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King John signing Magna Cbarta 
 
V 
 OUTLINES 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND; 
 
 FAMILIES AND SCHOOLS. 
 
 £©tt!) Numerous SEnjjrEfofnfls. 
 
 PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF 
 
 THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION. 
 
 APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING 
 
 CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 FROM THE FOURTEENTH LONDON EDITION, WITH 
 ADDITIONS AND QUESTIONS. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 THOMAS, COWPERTHWAIT & CO. 
 
 AND 
 
 CAREY & HART. 
 1845. 
 
Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1845, by 
 CAREY & HART, 
 
 in the office of the clerk of the District Court of the United States 
 in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 
 
 £2.$ 
 
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 B. M. DCSENBERY, STEREOTYPER. 
 
 cm 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 The study of History, from its very commencement, 
 ought to exercise the judgment as well as the memory. 
 When young persons enter upon it, they should not be 
 fatigued with a load of names, dates, and events, pre- 
 sented without detail or explanation. Neither, on the 
 other band, ought they to be puzzled with political dis 
 quisitions wnicn they cannot comprehend. The narra- 
 tive should be confined to those occurrences which are 
 most memorable and important ; and they should be con- 
 nected by a chain of causes and consequences, which 
 may both assist the memory and satisfy the judgment of 
 the reader. 
 
 With this view the following little work has been 
 prepared. The leading events of the History of Eng- 
 land are related, it is hoped with simplicity, and their 
 connexion traced with clearness. Some minuteness of 
 detail is occasionally employed in the relation of striking 
 incidents ; those circumstances are particularly marked 
 which have led to the gradual formation of the British 
 system of government ; and it is trusted that this work 
 will thus afford such a general view of English History as 
 will make the study of the greater works on the subject 
 easy and agreeable. 
 
 1* " (5) 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter. _ . . **«•• 
 
 I. Invasion of Britain by Julius Caesar. — Britain 
 
 under the Romans 9 
 
 II. Invasions of the Saxons. — The Saxon Heptarchy. 12 
 
 III. Danish Invasions. — Saxon Kings to the time of 
 
 Alfred. — His reign 15 
 
 IV. Saxon and Danish Kings to the Norman Con- 
 
 quest. 
 
 17 
 
 V. William the Conqueror 23 
 
 VI. William Rufus ; Henry I.; Stephen 27 
 
 VII. Henry II.; Richard 1 30 
 
 VIII. John; Henry III.; Edward 1 37 
 
 IX. Edward II.; Edward III 48 
 
 X. Richard II.; Henry IV.; Henry V 57 
 
 XI. Henry VI.; Edward IV.; Edward V.; Richard 
 
 III 64 
 
 XII. Henry VII.; Henry VIII 73 
 
 XIII. Edward VI.; Mary 83 
 
 XIV. Elizabeth 88 
 
 XV. James L; Charles 1 95 
 
 XVI. The Commonwealth 3 04 
 
 XVII. Charles I.; James II 108 
 
 XVIII. William III ...... 113 
 
 XIX. Anne 116 
 
 XX. George 1 12° 
 
 XXI. George II 123 
 
 XXII. George III 13 ° 
 
 XXIII. George III. continued 134 
 
 XXIV. George IV 147 
 
 XXV. William IV 153 
 
 Contemporary Kings of England, Scotland and France. 158 
 Questions for the Examination of Pupils 161 
 
 (7) 
 
\W Va ^ 
 
 Ancient Britons. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Invasion of Britain by Julius Cjesar. — Britain 
 under the romans. 
 
 From 55 before Christ to A. D, 430. 
 
 The Island of Britain was known to the Romans by 
 the name of Britannia, for a long time before it was 
 invaded by them, under their celebrated general, Julius 
 Caesar ; but little or nothing was known of its inhabi- 
 tants. After that conqueror had overrun the neighbour- 
 ing country of Gaul (now called France), he determined 
 to carry his arms into Britain; where he landed, with a 
 considerable army, in the year 55 before the Christian 
 era. (9) 
 
10 INVAJ5ION BY JULIUS CJESAR. 
 
 At that time the inhabitants of Britain were in a very 
 barbarous condition. They were divided into a number 
 of petty independent States ; and the manners and lan- 
 guage of the inhabitants of the southern parts were 
 similar to those of the Gauls ; hence it was inferred that 
 they were sprung from that people. They were as war- 
 like as the Gauls, but less civilized ; their religious 
 superstitions in particular, were among the most bloody 
 which have been known in any part of the world. The 
 Druids, or priests, were venerated for the strictness of 
 their lives, and dreaded for the cruelty of their rites and 
 sacrifices. (► 
 
 Cffisar, on his landing, met with a determined resist- 
 ance. He gained such advantages over the natives, 
 however, as induced them to make a show of submis- 
 sion. But no sooner had he left the island, on the ap- 
 proach of winter, than they broke through their engage- 
 ments. On his return, next spring he found a formida- 
 able force arrayed for his reception, under Cassibe- 
 launus, king of the Trinobantes (the inhabitants of what 
 are now the counties of Essex and Middlesex) ; but the 
 Romans soon routed the undisciplined Britons; and 
 Cassar having established a chief, who had become his 
 ally, in the sovereignty of the Trinobantes, finally left 
 Britain, having achieved little more than a nominal con- 
 quest of a very small part of the Island. 
 
 Britain remained unmolested by the Romans for 
 nearly a century ; when it was again invaded by the 
 armies of the emperor Claudius. The Britons, under 
 Caractacus, maintained for several years a brave de- 
 fence, till the British king was defeated in a great 
 battle, and sent prisoner to Rome. While led in 
 triumph through the city, he calmly surveyed the sur- 
 rounding splendour, and exclaimed, " Alas ! how is it 
 possible that a nation possessed of such magnificence 
 should covet my poor cottage in Britain !" On being 
 brought before the emperor, the haughty tyrant was sub- 
 dued by his noble bearing, and treated him with a respect 
 seldom shown to prisoners. The defeat of Caractacus 
 took place in the year 51. 
 
BRITAIN UNDER THE ROMANS. 11 
 
 Still only a small part of the island was subdued ; but 
 in the reign of the emperor Nero, the Roman general 
 Suetonius was sent into Britain. The Briton3 were 
 assembled to receive him, in great force, under the 
 celebrated queen Boadicea, who had been infamously 
 treated by the Roman governor of the conquered pro- 
 vince. This had excited a general rising of the Britons ; 
 and London, then a flourishing Roman settlement, had 
 been taken, and the inhabitants put to the sword, be- 
 fore Suetonius could come to their relief. But he im- 
 mediately attacked the Britons, and defeated them in a 
 decisive battle, in which 80,000 of them were slain ; 
 and Boadicea put an end to her life by poison. 
 
 It was not, however, till the great general Agricola 
 was sent into Britain by the emperor Vespasian, that 
 the Roman dominion w 7 as established in the country. 
 Agricola penetrated into Caledonia, the northern divi- 
 sion of the island ; and having driven the natives, who 
 still resisted, into the mountains and fastnesses of the 
 country, now called the Highlands of Scotland, he 
 established a line of garrisons between the firths of 
 Forth and Clyde,* for the protection of the conquered 
 country. For further protection against the unsubdued 
 barbarians, walls were afterwards built in different 
 directions, remains of which are still visible. 
 
 The Roman government being thus established in 
 Britain, except in the mountains of Scotland and Wales, 
 it was maintained in tranquillity till the decay of the 
 empire itself rendered it no longer possible to maintain 
 a Roman force in the island. The Roman troops were 
 gradually diminished ; till at last, in the reign of the 
 emperor Valentinian the younger, they were wholly 
 withdrawn. It was about the year 430 that Britain was 
 thus finally abandoned by the Romans. 
 
 * These are two large arms of the sea, on the eastern and 
 western coasts of Scotland, nearly opposite, which approach to 
 within a short distance of each other. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 Invasions of the Saxons. — The Saxon Heptarchy. 
 
 From 430 to 827. 
 
 During the preceding four hundred years, the Britons, 
 though they had, under the Romans, made considerable 
 progress in civilization, had lost much of their original 
 warlike spirit. The barbarians of the north, finding 
 them abandoned by the Romans, attacked them with 
 fury, and breaking through the ramparts established for 
 their protection, committed dreadful ravages among 
 them. Their only resource was to supplicate the assist- 
 ance of Rome ; and, failing to obtain it, they resolved 
 to apply to the Saxons. 
 
 The Saxons, a people of Germany, had been hitherto 
 known to the Britons only from their fierce descents on 
 the coast for the sake of plunder, but this did not pre- 
 vent the British prince, Vortigern, from now imploring 
 their protection. Accordingly, a considerable body of 
 them arrived under the brothers Hengist and Horsa ; 
 and joining the British forces, attacked the Scots and 
 Picts, who had advanced into the heart of England, 
 and completely routed them. The Saxons, however, 
 speedily resolved to gain possession of a country so 
 much richer than their own; and, seizing a pretext for 
 quarrelling with Vortigern, they brought over great re- 
 inforcements. 
 
 A sanguinary struggle took place, in which the 
 Saxons were several times defeated, with the loss of one 
 of their leaders, Horsa ; and it was only by treachery, aa 
 it is said, that Hengist could at last gain the ascendancy. 
 Pretending to wish to conclude a treaty with Vortigern, 
 he invited him and his nobility to a banquet, during 
 which Vortigern was seized, and three hundred British 
 nobles massacred. The truth of this story, however, is 
 
 (12) 
 
INVASION OF THE SAXONS. 13 
 
 doubted. Hengist acquired the possession of the king- 
 dom of Kent, and made Canterbury the seat of his 
 government, where he died about the year 488, after a 
 reign of forty years. 
 
 Allured by the success of Hengist and his followers, 
 other German tribes came over at different times, in 
 great numbers. They all passed under the general de- 
 nomination of Saxons; and, uniting against the Britons, 
 drove them into the recesses of Wales and Cornwall. 
 This contest lasted nearly 150 years ; and its result was 
 the establishment of seven separate Saxon kingdoms, 
 known by the name of the Heptarchy* 
 
 The kingdoms of the Saxon Heptarchy were: 1. 
 Kent, comprehending the modern counties of Kent, 
 Middlesex, and Essex ; 2. Kingdom of the South Saxons, 
 comprehending Sussex, Surrey, and the New Forest ; 
 3. Wessex, including Hants, Dorset, Wilts, Berks, and 
 the Isle of Wight ; 4. The East Angles, comprehend- 
 ing Cambridge, Suffolk, and Norfolk ; 5. Essex, which 
 was dismembered from the kingdom of Kent, and in- 
 cluding part of Hertfordshire ; 6. Mercia, comprehend- 
 ing the Midland counties, from the Severn, to the 
 boundaries of the two last-named kingdoms; and, 7. 
 Northumberland, the most extensive of all, and compre- 
 hending the whole of the northern counties. 
 
 Such were the kingdoms of the Heptarchy, as first 
 established. The history of England, for nearly four 
 centuries, consists of the quarrels of the petty sover- 
 eigns; till Egbert, king of Wessex, after subduing all 
 the others, made himself, in 827, sole master of England. 
 
 During the time of the Heptarchy, the language and 
 manners of the ancient British, and of the Romans, dis- 
 appeared. The Saxon language only was spoken ; and 
 the habits of the people, titles of honour, laws, and in- 
 stitutions, were those of the Germans, from whom they 
 were derived, with such alterations as were naturally 
 produced by increasing civilization. 
 
 It was in the course of this period, that is, towards 
 
 * From two Greek words, signifying seven governments. 
 2 
 
14 
 
 THE SAXON nEPTARCHY. 
 
 the close of the sixth century, that the Roman Pon- 
 tiff, Gregory, surnamed the Great, sent Augustine, with 
 forty companions, to spread the Christian faith in Eng- 
 land. The knowledge of the Gospel had, indeed, been 
 introduced into Britain during the struggle with the 
 Romans at a very early date ; and there was a consider- 
 able portion of the population to whom the name of the 
 Redeemer was not unknown, when Augustine landed in 
 Kent, and preached the Gospel with great success. Of 
 all the gifts of God to a nation, the knowledge of sal- 
 vation by Jesus Christ is the greatest, and deserves to 
 be ever remembered with peculiar thankfulness. 
 
 A ship of King Alfred's time. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Danish Invasions. — Saxon Kings to the Time of 
 Alfred. — His Reign. 
 
 From 827 to 900. 
 
 The tranquillity which England enjoyed on the ac- 
 cession of Egbert was soon interrupted by the aggres- 
 sions of the Danes. That people had made several de- 
 scents on the English coasts during the Heptarchy ; but 
 it was not till some time after the elevation of Egbert 
 to the sovereignty of England that their invasions be- 
 came formidable. Egbert, during the remainder of his 
 reign, and his successors, Ethelwolf, Ethelbald, Ethel- 
 bert, and Ethelred, were engaged in unceasing strug- 
 gles with these fierce invaders, and at the time when 
 the great Alfred succeeded his brother Ethelred, in the 
 year 871, the kingdom was reduced to the brink of ruin. 
 
 Alfred was no sooner seated on the throne than he 
 made head against the Danes, who were then ravaging* 
 the very heart of the kingdom. He repeatedly defeated 
 them in bloody battles, and compelled them to sue for 
 peace. But new swarms arrived daily, and the forces 
 of Alfred were exhausted by continual encounters with 
 fresh enemies. At last, he was obliged to assume the 
 disguise of a peasant, and lived for some time in con- 
 cealment in the house of a herdsman, whose cattle he 
 tended. 
 
 While in this retreat, he was one day ordered by the 
 woman of the house to watch some cakes which were 
 baking on the fire ; and allowing them, in his absence 
 of mind, to burn, he was severely reprimanded by her 
 for his negligence. His quality, however, was soon dis- 
 covered, to the amazement and consternation of his sim- 
 ple hosts, by the appearance of a band of his most de- 
 voted adherents, who came to desire him to lead them 
 once more against the foe. He did so, and after a 
 
 (}5\ 
 
16 REIGN OF ALFRED. 
 
 series of heroic exploits, at last totally routed the 
 Danish forces, under their king, Guthrum, who was taken 
 prisoner. 
 
 Before the battle, Alfred himself entered the Danish 
 camp in the disguise of a minstrel, and acquired that 
 knowledge of their situation which enabled him to at- 
 tack them in the most unguarded quarter. Alfred made 
 a mild use of his victory. Having persuaded the Danish 
 king, and the greatest part of his army, to embrace 
 Christianity, he allotted them lands on which to settle, 
 and placed them on the same footing with his English 
 subjects. 
 
 After this great defeat, which happened in 879, the 
 Danes made several plundering inroads into England, 
 but, through the energy of Alfred, the invaders were 
 immediately destroyed, without being allowed materially 
 to disturb the tranquillity of the kingdom. 
 
 Alfred, having thus secured the peace of his kingdom, 
 devoted himself to its improvement. He framed a body 
 of laws which is still considered the origin of the com- 
 mon laws of England. His police was so strict, that 
 when, as it is said, golden bracelets were hung by way 
 of trial on the way-side, no man touched them. His 
 government was as mild as it was strict; and his re- 
 gard for the liberty of the subject is shown by the noble 
 sentiment contained in his will, that the English ought 
 to remain for ever as free as their own thoughts. 
 
 Having raised his country to a high pitch of pros- 
 perity, he died in the year 900, after a glorious reign of 
 twenty-nine years, leaving the imperishable reputation 
 of being one of the best and wisest monarchs who ever 
 sat upon a throne. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 Saxon and Danish Kings to the Norman Conquest. 
 
 From <J00 to 1006. 
 
 Alfred was succeeded by his son Edward, the first 
 of that name. He possessed his father's military talents ; 
 for which he had employment in the insurrections and 
 convulsions which disturbed, his kingdom. He died in 
 925, and was succeeded by his natural son, Athelstan, 
 the earlier part of whose reign was disturbed by the 
 Danes, as that of his father had been : but the remain- 
 der of it was spent in tranquillity. He was an able 
 prince ; and one of his laws for the encouragement of 
 commerce, in particular, is remarkable for great libe- 
 rality and strength of mind, considering- the period 
 when it was made. It was, that a merchant who had 
 made three voyages on his own account, should be enti- 
 tled to the rank of a thane, or a nobleman. He died in 
 941. 
 
 He was succeeded by his brother Edmund, who was 
 slain in his own hall by a robber. His successor was 
 his brother Edred, in whose reign the marriage of the 
 clergy was first forbidden by the celebrated Dunstan, an 
 English monk, who, by his severity of life and pretended 
 miracles, gained unbounded influence in the kingdom. 
 On his death, in 955, he was succeeded by his nephew 
 Edwy. 
 
 The reign of Edwy is remarkable for the dismal story 
 of his queen Elgiva. This princess was his second or 
 third cousin, and within the degree forbidden by the 
 law of the Romish Church. His marriage, accordingly, 
 was contrary to the advice of Dunstan and the great 
 churchmen, whose power, in that age, was unbounded. 
 Such was their ascendancy over the nation, that they 
 dared to order her to be dragged from her husband by 
 armed men, who branded her face with a red-hot iron, 
 2* (17) 
 
18 SAXON AND DANISH KINGS. 
 
 after which she was carried into Ireland ; and the king" 
 was constrained to consent to a sentence of divorce. 
 Her wounds being cured, and the scars on her face 
 having disappeared, she attempted to return to the 
 king ; but, being waylaid by a party sent for that pur- 
 pose, she was most cruelly murdered at Gloucester. At 
 the same time, a rebellion stirred up by Dunstan, broke 
 out against Edwy ; and his younger brother, Edgar, a 
 mere boy, was set up in opposition to him. He died 
 before he was totally deprived of his kingdom, and Ed- 
 gar assumed the government. 
 
 Edgar, who mounted the throne in 959, had a pros- 
 perous reign. He yielded to the influence of the 
 monks ; but, in his general conduct of affairs, showed 
 capacity and vigour. His reign is remarkable for the 
 great number of foreigners whom he encouraged to 
 settle in England ; and for the total destruction of the 
 wolves. In "his character he was licentious and unprin- 
 cipled ; and committed some shocking actions for the 
 gratification of his criminal inclinations. One of these 
 was the murder of a nobleman, for the purpose of marry- 
 ing his wife Elfrida. He died in 975. 
 
 Edgar left two sons : Edward by his first wife, and 
 Ethelred by Elfrida. The accession of Edward was 
 violently, but unsuccessfully, opposed by his step-mother 
 Elfrida. But she had him treacherously murdered in 
 the fourth year of his reign ; when her son Ethelred was 
 raised to the throne. The feeble character of this prince, 
 who was surnamed the Unready, induced the Danes 
 to renew their inroads ; against which, his only means 
 of defence was the purchase of forbearance by large 
 sums of money ; an expedient which naturally produced 
 an effect opposite to that which he intended. The Danes 
 took the money offered them, and soon found pretexts 
 for renewing their devastations. 
 
 At that period, a great number of Danes were settled 
 in the kingdom, and were very odious to the English, 
 from their haughty and oppressive conduct. Availing 
 himself of this disposition on the part of his subjects, 
 Ethelred formed and accomplished^ the design of mur 
 
EDMUND IRONSIDE. — CANUTE. 19 
 
 dering the Danes throughout the kingdom. This horrid 
 deed was completed in one day, in the month of Novem- 
 ber, 1002. Its consequence was, that the Danes renewed 
 their attacks with more fury than ever. Ethelred was 
 even obliged to take refuge in Normandy, while Sweyn, 
 the king of Denmark, was crowned king of England ; 
 but Sweyn dying soon after, Ethelred was recalled, and 
 continued in a posture of defence against the Danes 
 until his death, which took place in the year 11)15. 
 
 Edmund, surnamed Ironside, continued to oppose the 
 Danes with great bravery, till a treaty was concluded 
 with Canute, the Danish monarch, by which the king- 
 dom was divided between them. Soon after the treaty, 
 Edmund was murdered by some of his officers, and the 
 whole of England submitted to Canute. 
 
 Canute, who ascended the throne of England in 1016, 
 was an able and powerful prince. In the distribution of 
 justice, he made no distinction between the English and 
 Danes, and preserved the Saxon laws and customs. In 
 his reign, the two races began to be blended with each 
 other. In the latter part of his life he was pious and 
 contemplative. 
 
 There is a story told of a rebuke given by Canute to 
 his courtiers, which is believed to be true. Being king 
 of England, Denmark, and Norway, his power was the 
 subject of gross flattery ; and his attendants affected to 
 treat him as if his power were boundless. Canute seated 
 himself in a chair, on the sea-shore, while the tide was 
 advancing, and loudly commanded the sea to retire, and 
 to obey the voice of him who was its lord. He pretended 
 to sit still in expectation of his command being obeyed, 
 till the sea began to wash him with its waves. Then, 
 turning to his courtiers, he desired them to observe, that 
 power truly resided but with one Being, who alone could 
 say to the ocean, " Thus far shaft thou go and no far- 
 ther." Canute died in the nineteenth year of his reign ; 
 leaving three sons, Sweyn, who became king of Norway, 
 Hardicanute, who succeeded to the crown of Denmark, 
 and Harold, to that of England. 
 
 The reign of Harold (surnamed Harefoot) was re- 
 
20 EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. 
 
 markable only for an act of wickedness. Ethelred the 
 Unready had married as his second wife, Emma, daugh- 
 ter of the duke of Normandy, by whom he had two sons, 
 Edward and Alfred. On his death, his widow and her 
 sons removed into Normandy. Emma afterwards mar- 
 ried Canute, by whom she had Hardicanute, now king 1 
 of Denmark ; his sons Sweyn and Harold being of a 
 different marriage. After the death of Canute, the two 
 English princes arrived in England, to pay their mother 
 a visit. Alfred was invited to London by Harold ; but 
 was waylaid and murdered on the road. His mother 
 and brother immediately fled to Normandy. Harold 
 died after a reign of four years, and was succeeded by 
 his brother Hardicanute; a man remarkable only for his 
 strength and intemperance. He reigned only two years, 
 and was succeeded by Edward, the surviving son of 
 Ethelred and Emma. 
 
 The accession of Edward, surnamed the Confessor, 
 was in 1041. He was engaged, during the greatest 
 part of his reign, in contests with Earl Godwin, whose 
 power had been increasing during the two preceding 
 reigns, and was now sufficient to make him a rival of 
 his sovereign. Edward had married Editha, Earl God- 
 win's daughter, by whom he had no children. On the 
 death of that nobleman, his son Harold aspired so openly 
 to the succession of the crown, and made himself so 
 generally popular, that on the death of Edward, which 
 took place in 1066, in the twenty-fifth year of his reign, 
 he was able to take possession of the crown, without 
 opposition, though there was a nearer heir, in the per- 
 son of Edgar Atheling, the grandson of Edmund Ironside. 
 
 Harold covered the defect of his title by governing in 
 a manner calculated to make him popular. He caused 
 the laws to be revised and improved, and to be impar- 
 tially executed ; and he repelled with great vigour a 
 formidable invasion of the Norwegians. But he had 
 no sooner freed himself from this enemy, than he re- 
 ceived news that William, duke of Normandy, had 
 landed in England with an army, and laid claim to the 
 crown. 
 
BATTLE OF HASTINGS- 21 
 
 The Normans were descended from the followers of 
 Rollo, a petty prince of Denmark, who, in the beginning 
 of the tenth century* had invaded France, and compelled 
 the king-, Charles the Simple, to put them in possession 
 of a province on the coast, which acquired the name of 
 Normandy, and its inhabitants that of Normans, or 
 Northmen. Rollo was the first duke of Normandy, and 
 from him William was descended. 
 
 It was on the 29th of Semptember, 1066, that William 
 landed at Hastings, with an army of 60,000 men. He 
 was immediately met by Harold, at the head of a power- 
 ful force, devoted to his cause, and flushed with their 
 victory over the Norwegians. The armies engaged at 
 day-break, on the 14th of October. The advantage was 
 at first with the English, who made a terrible slaughter; 
 but William, by pretending to give ground, threw them 
 into disorder, and then suddenly turned upon them 
 with more fury than before. The fate of the battle still 
 remained in suspense, when Harold, while heading a 
 charge against the Norman heavy armed infantry, was 
 slain by an arrow which pierced his brain ; and his two 
 brothers fell by his side. The English troops now gave 
 way on all sides, and were pursued by the Normans 
 with great slaughter. Near 15,000 Normans fell, and 
 the loss of the English was still more considerable. 
 
 Thus ended the Saxon government in England, after 
 it had subsisted for six hundred years. The constitution 
 of the kingdom, and the nature of its laws, during that 
 period, are not distinctly understood ; but the following 
 particulars may be noticed. 
 
 The principle of inheritance, so natural to mankind, 
 was acknowledged in the succession to the crown, as 
 well as to private property ; but the pretentions of the 
 next heir to the throne, when, through want of sufficient 
 age, or other causes, he was not in a condition to sup- 
 port them, were so often disregarded, that the crown 
 cannot strictly be said to have been hereditary. 
 
 During the whole of the Saxon period, the laws and 
 chief acts of government were passed and confirmed by 
 a great assembly, called the Wittenagemot, the nature 
 
22 SAXON AND DANISH INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 of which is very imperfectly known. It is agreed that 
 the greater churchmen formed an essential part of it ; 
 and also the Aldermen, or governors of counties, who 
 had received the Danish titles of Earls. Besides these, 
 the assembly was composed of Wites, or wise men, by 
 whom some writers understand the judges, or men 
 learned in the law ; and others, the representatives of 
 the towns, or what are now called the Commons. 
 
 Without entering into a discussion too extensive for 
 this work, we may observe that there appears no positive 
 evidence of so great a refinement as a representative 
 government in that rude age ; and that, considering the 
 smallness and poverty of the towns, (which were mere 
 villages), it is very improbable that they would have 
 any voice in the government. There is reason to be- 
 lieve that the more considerable proprietors of land had 
 seats in this assembly, in right of their possessions. 
 
 The constitution of the courts of justice was well cal- 
 culated to protect the rights of the people. Every 
 county was divided into hundreds and tithings ; and a 
 general county-court, consisting of the whole freeholders, 
 under the presidency of the bishop and earl, assembled 
 once a year, to receive appeals from the lesser courts, 
 and to decide all sorts of causes. The excessive power, 
 however, of the great nobility, who, attended by bands 
 of armed followers, were able to commit every sort of 
 violence, and even to defy the royal authority, lessened 
 the good effects of these regulations. These powerful 
 plunderers were above the reach of the laws ; the people 
 found it necessary to protect themselves by personal re- 
 sistance ; and hence scenes of disorder and strife were 
 common throughout the country. The power of the 
 nobility was increased by the number of slaves, or vil- 
 lains, (then the most numerous body of the people,) who 
 were at their absolute disposal : and by whose means 
 they were enabled to deprive the lower classes of free- 
 men of everything beyond the mere name of freedom. 
 
