR EDWARD HALES, to Feversham, where +he embarked in a Custom House Hoy. The master of this Hoy, wanting more +ballast, ran into the Isle of Sheppy to get it, where the fishermen and +smugglers crowded about the boat, and informed the King of their +suspicions that he was a 'hatchet-faced Jesuit.' As they took his money +and would not let him go, he told them who he was, and that the Prince of +Orange wanted to take his life; and he began to scream for a boat--and +then to cry, because he had lost a piece of wood on his ride which he +called a fragment of Our Saviour's cross. He put himself into the hands +of the Lord Lieutenant of the county, and his detention was made known to +the Prince of Orange at Windsor--who, only wanting to get rid of him, and +not caring where he went, so that he went away, was very much +disconcerted that they did not let him go. However, there was nothing +for it but to have him brought back, with some state in the way of Life +Guards, to Whitehall. And as soon as he got there, in his infatuation, +he heard mass, and set a Jesuit to say grace at his public dinner. + +The people had been thrown into the strangest state of confusion by his +flight, and had taken it into their heads that the Irish part of the army +were going to murder the Protestants. Therefore, they set the bells a +ringing, and lighted watch-fires, and burned Catholic Chapels, and looked +about in all directions for Father Petre and the Jesuits, while the +Pope's ambassador was running away in the dress of a footman. They found +no Jesuits; but a man, who had once been a frightened witness before +Jeffreys in court, saw a swollen, drunken face looking through a window +down at Wapping, which he well remembered. The face was in a sailor's +dress, but he knew it to be the face of that accursed judge, and he +seized him. The people, to their lasting honour, did not tear him to +pieces. After knocking him about a little, they took him, in the basest +agonies of terror, to the Lord Mayor, who sent him, at his own shrieking +petition, to the Tower for safety. There, he died. + +Their bewilderment continuing, the people now lighted bonfires and made +rejoicings, as if they had any reason to be glad to have the King back +again. But, his stay was very short, for the English guards were removed +from Whitehall, Dutch guards were marched up to it, and he was told by +one of his late ministers that the Prince would enter London, next day, +and he had better go to Ham. He said, Ham was a cold, damp place, and he +would rather go to Rochester. He thought himself very cunning in this, +as he meant to escape from Rochester to France. The Prince of Orange and +his friends knew that, perfectly well, and desired nothing more. So, he +went to Gravesend, in his royal barge, attended by certain lords, and +watched by Dutch troops, and pitied by the generous people, who were far +more forgiving than he had ever been, when they saw him in his +humiliation. On the night of the twenty-third of December, not even then +understanding that everybody wanted to get rid of him, he went out, +absurdly, through his Rochester garden, down to the Medway, and got away +to France, where he rejoined the Queen. + +There had been a council in his absence, of the lords, and the +authorities of London. When the Prince came, on the day after the King's +departure, he summoned the Lords to meet him, and soon afterwards, all +those who had served in any of the Parliaments of King Charles the +Second. It was finally resolved by these authorities that the throne was +vacant by the conduct of King James the Second; that it was inconsistent +with the safety and welfare of this Protestant kingdom, to be governed by +a Popish prince; that the Prince and Princess of Orange should be King +and Queen during their lives and the life of the survivor of them; and +that their children should succeed them, if they had any. That if they +had none, the Princess Anne and her children should succeed; that if she +had none, the heirs of the Prince of Orange should succeed. + +On the thirteenth of January, one thousand six hundred and eighty-nine, +the Prince and Princess, sitting on a throne in Whitehall, bound +themselves to these conditions. The Protestant religion was established +in England, and England's great and glorious Revolution was complete. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + + +I have now arrived at the close of my little history. The events which +succeeded the famous Revolution of one thousand six hundred and eighty- +eight, would neither be easily related nor easily understood in such a +book as this. + +William and Mary reigned together, five years. After the death of his +good wife, William occupied the throne, alone, for seven years longer. +During his reign, on the sixteenth of September, one thousand seven +hundred and one, the poor weak creature who had once been James the +Second of England, died in France. In the meantime he had done his +utmost (which was not much) to cause William to be assassinated, and to +regain his lost dominions. James's son was declared, by the French King, +the rightful King of England; and was called in France THE CHEVALIER +SAINT GEORGE, and in England THE PRETENDER. Some infatuated people in +England, and particularly in Scotland, took up the Pretender's cause from +time to time--as if the country had not had Stuarts enough!--and many +lives were sacrificed, and much misery was occasioned. King William died +on Sunday, the seventh of March, one thousand seven hundred and two, of +the consequences of an accident occasioned by his horse stumbling with +him. He was always a brave, patriotic Prince, and a man of remarkable +abilities. His manner was cold, and he made but few friends; but he had +truly loved his queen. When he was dead, a lock of her hair, in a ring, +was found tied with a black ribbon round his left arm. + +He was succeeded by the PRINCESS ANNE, a popular Queen, who reigned +twelve years. In her reign, in the month of May, one thousand seven +hundred and seven, the Union between England and Scotland was effected, +and the two countries were incorporated under the name of GREAT BRITAIN. +Then, from the year one thousand seven hundred and fourteen to the year +one thousand, eight hundred and thirty, reigned the four GEORGES. + +It was in the reign of George the Second, one thousand seven hundred and +forty-five, that the Pretender did his last mischief, and made his last +appearance. Being an old man by that time, he and the Jacobites--as his +friends were called--put forward his son, CHARLES EDWARD, known as the +young Chevalier. The Highlanders of Scotland, an extremely troublesome +and wrong-headed race on the subject of the Stuarts, espoused his cause, +and he joined them, and there was a Scottish rebellion to make him king, +in which many gallant and devoted gentlemen lost their lives. It was a +hard matter for Charles Edward to escape abroad again, with a high price +on his head; but the Scottish people were extraordinarily faithful to +him, and, after undergoing many romantic adventures, not unlike those of +Charles the Second, he escaped to France. A number of charming stories +and delightful songs arose out of the Jacobite feelings, and belong to +the Jacobite times. Otherwise I think the Stuarts were a public nuisance +altogether. + +It was in the reign of George the Third that England lost North America, +by persisting in taxing her without her own consent. That immense +country, made independent under WASHINGTON, and left to itself, became +the United States; one of the greatest nations of the earth. In these +times in which I write, it is honourably remarkable for protecting its +subjects, wherever they may travel, with a dignity and a determination +which is a model for England. Between you and me, England has rather +lost ground in this respect since the days of Oliver Cromwell. + +The Union of Great Britain with Ireland--which had been getting on very +ill by itself--took place in the reign of George the Third, on the second +of July, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight. + +WILLIAM THE FOURTH succeeded George the Fourth, in the year one thousand +eight hundred and thirty, and reigned seven years. QUEEN VICTORIA, his +niece, the only child of the Duke of Kent, the fourth son of George the +Third, came to the throne on the twentieth of June, one thousand eight +hundred and thirty-seven. She was married to PRINCE ALBERT of Saxe Gotha +on the tenth of February, one thousand eight hundred and forty. She is +very good, and much beloved. So I end, like the crier, with + +GOD SAVE THE QUEEN! + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CHILD'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND*** + + +******* This file should be named 699.txt or 699.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/9/699 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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