 The criminal laws of the Saxons were derived from 
 their German forefathers. The punishment of death 
 had no place among them ; but every crime, even mur- 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 23 
 
 der, was punished by compensation to the party injured, 
 and a line to the king. By a law of Alfred, wilful mur- 
 der was made a capital crime ; but it does not appear 
 that this law was generally acted upon. The modes of 
 trial were full of the superstition of the age. If the 
 evidence were perplexing, recourse was had to single 
 combat between the accuser and the accused ; or to the 
 ordeal, by which the accused was made to plunge his 
 hand into boiling water, or carry red-hot iron. 
 
 At the time of the Conquest, the Saxons, Danes, and 
 remnants of the ancient inhabitants, were so blended as 
 to have become one people. For several generations 
 afterwards, this people, who went under the general 
 name of the Anglo-Saxons, remained distinct from the 
 Normans, and a strong enmity subsisted between them ; 
 but as they became more intermixed, this feeling died 
 a way ; and all former distinctions were lost in the gene- 
 ral name and character of the English. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 William the Conqueror. 
 
 From 1066 to 1087. 
 
 The defeat and death of Harold filled the English 
 with consternation. The whole nation, including even 
 Edgar Atheling, the rightful heir to the throne, submit- 
 ted to William, who was crowned king of England at 
 Westminster, on the 26th of December, 1066. 
 
 In the beginning of his reign, he sought the favour of 
 his English subjects ; but, by the symptoms of distrust 
 which he betrayed, and the preference which he showed 
 to his Norman followers, in bestowing places of honour 
 or emolument, he soon lost the popularity which he had 
 acquired. 
 
 Soon after his accession he paid a visit to hia dorm- 
 
• 
 24 WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 
 
 William the Conqueror. 
 
 nions in Normandy ; and his absence produced the most 
 fatal effects. His officers taking advantage of it, threw 
 off all restraint, and treated the English so oppressively 
 that their discontents broke out into an extensive insur- 
 rection. A secret conspiracy was formed for a general 
 slaughter of the Normans, similar to that of the Danes 
 at a former period. William returned in time to pre- 
 vent the execution of this bloody enterprise. But from 
 that time, he regarded the English as his inveterate 
 enemies ; and the history of his reign, for many years, 
 presents nothing but acts of oppression on his part, fol- 
 lowed by insurrections violently suppressed and severely 
 punished. 
 
 After a great rising in the North he determined to 
 render the offending districts incapable of repeating the 
 offence : and ordered the whole of that fine country 
 which, for the extent of sixty miles, lies between the 
 Humber and the Tees to be laid waste. The order was 
 executed by the Normans with the most savage barba- 
 rity ; and it is computed that a hundred thousand persons 
 perished by the hands of the spoilers, or from the effects 
 of cold and hunger. This warfare continued till the 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 26 
 
 English were wholly subdued, and obliged to submit to 
 their conqueror. 
 
 William now took every method to depress his Eng- 
 lish subjects. It was a fixed maxim in his reign, that 
 no native of the island should ever be advanced to any 
 dignity in the church, the state, or the army. The dis- 
 turbances and conspiracies, in so many parts of the king- 
 dom, had placed the bulk of the landed proprietors at his 
 mercy ; and he rigorously deprived them of their posses- 
 sions, which he bestowed on Normans. Almost all the 
 most ancient and honourable families were thus reduced 
 to beggary. 
 
 William, with similar views, introduced what is called 
 the Feudal System into England. He divided the lands 
 of England into baronies, held from the crown for mili- 
 tary service; and these were divided into numerous 
 possessions, held by vassals of the great barons. These 
 vassals were obliged to render to the barons from whom 
 they held their lands, the same sort of military service 
 which the barons rendered to the crown. Thus every 
 baron, when engaged in w r ar, was followed by a troop 
 of his own vassals, and their dependants, who generally 
 considered him as their only superior. The whole of 
 the baronies, and by far the greater proportion of the 
 inferior possessions, fell into the hands of Normans ; and 
 even the English proprietors who retained their estates, 
 were obliged now to hold them as vassals of some Nor- 
 man baron. The king attempted to abolish the use of 
 the English language, and ordered the pleadings in the 
 courts of law, and all deeds and public writings, to be in 
 French. But it has been remarked that, notwithstand- 
 ing, the English language stood its ground, and that the 
 Norman-French made less progress than it had done 
 during the preceding reigns. 
 
 The latter part of William's life was disturbed by a 
 rebellion of his son Robert, who having been promised 
 the dukedom of Normandy, demanded the fulfilment 
 of this promise in his father's lifetime. William gave 
 him a flat denial, observing that " it was not his custom 
 to throw off his clothes till he went to bed." An open 
 3 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 
 
 A ship of the time of William the Conqueror. 
 
 quarrel was the consequence ; and, after a contest of 
 several years, Robert was besieged by his father, in the 
 castle of Gerberoy, in France, where he had taken 
 shelter. The garrison was strong; and many skirmishes 
 took place. In one of these the king and his son met, 
 and, without knowing each other, engaged with fury. 
 .Robert wounded his father in the arm, and threw him 
 from his horse ; and the next blow would probably have 
 been fatal, had not the king made himself known by 
 calling for help. Robert, shocked at the dreadful crime 
 he was on the point of committing, threw himself at his 
 lather's feet, and implored forgiveness. William sternly 
 withdrew ; but afterwards, moved by his son's conduct, 
 restored him to favour. 
 
 William's death occurred while on an expedition 
 against the king of France, who had offended him by 
 privately supporting some of the rebellious nobility, It 
 was caused by a bruise in the belly against the pommel 
 of his horse's saddle. He died on the 9th of September, 
 1087, in the sixty-third year of his age, and twenty- 
 second of his reign. 
 
 He was buried in the church of Caen ; and a remarka- 
 ble circumstance occurred at his funeral. As the body 
 was being carried to the grave, a man, who stood on aa 
 
WILLIAM RUFUS. 27 
 
 eminence, in a loud voice forbade the interment of the 
 body in a spot which the deceased had unjustly seized : 
 "That very spot," he cried, "is the site of my father's 
 house; and I summon the departed soul before the di- 
 vine tribunal, to answer for the crime." All present 
 were struck by the solemn appeal ; and, the man's charge 
 being found to be just, he immediately received satis- 
 faction for the wrong. 
 
 William is described by the writers of the time as 
 possessing almost the size and strength of a giant. He 
 was stern, obdurate, and revengeful ; but of a vigorous 
 and commanding spirit. Though very far from being 
 ' one of the best , he was probably one of the greatest, of 
 the English monarchs. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 William Rufus. — Henry I. — Stephen. 
 
 From 1087 to 1154. 
 
 William the Conqueror bequeathed the crown of 
 England to his second son, William, surnamed Rufus, 
 from his red hair. A party of the Norman barons entered 
 into a conspiracy in favour of his elder brother Robert, 
 who was much beloved, while William was generally 
 detested, from the cruelty of his disposition. It failed ; 
 and William afterwards reigned unmolested. His reign 
 was tyrannical ; and his death, caused by an arrow, 
 accidentally shot by one of his courtiers in a hunting 
 party, was unlamented. This occurrence happened in 
 the thirteenth year of his reign. 
 
 At the time of his death, his elder brother was in 
 Palestine, engaged in the crusades.* His younger 
 
 ♦The Crusades, or wars of the Cross, were great military ex- 
 peditions, undertaken by the princes of Europe, for the purpose 
 of rescuing the land of Judea (or Palestine) and the holy city of 
 Jerusalem from the hands of the Saracens. 
 
HENRY I. 
 
 William Rufus. 
 
 brother, Henry, immediately assumed the crown; but 
 Robert, on his return from the Holy Land, determined 
 to assert his right of succession. 
 
 Robert was generous and brave; but ruined all his 
 enterprises by an incurable indolence, which is said to 
 have been so excessive, that his servants plundered him 
 without shame or concealment ; and he is described as 
 lying whole days in his bed, for want of clothes, of which 
 they had robbed him. Being, however, supported by 
 some of the nobility, he raised a small army with which 
 he encountered the large force of his brother, with the 
 valour he was wont to display against the Saracens. 
 Notwithstanding the inequality of force, he was on the 
 point of gaining the victory; but his troops, at last, 
 were routed, and himself taken prisoner. He was con- 
 fined in the castle of Cardiff, where he died, aller ■ 
 captivity of twenty-eight years; and some historians 
 eay that his brother had the barbarity to order him to be 
 
HENRY I. 
 
 29 
 
 Stephen. 
 
 deprived of signt by the application of a red-hot copper 
 basin to his eyes. 
 
 In order to confirm his title to the crown, Henry 
 married Matilda, daughter of Malcolm III., king of 
 Scotland, and niece of Edgar Atheling, the last descend- 
 ant of the Saxon royal line. To gain the affections of 
 his subjects, he granted a charter,* conferring on them 
 various rights and privileges. No effect was given, 
 however, to this deed ; and it was almost forgotten, till 
 it was made use of in the reign of King John, to serve 
 as a model for the famous Magna Charta, to be after- 
 wards noticed. He died in 1135, in the thirty-fifth year 
 of his reign, leaving one child, Matilda, who was married 
 first to the Emperor of Germany, and afterwards to 
 
 * A charter is a formal writing by which a sovereign confers 
 rights or privileges on his subjects. 
 3* 
 
30 HENRY II. 
 
 Geoffrey Plantagenet, count of Anjou, by whom she had 
 a son, named Henry. 
 
 Matilda, the daughter of the late king, was declared 
 by his will the heiress of the crown ; but a rival appeared 
 in the person of Stephen, son of the Count de Blois, 
 who had married Adela, daughter of William the Con- 
 queror. On the king's death, Stephen hastened to Eng- 
 land, and through the influence of a party who adhered 
 to him, was proclaimed king at London. The cause of 
 Matilda, however, was espoused by a large portion of the 
 nobility, and a desolating civil war was the consequence, 
 attended with great changes of fortune^ At one time 
 Stephen was defeated, and fell into the hands of Matilda, 
 who threw him into prison and had herself crowned : 
 but she was unfit to maintain her power over the turbu- 
 lent nobility, among whom a conspiracy was formed for 
 the restoration of Stephen. The war was renewed, and 
 ended at last by a treaty, by which Stephen was to enjoy 
 the crown during his life, and be succeeded by Matilda's 
 son, Henry. Stephen died, soon after the conclusion of 
 this treaty, in the year 1154. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Henry II. — Richard I. 
 
 From 1154 to 1196. 
 
 Henry II. the first of the royal line of the Plantage- 
 nets, commenced his reign by several very popular acts 
 of government. He dismissed the hired troops with 
 whom England was overrun ; ordered a number of the 
 castles, which enabled the great barons to maintain a 
 power independent of the crown, to be demolished, and 
 granted charters to several of the towns, by which they 
 
HENRY II. 
 
 31 
 
 Henry II. 
 
 held their privileges directly from himself, and indepen- 
 dently of any other superior. These charters laid the 
 foundation of English liberty, as the citizens of the 
 towns were now, for the first time, considered as one of 
 the political orders of the state. 
 
 He next attempted to control the overgrown power of 
 the popish clergy, with whom he involved himself in a 
 struggle that lasted during the whole of his reign. In 
 this age the influence of the Pope, and of every degree 
 of the Roman priesthood, was at its highest pitch. The 
 Pope exercised an unbounded sway in the temporal as 
 well as spiritual concerns of every state in Europe, and 
 received as his due, acts of the humblest service from 
 foreign princes. Of this it may be mentioned, as an 
 instance, that when Henry II. and the king of France 
 met the Pope, in the course of some negotiations, at the 
 castle of Torci in France, the two kings dismounted 
 from their horses, and holding the reigns of his bridle, 
 
conducted him into the castle, and assisted him to dis- 
 mount. 
 
 The ecclesiastics of England held themselves inde- 
 pendent of any civil power whatever, and assumed an 
 authority superior to that of the king himself. As a 
 first step towards maintaining his authority against their 
 usurpations, Henry promoted to the dignity of arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, Thomas a Becket, the Chancellor, 
 a man of great capacity, who from his zeal in the king's 
 service, appeared a fit instrument for executing his de- 
 signs. No sooner, however, had Becket attained the 
 highest dignity in the church, than he espoused the cause 
 of his new order, and treated the king with the utmost 
 arrogance. This conduct roused the king to a course of 
 proceeding equally violent and unjust. He reared up a 
 series of frivolous suits against the archbishop, in which, 
 by his influence with the barons, he obtained hasty sen- 
 tences, in contempt of the common forms of justice ; and, 
 by this kind of persecution, he succeeded in driving 
 Becket out of the kingdom. But he soon felt the effects 
 of this impolicy. Public feeling, as usual in such cases, 
 began in England, to turn in Becket's favour; and 
 abroad his cause was warmly espoused by the Pope, 
 whose threats of excommunication, though disregarded 
 by the king himself, had such an effect on the kingdom 
 as to shake the foundation of the royal authority. 
 
 After an ineffectual resistance, Henry was obliged to 
 replace Becket in his dignities. His victory gave him 
 more absolute sway than ever; and his arrogance at 
 length became so intolerable to the king, that he was 
 heard to say with bitterness, that he had no friends left, 
 otherwise he would be freed from the tyranny of that 
 ungrateful and imperious prelate. These words were 
 constructed, by four of the king's attendants, into a de- 
 sire for the archbishop's death. They immediately pro- 
 ceeded to Canterbury ; and entering the church where 
 Becket was engaged in the evening service, they mur- 
 dered him before the altar. The king was overwhelmed 
 with grief and terror on account of this murder, which 
 there is no reason to believe he had in any degree coun- 
 
HENRY II- 33 
 
 tcnanced. The Pope, being- made sensible of his inno- 
 cence, granted him a pardon, on condition of his unlimited 
 submission to the Church. Becket's murderers were 
 allowed to remain unmolested ; but he acquired the re- 
 putation of a saint, and some pretended miracles were 
 ascribed to his shrine. 
 
 The reign of this king is remarkable for the conquest 
 of Ireland. That island, though early converted to j 
 Christianity ; and though it had made some advancement 
 in civilization, had at this period fallen into great bar- 
 barism. It was under the dominion of several inde- 
 pendent chieftains, or kings, who were in a state of con- 
 stant warfare with each other. One of these having 
 been driven from his dominions, applied for assistance to 
 Henry, who, having granted permission to his subjects 
 to assist the Irish prince, soon found a pretext for invad- 
 ing the island in person, which he did in 1171. He met 
 with no opposition from the inhabitants, who, worn out 
 with contention, gladly submitted to him, in the pros- 
 pect of future tranquillity. Since that time Ireland re- 
 mained an appendage of the English crown, till its 
 union with Great Britain. 
 
 The latter part of Henry's reign was embittered by 
 family dissensions. By his queen Eleanor, he had four 
 sons, Henry, Richard, Geoffrey, and John. Henry had 
 been anointed king during his father's life, and appointed 
 his successor: but he also demanded a share in the 
 government, which being refused, he prevailed on his 
 two younger brothers to join him in rebellion against 
 their father. They obtained the support of the kings of 
 France and Scotland ; Henry's Norman dominions were 
 invaded by the king of France, accompanied by the 
 rebellious princes, and the king of Scotland invaded 
 England. 
 
 Henry, however, overthrew the forces of his enemies, 
 both abroad and at home. He defeated the king of 
 Scotland ; took him prisoner, and compelled him, before 
 releasing him, to do homage for the Scottish crown. For 
 a few years he enjoyed tranquillity ; but he was again 
 involved in differences with his children, in the course 
 
34 
 
 RICHARD I. 
 
 of which two of them, Henry and Geoffrey died. Rich- 
 ard, supported by the king of France, again invaded his 
 father's continental dominions, and compelled him to 
 accept a peace, on terms which he chose to dictate ; 
 none of which affected the king so deeply as the dis- 
 covery that the youngest and favourite son, John, had 
 been privately in the interest of his enemies. He soon 
 after died of a broken heart, in 1189, in the thirty-fifth 
 year of his reign. 
 
 Henry II. was possessed of great virtues, both public 
 and private : his long reign, though embittered by many 
 circumstances painful to himself, was happy for his peo- 
 ple : and the English nation to this day enjoys the bene- 
 fits of which lie laid the foundation. 
 
 Richard 
 
 Henry was succeeded by his son Richard I. surnamed 
 Cmir de Lion, or the Lion-hearted, from his undaunted 
 bravery. Richard's better feelings were strongly ex- 
 
RICHARD I. 35 
 
 cited by his father's death. He accused himself of being; 
 his murderer, and was overwhelmed with grief and re- 
 morse. Instead of rewarding those who had aided him 
 in his unnatural conduct, he banished them from his 
 presence, observing-, that those who had betrayed one 
 sovereign, would never be faithful to another. 
 
 Richard's celebrity is wholly founded on the part he 
 took in the Crusades. The enthusiasm which gave rise 
 to these expeditions against the infidels was now at its 
 height, and extended through all classes of society. 
 Excited by it, in conjunction with his ruling passion for 
 military glory, Richard exhausted the resources of his 
 kingdom in preparations to join the Christian host in 
 Palestine, into which, in alliance with Philip of France, 
 he led an army of a hundred thousand men. Richard's 
 incomparable valour raised him to the command of the 
 whole forces of the crusaders ; and he carried on a war- 
 fare more glorious than useful, with Saladin, the re- 
 nowned Saracen monarch, whom he at length defeated 
 in the great battle of Ascalon. His army, however, 
 was too much exhausted to be able to prosecute his vic- 
 tory ; and a three years' truce* with Saladin enabled 
 Richard to return to his kingdom, the distracted state 
 of which required his presence. 
 
 In travelling through Germany, in his way home- 
 wards, he was seized by the archduke of Austria, with 
 whom he had quarrelled in Palestine, and thrown into a 
 dungeon, where he was so long closely confined, that 
 his subjects remained in total ignorance of his fate. His 
 discovery is said to have been effected by Blondel, a 
 minstrel who had been attached to his service, who after 
 wandering over many lands in search of his master, at 
 last found out the place of his captivity, by hearing him 
 repeat, with his harp, a favourite air played by the min- 
 strel without the walls of the prison. When Richard's 
 situation was known, the archduke of Austria, and the 
 
 * The truce was for three years, three months, three weeks*, 
 three days, and three hours, a number supposed in that ignorant 
 age, to possess some magical virtues 
 
36 RICHARD I. 
 
 emperor, who had joined in detaining him, found it im- 
 possible to retain the champion of Christendom longer 
 in their hands ; but they exacted a heavy ransom, which 
 Richard agreed to pay. The amount was raised in Eng- 
 land with the utmost alacrity; and Richard was per- 
 mitted to return to his dominions, after an absence of 
 four years, fifteen months of which he had spent in a 
 prison. 
 
 During Richard's absence, his brother John endea- 
 voured to usurp his crown ; first, by raising a party 
 against him at home, and then by prevailing on the king 
 of France and the emperor of Germany to prevent his 
 return. But the glory of Richard's actions preserved 
 his popularity among his subjects, by whom, on his arri- 
 val, he was received with universal joy. John was 
 under the necessity of making his submission, and 
 beseeching forgiveness, which was readily granted. 
 The remainder of Richard's reign was spent in a war 
 with France, which was terminated only by his death. 
 While besieging the castle of Chaluz, in France, he 
 received a wound from an arrow, which, through un- 
 skilful treatment, proved fatal, in the year 1199, and 
 the tenth year of his reign. 
 
 Richard was more ambitious to be distinguished as a 
 valiant knight than as a good king. He neglected the 
 affairs of his kingdom, and was prodigal both of the 
 blood and treasures of his subjects, in the indulgence of 
 his own propensity for war. He possessed, however, 
 many admirable and amiable qualities, which would 
 have borne better fruits in a more enlightened age. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 John. — Henry III. — Edward I. 
 
 From 1199 to 1307. 
 
 Richard left the crown, by his will, to his brother 
 John, to the exclusion of Arthur, the son of his brother 
 Geoffrey, then a boy of twelve years of age. The claim 
 of Arthur to the succession was supported by the king 
 of France ; and, as the character of John was hateful 
 both to his English and Norman subjects, a strong union 
 was formed against him. For some time Arthur's cause 
 seemed prosperous; and he himself behaved with a spirit 
 and bravery beyond his years; but he was at length 
 surprised, taken prisoner, and confined in the castle of 
 4 C 37 ) 
 
38 JOHN. 
 
 Falaise. His fate has not been precisely ascertained. 
 According- to some, he perished by falling from the 
 ramparts of the castle, in an attempt to escape; but the 
 account most generally received is, that John, after 
 vainly endeavouring to persuade some of his officers to 
 put his nephew to death, went at midnight to his dun- 
 geon, and, notwithstanding his tears and supplications 
 for mercy, stabbed him with his own hand. 
 
 This inhuman cruelty rendered John an object of 
 general detestation. The Norman barons would no 
 longer support him in defending that province from the 
 king of France; and, in a short time, it was for ever 
 lost to the crown of England. 
 
 John next engaged in a dispute w r ith the Pope, re- 
 specting the election of an archbishop of Canterbury. 
 The right of choice was disputed between the bishops 
 and the Augustine monks. John sided with the former ; 
 and an appeal having been made to the Pope, he set 
 aside the persons named by both parties, and insisted on 
 the appointment of a third person. John refused com- 
 pliance ; and the Pope laid the kingdom under an Inter- 
 dict , a terrible sentence in those days. Its effect was, 
 ^at all divine service was put a stop to : the churches 
 vere shut up ; the dead were refused Christian burial, 
 and thrown into ditches, or on the highways ; marriages 
 were celebrated in the churchyards ; and the people 
 ordered to submit to the most severe penances. This 
 calamity rendered the king, who was the cause of it, 
 more odious than ever; and the Pope, to follow up the 
 blow, pronounced sentence of excomynunication against 
 him, by which he was declared impious, and unfit for 
 human society ; his subjects freed from their oath of 
 oedience, and all Christian princes exhorted to assist 
 in dethroning him. 
 
 The king of France took this opportunity of invading 
 England ; but hatred of a foreign enemy overcame the 
 dislike of the English to their king, who speedily found 
 himself at the head of an army of 60,000 men. The 
 Pope now offered, if John would submit to his authority, 
 to remove the sentence of excommunication. The king 
 
JOHN. 39 
 
 agreed to surrender the crown of England, and to hold 
 it from the Pope as his master ! and further to pay him 
 a large sum as tribute ; and he publicly took an oath to 
 this etiect, in the presence of the Pope's legate, or com- 
 missioner, who received his submission with the utmost 
 insolence, trampling under his feet the tribute-money 
 which John placed in his hands. The French king was 
 ordered by the Pope to withdraw his troops ; but deter- 
 mined to persist. His fleet, however, being attacked by 
 the English, and almost wholly destroyed, he was under 
 the necessity of giving up his enterprise. 
 
 John being thus freed from his enemies, rendered 
 himself more and more hateful by his cruelty and 
 debauchery. At length, the barons formed a combina- 
 tion for the purpose of defending their rights; and were 
 assisted by Langton, the archbishop of Canterbury, a 
 man who was worthy of his high dignity. The prelate 
 produced a copy of the old charter of Henry I., and ex- 
 horted them to demand a renewal of it. The king at 
 first peremptorily refused compliance ; but after a long 
 contention, finding himself wholly unsupported, he was 
 compelled to submit. A meeting between him and the 
 barons took place on the 15th of June, 1215, in a mea- 
 dow between Windsor and Staines, called Runnimede ; 
 where the king solemnly signed the Magna Charta or 
 Great Charier. 
 
 Although the principal object of this deed was to se- 
 cure the rights of the higher orders of the state, yet 
 those of the great body of the people were not disre- 
 garded. The rights of the barons to the inheritance and 
 possessions of their lands were secured against the op- 
 pressive fines and- forfeitures which used to be exacted 
 by the crown ; and the vassals of the barons obtained 
 the same security against their exactions. Merchants 
 were freed from all arbitrary impositions ; and all free- 
 men were allowed full liberty to enter or quit the king- 
 dom. Courts of justice were made stationary, instead 
 of following the king's person ; and declared to be open 
 to every one ; justice was not to be bought, sold, or de- 
 layed ; and no freeman was to suffer in his person, free- 
 
40 JOHN. 
 
 dom, or property, unless by the judgment of his peers, 
 and according to the law of the land. Such is the 
 general tenour of the Great Charter, which for many 
 ages served as the great bulwark of English liberty. 
 
 The faithless king, however, though compelled to sign 
 the Charter, had no intention of observing it. He re- 
 tired to the Isle of Wight, where he employed himself 
 privately in raising a body of foreign troops, and in ob- 
 taining a ball, or decree, from the Pope, annulling the 
 Charter. He then suddenly attacked the barons, who 
 were wholly unprepared, and committed the most horrid 
 cruelties on them and their dependants. In their ex- 
 tremity, the barons applied for protection to the king of 
 France, and offered the kingdom to his son Louis. This 
 prince accordingly invaded England with a powerful 
 army, and entered London, the citizens doing homage to 
 him as their sovereign. His conduct, however, exicted 
 the suspicions of the English nobles as to his intentions 
 towards them. Many of them returned to John, who was 
 once more at the head of a considerable army. But as 
 he was marching from Lynn in Norfolk into Lincoln- 
 shire, the rear of his army was overtaken by the tide, 
 and all his carriages, treasures, and baggage, were 
 swept away. He himself escaped with difficulty, and 
 arived at Swinstead abbey, where grief and agitation 
 threw him into a fever. He was removed to Newark, 
 where he died on the 19th of October, 1216, in the 
 eighteenth year of his reign. 
 
 John was succeeded by his eldest son, Henry III., 
 then a boy of nine years of age. Fortunately for him, 
 the office of regent, or protector of the kingdom, de- 
 volved on the earl of Pembroke, a nobleman of honour 
 and capacity. By his wise measures, he brought back 
 the barons to the cause of their sovereign, and succeeded 
 in expelling the French from the kingdom. 
 
 When the king grew up, he appeared very unfit to 
 maintain his authority against the turbulent barons, 
 whose long habits of resistance to the crown rendered 
 them ungovernable. At that time they possessed forti- 
 fied castles in England, by means of which they op- 
 
HENRY III. 41 
 
 Henry III. 
 
 pressed their vassals and the common people, and often 
 set the king at defiance. The conduct of the baron de 
 Breaute may be mentioned as an instance. When 
 thirty-five verdicts were at one time found against him 
 in a court of justice on account of his having driven that 
 number of persons from their lands, he came to the court 
 with a body of armed men, seized the judge, and impri- 
 soned him in Bedford Castle ; and it was only after an 
 open war with the king's troops that he was subdued. 
 Availing themselves of the soft and easy temper of the 
 king, the barons set no bounds to their lawless conduct ; 
 and a civil war would have ensued, had it not been for 
 the beneficial influence of the clergy, who threatened 
 the barons with excommunication, if they persisted in 
 their contempt of the royal authority, — a threat which, 
 in that age, seldom failed in its effect. 
 Henry married Eleanor, daughter of the count of 
 4* 
 
42 HENRY III. 
 
 Provence, and disgusted his subjects by his partiality to 
 the natives of that country, on whom he lavished all hi* 
 favours. Under their influence, his government became 
 unjust and oppressive ; and the laws for the protection 
 of liberty and property began to be openly trampled on. 
 To these causes of discontent was added his wasting the 
 resources of the country in a foolish attempt to gain the 
 crown of Sicily for his son Edmund. He authorised the 
 Pope to take measures for conquering this island at his 
 expense, which he endeavoured to defray by levying 
 large sums from his subjects. On his demanding sup- 
 plies from the great council of the nation, consisting of 
 the dignified clergy, barons, and great landholders, 
 which now began to receive the name of the Parlia- 
 ment, that body refused unless on condition that he 
 should ratify the Magna Charta, which he nccordingly 
 did with great solemnity. Having obtained the sup- 
 plies he wanted, he no longer regarded his oath, but 
 allowed his foreign favourites, in his name, to oppress 
 and plunder the people as before. 
 
 This misconduct afforded the barons grounds for fur- 
 ther resistance to the king's authority. The parliament 
 Tefused the supplies they had granted ; and the king 
 was obliged to allow them to draw up a new plan of 
 government. In this work of reformation, they pro- 
 ceeded in such a manner, that they obtained the name 
 of the Mad Parliament. Some of their resolutions. 
 how T ever led to permanent benefits. They laid the 
 foundation of the House of Commons, by ordering that 
 four Knights of the Shire should be chosen by each 
 county, who should inquire into the grievances of the 
 people, and lay them before the ensuing meeting of 
 Parliament. All the former officers of state were dis- 
 missed, and twenty-four barons, at the head of whom 
 was Simon de Montford, earl of Leicester, were ap- 
 pointed to finish the new plan of the government. They 
 resolved to keep the government in their own hands : 
 and actually obtained a resolution of parliament, that 
 their authority should continue during the whole life of 
 the king, and of his son, Prince Edward. 
 
HENRY III. 43 
 
 This would have been submitted to by the weak- 
 minded king- ; but it was vigorously resisted by the 
 young prince Edward, who had gained great popularity. 
 A civil war ensued : and after the country had been 
 desolated by the contending parties, a battle took place 
 at Lewes, in which the prince was defeated and taken 
 prisoner, together with his father. Leicester now go- 
 verned the kingdom in the name of the king, and to 
 strengthen his interest with the people, he summoned a 
 parliament, to which, besides the barons and churchmen 
 of his own party, he ordered returns to be made of two 
 knights from every shire, and also of deputies from the 
 towns. This parliament was assembled in the year 
 1265, which is considered the beginning of the House 
 of Commons, the representatives of" the counties and 
 the boroughs now, for the first time, sitting as members 
 of the parliament, though it does not appear that, as 
 yet, they sat as a separate body. 
 
 During all this time, Leicester kept both the king and 
 prince in his custody. The latter, however, made his 
 escape, and was soon at the head of a powerful army, 
 while Leicester, whose ambition had now disgusted the 
 nation, was deserted by most of his adherents. He was 
 obliged to meet the prince with a very inferior force, 
 and was defeated and slain at Evesham, on the 4th of 
 May, 1265. The old king had been placed by the rebels 
 in the front of the battle, where he was wounded, and in 
 great danger ; but crying out, " I am Henry of Win- 
 chester, your king !" "he was saved by the soldier who 
 was on the point of striking him down. 
 
 This rebellion being thus subdued, Henry passed the 
 rest of his life in tranquillity, and died in 1272, in the 
 fifty-seventh year of his reign, the longest in the history 
 of England, excepting that of George III. 
 
 England was in a wretched state during this long 
 reign, owing to the extreme feebleness of the govern- 
 ment. No man was secure in his life or property ; and 
 whole villages were frequently plundered and burnt by 
 bands of robbers, who overran the country. Very often 
 the juries who were assembled to try such criminals, 
 
44 EDWARD I. 
 
 proved to be their own companions. Even the higher 
 orders, and members of the king's household were guilty 
 of such practices, and said in excuse, that, receiving no 
 wages from him, they were obliged to rob for their sup- 
 port. At this time, the Jews suffered intolerable op- 
 pression, not only in England, but over all Europe. 
 Henry extorted great sums from them : in one year he 
 made them pay 60,000 marks, a sum equal to the whole 
 yearly revenue of the crown. King John, his father, 
 once demanded 10,000 marks from a Jew at Bristol ; 
 and, on his refusal, ordered one of his teeth to be drawn 
 every day till he should comply. The Jew lost seven 
 teeth, and then paid the money. They suffered similar 
 treatment under Henry's successor, Edward I. ; and the 
 cruelties they underwent in his reign are a proof of the 
 hardening effect of inveterate prejudice ; for Edward 
 was not a cruel prince, and the Jews were the only por- 
 tion of his subjects whom he oppressed. 
 
 Edward was on his return from the Holy Land, where 
 he had distinguished himself by his valour against the 
 infidels, when he received the news of his father's 
 death. He was joyfully received by his subjects ; and 
 immediately set about correcting the disorders caused 
 by Henry's weak conduct. In particular, he severely 
 fined and dismissed many judges who had been guilty 
 of corruption in the exercise of their offices. He set on 
 foot inquiries into the encroachments on the lands of the 
 crown, which he carried so far as to call in question the 
 titles of the nobility to estates which they had possessed 
 for several generations. This excited a spirit of resist- 
 ance. Earl Warrens, being required to show his titles, 
 drew his sword, and declared that William of Normandy 
 had conquered the kingdom, not for himself alone, but 
 for the adventurers who joined with him ; and that be 
 was resolved to maintain what his ancestors had ac- 
 quired. The king took warning by this specimen of the 
 haughty spirit of the barons, and pushed his inquiries no 
 further. 
 
 Edward now resolved to make himself master of 
 Wales. The people of that country were the ancient 
 
EDWARD I. 
 
 45 
 
 Edward I. 
 
 Britons, who had maintained their freedom, when the 
 Romans and Saxons subdued the greatest part of the 
 island. They had always been troublesome and dan- 
 gerous neighbours to England. It was their practice to 
 make inroads, and ravage the country, whenever it was 
 disturbed by disputes at home, or engaged in wars 
 abroad. They had taken a part in the rebellion of the 
 earl of Leicester, in the preceding reign ; and their 
 prince, Llewellyn, on Edward's coming to the throne, 
 refused to do homage to him for his territories. Seizing 
 this pretext, Edward invaded Wales : and Llewellyn, 
 after a brave defence of his country, was defeated and 
 slain, on the 11th of December, 1282. David, his bro- 
 ther, escaping from the fight, remained for some time 
 concealed in the obscure recesses of the country ; but 
 
46 EDWARD I. 
 
 being taken, he was most unjustly condemned and exe- 
 cuted as a traitor to a government he had never ac- 
 knowledged. 
 
 In order to extinguish the spirit of liberty, which 
 Edward conceived to be much animated by the songs of 
 the Welsh bards, he adopted the horrible, and, in a 
 prince of his general character, almost incredible reso- 
 lution, of ordering them all to be collected and put to 
 death. To reconcile the people to his government, he 
 brought his queen to be delivered at Caernarvon, that 
 the Prince of Wales might be a native Welshman. In 
 rhis character the young prince was gladly received ; 
 md Wales has ever since been annexed to the English 
 :rown ; the heir apparent being usually invested with 
 the dignity of Prince of Wales. 
 
 Edward next conceived the design of extending his 
 sway over Scotland. The death of Alexander III., and 
 of his infant grand-daughter, who succeeded him, opened 
 the crown of Scotland to the claim of several candidates, 
 the principal of whom were Robert Bruce and John 
 Baliol. The dispute between them was referred to 
 Edward, who availed himself of the opportunity by ad- 
 vancing to the borders of Scotland, with a large army, 
 under pretence of deciding the difference. He sum- 
 moned the Scottish barons to meet him at Norham, on 
 the southern banks of the Tweed, and declared in favour 
 of Baliol, whose feeble character would render him a 
 convenient tool. He then proceeded to treat Baliol, and 
 the Scots as his subjects ; and, on Baliol unexpectedly 
 revolting against such treatment, Edward defeated his 
 army at Dunbar, took him prisoner, and obliged him to 
 renounce his crown, and then allowed him to retire into 
 France, where he died. 
 
 After the dethronement of Baliol, Edward treated the 
 Scots like a conquered people, till, roused by the exam- 
 ple of the celebrated Sir William Wallace, they rose 
 igainst their oppressor. Under this hero, they main- 
 ained a glorious but unequal contest for eight years. 
 ■Scotland, at length, was overwhelmed by the immense 
 forces of Edward ; and Wallace, who wandered with a 
 few adherents among the mountains, was betrayed into 
 
EDWARD I. 47 
 
 his hands. Wallace was brought to London ; and, after 
 being treated with great indignity, was condemned and 
 executed as a traitor, and his head and limbs exposed in 
 the chief cities in England : an action which has fixed 
 an everlasting stain on the memory of Edward. 
 
 Robert Bruce, the grandson of the rival of Baliol, now 
 stood forward as the champion of Scotland ; he drove 
 the English forces out of the country, and was crowned 
 king. Edward, inflamed with rage, swore that he would 
 march into Scotland, and never return till he had sub- 
 dued it. He kept his oath, for he never returned. After 
 a series of fruitless attempts against Bruce and his ad- 
 herents, who issuing from the mountains and fastnesses, 
 cut off great numbers of the English troops, Edward 
 was taken ill at Carlisle, and died, enjoining his son 
 with his last breath, never to give up the enterprise 
 till Scotland was subdued. His death took place in 
 1307, in the thirty-fifth year of his reign. 
 
 A strip of the time of Henry III, 
 
Edward II. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Edward II. — Edward III. 
 
 From 1307 to 1377. 
 
 Edward II., unlike his father, was of a feeble cha- 
 racter. He abandoned the attempt to conquer Scotland, 
 and allowed himself to be entirely governed by a favour- 
 ite, Pierce Gaveston, in whose society he spent his time 
 in frivolous amusements. Gaveston so disgusted the 
 nobility by his insolent behaviour, that they combined 
 against him, and on the kind's persisting in supporting 
 him, broke out in open rebellion, headed by the earl of 
 Lancaster. They surprised and seized Gaveston, whom 
 they immediately put to death ; and the king, on the 
 barons making a show of submission, granted them a 
 free pardon. 
 
 (48) 
 
EDWARD IL 49 
 
 The king now determined to prosecute the war with 
 Scotland ; and, calling out the whole military force of 
 the kingdom, marched into that country at the head of 
 a hundred thousand men. Bruce could muster only 
 thirty thousand to oppose him ; and these unequal forces 
 met at a place called Bannockburn, near the town of 
 Stirling. A battle took place on the 25th June, 1314, 
 in which the English were defeated with great slaughter; 
 and Edward himself narrowly escaped by flight. This 
 battle decided the contest, and secured the freedom of 
 Scotland. 
 
 Edward, unmindful of the fate of Gaveston, made 
 choice of a new favourite, Hugh le Despenser, and thus 
 again roused the enmity of the nobility. Another rebel- 
 lion broke out, headed as before, by the earl of Lancas- 
 ter. The rebels, however, were unsuccessful ; and Lan- 
 caster being taken, was put to death with the same 
 cruelty which he had shown to Gaveston. But the 
 queen, Isabella, sister of the king of France, a violent and 
 profligate woman, joined the cause of the malcontents. 
 Being then at the court of her brother, she refused to 
 return to England, and collected a numerous party of 
 banished nobles, with one of whom, Roger Mortimer, 
 she formed a connexion which dishonoured her husband. 
 With these attendants she landed in England at the 
 head of a small force ; but the people everywhere joined 
 her. Despenser, and his father, a respectable old man, 
 in his ninetieth year, were taken, and put to death, with 
 several noblemen of the king's party. 
 
 The king himself was seized while attempting to seek 
 refuge in Wales. He was placed under the custody of 
 two ruffians, called Maltravers and Gournay, whose in- 
 structions from the infamous queen and her paramour 
 may be learned from their actions. They endeavoured 
 to put an end to the king's life by a course of ill-treat- 
 ment. They hurried him from place to place, in the 
 middle of the night, and half naked. Among other acts 
 of brutality, it is said that they shaved him for sport in 
 the open fields, using filthy water from a neighbouring 
 ditch; an insult which his fortitude, hitherto great, 
 5 
 
50 EDWARD III. 
 
 could not withstand. Finding that he continued to live, 
 notwithstanding- their cruelties, they resolved on his 
 murder : which for the sake of concealment, they ac 
 compiished, at Berkley Castle, by running a horn pip 
 up his body, through which they conveyed a red-hot iroi 
 into his bowels. His horrid shrieks, however, betrayec 
 the dreadful secret ; and the whole was soon afterward* 
 made known by the confession of one of the murderers 
 This shocking deed was done on the 21st of September. 
 1327, in the twentieth year of his reign. 
 
 Edward III., at the time of his father's murder, was 
 only fifteen years of age, and was, therefore, obliged to 
 submit to the queen and Mortimer, who, by their rapa- 
 cious conduct, drew upon themselves the hatred of the 
 whole nation. It was however prevented from imme- 
 diately breaking out, by the appearance of a foreign 
 enemy. Robert Bruce, availing himself of the weak- 
 ness of the government, invaded and ravaged the north- 
 ern counties. Edward displayed the warlike spirit 
 which afterwards distinguished him. He determined to 
 cut off the Scots in their retreat; but after having 
 shown his own valour, failed in consequence of the mis- 
 conduct of Mortimer. The Scots gained their own 
 country in safety ; and the war was soon afterwards put 
 an end to by a treaty. 
 
 Mortimer becoming more and more odious to the na- 
 tion, Edward determined to shake off his authority. 
 The queen and Mortimer (who had been created earl of 
 March) resided together in the castle of Nottingham ; 
 and Edward, in concert with some of the nobility, deter- 
 mined to seize him there. They succeeded in surprising 
 the castle ; and Mortimer was seized in a chamber ad- 
 joining to that of the queen. She in vain implored the 
 barons to " have pity on her gentle Mortimer ;" but her 
 entreaties were disregarded. He was immediately 
 brought before the parliament, condemned, and hanged, 
 and his body remained for some days exposed on the 
 gibbet. The queen was imprisoned for life. 
 
 Edward made another attempt against Scotland, un- 
 der the pretence of supporting Edward Baliol in his pre- 
 
EDWARD III. 
 
 51 
 
 Edward III. 
 
 tentions to the throne, against David, the son of the 
 great Robert Bruce. Several bloody battles were 
 fought ; but Edward, seeing no prospect of success, 
 abandoned any further hostilities against that nation. 
 
 Edward had long entertained a design upon the crown 
 of France, founded on a pretension to the inheritance, in 
 right of Isabella his mother. It would require too much 
 detail to explain the nature of this claim ; but it is suffi- 
 cient to say, that it is universally held to be wholly 
 groundless, and contrary to the law of succession esta- 
 blished in France. Edward, however, determined to 
 make it, and the assistance given to the Scottish enemies 
 by the French king, pretexts for invading France. At 
 the beginning of the war, a great sea-fight took place, 
 in which the French were defeated. In this, the first 
 naval engagement on record between the two nations, 
 the French had 2800 ships destroyed, and 20,000 seamen 
 
52 EDWARD III. 
 
 slain. Edward's other operations were not successful ; 
 and he agreed to a truce, which was preserved for a con- 
 siderable time ; Edward being in no condition to renew 
 the war, having exhausted all the supplies which had 
 been granted by parliament. After an interval of six 
 years, he renewed his attempt, and landed on the French 
 coast, with an army of 30,000 men, accompanied by his 
 son Edward, surnamed the Black Prince, probably from 
 the colour of his armour. 
 
 King Philip hastened to meet the invading force with 
 an army of 120,000 men ; and on the 26th of August, 
 1346, they met near the village of Cressy. Edward 
 disposed his small force with the utmost judgment; but. 
 Philip, trusting to his numbers, yielded to his impatience 
 to engage. The French began the attack with great 
 fury ; and it fell chiefly on that part of the English army 
 where the Prince of \Vales was posted. Edward, who 
 was placed on an eminence from which he could survey 
 the battle, was urged to send succour to his son ; but he 
 refused, saying, that his son should be indebted to his 
 own merit only for victory. The contest continued till 
 night, when the French were totally defeated, and 
 Philip, continuing to fight desperately, was forced by his 
 attendants from the field. Thirty thousand of the 
 French were killed, including a great number of nobles, 
 knights, and gentlemen. Notwithstanding the great 
 slaughter of the enemy, the English lost only three 
 knights, one esquire, and a very small number of in- 
 ferior rank. 
 
 After this victory, Edward besieged Calais, which 
 sustained a siege of eleven months, and yielded in con- 
 sequence of the defenders having suffered the extremi- 
 ties of famine. They at last offered to submit, on their 
 lives being spared ; and Edward, full of wrath at their 
 obstinate resistance, agreed only on condition that six of 
 their most considerable citizens should be delivered up 
 to him barefooted, and with ropes about their necks, 
 ready for immediate execution. This cruel demand 
 struck the inhabitants with terror ; in the midst of which, 
 Eustace de St. Pierre, one of the principal citizens 
 
EDWARD III. 53 
 
 came forward and offered himself as one of the victims. 
 His example was instantly followed by five others ; and 
 these six self-devoted men entered Edward's camp in 
 the manner prescribed, and laid the keys of the city at 
 his feet. He ordered them to be executed ; but his 
 queen, Philippa, interceded, and by her tears and en- 
 treaties, procured their pardon. The surrender of Calais 
 took place on the 4th of August, 1347. 
 
 Queen Philippa, who possessed as much spirit as 
 generosity, had just arrived at Calais, after having done 
 her husband great service. David, king of Scotland, 
 had taken advantage of Edward's absence to invade 
 England ; but the queen took the field at the head of an 
 army, and, defeating the Scottish army at Neville's 
 Cross, near Durham, took the king prisoner, and carried 
 him in triumph to London, where he was kept in capti- 
 vity eleven years. 
 
 In the year 1349, the terrible plague, which continued 
 for several years to ravage almost all the countries of 
 the world, appeared in England, and 50,000 persons 
 perished in London alone. This dreadful scourge inter- 
 rupted for some time the war between England and 
 France. 
 
 During this time Philip of France died, and was suc- 
 ceeded by his son John. Edward now invaded France 
 in two places ; one army commanded by himself, landed 
 at Calais, and another, under the Black Prince, on the 
 coast of Gascony. Edward soon found it necessary to 
 return to England, in consequence of a threatened in- 
 vasion of the Scots, leaving his son in France. The 
 Black Prince was at the head of only about 12,000 
 men ; while King John marched against him with an 
 army of 60,000. 
 
 On the 18th September, 1356, the two armies came 
 in sight of each other near Poictiers. The Black Prince, 
 on seeing such an army advancing upon him, is said to 
 have exclaimed, " God help us ! nothing remains for us 
 but to fight bravely." The cardinal of Perigord, who 
 was with the French army, endeavoured, by mediation, 
 to prevent the shedding of Christian blood. He found 
 
54 
 
 EDWARD III. 
 
 Edward the Black Prince. 
 
 Edward willing to agree to any terms consistent with 
 the honour of himself and his army ; but the French 
 king would agree to nothing less than the prince sur- 
 rendering himself prisoner with a hundred of his at- 
 tendants. The prince replied, " that he would never be 
 made a prisoner but with his sword in his hand ;" and 
 the troops prepared for battle. 
 
 On the following morning the armies engaged ; and 
 after a desperate encounter, the French were completely 
 routed. The French king fought with great valour ; his 
 nobles fell around him, and his son, scarce fourteen 
 years of age, was wounded by his side. Finding himself 
 almost alone, he called out repeatedly, " Where is my 
 cousin, the Prince of Wales?" intimating his willing- 
 ness to surrender to so noble an enemy. At length, be- 
 ing told that the prince was near him, he threw down 
 his sword. He was conducted to the prince, whose 
 generosity was now as remarkable as his skill and cour- 
 age had been before. The prince received the captive 
 
EDWARD III. 
 
 55 
 
 king with such marks of sincere kindness and respect, 
 that he burst into tears, and declared that, notwithstand- 
 ing the greatness of his misfortune, he rejoiced that he 
 had fallen into the hands of so generous an enemy. 
 
 Ancient fortress, ditch, and battering ram. 
 
 John continued to be treated in the same manner after 
 his arrival in England. He was lodged, with his young 
 son, who was taken with him, first in the palace of the 
 Savoy, and afterwards at Windsor. His ransom was 
 fixed at three millions of gold crowns,* and he was per- 
 mitted to return to France ; but, finding himsetf unable 
 to raise the money, he honourably returned to his capti- 
 vity, where he remained till his death in 1364. 
 
 The last military exploits of the Black Prince, were 
 
 * About 1,500,000Z. sterling. 
 
56 EDWARD III. 
 
 in Spain. Peter the Cruel, king- of that country, hav- 
 ing 1 , by his oppressions, caused a revolt of his subjects 
 under his natural brother, Henry of Trastamare, applied 
 for assistance to the prince, who engaged in his cause ; 
 and entering Spain with 30,<J00 men, defeated Henry, 
 and replaced Peter on the throne. No sooner, however, 
 had the prince and his army left Spain, than Henry re- 
 newed his attacks on Peter, whom he at last defeated 
 and slew with his own hand. 
 
 Soon afterwards, the Black Prince was seized with an 
 illness, which proved fatal on the 8th of June, 1376, in 
 the forty-seventh year of his age. His father did not 
 long survive him ; he died on the 1st of June, 1377, in 
 the fifty-first year of his reign; and was succeeded by 
 Richard, only son of the Black Prince. 
 
 During this reign the parliament rose into greater 
 consideration than at any former time. Not that it 
 was able to prevent the laying on of taxes without its 
 authority, and other extensions of the king's power ; but 
 its constant remonstrances had the effect of checking 
 such proceedings ; and, at any rate, prevented them 
 from acquiring the authority of usage. 
 
 The first toll for mending the highways was levied in 
 this reign, for repairing the road between St. Giles's and 
 Temple-bar. Gunpowder appears to have been first used 
 for artillery by Edward at the battle of Cressy. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 Richard II. — Henry IV. — Henry V. 
 
 From 1377 to 1422. 
 
 Richard II. was eleven years old when he succeeded 
 his grandfather. Being- under age, the government was 
 in the hands of his uncles, the dukes of Lancaster, York, 
 and Gloucester, the sons of the late king. 
 
 At this time the people were in a state of great dis- 
 content, owing in some degree to the discourses of John 
 Ball, a seditious preacher, who went about the country 
 spreading doctrines of liberty and equality. A more 
 substantial reason was afforded by the imposition of a 
 
 (57) 
 
58 RICHARD II. 
 
 poll-tax, by which, as the poor paid as much as the rich, 
 they were heavily oppressed. A dreadful insurrection 
 broke out, headed by Wat Tyler, a blacksmith : a mob 
 of 300,000 men assembled in the neighbourhood of Lon- 
 don; and the king (his uncles being out of the kingdom) 
 took refuge in the Tower. The multitude entered the 
 city, murdering every one who appeared to be a gentle- 
 man or a foreigner, and destroying the houses of the 
 nobility. The king determined to meet and confer with 
 them, and sent them a message to that effect : after 
 which he went with a few unarmed attendants to the 
 place appointed, where he spoke to the multitude in so 
 gentle a manner, and gave them such assurances of re- 
 dress, that they retired quietly to their houses. 
 
 The more desperate of the party, under Tyler himself, 
 in the mean time, continued their ravages. On the fol- 
 lowing day, he and his followers, 20,000 in number, met 
 the king in Smithiield, attended by a small body of 
 horsemen. Tyler addressed the king with so much inso- 
 lence, that Walworth, the lord-mayor, unable to restrain 
 his indignation, struck him from his horse with a blow 
 of his mace, and he was instantly despatched by some 
 of the attendants. The multitude were confounded ; 
 and before they could recover themselves, the young 
 king addressed them with great dignity and mildness, 
 desiring them not to be concerned at the loss of their 
 leader, but to follow him. The people, struck with awe, 
 followed the king into the fields, where he gave them 
 the same assurance as their companions had before re- 
 ceived. 
 
 Richard's conduct on this trying occasion gave a pro- 
 mise of his future character which was not realised. 
 As he advanced in years, his character became more and 
 more weak and trifling. At the age of sixteen he mar- 
 ried Anne of Bohemia, whose virtues made her to be 
 long remembered under the title of the " Good Queen 
 Anne." 
 
 The occurrences of the great part of Richard's reign 
 are without interest. By a course of folly and misconduct 
 he lost the affections of all ranks. At length,. a quarrel 
 
r 
 
 HENRY iv. 59 
 
 having taken place between Henry Bolingbroke, son of 
 the kind's uncle, the duke of Lancaster, and the duke 
 of Norfolk, Richard appointed it to be decided by single 
 combat ; but when the combatants had entered the lists, 
 he banished them both from England ; Bolingbroke for 
 ten years, and Norfolk for life. During Bolingbroke's 
 banishment his father died, and the king took possession 
 of his estates. 
 
 Bolingbroke, enraged at this conduct, determined to 
 dethrone the king ; and, taking advantage of his absence 
 in Ireland, landed in Yorkshire with only sixty followers. 
 He was immediately joined by many noblemen, particu- 
 larly the earl of Northumberland, and his son Henry 
 Percy, surnamed Hotspur ; and soon found himself at 
 the head of a force which the king was unable to resist. 
 Richard surrendered himself; and, after being conveyed 
 to the Tower, and formally deposed, he was imprisoned 
 in Pontefract Castle, where it is generally believed that 
 he was murdered by ruffians employed for that purpose. 
 Some writers say, that he was struck dead by a blow of 
 a pole-axe, — others, that he was starved to death, after 
 having contrived to prolong his life fourteen days, by 
 feeding on the flocks of his bed.* His death happened 
 in 1399, in the thirty-fourth year of his age, and twenty- 
 third of his reign. 
 
 Richard being deposed, Henry Bolingbroke (now duke 
 of Lancaster) claimed the crown, on the ground that 
 Edmund, earl of Lancaster, from whom he was de- 
 scended, was not the youngest son of Henry III. but the 
 eldest ; and that, in consequence of some deformity in 
 his person, his younger brother Edward had obtained his 
 birthright, and succeeded to the crown in his stead. 
 This story was known to be false ; but Henry's claim 
 was admitted without opposition, though it laid the foun- 
 
 * It has been lately contended by Mr. Tytler, in his History of 
 Scotland, that Richard escaped from England, and lived many 
 years under the protection of the king of Scotland ; and that he 
 died and was buried at Stirling. But the evidence brought for- 
 ward by that able writer does not seem sufficient to set aside the 
 generally received account. 
 
60 
 
 HENRY IV. 
 
 dation for the bloody wars between the houses of York 
 and Lancaster, which afterwards desolated England. 
 He bore the title of Henry IV. 
 
 Henry IV. 
 
 His reign was little else than a series of rebellions and 
 insurrections. The most formidable was that of the earl 
 of Northumberland, to whom Henry had been chiefly 
 indebted for the crown. It arose from a trifling quarrel 
 about the delivery of some Scottish prisoners taken by 
 young Henry Percy; and Northumberland, with the 
 assistance of the Scots and Welsh, attempted to dethrone 
 the king. The rebels, commanded by Percy, were de- 
 feated at Shrewsbury, on the 20th of July, 1403, and 
 their leader slain. The earl submitted, and was pardoned. 
 Another great insurrection broke out in 1405, of which 
 the archbishop of York was a principal leader. It was 
 
HENRY V. 61 
 
 suppressed without bloodshed ; and all the leaders, in- 
 cluding the archbishop, were executed. This was the 
 first instance of the punishment of death being inflicted 
 on a clergyman of high rank. 
 
 In this reign the cruel and absurd practice of burning 
 people on account of their religion was first introduced. 
 The celebrated WicklifTe had, some time before, preached 
 against the errors of the church of Rome, and his doc- 
 trines gained considerable ground in England. Henry, 
 himself, before his accession to the throne, was believed 
 to favour them ; but he was persuaded to suppress them ; 
 and several of the Lollards (as the followers of Wick- 
 lifTe were called) were burnt in Smithfield. 
 
 Henry died in 1413, in the thirteenth year of his reign. 
 He was succeeded by his eldest son Henry. 
 
 Henry V., in his father's life-time, had been remark- 
 able for his idle and dissipated habits; and his conduct, 
 notwithstanding the bravery and high spirit which it 
 sometimes displayed, had much embittered his father's 
 latter years. On one occasion, one of his profligate 
 companions being committed to prison, for a robbery, by 
 the chief-justice Gascoyne, Henry behaved with great 
 violence, and even struck the chief-justice, who imme- 
 diately ordered him to be carried to prison. Henry 
 feeling the impropriety of his conduct, submitted to his 
 punishment, acknowledging its justice. When this 
 circumstance was reported to the king, he joyfully ex- 
 claimed, " Happy is the king who has a magistrate so 
 resolute in the discharge of his duty ; still happier in 
 having a son so submissive to the laws." In order to 
 estimate the merit of the behaviour, both of the judge 
 and the offender, we must remember that it happened 
 in an age very different from the present, when every 
 judge can execute the laws without fear or hesitation, 
 and every man, be his rank what it may, must yield 
 them entire obedience. 
 
 No sooner did Henry ascend the throne, tnan his 
 behaviour was totally changed. He dismissed his former 
 companions, and devoted himself to the duties of govern- 
 ment, in the exercise of which he exhibited prudence, 
 6 
 
02 
 
 HENRY V. 
 
 Henry V. 
 
 justice and liberality. His allowing" the continued 
 persecution of the Lollards was the only blot in his do- 
 mestic government. 
 
 His natural disposition, seconded, it is said, by the 
 dying advice of his father, led Henry to make war upon 
 France. To furnish a pretext for a quarrel, he demanded 
 that the provinces in that country which had been taken 
 from the English, should be restored ; and this demand 
 being, of course, refused, he invaded France with 50,000 
 men, in the year 1415. He besieged and took the town 
 of Harfleur ; but an infectious distemper breaking 1 out 
 in his army, soon reduced it to little more than 12,000, 
 many of whom were wasted by disease. In this situation, 
 
HENRY V. 63 
 
 Henry was met, near the village of Azincourt, by an 
 army of 100,000 men, under the duke of Orleans. 
 
 The memorable battle of Azincourt was fought on the 
 25th of October, 1415. The French, trusting to their 
 superior numbers, passed the night in idle jollity ; while 
 the English king made the most skilful arrangements 
 for the battle. In the morning, the onset was made by 
 the English, who, after using their arrows, rushed on 
 the French with their swords and battle-axes, and drove 
 them back with great slaughter. The duke of Alencon, 
 who had sworn to kill or take the king, clove his helmet, 
 but was struck down by Henry, and slain. This battle 
 was very fatal to France, from the immense loss of her 
 nobility, slain or taken prisoners : and it is said, that 
 8000 gentlemen were killed. The whole loss of the 
 English is said not to have exceeded eighty. 
 
 Henry returned in triumph to England ; the next year 
 he again invaded France, but met with no resistance, and 
 a treaty was concluded, by which it was settled that the 
 French king should enjoy his dignity for life, that Henry 
 should marry his daughter Catherine, and be heir to his 
 crown ; and that France and England should be thence- 
 forward united in one government. 
 
 Henry, soon after his marriage, returned to England ; 
 but the dauphin (or heir of the French king) refused 
 to submit to the treaty, and kept possession of several 
 towns. Henry returned to France, and died there on 
 the 31st of August, 1422, in the thirty-fourth year of 
 his age, and tenth of his reign, leaving a son, who suc- 
 ceeded him. 
 
 His widow, Catherine of France, soon afterwards 
 married a Welsh gentleman, Owen Tudor, by whom she 
 had a son, Edmund, earl of Richmond, who was the 
 father of Henry, earl of Richmond, afterwards Henry 
 VII. 
 
Henry VI. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 Henry VI. — Edward IV. — Edward V. — Richard III. 
 
 From 1422 to 1485. 
 
 Henry VI. succeeded to the throne when nine months 
 old. The duke of Bedford was appointed by the parlia- 
 ment protector of the kingdom. At this time, the Eng- 
 lish were masters of almost the whole of France ; and 
 Henry was carried to that country, and crowned at 
 Paris. The dauphin, however, gradually gained ground 
 against the English forces ; and notwithstanding the 
 efforts of the duke of Bedford, the English were con- 
 
 (64) 
 
HENRY VI. 65 
 
 stantly worsted ; till in th-e year 1450, they were totally 
 driven out of France. 
 
 England, meanwhile, was torn by factions; and the 
 kino-, as he grew up, discovered total incapacity for 
 government. One of the contending parties, by way 
 of increasing its influence, brought about a marriage be- 
 tween the king and Margaret of Anjou, daughter of 
 Regnier, king of Sicily, a woman of great capacity, 
 courage, and ability. 
 
 In 1450, Richard, duke of York, began to entertain 
 the design of aspiring to the crown. His right was un- 
 doubtedly preferable to that of the king. Henry de- 
 rived his descent from the duke of Lancaster, the third 
 *ox\ of Edward III., while the duke of York was de- 
 scended from the duke of Clarence, the second son of 
 that king. At this time the country was in a most un- 
 settled state. An insurrection broke out under a man 
 named Jack Cade, who after defeating 15,000 of the 
 king's troops, in a regular engagement, entered London, 
 of which he for some time kept possession. He put to 
 death several of the nobility, and committed many ex- 
 cesses ; but at length he was driven out of London, and 
 being deserted by all his followers, was killed by a 
 gentleman of the name of Eden, in whose garden he 
 had concealed himself. 
 
 These disturbances, as well as the disputes between 
 the king and parliament, were fomented by the duke of 
 York, who at last raised an army, for the purpose, as he 
 pretended, of reforming the government. He was op- 
 posed by the duke of Somerset ; and a battle took place 
 at St. Albans, in which Somerset was killed, and the 
 king, who was with him, taken prisoner. The duke of 
 York conducted him to London, and treated him with 
 an appearance of respect. The queen continued the 
 contest; and several battles took place, with various 
 successes. At last the queen's forces were defeated at 
 Northampton, by the earl of Warwick, brother to the 
 duchess of York ; and the king, who had joined the 
 queen, was again taken prisoner. 
 
 The duke of York now openly claimed the crown ; 
 6* 
 
66 EDWARD IV. 
 
 but the parliament, notwithstanding- the duke's power, 
 refused to dethrone the king-, but declared that the duke 
 of York should be his successor. 
 
 The queen persevered in her efforts; and, having 
 raised a considerable force in the north, encountered the 
 duke of York at Wakefield-green, in December, 1460. 
 The duke was killed ; and his son, the duke of Rutland, 
 a youth of seventeen, was murdered, in cold blood, by 
 Lord Clifford, in revenge for his father's death, at St. 
 Alban's. 
 
 Edward, the duke of York's eldest son, put himself at 
 the head of his party, and became a favourite of the peo- 
 ple. He soon obliged Margaret to retire from London ; 
 and entering the city amidst general acclamations, was 
 crowned by the title of Edward IV. on the 5th of March, 
 1461. 
 
 Margaret retired to the north, and was joined by such 
 numbers, that 6he was again at the head of an army of 
 60,001) men. She was met by Edward and the earl of 
 Warwick at Towton in Yorkshire, on the 29th of March, 
 and a bloody battle took place, in which the queen's 
 army was routed ; and, as Edward had ordered no quar- 
 ter to be given, 40,000 of the Lancastrians were killed 
 in the field or the pursuit. The queen fled to Scotland 
 with her husband ; and having obtained some supplies 
 of troops from France, again entered England at the 
 head of 5000 men. But her troops were again totally 
 defeated at Hexham, on the 15th of May. The king 
 remained for some time in concealment, but was dis- 
 covered, and thrown into the Tower. The queen es- 
 caped to Flanders. 
 
 Edward, now in possession of the throne, soon dis- 
 gusted his subjects. He was at once gay, profligate, 
 and cruel, and seemed to have the same pleasure in wit- 
 nessing a pageant as an execution. He insulted and 
 slighted the earl of Warwick, to whom he was indebted 
 for the crown ; and that powerful nobleman, prompted 
 by revenge, turned against him, and headed an exten- 
 sive party formed to restore king Henry. Warwick 
 went to France, and was reconciled to the queen. They 
 
EDWARD IV. 67 
 
 returned to England ; and in a few days were at the 
 head of 60,000 men. Edward was now obliged to fly 
 to Holland : and Henry was released from prison, and 
 once more placed on the throne. His title was confirmed 
 by the parliament ; and Warwick obtained, among the 
 people, the name of the King-maker. 
 
 Edward, however, trusting to his partisans in England, 
 ventured to return. Though at first coldly received, his 
 followers increased, and London, when he appeared be- 
 fore it, opened its gates. Henry was again pulled from 
 the throne ; and Warwick's party daily diminished. He 
 therefore found it necessary to bring the contest to the 
 issue of a battle, though with an inferior force. The 
 contending parties met at Barnet, on the 14th of April, 
 1471 ; and, after a desperate engagement, in which Ed- 
 ward ordered no quarter to be given, Warwick's troops, 
 with himself and his brother, were cut to pieces. 
 
 The queen had just returned from France, where she 
 had been soliciting supplies, when she received the news 
 of Warwick's defeat and death. Her fortitude gave 
 way under so terrible a shock, and she sank senseless 
 on the ground. Recovering herself, she resolved, with 
 her remaining followers, to make another effort, and met 
 Edward's victorious army at Tewkesbury. Her troops 
 were totally defeated. The duke of Somerset, and a 
 number of other men of distinction, were dragged from 
 a church in which they had taken refuge, and beheaded. 
 The queen and her son were brought before Edward, 
 who asked the prince in an insulting manner, how he 
 dared to invade his dominions'? The spirited boy re- 
 plied, " I came to recover my father's kingdom !" on 
 which the brutal tyrant struck him on the face with his 
 gauntlet, and the dukes of Clarence and Gloucester 
 stabbed him with their daggers. Margaret and her 
 husband were thrown into the Tower, were, it is 
 generally believed he was murdered by the duke of 
 Gloucester. Margaret, after remaining five years in 
 the Tower, was ransomed by the king of France. 
 
 Edward IV. now kept unmolested possession of the 
 throne. His reign presents no incident worthy of no- 
 
EDWARD IV. — EDWARD V. 
 
 Edward V. 
 
 tice. It was a disgusting course of licentiousness and 
 cruelty. He died in 1483, in the twenty-third year of 
 his reign. He married Elizabeth Woodville, Lady 
 Grey, by whom lie had two sons, Edward, prince of 
 Wales, and Richard, duke of York, and five daughters. 
 
 Edward V. was thirteen years old when he succeeded 
 to the throne ; his brother Richard was nine years old. 
 Richard, duke of Gloucester, the late king's brother, was 
 named regent of the kingdom. 
 
 No sooner was his brother dead than Richard deter- 
 mined to seize the crown. Having gained over the duke 
 of Buckingham, and some other noblemen to his in- 
 terest, he resolved to obtain possession of the young 
 king, who was then under the care of his uncle the earl 
 of Rivers. Having privately arrested this nobleman 
 and some of his friends, he conducted the king to Lon- 
 don with apparent respect, and the queen was prevailed 
 on to deliver up to him her younger son, the duke of 
 York. 
 
EDWARD V. — RICHARD III. W 
 
 These two young princes were lodged in the Tower ; 
 and Richard proceeded to rid himself of those who 
 might hinder the accomplishment of his design. He 
 despatched orders to behead Lord Rivers and his friends, 
 who had been imprisoned in Pontefract Castle ; and, on 
 the same day on which this order was executed, Rich- 
 ard summoned a council in the Tower, which was at- 
 tended, among others, by Lord Hastings, a nobleman 
 who had shown a disposition to oppose his designs. While 
 the council was sitting he pretended he had discovered 
 a plot against his life, ordered several of the members to 
 be arrested, and Lord Hastings to be instantly beheaded, 
 swearing that he would not dine till he had seen his 
 head. Hastings was hurried out to the little green in 
 front of the Tower chapel, and beheaded on a log of 
 wood that lay in the way. 
 
 Richard's followers now endeavoured to persuade the 
 people that the king was illegitimate ; and the mayor 
 and some of the citizens were prevailed on to offer him 
 the crown. He accepted the offer with pretended un- 
 willingness, and was immediately proclaimed and 
 crowned by the title of Richard III. The two young 
 princes, the king and his brother, were privately mur- 
 dered in the Tower, by some ruffians employed by 
 Richard. Finding the boys asleep in their chamber, 
 they smothered them with the bed-clothes. The bones 
 of these unhappy youths were discovered in the reign 
 of Charles II., and buried in Wesminister Abbey, where 
 a monument to their memory is now to be seen. 
 
 Richard, having owed his crown to the duke of Buck- 
 ingham, gave him great rewards for his services ; but 
 that nobleman did not think them sufficient ; and the 
 king having refused to comply with some of his extrava- 
 gant demands, Buckingham resolved on his destruction. 
 He accordingly entered into communication with Henry 
 Tudor, earl of Richmond, who was considered the only 
 survivor of the house of Lancaster, and agreed to support 
 his claim to the throne. Richmond was the grandson of 
 Catherine, widow of Henry V. and of Owen Tudor. 
 
 The king having become suspicious of Buckingham's 
 
70 
 
 RICHARD III. 
 
 Richard III. 
 
 designs, ordered his attendance at court, which com- 
 pelled him to proceed to extremities before his plans 
 were ripe for execution. He raised a large body of 
 Welshmen, and marched against the king; but a great 
 flood in the Severn, which lasted for ten days, dispersed 
 his men, and he was obliged to seek refuge in the house 
 of an old servant, who betrayed him to the king's offi- 
 cers. He was seized, and instantly beheaded at Salis- 
 bury. 
 
 Richmond having mustered a small force of about 
 2000 persons, sailed from Normandy and landed at Mil- 
 ford-Haven, in Wales. Several noblemen having joined 
 him, his army increased to 6000. Richard marched 
 against him with a force of double the number ; and 
 they met at Bos worth-field, in Leicestershire. Lord 
 Stanley, who commanded a large body of troops in 
 Richard's army, was privately in the interest of Richmond, 
 
RICHARD III. 71 
 
 who counted on his assistance. He was not disap- 
 pointed, for no sooner was the battle begun than Stan- 
 ley suddenly attacked the flank of Richard's army, 
 which could not withstand the shock. Richard, seeing 
 all was lost, rushed into the middle of the enemy, and 
 fell, fighting with the fury of a wild beast. After the 
 battle his body was found, stripped naked among a heap 
 of slain, covered with wounds, the eyes staring, and the 
 lace disfigured. It was thrown across a horse, and car- 
 ried to Leicester, where it was exposed for two days. 
 and then buried. The battle of Bosworth-field was 
 fought on the 23d of August, 1485. 
 
 Thus ended the royal line of the Plantagenets, which 
 began with Henry II., and possessed the crown of Eng- 
 land for 330 years. During the earlier part of that pe- 
 riod, England advanced in commerce and the arts of 
 civilized life. We are informed that, in Edward the 
 Third's reign, there were 30,000 students in the Univer- 
 sity of Oxford, During the wars between the parties 
 of York and Lancaster every pursuit was abandoned but 
 that of arms, and the people again became fierce and 
 barbarous. The art of printing was introduced into 
 England, in 1471, by the celebrated William Caxton. 
 This important invention became one means, under Pro- 
 vidence, of spreading abroad that religious light which 
 led eventually to the Reformation. The writings of 
 Wickliffe and others, exposing the errors and corrup- 
 tions of the Church of Rome, were widely circulated ; 
 and, as men became more enlightened on the subjects 
 of Christian doctrine, they grew weary of a system of 
 superstition and intolerance. A rapid advance both in 
 religious information and general knowledge now com- 
 menced, and from this period a corresponding improve- 
 ment in the state of society took place. All Englishmen 
 have to thank God, not only for the original introduc- 
 tion of Christianity into their land, but also for having 
 been made partakers, in an eminent degree, of the bless- 
 ings of the Reformation. 
 
 The account of Richard III. given in the foregoing 
 pages is that which has been received as history ever 
 
72 RICHARD III. 
 
 since the reign of Henry VII. A recent work of Mrs. 
 Halsted gives an entirely different aspect to the cha- 
 racter of this sovereign and the events of his reign. 
 She shows conclusively that this king has been calum- 
 niated by the friends of the Tudor dynasty ; that there 
 is no evidence of his having caused the murder of the 
 young princes ; that he was really invested with the 
 sovereignty by the unbiassed choice of the nation ; that 
 he reigned with justice and magnanimity ; that he was 
 popular with all classes of his subjects ; and that his fall 
 was caused by the defection of Lord Stanley, who was 
 a traitor in the worst sense of the word. 
 
 A ship of the time of Edward IV. 
 
Henry VII. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 Henry VII.— Henry VIII. 
 
 From 1485 to 1547. 
 
 A few months after his coronation, Henry married 
 Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV., thus strengthening 1 
 his claim to the crown by the union of the houses of 
 Lancaster and York. 
 
 He was joyfully received by the nation ; but, by a long 
 course of civil war, the people had become so restless, 
 that the mere love of change led them to frequent insur- 
 rections during his reign. He treated the descendants 
 of the house of York with great severity ; and this was 
 very disagreeble to the people, by whom the house of 
 7 (73) 
 
74 HENRY VII. 
 
 York had always been more beloved than that of Ian- 
 caster. Hence he became unpopular, notwithstanding 
 his wise and vigorous government. 
 
 Henry, at the commencement of his reign, imprisoned 
 in the Tower the earl of Warwick, son of the duke of 
 Clarence, and nephew of the late king Richard. A 
 young man named Lambert Simnel, pretending that he 
 was that prince, claimed the crown. Being supported 
 by some of the nobility, he procured a body of foreign 
 troops, with whom he landed in England, but not being 
 joined by the people as he expected, his adherents were 
 routed by the king with great slaughter, and himself 
 taken prisoner. Simnel himself was pardoned, and made 
 a scullion in the king's kitchen ; but those who had been 
 concerned in the insurrection, were punished by heavy 
 fines. 
 
 In the year 1493 another insurrection broke out, of a 
 similar kind, though of a more formidable extent. A 
 young man, named Perkin Warbeck, made his appear- 
 ance, pretending that he was the duke of York, the 
 younger son of Edward IV., who, it was said, had 
 escaped from the Tower by the assistance of the men 
 ^ho had been hired to murder him. He strongly re- 
 sembled the family of Plantagenet, and acted his part so 
 skilfully, that multitudes of persons were deceived. He 
 appeared at the court of the duchess of Burgundy (the 
 sister of Edward IV.) and claimed her protection as her 
 nephew. It is generally believed that the duchess was 
 concerned in this scheme, though some represent her as 
 being herself deceived. She received Warbeck with 
 transports of joy, real or pretended ; and treated him 
 with the distinction due to the heir of the English 
 jrown. A confederacy began in England in his favour ; 
 but it was discovered by the watchfulness of the king ; 
 and a number of persons engaged, or suspected of being 
 engaged, in it, were executed. 
 
 Warbeck, after making an unsuccessful attempt on 
 the coast of Kent, and another in Ireland, went to Scot- 
 land ; and so entirely convinced James IV. of his being 
 the duke of York, that he warmly espoused his cause, 
 
HENRY VII. 75 
 
 gave him in marriage Lady Catherine Douglas, daughter 
 of the earl of Huntley, and invaded England. A treaty 
 of peace, however, was soon concluded : and Warbeck, 
 finding his hopes of assistance from Scotland at an end, 
 put himself at the head of an insurrection, which had 
 broken out in Cornwall, in consequence of a new tax. 
 Being joined by 3000 of the discontented people, he laid 
 siege to Exeter, but fled on the approach of the king's 
 troops. His wife fell into the hands of the king, who 
 pitying her hard fate, treated her kindly, and placed her 
 in the queen's household, with a pension which she en- 
 joyed till her death. Warbeck soon afterwards gave 
 himself up ; and his life was spared, though he was kept 
 in custody. Having made his escape he was retaken 
 and committed to the Tower; He now entered into a 
 correspondence with the earl of Warwick, and laid a 
 plan for their joint escape : but, being detected, they 
 were both executed. The earl was beheaded on Tower 
 Hill, and Warbeck hanged at Tyburn. 
 
 In the latter part of Henry's reign, his covetous dis- 
 position, which increased with his years, led him to many 
 unjust and oppressive acts. He employed two lawyers, 
 Empson and Dudley, who extorted money from the peo- 
 ple in every way they could devise. Persons were com- 
 mitted to prison, but never brought to trial ; and were 
 glad to purchase their liberty by the payment of heavy 
 sums, which were called mitigations or compositions. 
 The whole laws which imposed fines were put in action, 
 whether beneficial or hurtful, new or old ; an army of 
 spies and informers was kept up in every part of the 
 kingdom ; and men's lands and goods were often seized 
 without even the colour of law. By all these means, 
 joined to strict frugality in his expenses, Henry amassed 
 an unusual sum of money in his treasury. 
 
 Henry VII. died in 1509, in the twenty-third year of 
 his reign. His eldest son, Arthur, who married Cathe- 
 rine of Arragon, died young. His second son, Henry, 
 succeeded him. Though his character was not amiable, 
 and his public conduct, in his latter years, unjust and 
 covetous, his reign was, on the whole, beneficial to the 
 
76 HENRY VIT. 
 
 nation. He carried the power of the crown to a greater 
 height than it had reached at any time since the grant- 
 ing of the Magna Charta ; but he exercised it chiefly 
 in establishing a degree of peace and order in the state, 
 to which it had long been unaccustomed. He passed 
 many useful laws; one of which was against the custom 
 of the nobility entertaining great bodies of dependants : 
 a practice deeply rooted, and the cause of great disorders. 
 To such a height had it risen, that the earl of Warwick 
 (the celebrated king-maker) is said to have maintained 
 thirty thousand retainers on his different estates. 
 
 There is a story of Henry's severity against this 
 abuse, which deserves great praise. Being entertained 
 by the earl of Oxford, his favourite general, the earl had 
 his retainers drawn up in splendid array, to grace the 
 departure of his guest. The king, after complimenting 
 the earl on the splendour of his hospitality, observed 
 that this handsome train were, no doubt, his domestic 
 servants. The earl smiled, and confessed the most of 
 them were his retainers, who had come to do him 
 service at that time, when he was honoured with his 
 majesty's presence. The king started back, and said, 
 " By my faith, my lord, I thank you for my good cheer; 
 but I must not allow my laws to be broken in my sight. 
 My attorney must speak to you." Oxford is said to 
 have paid 15,000 marks as a composition for this of- 
 fence. 
 
 Many laws were enacted for the benefit of commerce ; 
 but most of them founded in the erroneous principles 
 which then prevailed, were calculated to do evil, instead 
 of good. Among these may be mentioned the law 
 against the exportation of horses, which took away an 
 encouragement to improve the breed ; and the regula- 
 tions fixing the wages of labour and the prices of manu- 
 factured articles. 
 
 On the whole, notwithstanding the faults of Henry's 
 character, his policy was favourable to the rights and 
 independence of the people, and his reign was of great 
 benefit to the English nation. 
 
HENRY VIII. 
 
 77 
 
 Henry VIII. 
 
 Henry VIII. ascended the throne at the age of eigh- 
 teen. He was handsome, and engaging in his manners ; 
 and, for some time, much beloved by his subjects. His 
 first remarkable act was the punishment of Empson and 
 Dudley; the next his marriage with Catherine of Arra- 
 gon, the widow of his brother Arthur. 
 
 In 1510 he engaged in a war with France without 
 any reasonable motive ; and after an inglorious contest, 
 he concluded a peace in 1514. His arms were more 
 successful against the Scots, who, under their king, 
 James IV., having invaded England, were totally de- 
 feated, and the king slain, with the greatest part of his 
 nobility, in the memorable battle of Flodden, on the 9th 
 of September, 1513. 
 
 Henry, who had now committed the managment of 
 
78 HENRY VIII. 
 
 affairs to Cardinal Wolsey, began to displease his sub' 
 jects by his lavish expenditure, and his heavy exactions 
 to supply it. An attempt to levy a large tax, without 
 the consent of parliament, nearly produced a general 
 insurrection, and he was obliged to give it up. 
 
 Cardinal Wolsey. 
 
 His marriage with Queen Catherine had subsisted for 
 many years; when, affecting to have scruples, on account 
 of its legality, he became desirous to have it dissolved. 
 He applied to the pope for a divorce ; but he, unwilling 
 to break with the emperor of Germany, the queen's 
 relation, kept the matter in suspense ; and Wolsey 
 seconded this policy. At last, when the king's patience 
 was almost exhausted, it was reported to him, that a 
 young ecclesiastic, of the name of Cranmer, had said, 
 that the king should spend no more time in negotiation 
 with the pope, but should propose to all the universities 
 of Europe, the plain question, " Can a man marry his 
 brother's widow ]*' The king, delighted with this hint, 
 exclaimed, " The man has got the right sow by the 
 ear." The advice was adopted, and opinions against 
 the legality of the marriage were obtained. The queen 
 
HENRY VIII. 79 
 
 was divorced, and Henry immediately married Anne 
 Boleyn. Cranmer afterwards became archbishop of 
 Canterbury, and enjoyed Henry's confidence during the 
 rest of his life. 
 
 Wolsey, whose favour had been declining-, was dis- 
 graced some time before the queen's divorce. He was 
 ordered to retire to his diocese at York, but was soon 
 afterwards arrested for high treason. On his way to 
 London he was taken ill, and died in Leicester Abbey. 
 In his last words he drew a just and striking portrait of 
 his master : " He is a prince of a most royal carriage, 
 and hath a princely heart ; and rather than he will miss 
 or w T ant any part of his will, he will endanger the one 
 half of his kingdom." " Had I but served God," he 
 added, "as diligently as I have served the king, he 
 would not give me over in my gray hairs !" 
 
 On being informed of the divorce of Queen Catherine, 
 the pope pronounced a sentence declaring her to be the 
 king's only lawful wife, requiring him to take her again, 
 and threatening him with the censures of the church in 
 case of refusal. This determined Henry to separate 
 wholly from the Church of Rome, of which he had 
 hitherto been a zealous adherent, and had even acquired 
 the title of " Defender of the Faith," in consequence of 
 having written a book against the doctrines of the Re- 
 formation. In the year 1534 he was declared, by the 
 parliament, head of the church, and the authority of the 
 pope was abolished in England. In 1538 all the monas- 
 teries and nunneries were suppressed, and their estates 
 and revenues taken possession of by the king. 
 
 At the beginning of his religious reforms, he had or- 
 dered the publication of a translation of the Scriptures ; 
 but soon after it was published, he prohibited all except 
 gentlemen and merchants from reading the Scriptures ; 
 and even they were only allowed to read, "so that it be 
 done quietly and with good order." The free reading 
 of the Scriptures was found inconsistent with the sub- 
 mission demanded bythe king to the different doctrines 
 which he thought proper to adopt. However, the sacred 
 volume was no longer a sealed book to the unlearned, 
 
80 HENRY VIII. 
 
 and from the perusal of it, sound views of Christian doc- 
 trine continued to increase. 
 
 The king- proceeded with indiscriminating fury against 
 botli the followers of the Reformation, and the Roman 
 Catholics — the former he condemned, because they de- 
 nied the truth of doctrines which he professed, and the 
 latter because they refused to admit his supremacy ; and 
 he was equally arbitrary in civil as in religious matters. 
 Amongst the victims to his tyranny was the celebrated 
 Sir Thomas More, who, since the disgrace of Wolsey, 
 had been the Lord Chancellor. 
 
 The parliament was perfectly submissive to his will : 
 they declared that the king's proclamations should have 
 the same force as the statutes of parliament ; an act by 
 which they violated the constitution, and deprived them- 
 selves of every means of maintaining their liberties. 
 
 In his domestic concerns the conduct of Henry VIII. 
 is without a parallel in history. He soon became weary 
 of Anne Boleyn : and his desire to get rid of her was 
 inflamed by a new passion for Jane Seymour, the 
 daughter of a gentleman of Wiltshire. The gaiety of 
 the queen's manners laid the foundation of a charge of 
 infidelity, on which she was suddenly committed to the 
 Tower, and, after a summary trial, put to death. On 
 the day after the execution the king married Jane Sey- 
 mour, who probably escaped a more unhappy fate by 
 dying within a year of her marriage, after giving birth 
 to a son. 
 
 His next wife was the princess Anne of Cleves. 
 Henry had taken a fancy to her from having seen her 
 portrait ; but when she arrived in England, he was so 
 much disappointed in her person and manners, that he 
 almost refused to marry her. Very soon afterwards he 
 induced the parliament to pronounce the marriage void ; 
 and Anne retired to Richmond, where she passed the 
 rest of her life in tranquillity. 
 
 Before the divorce of Anne of Cleves, Henry had 
 fallen in love with Catherine Howard, niece to the duke 
 of Norfolk, whom he immediately married. It was soon 
 discovered that she was a woman of an abandoned cha- 
 
HENRY VIII. 81 
 
 racter ; and she was convicted of incontinence, and exe- 
 cuted, along with several persons concerned in her guilt. 
 
 Henry's last wife was Catharine Parr, the widow of 
 Neville, Lord Latimer. This lady was more than once 
 in great danger, from her inclination to the reformed 
 religion ; but her prudence and address saved her, and 
 she retained the king's favour till his death. 
 
 Towards the end of his life, Henry became more and j 
 more violent and tyrannical. The torments of bodily '( 
 disease rendered his temper so frightful, that nobody 
 ventured into his presence without trembling. The last 
 objects of his cruelty were the aged duke of Norfolk, 
 who had long served him with fidelity, and the duke's 
 son, the earl of Surrey, a young man of singular accom- 
 plishments. On a groundless pretence, these noblemen 
 were arrested. The son was condemned, and beheaded 
 on Tower Hill : and the father's life was saved, the day 
 before that on which he was to have been executed, by 
 the death of the tyrant himself. This event happened 
 on the 14th of June, 1547 ; in the fifty-sixth year of his 
 age, and thirty-eighth of his reign. 
 
 In an act of parliament of this reign, the number of 
 persons in prison for crimes and debts, is stated to have 
 been above 60,000. More than 72,000 criminals were 
 executed during this reign for theft and robbery, which 
 is at the rate of almost 2000 a year. At that time the 
 common people of England were still unacquainted with 
 the arts of industry, and consequently remained idle and 
 vicious: while all manufactures and handicraft trades 
 were exercised by foreigners. So great was the num- 
 ber of foreign artisans in London, that 15,000 Flemings 
 alone were banished from it at once. In one of the 
 king's edicts it is stated that the foreigners starved the 
 natives, and obliged them to have recourse to .theft, 
 murder, and other enormities. It is also asserted that 
 the number of foreigners raised the price of grain and 
 bread. He therefore imposed restrictions on the number 
 of foreign artisans : an absurd policy ; for, by encou- 
 raging and protecting them, he might have excited the 
 English to rival them ; and an increased consumption of 
 
82 
 
 HENRY VIII. 
 
 corn would have led the people of the country to culti- 
 vate their fields, instead of allowing them to lie waste, 
 or at best, in the state of pasture. This would have 
 been more effectual than the laws which were enacted 
 to compel the husbandmen to till their ground. 
 
 In this reign the principal college in each University 
 was founded, namely, Christ Church, at Oxford, and 
 Trinity, at Cambridge. 
 
 A ship of the time of Henry VIII. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 Edward VI. — Mary. 
 
 From 1547 to 1558. 
 
 Henry VIII. left three children : Mary, by Catherin 
 ofArragon; Elizabeth, by Anne Boleyn; and Edward 
 by Jane Seymour. By his will he named Edward hei 
 to the crown ; and though in the violence of his hatrei 
 to their mothers, he had declared his daughters illegiti 
 mate, he appointed them to the succession after their 
 brother. He named a number of executors to the young 
 king; and they on Edward's accession, appointed the 
 duke of Somerset (brother of Jane Seymour, and uncle 
 to the king) protector of the kingdom. Edward, when 
 he succeeded, was nine years of age. 
 
 Edward's reign is remarkable for the establishment 
 of the reformed religion. The duke of Somerset had 
 long adopted the doctrines of the reformers ; and his first 
 care was to appoint a commission, at the head of which 
 was Archbishop Cranmer, and Ridley, afterwards bishop 
 of London, to draw up a book of offices for the use of the 
 church. In a short time the greatest part of the nation 
 came over to the reformed doctrines and worship; 
 though several distinguished persons still adhered to 
 popery, among whom were Gardiner, bishop of Win- 
 chester, and the king's sister, the princess Mary. 
 
 The protector determined to execute the late king's 
 project of uniting Scotland with England by marriage. 
 He required that the young queen of Scots should marry 
 Edward ; and this being refused, he invaded Scotland 
 with a large army. At this time the Reformation had 
 made small progress in Scotland, and the queen-dowager 
 (the widow of James V.) was strongly attached to the 
 Romish religion. Somerset totally defeated the Scottish 
 array at Pinkie, a few miles from Edinburgh, on the 
 
 (83) 
 
84 EDWARD VI. 
 
 10th of September, 1547 ; but this battle had no deci- 
 sive effect. A truce was agreed to, and Somerset re- 
 turned to England. 
 
 This violent manner of bringing about a union only 
 rendered the Scots more averse to it. Even those who 
 were inclined to it did not choose that it should be im- 
 posed on them by force of arms ; and the earl of Huntley 
 remarked, that " he disliked not the match, but hated 
 the manner of wooing." To put an end to all further 
 attempts of this sort, the young queen of Scots was sent 
 to France, and soon afterwards married the dauphin. 
 
 The remainder of this reign was passed in disputes 
 and intrigues among the nobility. The protector's first 
 enemy was his own brother, Lord Seymour, the admiral, 
 a man of great ambition, who had married Catharine 
 Parr, the widow of the late king. His projects against 
 the protector being discovered, he was found guilty of 
 high treason, and executed. 
 
 Somerset, elated with his high dignity, forgot his 
 original prudence and moderation. He had first en- 
 deavoured to court popularity by appearing to protect 
 the people against the nobility: but latterly he lost the 
 favour of the people by the execution of his brother, the 
 introduction of foreign troops, and the great wealth he 
 had acquired. He thus easily fell a victim to the arts 
 of his enemies, at the head of whom was Dudley, duke 
 of Northumberland, who succeeded in accomplishing 
 his ruin, by means of an accusation of high treason. 
 Being brought to trial, he was acquitted of this crime : 
 but being convicted of a design of murdering Northum- 
 berland, he was executed for felony, on Tower Hill, on 
 the 22nd of January, 1552. 
 
 On the death of Somerset, the duke of Northumber- 
 land assumed the office of protector, and formed a scheme 
 for obtaining the sovereign power. He persuaded the 
 king, whose health was now declining, that his sisters, 
 having been declared illegitimate, had no right to suc- 
 ceed, and that the succession belonged to the marchion- 
 ess of Dorset, eldest daughter of his father's sister, the 
 queen of France • and the council agreed to a deed, 
 
MARY. 85 
 
 whereby the princesses Mary and Elizabeth were set 
 aside, and the crown settled on the heirs of the mar- 
 chioness of Dorset, who had now acquired the title or' 
 duchess of Suffolk. The heir on whom the crown was 
 thus settled was the Lady Jane Grey, daughter of the 
 duchess of Suffolk ; and Northumberland immediately 
 brought about a marriage between her and Lord Guild- 
 ford Dudley, his son. 
 
 Immediately after this marriage, the king became 
 rapidly worse. His physicians were dismissed by North- 
 umberland's advice, and he was put under the care of 
 an ignorant old woman, who had undertaken to restore 
 him to health. The use of her medicines seemed to in- 
 crease the violence of his disease ; and he expired on 
 the 6th of July, 1553, in the sixteenth year of his age, 
 and seventh of his reign. He is represented as a 
 young prince of a most promising disposition. 
 
 Immediately after Edward's death, Northumberland 
 had his daughter-in-law, the Lady Jane Grey, proclaimed 
 queen. This lady, a woman of singular virtue and 
 and talents, had taken no part in the transactions by 
 which she was brought to the throne; and, indeed, had 
 remained in ignorance of them. She received the news 
 of her dignity with equal surprise and grief; but, being 
 obliged to yield to circumstances, she suffered herself to 
 be conveyed to the Tower, where it was then usual for 
 the kings of England to reside for some days after their 
 accession. Learning, however, that the princess Mary, 
 determined to support her claim, was at the head of 
 40,000 men, she immediately resigned the crown, and 
 retired to her own habitation. Northumberland at- 
 tempted to quit the kingdom, but was arrested. 
 
 Mary now entered London, and took possession of the 
 throne without opposition. The duke of Northumber- 
 land, with several of his adherents, were condemned, 
 and executed. Sentence of death was also pronounced 
 against the Lady Jane Grey, and Lord Dudley, her hus- 
 band, a young man whose virtues and accomplishments 
 resembled her own. This young couple, neither of 
 whom had reached the age of seventeen, were spared 
 8 
 
86 MARY. 
 
 for the time ; but they were both executed more than a. 
 year afterwards. Their fate excited general pity and 
 indignation. 
 
 Mary speedily showed her determination to restore 
 the Romish religion, to which she had steadily adhered. 
 Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, and others who had, 
 been imprisoned or deposed in the former reign, were set¥ 
 at liberty and restored. A parliament was summoned/ 
 which readily concurred in the queen's measures. There, 
 .still remained so many adherents to the ancient religion/ 
 that the queen's influence was sufficient to give them' 
 the preference in most of the elections. This parliament 
 by a single vote, repealed every statute of Edward VI., 
 with regard to religion. 
 
 To strengthen the cause of the Romanists, Mary's 
 counsellors proposed a marriage between her and Philip 
 II. of Spain. Into this alliance, though highly disagree- 
 able to the nation, the queen entered with the utmost 
 eagerness ; and soon afterwards Philip arrived in Eng- 
 land, and the marriage took place. During the ar- 
 rangements for it, violent insurrections arose, which 
 were suppressed with much bloodshed; many persons 
 of distinction were executed ; and the prisons were filled 
 with nobility and gentry suspected of being disaffected 
 to the queen. 
 
 It is related, as an instance of the spirit with which 
 the English had begun to assert their superiority at sea, 
 that the admiral of England fired at the Spanish fleet, 
 though Philip was on board, because they had not low- 
 ered their topsails as a mark of deference to the English 
 navy in the narrow seas. Philip, on his arrival, disap- 
 pointed Mary by his extreme coldness, and disgusted 
 the nobility and the nation by his reserve and haughti- 
 ness. He left England the following year, and never 
 returned. He treated the queen with the utmost neglect ; 
 and never wrote to her but when he wanted money, with 
 which she supplied him as often as she could, by means 
 of very oppressive exactions from her subjects. 
 
 It was now determined by the queen and her counsel- 
 lors to complete the restoration of popery, by destroying 
 
MARY. 87 
 
 those who would not conform to it. A persecution of 
 the Protestants began, which was not more remarkable 
 for the unrelenting cruelty of tbe persecutors, than for 
 the courage and constancy of the sufferers. 
 
 The first who suffered was Rogers, prebendary of St. 
 Paul's, a man eminent for piety and learning. He had 
 a wife whom he tenderly loved, and ten children ; yet 
 such was his serenity, that he was awakened from a 
 sound sleep to be led to execution. He had desired to 
 see his wife before he died ; but Gardiner, adding insult 
 to cruelty, told him, that being a priest, he could not 
 have a wife. He was burnt in Smithfield. Taylor, the 
 parson of Hadley, was burnt in his own parish ; when 
 tied to the stake, he repeated a Psalm in English. One 
 of the guards struck him on the mouth, and desired him 
 to speak Latin ; another, in a rage, gave him a blow 
 with a halbert, which happily put an end to his tor- 
 ments. 
 
 Many prelates and distinguished clergymen suffered 
 the same fate, under circumstances of equally revolting 
 cruelty. Among these were Hooper, bishop of Glouces- 
 ter ; Ridley, bishop of London ; Latimer, bishop of Wor- 
 cester ; and the venerable Archbishop Cranmer. Under 
 the influence of infirmity of mind, brought on by long 
 confinement and severe usage, Cranmer's resolution 
 had given way, and he had subscribed a recantation of 
 his opinions. But this he immediately retracted ; and 
 when at the fatal stake, he showed his repentance for his 
 fault by stretching out his right hand, and holding it in 
 the flames till it was consumed, while he exclaimed 
 several times, " This hand hath offended !" 
 
 This persecution, which began with persons of station 
 and influence, soon extended to all classes and degrees. 
 Even boys and women were among the victims. Dur- 
 ing three years it is computed that 277 persons were 
 brought to the stake ; among whom were five bishops, 
 twenty-one clergymen, eight gentlemen, eighty-four 
 tradesmen, a hundred husbandmen, labourers, and ser- 
 vants, fifty-five women, and four children. 
 
 The last remarkable transaction of Mary's reign was 
 
88 ELIZABETH. 
 
 her engaging the nation in a war which her husband 
 was carrying on against France. Its result was the loss 
 of Calais, which had been in the possession of England 
 for above two hundred years. This circumstance occa- 
 sioned clamorous discontent throughout the kingdom, 
 and afflicted the queen so deeply, that she was heard to 
 say, that when dead, the name of Calais would be found 
 engraven on her heart. She did not long survive it ; 
 but died in the year 1558, after a reign of between five 
 and six years. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 Elizabeth. 
 
 From 1558 to 1603. 
 
 Elizabeth succeeded her sister Mary, at the age of 
 twenty-five. Having been disliked, and even hated, by 
 her sister, she had lived in the utmost retirement, and 
 employed herself in diligently cultivating a mind na- 
 turally of great strength and capacity. Her character 
 was well known to the nation ; and she was received 
 with great joy ; a feeling which was heightened by the 
 knowledge that she was attached to the Protestant 
 religion. Mary's persecution had produced the usual 
 effect of totally defeating its object. During the reign 
 of Edward VI., a considerable part of the people had 
 acquiesced in the reformed doctrines, in obedience to the 
 government. During the reign of Mary, the whole na- 
 tion had become Protestants in spite of persecution. 
 
 Elizabeth immediately proceeded to re-establish the 
 Protestant religion. She began by recalling all who 
 were banished, and setting free all who were imprisoned 
 for their religious opinions; and her first parliament 
 passed a series of acts which settled the religion of the 
 the state in the manner in which it has ever since 
 existed. 
 
ELIZABETH. 89 
 
 In the civil government of the kingdom she was as- 
 sisted hy wise counsellors, particularly the lord-keeper 
 Bacon, and Sir William Cecil. She restored the coin, 
 which had been much debased ; encouraged agriculture, 
 by allowing a free exportation of corn; promoted trade 
 and navigation, and so much increased the shipping of 
 the kingdom, that she was justly called " the restorer of 
 naval glory, and the queen of the northern seas." 
 
 Soon after Elizabeth's accession, her jealousy began 
 to be excited against Mary, the young queen of Scots. 
 That princess, great grand -daughter to Henry VII., pre- 
 tended to have a right to the English crown, in conse- 
 quence of Elizabeth having been declared illegitimate ; 
 her husband, the dauphin of France, assumed the title 
 of king of England, as being the husband of the queen ; 
 and she after his death, seemed disposed to retain the 
 title. Mary, desiring to return to Scotland, demanded a 
 safe passage through England, which Elizabeth refused; 
 and a determined enmity from that time arose between 
 them. 
 
 The events of Mary's unhappy life belong to the his- 
 tory of Scotland. When she had been deprived of the 
 crown, and forced to take refuge in England, Elizabeth, 
 prompted by personal hatred, as well as apprehension of 
 the claims of a rival, treated her with a persevering 
 cruelty, which has fixed a deep stain on the memory 
 of the English queen. Though Mary had entered her 
 kingdom as a suppliant for protection, she kept her for 
 eighteen years in confinement, on the pretext that she 
 had been guilty of crimes in her own country, which 
 Elizabeth had no right either to try or punish ; and at 
 last procured her condemnation and execution, on the 
 charge that she was concerned in a conspiracy against 
 Elizabeth's life. That a conspiracy had been entered 
 into is undoubted ; and that Mary was in some degree 
 aware of it, appears probable. But this does not excuse 
 the cruelty and injustice which, for eighteen years, she 
 had suffered ; and her trial and sentence by a tribunal to 
 which she owed no subjection, and for treason, a crime 
 of which she could not have been guilty, she bein<r 
 8* 
 
90 ELIZABETH. 
 
 no subject of the queen of England, proceeded from 
 Elizabeth's determination to close, by death, her perse- 
 cution of a hated enemy. 
 
 The unfortunate queen of Scots was beheaded at 
 Fotheringay -castle, on the 7th of February, 1587. Eliza- 
 beth, on being informed of this event, appeared over- 
 whelmed with grief, and transported with indignation 
 against her ministers, for having carried the sentence 
 into execution without her authority. What was the 
 real state of her mind, it seems impossible to decide. 
 She was a mistress of the art of dissembling ; and it is 
 hardly possible to believe that her servants would have 
 ventured to do such a deed without full assurance of her 
 approval. Her conduct, too, after the sentence, indi- 
 cates a fixed resolve to carry it into execution. 
 
 James of Scotland, Queen Mary's son, despatched an 
 ambassador to Elizabeth, beseeching her to spare his 
 mother's life, and threatening her with the consequences 
 of a refusal. But Elizabeth refused to listen to him ; 
 and when he begged that the execution might be delayed 
 for a week, answered, " No, not for an hour !" On the 
 other hand, she treated Davison, her secretary, whom 
 she blamed for the execution of the sentence, with great 
 severity; — he was not only imprisoned for a long time, 
 but fined ten thousand pounds, and reduced to beggary. 
 The king of Scotland at first showed the utmost resent- 
 ment ; but his peaceable disposition was easily appeased, 
 and he gradually entered into friendly intercourse with 
 Elizabeth. 
 
 Philip of Spain, soon after the death of his wife, Mary, 
 had made proposals of marriage to her sister Elizabeth, 
 and had deeply resented her refusal. Actuated by this 
 feeling, and a desire to support the Romish religion, he 
 determined on the invasion of England. For this pur- 
 pose he raised an army of 60,000 men, and equipped a 
 fleet of 130 vessels, larger than any that had ever been 
 seen in Europe. 
 
 The expected arrival of this fleet, which had been 
 called the Invincible Armada, filled England with terror. 
 The queen, undismayed, mustered the forces of the 
 
ELIZABETH. 91 
 
 kingdom. They were greatly inferior to those of Philip, 
 but derived confidence from the example of the queen. 
 She visited the camp at Tilbury, rode through the ranks, 
 and addressed the soldiers in animating language : " I 
 know," she cried, " that I have but the body of a weak 
 and feeble woman, but I have the heart of a king, and of 
 a king of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma, 
 or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade 
 the borders of my realms, for which, rather than any 
 dishonour shall grow by me, I myself will take up arms : 
 I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of 
 every one of your virtues in the field !" 
 
 In the mean time the Armada sailed, but the un- 
 wieldy vessels were much damaged by stormy weather 
 before they approached the English coast. They were 
 met by the small but active English fleet, under Effing- 
 ham, the admiral, who, instead of coming to a close en- 
 counter, hovered about them, and cut off many straggling 
 vessels, as they sailed up the Channel. At last the 
 Spaniards came to anchor off Calais, in expectation of 
 being joined by the duke of Parma. Effingham sent 
 eight fire-ships among them, and profiting by the confu- 
 sion thus caused, attacked, and completely dispersed 
 them, taking or burning twelve ships. The rest were 
 almost entirely destroyed by tempests, and a small rem- 
 nant only returned to Spain. 
 
 The English now, in their turn, made many attacks 
 on the Spanish coast, and took their vessels in several 
 actions. They were led by some of the boldest and 
 ablest seamen that England has ever produced ; among 
 whom were Raleigh, Howard, Drake, Cavendish, and 
 Hawkins ; and the navy of England then attained that 
 excellence which it has ever since preserved. 
 
 Elizabeth, though she possessed all the highest quali- 
 ties of a king, had a large share of the weaknesses of a 
 woman. She was excessively vain of her person, very 
 open to flattery, and remarkably susceptible of tender 
 feelings towards persons of the other sex. During the 
 earlier part of her reign she had entertained a passion 
 for the earl of Leicester, a man whose only merit was a 
 
92 ELIZABETH. 
 
 handsome person, and very agreeable manners. Her 
 prudence had conquered her inclination to marry him ; 
 but he occupied the chief place in her affection till his 
 death. 
 
 The merits of the young earl of Essex then engaged 
 her attention. He was handsome, gay, and witty, and 
 of a much more estimable character than Leicester had 
 been. The queen, delighted with his ardent and gene- 
 rous spirit, permitted him to treat her with a degree of 
 freedom which none had ever hazarded before. His 
 youth and inexperience rendered him vain and presump- 
 tuous. On one occasion he treated the queen so rudely, 
 that she gave him a box on the ear, which he resented 
 by drawing his sword, and swearing that he would not 
 bear such usage even from her father. Such treatment 
 as this, however, the haughty queen could forgive from 
 him. 
 
 A rebellion having broken out in Ireland, Essex went 
 to put it down. But his conduct was so injudicious that 
 he failed in his object. Unable to effect anything against 
 the rebels, he entered into a truce with them, and re- 
 turned to England, without having applied for permis- 
 sion to do so. 
 
 The queen, deeply irritated, ordered him to remain a 
 prisoner in his own house. Finding his efforts to regain 
 her favour ineffectual, he resolved to retire to the coun- 
 try, but first conveyed a message to her, which affords 
 a curious specimen of the manners of the time. He 
 declared that he could never be happy till he again saw 
 those eyes that were wont to shine upon him with such 
 lustre, and that in expectation of that happy moment, 
 lie would, like another Nebuchadnezzar, dwell with the 
 beasts of the field, and be wet with the dew of heaven, 
 till she took pity on his sufferings. This piece of ro- 
 mance was so much to the queen's taste that it put an 
 end to her anger. She sent him a kind answer ; and, 
 though he was not wholly forgiven, yet it is plain that 
 nothing but his own continued folly prevented his com- 
 plete restoration to favour. 
 
 Essex, presuming on the queen's tenderness, expected 
 
ELIZABETH. 93 
 
 to be immediately placed on his former footing, and was 
 violently enraged at her refusing to restore a grant 
 which she had withdrawn from him. He gave vent to 
 the most indiscreet language, and mingled his bitterness 
 with ridicule of the queen's person. This was reported 
 to the queen, who began to leel the hatred of a slighted 
 woman. Essex, mad with disappointment, now entered 
 into a treasonable conspiracy, and finding it discovered, 
 rushed into the streets, and endeavoured to raise an in- 
 surrection among the populace. In this attempt he was 
 seized and carried to the Tower. He was immediately 
 tried, and condemned to death on clear proof of his 
 treason. 
 
 After his condemnation the queen's tenderness re- 
 vived. She had formerly given him a ring, which she 
 desired him to send to her should he ever be in circum- 
 stances which required her favour and protection. This 
 ring Essex sent by the countess of Nottingham, who, 
 being his concealed enemy, never delivered it; and 
 Elizabeth, indignant at his obstinacy in refusing to apply 
 for pardon, after many delays gave her consent to his 
 execution. 
 
 From this time Elizabeth sank into a settled melan- 
 choly, from which she never recovered. For a time she 
 performed the duties of her station from habit, and sup- 
 ported by resentment of what she conceived to have 
 been Essex's ungrateful obstinacy. But the countess of 
 Nottingham, having on her death-bed sent for the queen, 
 and confessed her treachery, Elizabeth's firmness entire- 
 ly left her. She threw herself on the dying woman, 
 and shook her violently, exclaiming, — "God may for- 
 give you, but I never will !" and, bursting from her, gave 
 herself up to despair. She refused food, and lay for ten 
 days and nights on the ground, supported by cushions. 
 In this state she remained till her end was visibly ap- 
 proaching ; and it was only when she was too weak to 
 make resistance that she was laid on her bed. She 
 soon sank into a heavy slumber ; and when it had con- 
 tinued some hours, expired without a groan, in the seven- 
 tieth year of her age, and the forty-fifth of her reign. 
 
94 ELIZABETH. 
 
 Elizabeth, by her wise government, raised England to 
 a high pitch of prosperity and power. She governed, 
 however, in a most arbitrary manner, unrestrained by the 
 parliament, whose privileges she totally disregarded. 
 Though the parliament had the nominal right of impos- 
 ing taxes, yet Elizabeth obtained supplies of money, 
 without their authority, by exacting loans and contribu- 
 tions (called benevolences) from the people, and by sell- 
 ing privileges of exclusive trade. The parliament's 
 power of enacting laws was rendered quite insignificant. 
 The queen expressly forbade them to meddle with mat- 
 ters either belonging to church or state, and openly sent 
 members to prison who dared to disobey this command. 
 She exercised the power of making laws by means of 
 her own proclamations, and these were sometimes at 
 once oppressive and ridiculous. Having taken offence 
 at the smell of woad, she prohibited the cultivation of 
 that useful plant ; and being displeased with the long 
 swords and high ruffs then in fashion, she sent about 
 officers to break every sword, and cut down every ruff, 
 that exceeded a certain dimension. 
 
 Though the queen restrained extravagance in dress 
 by several laws, yet she herself paid no regard to them. 
 Her vanity made her appear every day in a different 
 habit ; and at her death three thousand dresses which 
 she had worn, were found in her wardrobe. 
 
 The general wisdom of Elizabeth's government, and 
 the tranquillity which prevailed during her long reign, 
 enabled the nation to advance rapidly in commerce and 
 the arts. Learning was much cultivated, and some of 
 the greatest names in English literature belong to this 
 reign. 
 
James I. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 James I. — Charles I. 
 
 From 1603 to 1649. 
 
 Margaret, the daughter of Henry VII., who married 
 James IV., being the grandmother of Mary, the mother 
 of James VI. of Scotland, that king was now the heir 
 to the English crown, and Elizabeth, on her death-bed, 
 expressed her wish that he should be her successor. 
 With him began the reign of the family of the Stuarts 
 in England. At the time of his accession he was thirty- 
 seven years of age, and had been for many years king of 
 Scotland. 
 
 (95) 
 
96 JAMES I. 
 
 In the first year of James's reign a conspiracy was 
 discovered, the object of which was to place upon the 
 throne the Lady Arabella Stuart, who was also descended 
 from Kenry VII., and, after James, the next heir to the 
 crown. Of this conspiracy little is known ; but what 
 renders it memorable is the concern which the cele- 
 brated Sir Walter Raleigh had in it. He, with several 
 others, was condemned to death : but he was reprieved, 
 and kept for thirteen years in confinement. He was 
 afterwards set at liberty, and employed in an enterprise 
 against the Spaniards in South America. Being- unsuc- 
 cessful, he returned to England, and being" again im- 
 prisoned, he was beheaded in pursuance of his former 
 sentence. This piece of injustice and cruelty appears 
 to have proceeded from James's desire to be on good 
 terms with the court of Spain, a marriage being- then in 
 contemplation between his son Charles, prince of Wales, 
 and the daughter of the king of Spain. 
 
 In 1605 the conspiracy so well known by the name 
 of the Gunpowder Plot was discovered. The Romanists 
 had formed great expectations from James, both because 
 his mother had been a Romanist, and because he wa3 
 understood to be attached to that religion. He, however, 
 adhered steadily to the Protestant faith ; and several 
 Papists, in their disappointment, formed a plan for the 
 destruction both of the king and the parliament. The 
 leaders were Catesby, a gentleman of good family, and 
 Percy, a descendant of the house of Northumberland, 
 who employed a ruffian named Guy Fawkes. They 
 hired a vault under the parliament-house, as if for the 
 purpose of holding fuel ; under which they concealed 
 many barrels of gunpowder, with the intention of blow- 
 ing up the building while the king was opening the ses- 
 sion of parliament. 
 
 A few days before its meeting, Lord Monteagle, one 
 of the peers, received a letter from an unknown friend 
 warning him of danger if he attended the parliament. 
 This nobleman laid the letter before the council, who 
 were unable to conjecture what its meaning could be ; 
 but the king's sagacity suspected the truth ; and it was 
 
JAMES I. 97 
 
 resolved to examine the vaults under the building 1 . This 
 was purposely delayed till the night before the execution 
 of the plot; and the officers found Fawkes in the vault, 
 prepared to set fire to the powder. He was seized, and 
 being threatened with torture, made a discovery of the 
 whole conspiracy. Catesby and Percy fled to War- 
 wickshire; where another party, as had been concerted, 
 was already in arms. They were surrounded in a 
 house, where they had collected themselves ; and, after 
 a desperate defence, these leaders and several others 
 were killed on the spot ; and the rest were condemned 
 and executed. 
 
 The intended marriage between the prince of Wales 
 and the princess of Spain was broken off for reasons 
 that are not distinctly known. Charles very soon after- 
 wards married the princess Henrietta, daughter of the 
 king of France. 
 
 James married his daughter Elizabeth to the Elector 
 Palatine : this prince being driven out of his dominions 
 by Austria and Spain, James declared war against those 
 powers. Into this measure James entered with reluc- 
 tance; but the Elector Palatine's misfortunes having 
 arisen from his being a Protestant, the English nation 
 zealously espoused his cause, and loudly exclaimed 
 against the king's want of spirit. An army was sent to 
 the assistance of the elector ; but the expedition was ill- 
 contrived and unfortunate. No proper arrangements 
 having been made for the landing of the troops, they 
 were cooped up so long in narrow vessels, that a sick- 
 ness broke out among them, which carried off a great 
 number, and the remainder returned to England without 
 being landed. 
 
 James is said to have been much affected by this mis- 
 fortune, and died the following year, 1625, in the twenty- 
 second year of his reign. By his queen, Anne of Den- 
 mark, he had three children : Henry, who died young ; 
 Elizabeth, who married the Elector Palatine ; and 
 Charles, who succeeded him. 
 
 James was engaged in a constant succession of dis- 
 putes with his parliament. He entertained the same 
 9 
 
98 CHARLES I. 
 
 high notion of the power of the crown that Elizabeth 
 did, but wanted the firmness by which she supported it; 
 while on the other hand, the general diffusion of know- 
 ledge, and the increasing weight and importance of the 
 commons, enabled them to prevent the king from raising 
 money without their consent, and doing other things in 
 which Elizabeth found no opposition. James continued, 
 however, to insist on the exercise of what he considered 
 his lawful powers; and the continued disputes which 
 thence arose, produced a spirit of party, which broke out 
 with dreadful violence in the succeeding reign. 
 
 Charles I. 
 
 Charles I. ascended the throne at the age of twenty- 
 five. He had endeared himself to the nation by the uni- 
 form excellence of his conduct ; but his education had 
 
charles i. yy 
 
 given him those ideas of the great power of the crown 
 which his father continued to entertain during his whole 
 life, notwithstanding the abatement it had suffered during 
 his reign. 
 
 At this time the nation was engaged in the war with 
 Austria and Spain, and Charles requested from his first 
 parliament the supplies necessary for the carrying it on. 
 But, though they knew that all the supplies granted in 
 the last reign had been exhausted, and that Charles was 
 involved in the debts contracted by his father, they 
 granted the trifling sum of 100,000/., which was quite 
 insufficient for the purposes of the government. This 
 proceeding cannot be justified: the war had been enter- 
 ed into with the eager concurrence of the parliament 
 and the nation, and it was now the duty of parliament to 
 enable the king to bring it to an honourable termination. 
 But the parliament, from the very beginning of Charles's 
 reign, showed a disposition to seize every opportunity of 
 opposing his measures and diminishing his power. 
 
 Charles dissolved this parliament, and called another, 
 which granted a sum larger than the former, but still 
 insufficient, and accompanied this supply with a demand 
 of the dismissal of his minister, the duke of Buckingham. 
 This the king refused, and dissolved the parliament, 
 after a very violent dispute with them. 
 
 The king, thus deprived of his supplies, determined to 
 raise money, as former kings had done, without the con- 
 sent of parliament. He exacted loans from his subjects, 
 and levied various taxes on his own authority. Of these, 
 the one which caused the greatest discontent was the 
 ship-money, raised for the support of the navy. 
 
 In this situation Charles engaged in a war with 
 France, for which there appears no better ground than 
 the indulgence of a private quarrel between his favourite 
 Buckingham, and Cardinal Richelieu, the prime minister 
 of France. An expedition was sent against France un- 
 der Buckingham's command, but he made a disgraceful 
 failure, which increased the general discontent. 
 
 Charles now called a third parliament, who granted 
 him a considerable sum, but they coupled this with a 
 
100 CHARLES I. 
 
 demand that the king should acknowledge that the 
 crown had no right to impose taxes without their con- 
 sent, imprison the subjects at pleasure, or put them un- 
 der martial law. These demands were made in what is 
 called the Petition of Rights, and Charles, after long 
 delay, found himself under the necessity of giving his 
 consent to it. This success encouraged the parliament 
 to make further demands, till the kin^ at last took the 
 resolution of dissolving it, which he did on the 10th of 
 March, 1629, and the kingdom remained for eleven 
 years without a parliament. 
 
 The duke of Buckingham being now dead, Charles 
 took as J lis counsellors the earl of Strafford, and Laud, 
 afterwards archbishop of Canterbury. He made peace 
 with France and Spain, and endeavoured to govern 
 without the aid of parliament, but when this became 
 apparent, it further inflamed the growing discontents. 
 
 Charles now exercised to a. greater extent than ever, 
 the power which he had renounced by granting the Pe- 
 tition of Right. He exacted the ship-money, and other 
 taxes, in a severe manner, and laid on new impositions. 
 
 A religious sect, called the Puritans, had been gra- 
 dually acquiring considerable influence. They were 
 violently opposed to all religious forms and ceremonies, 
 as belonging to the Church of Rome. Archbishop Laud 
 insisted on a strict adherence to the rites of the Church 
 of England, and so rigorously restrained the Puritans 
 that they began to go in great numbers to America, till 
 they were stopped by order of government. Amongst 
 those who were thus detained, after they had embarked, 
 were John Hampden, who had rendered himself conspi- 
 cuous by his resistance to the taxes imposed by the king, 
 and Oliver Cromwell, who rose to the head of the gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 While the discontents of the nation seemed to threat- 
 en open rebellion, Charles made matters worse by en- 
 deavouring to introduce into Scotland a religious estab- 
 lishment similar to that of England. In this attempt, 
 after five years of contention and bloodshed, he entirely 
 
CHARLES I. 101 
 
 failed, and his resources being exhausted, he found him- 
 self under the necessity of calling another parliament. 
 
 This parliament met in 1G40, but, as it refused any 
 supplies, unless the king granted a redress of grievances, 
 it was immediately dissolved. The king still continued 
 to equip an army against the Scots; but they, with a 
 larger army, advanced into England, and obliged the 
 English to retreat. In this situation Charles once more 
 summoned a parliament, which was his last. This me- 
 morable parliament met on the 3d of November, 1640. 
 Instead of granting supplies, the House of Commons de- 
 termined to impeach the earl of Strafford for high trea- 
 son. This nobleman was tried before the House of 
 Lords. The substance of the charge against him was, 
 that he had been guilty of several exactions in Ireland, 
 and had attempted to extend the king's authority. These 
 accusations the Commons entirely failed to prove ; but 
 his condemnation was resolved upon, however unjust. 
 He was found guilty, and executed in 1641. 
 
 Soon after the fate of Strafford, Archbishop Laud was 
 imprisoned on a similar charge of high treason. He was 
 detained in prison till the year 1645, when he was con- 
 demned and executed. The charges against him were 
 unsupported by even a shadow of proof; but, by that 
 time, it was a sufficient crime to be a loyal subject of the 
 king, and a zealous supporter of the Church of England. 
 The conduct of this venerable prelate, during his trial, 
 and in his last moments, was worthy of the exalted 
 character he had sustained throughout his life. 
 
 At the same time that the king consented to sign the 
 death-warrant of Strafford, he gave his assent to a bill, 
 which declared that the parliament should not be dis- 
 solved, prorogued, or adjourned, without its own consent ; 
 thus depriving himself of the only remaining control he 
 had over them. It was now evident that the House of 
 Commons had determined to overthrow the royal autho- 
 rity. Its majority consisted of Puritans, who demanded 
 the destruction of the Church, and of avowed republi- 
 cans. Every art was made use of to excite the multi- 
 tude against the members of the House of Lords, and 
 9* 
 
102 CHARLES I. 
 
 especially the Bishops ; who, finding- themselves in great 
 danger from the violence of the populace, absented them- 
 selves altogether from the House. 
 
 Matters at length came to extremities ; the king, in 
 1642, left London and retired to York ; and both sides 
 prepared for war. The king was joined by the nobility 
 and the bulk of the gentry, and found himself at the 
 head of a considerable force : the city of London and 
 most of the great towns sided with the parliament; and 
 the nation was divided into two great parties, distin- 
 guished by the names of the Cavaliers and the Round- 
 heads. 
 
 The first encounter between the armies of the king 
 and parliament was at Edgehill, on the 23d of October, 
 1642. The king's troops, under prince Rupert, son of 
 the Elector Palatine, at first gained some advantage, but 
 he was unable to follow it up ; and the armies separated, 
 after a battle in which 50li0 men were left on the field. 
 The first two campaigns were favourable to the king; 
 but the royalists suffered a total defeat at Marston Moor, 
 in 1644. In this battle, the military talents of Oliver 
 Cromwell were first brought into notice. During the 
 winter of that year some attempts were made to enter 
 into a treaty ; but the parties being unable to agree, 
 their armies took the field in the spring ; and the royalist 
 cause received its final blow at the battle of Naseby, on 
 the 14th of June, 1645. The victory was achieved by 
 the courage and conduct of Cromwell. The king was 
 with difficulty forced off the field by his attendants, 
 leaving it covered with his slain soldiers, and five thou- 
 sand prisoners in the hands of the enemy. The army 
 of the parliament was commanded by General Fairfax ; 
 but, from this time, the whole power Was in the hands 
 of Cromwell. 
 
 The king fled to Oxford, and shut himself within the 
 fortifications of that place during the winter. He then 
 resolved to demand the protection of the Scottish army, 
 which had come to the assistance of the parliament, and 
 was then besieging Newark. Charles's confidence in 
 their loyalty was misplaced ; for they agreed to deliver 
 
CHA.RLES I. 103 
 
 him up, on receiving- a sum o{ money as the arrears of 
 pay due to them. The king was confined in Holdenby 
 Castle in Northamptonshire; and the parliament, now 
 that the war was over, wished to disband the army. But 
 Cromwell had other views. The army consisted almost 
 entirely of the Independents, the most fanatical sect ; 
 and, by their means, he determined to take the govern- 
 ment out of the hands of the parliament. He ordered a 
 body of armed men to carry off the king 1 , and to convey 
 him to the head-quarters of the army : whence he was 
 removed to Hampton-Court. 
 
 The parliament was seized with dismay when it heard 
 of this violent proceeding, and attempted some resist- 
 ance. But Cromwell, marching to London with the 
 army, soon brought it to submission. The king was now 
 treated in such a manner, that he felt in immediate 
 danger of his life. He left Hampton-Court secretly, 
 with an intention of escaping from the kingdom ; but he 
 was seized on the coast of Hampshire, and closely im- 
 prisoned in Carisbrook Castle, in the Isle of Wight. 
 
 Meanwhile, the parliament made another effort to 
 resist the tyranny of Cromwell and the army, and even 
 attempted to conclude a treaty which had been begun by 
 the king. But Cromwell put an end to their existence 
 by a decisive act. Colonel Pride, at the head of an 
 armed force, surrounded the house, and excluded all the 
 members but about sixty of the most furious Indepen- 
 dents. 
 
 It only remained to dispose of the king ; and his death 
 was speedily resolved upon. To accomplish this wick- 
 edness, a vote was passed, declaring it treason for a 
 king to levy war against his parliament ; and the king 
 was then brought to trial, under this law, for acts com- 
 mitted before it was in existence. The House of Com- 
 mons required the concurrence of the House of Lords in 
 this gross injustice ; but that body unanimously refused 
 it ; and the Commons then voted that the consent of the 
 House of Lords was unnecessary. 
 
 A court, consisting chiefly of the officers of the army, 
 was appointed by the House of Commons to try the king, 
 
104 THE COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 Being- brought before this court on three several days, 
 he refused to acknowledge their right to sit in judgment 
 on him. On the fourth day, having examined some wit- 
 nesses to prove that he had been in arms against the 
 parliament, they condemned him to death. While con- 
 veyed to and from this infamous court, he was grossly 
 insulted by the soldiers and rabble, one of whom spat in 
 his face. " Poor souls !" he calmly said, '• they would 
 treat their own generals in the same way for sixpence." 
 A soldier, moved by pity, implored a blessing on him, 
 for which he was struck down by his officer. The king 
 observed that the punishment exceeded the offence. 
 
 On January 30, 1649, he was beheaded on a scaffold, 
 in front of the palace at Whitehall. His deportment in 
 his last moments was full of dignity, mildness, and piety. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 The Commonwealth. 
 
 From 1649 to 1660. 
 
 The first measure of the House of Commons, after the 
 execution of the king, was to abolish the House of 
 Lords, as useless and dangerous; and all public acts 
 were ordered to run in the names of the " Keepers of the 
 liberties of England." 
 
 The Scots, though they had assisted the parliament 
 against the king, did not desire the destruction of the 
 crown. They therefore acknowledged Charles, the 
 eldest son of their late king ; who consequently repaired 
 to Scotland. Cromwell entered Scotland with an army, 
 and defeated the Scottish troops under General Lesley, 
 at Dunbar, with great slaughter. Charles now put him- 
 self at the head of the remains of the army, which was 
 joined by many royalists, and took the bold resolution of 
 marching into England. But Cromwell followed him 
 
THE COMMONWEALTH. 105 
 
 from Scotland ; and attacked him at Worcester. The 
 whole Scottish army were either killed or made prison- 
 ers, and the king fled from the field. 
 
 In attempting to escape from the kingdom, Charles 
 met with singular and romantic adventures. He wan- 
 dered ahout the country for six weeks in different dis- 
 guises. On one occasion, he was obliged to pass a day 
 and a night among the branches of an oak, where he 
 heard the voices of the soldiers in pursuit of him. He 
 received many proofs of attachment from the royalists, 
 who sheltered him in their houses, till he found means 
 to sail from the coast of Sussex in a small vessel, which 
 carried him to France. 
 
 Cromwell returned in triumph to London. He imme- 
 diately got an act passed abolishing royalty in Scotland, 
 and annexing that country, as a conquered province, to 
 England. War was then declared against the Dutch, 
 in consequence of the ambassador from the parliament 
 to Holland having been murdered by some of the royal- 
 ist party there. During this war several great engage- 
 ments at sea took place between the English admiral, 
 Blake, and the Dutch admiral, Van Tromp ; and at last 
 the Dutch % humbled by repeated defeats, sued for peace. 
 
 Feeling his power sufficiently established, Cromwell 
 determined to get rid of the parliament altogether. He 
 appeared in the house, at the head of an armed force, 
 and raised a dispute with them, in the midst of which, 
 after addressing the members in language of the gross- 
 est abuse, he turned them out, and ordered the doors to 
 be locked. 
 
 In place of this parliament, Cromwell chose a new 
 one, consisting of one hundred and forty-four persons, 
 picked from the lowest and most fanatical of the people. 
 But their proceedings were so absurd that he himself 
 was ashamed of them. He dismissed them also ; and 
 assuming the title of Protector, became, in effect, the 
 absolute king of Great Britain. In this character he 
 showed great vigour and capacity. After compelling 
 the Dutch to sue for peace, he entered into a league 
 with France against Spain, whose power he effectually 
 
106 THE COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 humbled. At home he exercised a military government 
 In order to levy money, the country was divided into 
 districts, each under one of his major-generals ; and all 
 the property was at their disposal. 
 
 The nation at last became clamorous for a parlia- 
 ment ; and he resolved to give them one ; but took care 
 that it should consist of persons who would not give him 
 any trouble. To make sure of this, he had guards placed 
 at the door, and no member was admitted who had not a 
 warrant from his council. It is understood that his prin- 
 cipal design in calling this parliament was that they 
 should offer him the crown. However, when offered, 
 he refused it; probably, because he found that some of 
 his chief supporters were averse to his accepting it. 
 
 Cromwell's latter days were miserable. He had dis- 
 appointed the hopes of every party, and his government 
 was detested by all. His own family reprobated his 
 conduct ; and his favourite daughter, on her death-bed, 
 upbraided him with his crimes. Conspiracies were 
 formed against him ; and a book was published, entitled, 
 " Killing no murder," to show that to kill him would be 
 an act of virtue. Cromwell read this book, and is said 
 never to have smiled afterwards. He was under per- 
 petual fear of his life. He wore armour under his clothes, 
 and never slept above two or three nights in the same 
 chamber. His countenance became gloomy and hag- 
 gard ; and his eyes betrayed suspicion and alarm on the 
 approach of every stranger. His frame could not long 
 support a life of such wretchedness ; and he died on the 
 3d of September, 1658, in his fifty-ninth year ; a memo- 
 rable example of the bitter fruits of criminal ambition. 
 His usurpation lasted nine years. 
 
 On Cromwell's death, his son Richard was proclaimed 
 Protector. He was mild, easy, and void of ambition ; 
 and finding that a strong party against him was formed 
 among the republican officers, he resigned his office, and 
 lived for many years as a country gentleman. 
 
 The republican officers now attempted to govern by 
 means of the Rump Parliament, as it was called, which 
 had been dismissed by Cromwell. This parliament was 
 
THE COMMONWEALTH. 107 
 
 again called together ; but as it began to set itself in 
 opposition to the army, it was dissolved by General Lam- 
 bert, who was at the head of the troops. A military 
 government was established : and the principal offices 
 were bestowed on Fleetwood, a zealous republican, who 
 had married Cromwell's daughter, Lambert, and Monk, 
 who was then governor of Scotland. 
 
 General Monk now resolved to restore the royal 
 family. He entered into correspondence with the king, 
 and marched into England. Lambert set forward to op- 
 pose him ; but, being deserted by his soldiers, he was 
 arrested by the parliament. On reaching London, Monk 
 called together the surviving members of the House of 
 Commons, who had been expelled by Colonel Pride, in 
 1648. They met accordingly, and having issued orders 
 to assemble a new parliament, they dissolved themselves. 
 
 The new parliament met on the 25th of April, 1660. 
 Monk immediately proposed the restoration of the king, 
 which was unanimously agreed to. The proposal was 
 received by the nation with the utmost joy. The peers 
 reassembled ; Charles was proclaimed, and entered Lon- 
 don on the 29th of May, 1660, amidst general acclama- 
 tions. 
 
 So ended the Commonwealth ; a period, during which, 
 if England w r as powerful abroad, she was unhappy at 
 home. A gloomy fanaticism overspread the land ; lite- 
 rature and the fine arts were abandoned ; and the most 
 innocent recreations were forbidden. Under the name 
 of a republic, too, the nation groaned under a govern- 
 ment equally rigorous with that of the most absolute 
 monarchs. The people, therefore, hailed the restoration 
 of monarchy, as the termination of the reign of fanatics 
 and tyrants. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 Charles II. — James II. 
 
 From 1660 to 16S9. 
 
 Charles created Monk, to whom he owed his restora- 
 tion, duke of Albemarle ; and chose the earl of Claren- 
 don for his prime minister. Proceedings were then 
 commenced against the persons concerned in the late 
 king's death, some of the principal of whom were exe- 
 cuted : and the bodies of Cromwell and several others 
 who were dead, were taken from their graves, and hung 
 upon gibbets. Among so many criminals, however, the 
 number who suffered was very small. 
 
 But if Charles was not eager to punish his enemies, 
 neither was he so to reward his friends. Numbers, who 
 had lost everything in his service, suffered total neglect 
 His lenity, as well as his ingratitude, proceeded from 
 the carelessness of his temper; in the midst of gaiety 
 and licentiousness, he entirely neglected the duties of 
 his station. The country followed the example of the 
 court ; and strict severity of manners was all at once 
 changed to looseness and profligacy. 
 
 In 1664, Charles declared war against Holland ; a 
 measure to which he seems to have been prompted by 
 his desire to get into his hands, to supply his prodigality, 
 the money that would be raised for carrying on that war. 
 It was remarkable for a number of great sea-fights be- 
 tween the English and Dutch fleets, in which, on the 
 whole, neither party had any decided advantage; though 
 England suffered the humiliation of the Dutch fleet sail- 
 ing up the Thames, and retiring in safety, after burning 
 three men-of-war in the river. This disgrace happening 
 in an unnecessary war, excited violent indignation 
 among the people: and the peace which followed was 
 not concluded on terms calculated to appease the gene- 
 ral discontent. 
 
 (108) 
 
CHARLES H. 109 
 
 During these transactions, a great plague broke out 
 in London, which destroyed above 100,000 of the inha- 
 bitants. This calamity was followed by a dreadful fire, 
 which broke out on September 2d, 1665. It raged for 
 three days, and laid a considerable part of the city in 
 ashes. Hardly any lives were lost ; but thousands were 
 reduced to beggary by the loss of all that belonged to 
 them. A high column called the Monument, was 
 erected near the spot where the fire broke out. 
 
 The discontents of the kingdom were much increased 
 by the king's known attachment to Popery, and by the 
 circumstance of his brother the duke of York, who was 
 heir to the crown, openly professing that religion. Great 
 fears were entertained for the safety of the Protestant 
 religion ; and these were heightened by the arts of de- 
 signing men. In 1678, information of a pretended plot 
 to establish Popery was given by Dr. Titus Oates, a man 
 of notorious character; and, in consequence of his false 
 testimony, a great number of persons of all ranks were 
 brought to the scaffold. 
 
 In 1679, the parliament, which had set for seventeen 
 years, was dissolved, and a new one called. The king's 
 designs, both to restore Popery and to extend his own 
 power, were now generally understood. To prevent the 
 first, a bill for excluding the duke of York, as being a 
 Papist, from the succession, was passed by the Commons ; 
 and to counteract the latter, several statutes were passed, 
 particularly the important Habeas Corpus Act, by which 
 the subjects are secured against imprisonment without 
 trial. These proceedings were so disagreeable to the 
 king, that he dissolved the parliament; and finding the 
 next equally intractable, he dissolved it also, with a re- 
 solution never to call another. 
 
 About the year 1683, a combination was formed by a 
 number of distinguished persons, to raise an insurrection 
 against the king ; but they appear to have differed widely 
 in their objects. The duke of Monmouth, a natural son 
 of the king, aspired to the crown ; Lord Russell pro- 
 posed the exclusion of the duke of York, and a redress 
 of grievances ; while Algernon Sydney wished to re- 
 10 
 
no 
 
 JAMES II. 
 
 James II. 
 
 store the republic. At the same time a plot was entered 
 into by a set of inferior persons to assassinate the king ; 
 it was called the Rye-house Plot from the place where 
 they intended to execute their purpose. It was dis- 
 covered ; and Lord Russell, and Sydney, being accused 
 of being concerned in it, were condemned and executed, 
 though there was no legal proof of their guilt. 
 
 The last remarkable transaction of Charles's reign was 
 the marriage of the Lady Anne, daughter of his brother, 
 the duke of York, to Prince George, brother to the king 
 of Denmark. The king died on the 6th of February, 
 1685, in the 25th year of his reign. Having no legiti- 
 mate children, he was succeeded by the duke of York. 
 
 James IT. was twice married. His first wife, who 
 died before he succeeded to the throne, was Anne Hyde, 
 the daughter of the celebrated earl of Clarendon ; hie 
 
JAMES II. Ill 
 
 second, Marie of Este, daughter to the duke of Modena. 
 became his queen. 
 
 James began his reign by going openly, and in royal 
 state, to mass ; and showed, from the commencement, 
 his intention to restore Popery. The discontent caused 
 by this conduct, encouraged the duke of Monmouth 
 (who had escaped from England when his former designs 
 were discovered,) to make another attempt on the crown. 
 Having landed in England with only 100 followers, he 
 was in a few days at the head of 6001) men. He was 
 encountered by the king's troops at Bridgwater, and 
 totally defeated. Escaping from the field, he wandered 
 for some days about the country in a destitute state ; and 
 at last was discovered, concealed in a ditch, and almost 
 exhausted with fatigue and hunger. He was carried to 
 London, and immediately condemned and executed. His 
 followers were punished with dreadful severity ; a num- 
 ber were murdered in cold blood after the battle ; and 
 about 250 persons were executed by order of the no- 
 torious Judge JefFeries, who was sent to try the prisoners ; 
 for which service he was made Lord Chancellor. 
 
 James now openly attempted to establish Popery and 
 arbitrary power. Finding the parliament an obstacle 
 to his designs, he dismissed it, and never called another. 
 He then promoted Papists to the highest offices in the 
 state ; sent an ambassador to Rome ; filled the official 
 situations in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge 
 with Roman Catholics; and seven of the bishops having 
 remonstrated against these proceedings, he ordered them 
 to be imprisoned in the Tower, and prosecuted for sedi- 
 tion. His power, however, was not sufficient to prevent 
 their being acquitted. The acclamations caused by this 
 event, were so loud, that they reached the ears of the 
 king, who asked what was the meaning of the noise. 
 Some one said it was nothing but the soldiers shout- 
 ing for the delivery of the bishops. " Call you that 
 nothing?" the king exclaimed in a rage ; " but so much 
 the worse for them." Immediately afterwards he dis- 
 missed two of the judges, whom he understood to have 
 been favourable to the bishops. 
 
112 JAMES II. 
 
 In these circumstances, William of Nassau, the son 
 of William, prince of Orange, and of Mary, eldest 
 daughter of Charles I., conceived the design of acquir- 
 ing the English crown. Besides being thus closely 
 allied to the reigning family by blood, he had married 
 the princess Mary, James's daughter. He received in- 
 vitations from great numbers of the most considerable 
 persons in the kingdom ; and everything was prepared 
 for his landing in England before James was aware of 
 his danger, who on learning it, attempted to make con- 
 cessions by restoring many persons to the places of 
 which he had deprived them ; but it was now too late. 
 On the 5th of November, 1688, William landed in Tor- 
 bay, at the head of 14,000 men. In a few days the gen- 
 try of the western counties flocked to his standard ; and 
 all England declared for the prince of Orange. 
 
 James made no resistance; he only attempted to 
 escape from the kingdom, and left his palace in disguise. 
 He was discovered at Feversham, and, after being 
 grossly insulted, brought back to London, where, as if 
 to show the vanity of popular applause, the same multi- 
 tude, who, a few hours before, were employed in mal- 
 treating his adherents, now welcomed him with accla- 
 mations, and every mark of affection. He was ordered 
 by William to retire to Rochester ; and was allowed 
 without molestation to embark for France. 
 
 On the 22nd of January, 1689, the parliament met ; 
 when a vote was passed, that King James, by endeavour- 
 ing to subvert the constitution, had abdicated the throne, 
 which was thereby vacant. It was then agreed that the 
 prince and princess of Orange should reign jointly, and 
 the succession to the crown, in the event of their having 
 no issue, was settled on the Princess Anne, the daughter 
 of James II., and wife of Prince George of Denmark, 
 and her children. Mary had barely the title ; the power 
 being declared to belong exclusively to William. 
 
William III. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 William III. 
 
 From 1689 to 1702. 
 
 At the same time that parliament conferred the 
 crown upon the prince of Orange, they required his 
 assent to a declaration, called the Bill of Rights, by 
 which the power of the crown and the rights of the sub- 
 ject were fixed. The levying of money and other acts 
 of power, without the consent of parliament were de- 
 clared unlawful ; and the freedom of election, the right 
 10* (113) 
 
114 WILLIAM III. 
 
 of petitioning* the sovereign, with other privileges, werp 
 asserted. It was provided that excessive hail should 
 not be required, excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and 
 unusual punishments inflicted : and that parliament 
 should be frequently assembled. 
 
 Soon afterwards the crown of Scotland was settled 
 upon William by the general voice of the nation. In 
 the Highlands, however, several of the chieftains refused 
 to submit to William's government; among whom was 
 Macdonald of Glencoe. William proclaimed an indem- 
 nity to all who should take the oath of allegiance to him 
 by a certain day ; denouncing military execution against 
 those who should fail to do so. Macdonald, intimidated 
 by this proclamation, resolved to submit, and repaired 
 to Fort William before the expiration of the period, 
 where he tendered the oath to the governor of that for- 
 tress. He declined to administer it, not being a civil 
 magistrate ; and Macdonald immediately set out for In- 
 verary ; but from the ground being covered with snow, 
 and the roads almost impassable, he arrived one day 
 after the prescribed time had elapsed. The sheriff, in 
 consideration of Macdonald's disappointment at Fort 
 William, administered the oath, and Macdonald returned 
 home in full assurance of safety. 
 
 The king, however, in ignorance of Macdonald's sub- 
 mission, issued a warrant for military execution against 
 him and his family and dependants. This order, signed 
 with the king's own hand, was transmitted to Scotland ; 
 and injunctions were given to the commander of the 
 troops in that kingdom to put the whole inhabitants of 
 the valley of Glencoe to the sword. A scene of horror 
 ensued, which is hardly credible in a Christian and civi- 
 lized country. Captain Campbell, of Glenlyon, marched 
 into Glencoe with a party of soldiers ; and, after spend- 
 ing fifteen days in apparent cordiality with Macdonald, 
 by whom they were hospitably received, this party of 
 ruffians suddenly attacked their host and his unoffending 
 people, and put them to death, — killing even children 
 who clung about their knees imploring mercy. Mac- 
 donald himself was shot in the arms of his wife, who 
 
WILLIAM III. 115 
 
 died next day in a state of distraction. All the houses 
 were burnt; the cattle and effects were carried off; 
 and many women and children, left naked and destitute 
 amidst the inclemency of winter, perished from cold and 
 hunger. 
 
 This shocking transaction excited general horror and 
 indignation. The king dismissed his Scottish minister, 
 Stair, but as no punishment was inflicted on those who 
 bad made such an infamous use of his authority, the 
 Highlanders were filled with the most implacable hatred 
 to the king's person and government. 
 
 In Ireland, however, the majority of the people, being 
 Papists, still adhered to James, who, having obtained 
 some assistance from the king of France, resolved to 
 maintain his pretensions. He landed in Ireland at the 
 head of a small force, and was soon joined by immense 
 numbers of the lower classes. The Protestants assem- 
 bled in the neighbourhood of Londonderry, and main- 
 tained that place against James's troops with determined 
 resolution. When reduced to extremities by famine, 
 they were relieved by a supply of provisions from Eng- 
 land ; on which James w 7 as obliged to raise the siege. 
 
 In 1689, William sent a large body of troops to the 
 assistance of the Protestants ; and the following year he 
 arrived in person. On the 1st of July, 1690, he at- 
 tacked James's army on the banks of the river Boyne, 
 near Dundalk, and gained a complete victory. James 
 fled to Dublin, and embarked for France, leaving his 
 followers to shift for themselves. They still resolved to 
 hold out; and made so brave a stand in defence of 
 Limerick, that they were allowed to surrender on honour- 
 able terms. About 14,000 of them entered into the ser- 
 vice of France, and w T ere formed into a corps, which dis- 
 tinguished itself for a hundred years afterwards, under 
 the name of the Irish Brigade. In 1692, the French 
 king made another attempt to restore James, by an in- 
 vasion of England, but the fleet prepared for this purpose 
 was completely defeated by the English and Dutch fleets, 
 at the memorable battle of La Hogue. 
 
 The war with France continued till the year 1697, 
 
116 ANNE. 
 
 when it was put an end to by the peace of Ryswick. The 
 expenses of this war could not be provided by the taxes ; 
 and parliament authorized money to be borrowed : thus 
 laying the foundation of the National Debt of Great 
 Britain. 
 
 Towards the end of William's reign, a settlement of 
 the succession became necessary. As he had no chil- 
 dren, the heirs to the crown, under the settlement made 
 at his accession, were the Princess Anne of Denmark, 
 and her only son, the duke of Gloucester; but this 
 young prince having died, it became requisite to provide 
 against a vacancy of the throne. The next person of 
 the ancient royal blood, who was not disabled by pro- 
 fessing the Romish religion, was the Princess Sophia, 
 the grand-daughter of James I., (being daughter of the 
 Electress Palatine, afterwards queen of Bohemia,) who 
 had married the elector of Hanover. An act was there- 
 fore passed in 1701, called the Act of Settlement, where- 
 by, on the death of William and Anne without issue, the 
 crown was settled on the Electress Sophia and her de- 
 scendants, being Protestants. 
 
 William died in consequence of a fall from his horse, 
 on the 8th of March, 1702, having reigned thirteen 
 years, and was succeeded by Anne. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 Anne. 
 
 From 1702 to 1714. 
 
 The first important measure of Queen Anne's go- 
 vernment was a declaration of war against France. The 
 reasons assigned for this step were, the necessity of re- 
 straining the power of France, which was becoming 
 dangerous to the safety of Europe, together with several 
 alleged aggressions on the part of Louis XIV., and his 
 
ANNE. 117 
 
 having- acknowledged the title of the pretender, by 
 which name the adherents of Queen Anne designated 
 the son of James II. A war founded on such reasons, 
 naturally met with keen opposition ; but it was resolved 
 on, in a great degree through the influence of the duke 
 of Marlborough. The Dutch and Germans declared 
 war against France at the same time. 
 
 The duke of Marlborough was first appointed general 
 of the English forces, and afterwards commander-in- 
 chief of the allied army. In 1702, a contest began, 
 which was carried on in Flanders and Germany for ten 
 years, and in which Marlborough raised his military 
 fame to the highest pitch. 
 
 The first great blow given to the French monarch was 
 at the celebrated battle of Blenheim, in 1704, between 
 the French under Marshal Tallard, and the allies, under 
 Marlborough and Prince Eugene. The French met with 
 a terrible defeat : and a country of one hundred leagues 
 in extent fell into the hands of the conquerors. In 1706, 
 Marlborough defeated Marshal Villeroy, at Ramailles ; 
 and the whole country of Brabant fell into his power. 
 In 1708, the victory of Oudernade threw almost the 
 whole of Flanders into the hands of the allies. The 
 following year was remarkable for the bloody battle of 
 Malplaquet, and the surrender of the town of Mons. 
 Marlborough's last campaign, in 1711, opened a passage 
 into the heart of France ; and in another season, had the 
 war been prosecuted in the same manner, the allies 
 might have been masters of Paris. 
 
 But while Marlborough was pursuing a career of vie 
 tory abroad, his fortunes underwent an entire change at 
 home. For some time, the people of England were 
 elated with success, and eager for conquest ; but the 
 burdens of the war began to press upon them : the 
 British arms were less fortunate in other quarters; and 
 they wished for the end of a war from which no solid 
 good could be expected. Hence the popularity of Marl- 
 borough gradually decayed. 
 
 It was in this reign that the disputes between the two 
 great parties known by the names of Whigs and Tories 
 
118 ANNE. 
 
 began to have a constant influence on the measures of 
 government; though the parties and their names had 
 existed for a considerable time. These names were, at 
 first, cant terms of contempt bestowed upon each other 
 by the parties which divided the kingdom in the reign 
 of Charles II., but they gradually lost their offensive 
 significations. The name of Tory came to be applied 
 (by themselves as well as others) to those who especially 
 desired to support the powers of the crown, and the esta- 
 blishment of the national church : while the name of 
 Whig was given to those who called for the extension 
 of popular freedom both in the state and in the church. 
 The Whigs accuse the Tories of wishing to exalt the 
 power of the crown at the expense of the just rights and 
 privileges of the people; while the Tories affirm that 
 the principles of the Whigs are inconsistent with the 
 preservation of the established government and religion 
 of the state. 
 
 Queen Anne began her reign with a Whig ministry, 
 and the duke of Marlborough attached himself to that 
 party. As the war became disagreeable to the nation, 
 the party who had caused it became more and more un- 
 popular, and the Tories began to prevail throughout the 
 kingdom. The duke of Marlborough was accused of 
 availing himself of the opportunities afforded by his sit- 
 uation of amassing an enormous private fortune ; and 
 the duchess, who had long been the queen's chief favour- 
 ite, disgusted her by her haughty temper. 
 
 Under these circumstances, the duke returned from 
 Flanders, in 1711. He had no sooner arrived than he 
 was accused of having taken a large bribe from a Jew, 
 who had contracted to supply the army with bread, and 
 was dismissed by the queen from all his employments. 
 She had, a short time before, dismissed all her other 
 Whig ministers, and bestowed her confidence on Harley, 
 who was made earl of Oxford, and St. John, Lord 
 Bolingbroke. 
 
 The new ministry resolved to bring about a peace ; 
 and, after long negotiations, the famous treaty of Utrecht 
 was concluded in 1713. 
 
ANNE. 119 
 
 The union between England and Scotland took place 
 in this reign. Since the accession of James I., these na- 
 tions had been under one sovereign, but remained sepa- 
 rate and independent of each other, in all other respects. 
 By the treaty of the Union, which was concluded in 
 1707, England and Scotland were formed into the United 
 Kingdom of Great Britain, with one parliament ; but 
 Scotland retained her own laws, and her own form of 
 church government. This treaty met with violent oppo- 
 sition, and continued for a time very unpopular among 
 the people of Scotland ; but their eyes have long since 
 been opened to its great and permanent benefits. 
 
 The remainder of Queen Anne's reign was spent in 
 disputes between the Whig and Tory parties upon sub- 
 jects which have now lost their importance. The vio- 
 lence of these disputes, however embittered the queen's 
 life, and appears to have shortened her days. She died 
 on the 30th of July, 1714, in the forty-ninth year of her 
 age, and thirteenth of her reign. 
 
 Queen Anne was not remarkable for capacity or firm- 
 ness ; but her disposition was amiable, and her conduct 
 exemplary in all the relations of private life. She was 
 the last sovereign of the house of Stuart. 
 
George I. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 George I. 
 From 1714 to 1727. 
 
 George, elector of Hanover, son of the elector of 
 Brunswick and the Electress Sophia, now succeeded in 
 virtue of the Act of Settlement. He was fifty-four years 
 of age when he came to the throne. 
 
 The king immediately bestowed his whole favour on 
 the Whig party. The ministers of the late queen were 
 dismissed, and all the situations under government filled 
 bv Whigs. 
 
 (120; 
 
GEORGE I. 121 
 
 When parliament met, the earl of Oxford was im- 
 peached upon various charges, relating chiefly to the 
 treaty of Utrecht. He was imprisoned in the Tower ; 
 and the duke of Ormond and Lord Bolingbroke having 
 left the kingdom, their names were erased from the 
 peerage, and their estates forfeited to the crown. After 
 remaining in prison for two years, Lord Oxford was 
 brought to trial; but the Commons finding they could 
 make nothing of the charges against him, failed to ap- 
 pear as prosecutors, and he was set at liberty. 
 
 These violent proceedings excited great discontent 
 among the people, who were generally inclined to the 
 Tories. There were many people in England, and a 
 still larger proportion of the Scots, attached to the Stuart 
 family. 
 
 In 1715 a rebellion broke out in Scotland, headed by 
 the earl of Mar, who, assembling his vassals, proclaimed 
 Prince James, son of James II., king of Scotland. Some 
 assistance arrived from France ; and the earl soon found 
 himself at the head of 10,000 men. The duke of Argyle, 
 commander-in-chief of the forces in Scotland, advanced 
 against the earl of Mar with an army of only 3500 men ; 
 and a battle took place near Dumblane. The rebels 
 made so furious a charge against the left wing of the 
 royal army, that they routed it ; and the commander, 
 flying to Stirling, reported that the rebels were vic- 
 torious. In the meantime, the duke of Argyle, who com- 
 manded in person on the right, defeated the left wing of 
 the rebel army, and pursued them off the field ; but when 
 he returned, he found the victorious division of the enemy 
 waiting to receive him. Both armies drew off, and the 
 result of this singular battle enabled both parties to claim 
 the victory ; but all its advantages belonged to the duke 
 of Argyle ; for the effect of this check was, that most of 
 the Highlanders who had joined the earl of Mar returned 
 home. 
 
 While these transactions took place in Scotland, the 
 rebellion also broke out in England, headed by the earl 
 of Derwentvvater, and some other noblemen and gentle- 
 men. They advanced from the northern border of the 
 11 
 
122 GEORGE I. 
 
 kingdom to Preston in Lancashire, where they were met 
 and surrounded by so large a body of the royal forces, 
 that they were obliged to surrender. 
 
 After the Pretender's friends in Britain had thus been 
 defeated, he himself arrived in Scotland, attended only 
 by six gentlemen. The earl of Mar joined him, and he] 
 was proclaimed king, expecting that the people wouldJ 
 still rise in his favour. But in this he was disappointed,] 
 and, finding his affairs desperate, returned to France. 
 
 The rebels were treated with great severity. The ; 
 earls of Derwentwater and Kenmuir, a number of gen- 
 tlemen and persons of inferior rank, were executed ; and 
 above one thousand persons were transported to North 
 America. Immediately after the suppression of this 
 rebellion, an act was passed, which still remains in 
 force, extending the duration of parliament from three 
 to seven years. 
 
 The year 1720 is memorable on account of the South 
 Sea Scheme. Ever since the Revolution, it had become 
 the custom of government, in place of raising sufficient 
 money for the public expenses every year by means of 
 the taxes, to borrow money from merchants or trading 
 companies. From one of these, the company which 
 traded to the South Seas, the government had borrowed 
 large sums; and this company made a proposal that 
 they should pay off all the debts due to other parties, 
 and thus become the only creditors of the nation. The 
 government was to have the advantage of paying a lower 
 rate of interest than they had done before ; and the com- 
 pany was to be empowered to raise the money necessary 
 for buying up the debts of the nation by opening a sub- 
 scription to a scheme for carrying on a trade to the South 
 Seas, of the profit of which the most extravagant ideas 
 were entertained. A general eagerness to engage in 
 this speculation seized the public ; the people came for- 
 ward in crowds to subscribe, and numbers ventured all 
 they had. In a short time the desire to obtain shares 
 in the concern was such, that people obtained ten times 
 the sum they had subscribed, on agreeing to part with 
 their shares. In a few months, however, it was found 
 
GEORGE II. 123 
 
 that it was all a delusion. Thousands of families were 
 reduced to beggary, and the trade of the country suffered 
 a shock from which it did not for a considerable time 
 recover. 
 
 In 1726, a war broke out with Spain, and an expedi- 
 tion, under Admiral Hosier, was sent to South America, 
 to intercept the ships employed in conveying gold to 
 Spain ; but it entirely failed. The Spaniards also failed 
 in an attempt to take Gibraltar ; and a peace was soon 
 afterwards concluded. 
 
 In 1727, the king set out on a visit to Hanover : but 
 was taken ill, and died in his carriage, near Osnaburg, 
 on the 11th of June, 1727, in the sixty-eight year of his 
 age, and thirteenth of his reign. He was married to the 
 Princess Sophia of Zell, by whom he had the prince who 
 succeeded him, and a daughter, who married Frederic 
 William, king of Prussia. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 George II. 
 
 From 1727 to 1760. 
 
 George II. came to the throne at the age of forty- 
 four. He was married to the Princess Caroline of An- 
 spach, and at this period, his eldest son, Frederick, prince 
 of Wales, was twenty years of age. The queen pos- 
 sessed great beauty, with a strong understanding, and 
 took a considerable share in the affairs of government 
 She died in 1737. 
 
 Sir Robert Walpole, who, in the former reign, had 
 been a principal leader of the Whig party, became the 
 king's chief minister. The two great parties in the 
 state now changed their names, and were called the 
 court and country parties. The court parly supported 
 the measures of Walpole's administration ; the country 
 
124 GEORGE II. 
 
 party was in opposition. The most frequent subjects of 
 dispute between them, during this reign, were the in- 
 crease of the national debt, and the number of troops 
 that were kept in pay. 
 
 For many years after the king's accession, the coun- 
 try remained in great tranquillity. But in 1739 a war 
 broke out with Spain. The dispute arose from a claim 
 made by the British to cut logwood in the bay of Cam- 
 peachy, in Spanish America, of which the Spaniards had 
 deprived them, notwithstanding the terms of a treaty. 
 The complaints of the English merchants produced a 
 general ardour for war ; and, to gratify this desire, war 
 was commenced. 
 
 Admiral Vernon took Porto-bello, a Spanish settle- 
 ment on the Isthmus of Darien ; and Commodore Anson, 
 besides doing some damage on the coast of Chili, took 
 one of the galleons, or vessels laden with gold for Spain. 
 An expedition, however, against Carthagena, on the 
 north-west coast of South America, in 1741, was very 
 unfortunate ; the troops, in an attempt to storm the 
 place, were beaten back with great slaughter, and vast 
 numbers perished by disease. 
 
 This affair produced violent indignation against the 
 sumister, Sir Robert Walpole, who was becoming un- 
 popular on other accounts. He was accused of allowing 
 the British fleets to remain inactive, while the commerce 
 of Britain was almost destroyed by Spanish privateers. 
 A misunderstanding, too, had arisen some time before, 
 between the king and the prince of Wales, who had, in 
 consequence, retired from court ; and all his adherents 
 joined the opposition against the minister. A majority 
 against him was formed in the House of Commons, and 
 he resigned his office, being at the same time created 
 earl of Oxford. 
 
 In 1742, Great Britain engaged in a war arising out 
 of disputes among the Continental powers. On the 
 death of Charles VI., emperor of Germany, his daughter, 
 Maria Theresa, queen of Hungary, who ought to have 
 succeeded him, was deprived of her inheritance by the 
 elector of Bavaria, who, through the assistance of France, 
 
GEORGE II. 125 
 
 was crowned emperor. Her own dominions were, at the 
 same time attacked by France, Saxony, and Bavaria ; 
 and the English government resolved to take her part. 
 
 The interest which the king of England had in en- 
 tering into this contest was to preserve the safety of 
 Hanover, which might have been endangered by a war 
 respecting the right to the empire of Germany, of which 
 Hanover formed a part. 
 
 The British government sent an army of 16,000 men, 
 under the earl Stair, into the Netherlands ; to which 
 was added an equal number of Hanoverian troops. 
 Lord Stair's object was to join the army of the queen of 
 Hungary ; to prevent which, the French army, under 
 Marshal Noailles, posted itself on the other side of the 
 river Maine, and cut off the supplies of provisions for the 
 British troops. The army was in this situation when it 
 was joined by the king himself, and his son the duke of 
 Cumberland. The king began a retreat to seek for a 
 more advantageous position, but soon found that the 
 enemy had surrounded him on every side, near the 
 village of Dettingen. A battle now became necessary, 
 notwithstanding the inferiority of force : but the rash- 
 ness with which the French made their attack, saved the 
 British army. They were repulsed with the loss of 
 5000 men, the British having lost 2000. The king be- 
 haved with great gallantry, exposing himself to the 
 thickest of the fire. This was the last time that i king 
 of England commanded his army in battle. 
 
 In the following year, the French assembled an army 
 of 120,000 men, under the command of their celebrated 
 general Marshal Saxe. They besieged the city of Tour- 
 nay ; and the duke of Cumberland, who now commanded 
 the allied army, determined to risk a battle, in order to 
 save that place, though with inferior numbers. He at- 
 tacked the French near the village of Fontenoy, but 
 was repulsed with tne loss of 12,000 men, the French 
 having lost as many. Tournay then surrendered to the 
 French. 
 
 In the year 1745, Charles Edward Stuart, the son of 
 the old Pretender, resolved to make an effort to gain the 
 11* * 
 
126 (jeoroe ii. 
 
 British crown. Having received some money, and many 
 promises of assistance from France, he landed in the 
 north of Scotland, with seven officers, and arms for 2000 
 men. He was joined by some of the Highland chiefs 
 with their followers, and advanced to Edinburgh, which 
 he entered without opposition. 
 
 Sir John Cope, who commanded the king's forces, ad- 
 vanced to Edinburgh, and encamped at Preston Pans, a 
 few miles from the city. He was attacked by the High- 
 landers, and defeated with the loss of 500 men. Had 
 the Pretender profited by the terror and confusion pro- 
 duced by this victory, it might have had fatal conse- 
 quences; but he trifled away his time at Edinburgh, and 
 gave the government an opportunity of effectually oppos- 
 ing him. 
 
 Charles now marched into England, and after besieg- 
 ing and taking Carlisle, he advanced without opposition 
 to Manchester, where he was joined by about 200 Eng- 
 lish. Thence he proceeded to Derby ; but, being disap- 
 pointed in the assistance they expected from France, 
 and afraid of being surrounded by the English troops, 
 the Scottish chiefs resolved, contrary to the wishes of the 
 prince, to return homewards. They accordingly re- 
 treated, leaving a garrison of 400 men in Carlisle, which 
 a few days afterwards surrendered to the king's troops. 
 
 After his return to Scotland, the Pretender's force re- 
 ceived considerable additions. He laid siege to the 
 castle of Stirling, and finding that General Hawley was 
 advancing with a body of troops, he attacked and com- 
 pletely defeated them. 
 
 The duke of Cumberland, who had arrived from 
 Flanders, now put himself at the head of the troops at 
 Edinburgh, amounting to about 14,000 men. With these 
 he followed the rebels, who had marched to the north- 
 ward ; and came up with them at Culloden, an exten- 
 sive moor in the neighbourhood of Inverness. Here the 
 prince drew up his army, consisting of 4000 men, to 
 wait the duke of Cumberland's attack. The cannon of 
 the king's army did dreadful execution among them, 
 while their own proved useless. Their commander un- 
 
GEORGE II. 127 
 
 wisely kept, them for some time exposed to this fire, in- 
 stead of allowing them to rush forward to the attack. 
 At last their impatience could not be restrained ; and a 
 body of them attacked the king's troops with their usual 
 fierceness, and threw the first line into disorder. But 
 they met with a dreadful discharge from the battalions 
 stationed behind ; and at the same time the dragoons fell 
 upon their Hank, sword in hand, with great slaughter. 
 In less than half an hour they were totally routed, and 
 the field covered with their killed and wounded, to the 
 number of 3000. 
 
 The conquerors made a cruel use of their victory. 
 Quarter was refused, and many were slain who were 
 mere spectators of the combat. The country, for many 
 miles round, was laid waste, and the inhabitants put to 
 the sword. 
 
 Charles escaped from the field with a few followers, 
 and had a course of adventures very similar to those of 
 Charles II. after the battle of Worcester. He wandered 
 for five months among the wildest parts of the High- 
 lands, and was often on the point of being taken ; but 
 though there was a reward of 30,000/. set upon his head, 
 and though he trusted himself to more than fifty per- 
 sons, not one was prevailed upon, even by so great a 
 temptation, to betray him. He at last, got on board a 
 French privateer, with a few faithful friends, who had 
 shared all his calamities, and got safe to France. 
 
 Government proceeded with great severity against the 
 rebels who had been taken. Lords Bal merino, Kilmar- 
 nock, and Lovat, and Mr. RadclifFe (brother to the earl 
 of Derwentwater, who was beheaded in 1715), were be- 
 headed. Many officers were hanged, drawn, and quar- 
 tered, at Kennington Common, Carlisle, and York. A 
 few obtained pardons, and a considerable number of the 
 common men were transported to the North American 
 plantations. 
 
 Some regulations were then made for the future tran- 
 quillity of Scotland. Of these the most important was 
 the abolition of the power, which the chieftains possessed 
 by inheritance, of judging and punishing the vassals on 
 
128 GEORGE II. 
 
 their estates. All power of this kind was taken away, 
 and the chieftains and their vassals were placed equally 
 under the general laws of the kingdom. 
 
 Soon after this rebellion, the duke of Cumberland re- 
 turned to Flanders, and the war with France was carried 
 on without decided advantage on either side, till the 
 year 1748, when a war of which all parties were weary, 
 was terminated by a treaty entered into at Aix-la-Cha- 
 pelle. 
 
 Another war with France broke out in 1755, in con- 
 sequence of some encroachments made by the French on 
 the British North American settlements, and also of dis- 
 putes between the British and French establishments in 
 the East Indies. 
 
 The war in America was conducted for some time 
 with little success, but in 1758 some important advan- 
 tages were gained. In 1759, Quebec, the capital of 
 Canada, was taken by the British troops, after they had 
 defeated the French under Montcalm, though with the 
 loss of their gallant commander, General Wolfe. In the 
 following year the whole of Canada was subdued, and 
 that province has ever since remained annexed to the 
 British Empire. 
 
 The war in the East Indies was carried on with great 
 violence for several years, till the British arms, under 
 the conduct of Lord Clive, at last gained a complete as- 
 cendancy. The French gradually lost all their posses- 
 sions in India, except the strong town of Pondicherry. 
 This last stronghold was defended by General Lally 
 with desperate perseverance, the garrison being forced, 
 by famine, to eat dogs and cats ; and he surrendered 
 only when he found that a breach had been made, and 
 that no more than one day's provisions remained. This 
 conquest, which took place on the 15th of January, 
 1761, put an end to the power of the French in India. 
 
 An extensive war was at the same time carried on in 
 Europe. The island of Minorca, which the English had 
 taken from the Spaniards in Queen Anne's reign, was 
 besieged by the French. Admiral Byng, with ten ships 
 of war, was sent to relieve the place, but he failed in his 
 
GEORGE II. 129 
 
 object, and Minorca was taken. Byng, being 1 accused 
 of misconduct, in this affair, was brought home under 
 arrest, tried, and shot. 
 
 After the conquest of -Minorca, the French threatened 
 to attack Hanover. The king of England; anxious for 
 the protection of that territory, entered into a treaty 
 with Frederick, king of Prussia, by which that prince 
 undertook to protect Hanover, while England agreed to 
 assist him against Austria, France, and Russia, who had 
 formed an alliance against him. 
 
 The Hanoverian troops were commanded by the duke 
 of Cumberland, who was unable to resist the great force 
 with which France invaded that country. His army 
 was forced to lay down their arms, and Hanover fell 
 into the hands of the French, who then turned their 
 arms against the king of Prussia. 
 
 In a short time, the Hanoverians, roused by the op- 
 pressive manner in which they were treated by the 
 French, again took up arms, and Mr. Pitt, who was now 
 at the head of arlairs in England, seized the opportunity 
 of making a strong efibrt to preserve Hanover and assist 
 Prussia. A body of British troops was sent over to join 
 the Hanoverians, who were commanded by Prince Fer- 
 dinand of Brunswick ; and in 1759, the British and Hano- 
 verians defeated the French army at Minden. 
 
 After this victory the British army in Germany was 
 increased to 30,000 men, and the war was continued 
 during the year 1760, without any decided result. 
 
 In these circumstances, the king died suddenly on the 
 25th of October, 1760, in the seventy-seventh year of 
 his age and thirty-fourth of his reign, deservedly la- 
 mented by his subjects. His son, the prince of Wales, 
 having died in 1751, he was succeeded by his grandson, 
 the eldest son of that prince. 
 
George III. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 George III. 
 
 From 1760 to 1789. 
 
 George III. was twenty-two years old when he suc- 
 ceeded his grandfather. 
 
 Mr. Pitt continued to be the minister, and the war was 
 carried on with great vigour. At this time France pre- 
 vailed on Spain to join the confederacy against England ; 
 and Mr. Pitt, discovering the intention of Spain, urged 
 an immediate declaration of war against that country. 
 But this proposal being rejected by the king's privy- 
 council, Mr. Pitt resigned his situation of minister, and 
 was afterwards created earl of Chatham. The earl of 
 Bute then took the lead of the administration. 
 
 (130) 
 
GEORGE III. 131 
 
 Soon afterwards, however, the alliance between 
 France and Spain being- openly proclaimed, it was found 
 necessary for Great Britain to declare war. 
 
 The Spaniards invaded Portugal, the ally of Great 
 Britain, and a body of British troops was sent to assist 
 the Portugese. Several actions took place during- the 
 year 1762, and the Spaniards were driven out of Por- 
 tugal. 
 
 The British arms were equally successful in America 
 and the West Indies. From the French were taken the 
 islands of Martinique, St. Lucie, St. Vincent, and Gre- 
 nada. From the Spaniards were taken the strong- for- 
 tress of Havannah in the Island of Cuba, and the Philip- 
 pine Islands in the East Indies. By these captures the 
 commerce of Spain was nearly ruined. 
 
 During the same period the war was being continued 
 in Germany, where the British and Hanoverians, under 
 Prince Ferdinand, gained some advantages over the 
 French, but not of a decisive kind. 
 
 After so many losses, the French and Spaniards were 
 desirous of peace ; and a treaty was concluded in 1763, 
 by which Great Britain kept possession of the greatest 
 part of the conquests made during the war, though some 
 of them were restored. 
 
 In order to relieve the people of Great Britain of a 
 part of the burden of the taxes, the ministry resolved to 
 tax the North American colonies ; and in 1765, an act 
 of parliament was passed, imposing stamp duties upon 
 them. This act was received in America with the 
 greatest indignation. The colonists contended that, by 
 the British constitution, the subjects cannot be taxed un- 
 less by the consent of their representatives in parliament, 
 and that they, not being represented, could not be taxed. 
 So great was the ferment, that it was found necessary 
 to repeal this act ; but at the same time another act was 
 made declaring the right of parliament not only to tax 
 the colonies, but to make laws binding on them in every 
 case whatever. 
 
 In 1767, an act was passed, laying a tax on tea and 
 some other articles imported into the American colonies. 
 
132 GEORGE III. 
 
 This act was not put in force ; and in 1770, when Lord 
 North became minister, it was repealed with respect to 
 all the articles except tea. Lord North imagined that a 
 tax of a very trifling amount would not be objected to; 
 but he did not sufficiently consider that it was the prin- 
 ciple of taxation which the Americans resisted. The 
 people of Boston, in New England, violently resisted the 
 attempt to levy the tax on tea, and the ministry, to pun- 
 ish them, procured an act imposing restrictions on their 
 commerce, and sent troops to enforce its execution. 
 
 A general spirit of resistance now spread over the 
 American colonies. They sent representatives to a 
 general congress, which met at Philadelphia, on the 
 5th of September, 1774 ; and that body published a de- 
 claration of their resolution to defend their rights. — 
 Arms and military stores were provided in different 
 places for defence against the British troops ; and an at- 
 tempt to seize a quantity of these, produced a battle at 
 Lexington and Concord, near Boston, on the 19th of 
 April, 1775, in which a number both of the soldiers and 
 colonists were killed. 
 
 Both parties now proceeded to open war. Thirteen 
 of the colonies formed themselves into a Union, to be 
 conducted by delegates sent to the congress. The colo- 
 nies of Canada and Nova Scotia, however, remained 
 steady in their adherence to the mother-country. — 
 George Washington, a Virginian gentleman, who had 
 distinguished himself in the war with France, twenty 
 years before, was placed at the head of the American 
 army. On the other hand, large bodies of troops, under 
 General Howe and Lord Cornwallis, were sent from 
 England. 
 
 During the year 1776, the British troops, on the whole, 
 had the advantage. But in the ensuing winter and 
 spring, Washington found means to strengthen and dis- 
 cipline his army ; and in 1777, a British army, under 
 Ceneral Burgoyne, having been surrounded by the 
 American forces, was obliged to lay down their arms at 
 Saratoga. 
 
 The success of the Americans induced France to join 
 
GEORGE III. 133 
 
 them against Great Britain. A treaty between France 
 and the United States (as the American government was 
 styled,) was concluded in 1778, and a French fleet with 
 troops was sent to America. 
 
 The nation now began to be discouraged by the ill 
 success of the war ; and a motion was made in the 
 House of Lords, that the troops should be withdrawn 
 from America. It was opposed by the venerable earl of 
 Chatham, who was lifted from a sick-bed for that pur- 
 pose. He had opposed the measures which led to the 
 war ; but he now protested against yielding to the dread 
 of France. While engaged in this debate, he suddenly 
 sank down in a fit, and was carried, apparently lifeless, 
 from the House. This striking scene happened on the 
 2nd April, 1778 : and this great statesman expired a few 
 weeks afterwards. 
 
 The war was carried on without any remarkable 
 event till the year 1781 ; but in October of that year, 
 Lord Cornwallis was under the necessity of surrendering 
 himself and his army to General Washington. From 
 that time all expectation of subduing the Americans was 
 at an end. 
 
 In 1779, Spain joined the enemies of Great Britain ; 
 and in 1780, Holland was added to the confederacy. 
 Britain made vigorous efforts against these combined 
 powers; and many brilliant exploits were performed 
 by her navy. In 1780, Admiral Rodney defeated the 
 Spanish fleet under Don Juan de Langara, and in 1782, 
 the French fleet under the Count de Grasse. The 
 French and Spaniards besieged Gibraltar, which was 
 defended by General Elliot; but, after a long siege, 
 and the failure of a great attack on the place, they were 
 obliged to give up the attempt; and Britain has ever 
 since retained undisturbed possession of this important 
 fortress. 
 
 The bad success of the British troops in America, and 
 the burdens caused by the war, had now rendered Lord 
 North's ministry unpopular ; and the opposition against 
 him, led by Mr. Fox, was so strong, that he resigned in 
 March, 1782. He was succeeded by a ministry, the 
 12 
 
134 GEORGE III. 
 
 chief members of which were the marquis of Rocking- 
 ham, Lord Shelburne, and Mr. Fox. The death of the 
 marquis of Rockingham, a few months afterwards, pro- 
 duced a further change. Mr. Fox, disappointed in his 
 wish of obtaining the highest situation, resigned ; and 
 Lord Shelburne obtained the assistance of Mr. William 
 Pitt (son of the earl of Chatham), who was made 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer. 
 
 William Pitt. 
 
 The new ministry entered into a treaty for a general 
 peace ; but in the meantime, Mr. Fox and his Whig 
 friends having joined the party of Lord North, their 
 united strength procured the dismissal of Lord Shel- 
 burne ; and a ministry was formed, known by the name 
 of the Coalition, in which Mr. Fox and Lord North 
 were joint secretaries of state. These ministers con- 
 cluded treaties of peace with France, Spain, and the 
 United States of America, which were signed on the 
 3d of September, 1783. In the following year peace 
 
GEORGE III. 135 
 
 was concluded with Holland. By these treaties, Great 
 Britain acknowledged the independence of the United 
 States ; and restored to France and Spain a part of the 
 possessions "which had been taken from them during 
 the war. 
 
 The coalition between two persons so opposite to each 
 other in political principles as Lord North and Mr. Fox, 
 gave general disgust to the nation as well as to the 
 king; and his majesty resolved to dismiss them, though 
 they had a majority of the House of Commons on their 
 side. Mr. Pitt, then only in his twenty-fifth year, was 
 
 ? laced at the head of the new ministry in the end of 
 783, and parliament was soon afterwards dissolved. 
 On the new parliament meeting, Mr. Pitt was supported 
 by large majorities, a proof that the king's choice was 
 agreeable to the country. 
 
 In 1788, the king was seized with a disorder of mind 
 which rendered him, for some months, incapable of at- 
 tending to public affairs. Some discussions took place 
 as to the appointment of a regency, which were stopped 
 by his majesty's recovery. 
 
 A considerable period of peace now ensued, during 
 which the British nation enjoyed a state of increasing 
 prosperity, and the violence of party spirit declined 
 amidst the general tranquillity. In this state matters 
 continued till the peace of the world was disturbed by 
 the breaking out of the French revolution. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 George III. continued. 
 
 From 1789 to 1820. 
 
 The French revolution commenced in 1789. It is 
 sufficient here to mention that, after the French had 
 overturned the government and religion of the state, 
 and put their king to death on a scaffold, they declared 
 themselves the enemies of royalty all over the world, 
 and rendered it necessary for the neighbouring govern- 
 ments to guard against their furious designs. In 1792, 
 Austria and Prussia took up arms ; but Britain, though 
 she disdained to acknowledge the French republic, 
 remained passive until the intelligence arrived of the 
 murder of the king, in January, 1793, when the French 
 agent was ordered instantly to quit the country. On 
 the 1st of February, France declared war against 
 Britain. 
 
 The French troops having invaded the Netherlands, a 
 British army, under the duke of York, was sent to join 
 the Austrians and Prussians. They were unable how- 
 ever, to resist the French arms. The duke of York, 
 after suffering considerable loss, was under the neces- 
 sity of returning to England ; and the French obtained 
 possession of the Netherlands. But while the French 
 were thus successful by land, their fleet was totally de- 
 feated by Lord Howe, on the 1st of June, 1794. 
 
 The war continued on the Continent with great fury ; 
 but Britain did not again take an active part in it till 
 1797. The Spaniards and Dutch had, in the meantime, 
 entered into alliance with France. The Spanish fleet 
 was defeated off Cape St. Vincent by Sir John Jervis, 
 afterwards created earl St. Vincent, on the 14th of Feb- 
 ruary ; and the Dutch fleet was defeated off Camper- 
 down, by Admiral Duncan, on the 11th of October. 
 
 (136) 
 
GEORGE III. 137 
 
 Both admirals were raised to the peerage. In 1797, 
 Austria made peace with France — Prussia had done so 
 some time before ; so that Britain was left to continue 
 the contest single-handed. 
 
 In the same year an alarming mutiny took place in 
 the fleet lying at the Nore, which, by the firmness of 
 government, and particularly of the admiral, earl St. 
 Vincent, was happily suppressed. 
 
 Earl St. Vincent. 
 
 In 1798 a rebellion broke out in Ireland, excited by a 
 band of conspirators, who were in communication with 
 France. It raged chiefly in the counties of Wexford 
 and Wicklow, which became a dreadful scene of con- 
 tention and slaughter. The rebels had assembled in 
 great force in a strong position on Vinegar Hill, which 
 was stormed and taken after a bloody engagement. A 
 12* 
 
188 GEORGE III. 
 
 great body of them were afterwards driven out of Wex- 
 ford, and were pursued and defeated. A number of their 
 leaders (some of whom were men of rank and station) 
 were taken and executed. 
 
 The French government having sent an expedition to 
 Egypt, under General Buonaparte, Admiral Nelson was 
 despatched in pursuit of it. When he arrived on the 
 coast of Egypt, the French troops had landed, and the 
 fleet was lying in the Bay of Aboukir. He attacked it 
 on the 1st of August, 1798, at sunset; and after a dread- 
 
 Admiral Duncan. 
 
 ful engagement, which continued till morning, nearly 
 the whole French fleet was taken and destroyed. 
 During the battle, L'Orient, the French Admiral's ship, 
 blew up, and all on board perished. For this splendid 
 achievement Admiral Nelson was elevated to the peer- 
 age. 
 
 Buonaparte, after remaining some time in Egypt, 
 hearing of the unsettled state of affairs at home, sud- 
 
GE0RUE HI. 139 
 
 denly left his army, and returned to France, where he 
 contrived to place himself at the head of the govern- 
 ment, under the title of Chief Consul. 
 
 In 1799, the Austrians again went to war with France, 
 and were joined by the Russians ; and many bloody en- 
 gagements took place in the north of Italy and Switzer- 
 land. To favour the operations of the allies, a British 
 army, under General Abercroinbie, was sent to Holland ; 
 it landed at the Holder, and was soon joined by a Rus- 
 sian force. The command was taken by the duke of 
 York ; and the allied troops defeated the French and 
 Dutch, with considerable loss, in several engagements. 
 Owing, however, to the superior numbers of the enemy, 
 together with the bad weather and roads, and the want 
 of supplies, the duke was obliged to re-embark his troops 
 and return to England. 
 
 The year 1800 was remarkable for a union between 
 Great Britain and Ireland, of a similar nature to the 
 union of England and Scotland. The three countries 
 were formed into one kingdom, styled " the United 
 Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland ;" and Ireland 
 was represented in parliament by twenty-eight peers, 
 and one hundred commoners. The union commenced 
 on the 1st of January, 1801. 
 
 As the French still kept possession of Egypt, a British 
 force under Sir Ralph Abercrombie, was sent against 
 them. These troops having^ landed near Alexandria, 
 were attacked, on the 21st of March, 1801, by the 
 French, under General Menou, whom they defeated 
 after a bloody engagement, in which the brave Aber- 
 crombie was killed. General Hutchinson, who succeeded 
 to the command, soon drove the French out of Egypt. 
 
 In consequence of the successes of the French against 
 the Austrians, in 1800, the emperor was obliged to make 
 a disadvantageous peace known by the name of the 
 Treaty of Luneville. The Emperor Paul of Russia, 
 too, now made peace with France, and began hostilities 
 against Britain, by detaining all her vessels in his har- 
 bours. 
 
 A quarrel about the same time took place with Den- 
 
140 GEORGE TH. 
 
 mark and Sweden, in consequence of the British ships 
 searching some of their yessels, which were suspected 
 of carrying property belonging to their enemies. An 
 expedition was sent against Copenhagen, in March, 
 1801, and Lord Nelson, who had the command, attacked 
 the Danish fleet stationed for the defence of that city. 
 After a very severe battle, in which the greater part of 
 the Danish ships were taken or destroyed, Lord Nelson 
 offered terms of truce, which were agreed to. 
 
 On the death of the Emperor Paul (who was murdered 
 by some of the nobility who had conspired against him), 
 his successor, Alexander, made peace with England, 
 and a treaty was also concluded with Denmark and 
 Sweden. 
 
 In the beginning of this year (1601) Mr. Pitt resigned 
 his situation of minister, and was succeeded by Mr. Ad- 
 dington, afterwards created Viscount Sid mouth. A nego- 
 tiation with France was now entered into ; and a treaty 
 of peace was signed at Amiens, on the 25th of March, 
 1802. 
 
 This event caused great joy throughout the nation ; 
 but it was soon found that Buonaparte had no desire that 
 the peace should be lasting. Disputes arose as to the 
 fulfilment of the treaty ; and Buonaparte's demands 
 were so unreasonable, that Lord Whitworth, the British 
 ambassador, was recalled ; and a vigorous renewal of the 
 war was voted by immense majorities in both houses of 
 parliament. 
 
 In 1804, Mr Addington retired from office, and Mr. 
 Pitt resumed his former station. Buonaparte, now be- 
 come emperor of France, induced Spain to enter into an 
 alliance with him, and to declare war against Britain. 
 The war was carried on without any remarkable event 
 occurring, till Lord Nelson encountered the French and 
 Spanish fleets off Cape Trafalgar, on the 21st October, 
 1805. In this memorable battle, the fleets of the enemy 
 were totally destroyed, but the victory was attended 
 with the loss of the illustrious Nelson, who was killed 
 by a musket shot. 
 
GEORGE III. 141 
 
 Lord Nelson. 
 
 Mr. Pitt died on the 23d of January, 1806, and a new 
 ministry was formed from the Whig party, with Mr. 
 Fox at its head. Mr. Fox endeavoured to enter into a 
 treaty with France, but found it impossible to obtain rea- 
 sonable terms, and the treaty was broken off. Mr. Fox 
 died on the 13th of September ; and in March, 1807, a 
 Tory ministry was formed, at the head of which was 
 Mr. Perceval, who was appointed chancellor of the ex- 
 chequer, and Lord Castlereagh, Lord Hawkesbury, and 
 Mr. Canning; became secretaries of state. 
 
 In 1807, several foreign expeditions planned by Mr. 
 Fox's ministry, were attended with unfortunate results. 
 General Whitelock was sent to South America, to re- 
 duce the Spanish settlement of Buenos Ayres. In his 
 attempt to obtain possession of the town, he allowed 
 himself to be surrounded by the enemy, and was obliged, 
 after losing a great many men, to agree to retire from 
 the province. He was tried for misconduct, and dis- 
 missed from the service. In consequence of its having 
 
142 GEORGE III. 
 
 been supposed that Turkey was inclined to favour the 
 interests of France, an expedition was sent to Constan- 
 tinople, to demand a declaration of the Sultan's views. 
 The fleet forced a passage through the Straits of the 
 Dardanelles ; but found the approaches to Constantino- 
 ple so strongly fortified, that it was obliged to return, 
 after losing a great number of men by the fire of the 
 Turkish batteries. Another expedition was sent to dis- 
 possess the Turks of Egypt ; but after Alexandria had 
 been taken with the loss of many of the British soldiers, 
 the troops were unable to withstand the great force 
 brought against them, and were obliged to retire from 
 Egypt 
 
 Lord Castlereagh. 
 
 One of the first measures of the new ministry was to 
 send an expedition to Copenhagen. As there was rea- 
 son to believe that Buonaparte intended to force the 
 Danes into an alliance with him that he might obtain 
 the use of their fleet to replace that which Lord Nelson 
 
GEORGE III. 143 
 
 had destroyed, it was considered proper to demand that 
 the Danes should deliver to the English the custody of 
 their fleet ; and this demand was accompanied with an 
 offer to protect the Danish territories from any aggres- 
 sion on the part of the French. 
 
 The demand being refused, the naval and military 
 commanders bombarded the city, and took possession of 
 the fleet, which was taken to England. The Danet 
 immediately declared war against that country. 
 
 In the year 1808, Buonaparte having deprived the 
 king of Spain of his crown, and placed his brother. 
 Joseph Buonaparte, on the throne, the conduct of the 
 French became so oppressive, that it roused the people 
 to a general insurrection. They formed temporary go- 
 vernments in every province, and requested assistance 
 from England. An army was immediately sent to Spain, 
 under Sir Arthur Wellesly, who defeated the French at 
 Vimiera, on the 21st of August ; but the fruits of the 
 victory were lost by an agreement concluded by Sir Hew 
 Dalrymple (who had arrived and taken the command 
 immediately after the battle), in consequence of which 
 the French troops, instead of being obliged to surrender, 
 were conveyed to France. 
 
 In November, another British army arrived in Spain, 
 under Sir John Moore. They penetrated a considerable 
 way into the country, but were obliged to retreat, and 
 after dreadful calamities, arrived at Corunna, on the 
 16th of January, 1809. The French army which closely 
 followed them, attempted to prevent their embarking; 
 and a battle took place in which the French were com- 
 pletely defeated. Sir John Moore fell in the engage- 
 ment ; but the troops embarked without further molesta- 
 tion. 
 
 In the spring of 1809, Sir Arthur Wellesly landed in 
 Portugal with additional troops. Marching into Spain, 
 he joined the Spanish army under General Cuesta, and 
 on the 28th of July, defeated the French under Marshal 
 Victor at Talavera. In this battle the French had 
 10,000 men killed and wounded, and the British half 
 the number. The Soaniards took a small share in the en- 
 
144 GEORGE III. 
 
 gagement After this battle, Sir Arthur retired to the 
 frontiers of Portugal, to defend that country, the French 
 having collected a great force for its invasion. During 
 the year 1810, he remained in the defensive position, 
 and prevented Marshal Massena, who had followed him 
 into Portugal, from penetrating far into that kingdom. 
 At last Massena was compelled to withdraw his troops 
 into Spain, and was followed by Sir Arthur, now Vis- 
 count Wellington. During the years 1811 and 1812, 
 many engagements and sieges took place, and the Bri- 
 tish troops gained several brilliant victories, of which 
 the most remarkable were those of Barrosa, Albuera, and 
 Salamanca. But the great strength of the French 
 armies obliged Lord Wellington, in the end of 1812, 
 again to retire into Portugal. 
 
 The total destruction, during the winter of 1812, of 
 the immense army led by the* emperor of France into 
 Russia, made it necessary for him to withdraw a part of 
 his troops from Spain. A great force still remained ; 
 but Lord Wellington now attacked them vigorously; 
 and after defeating Marshal Jourdan, in a great and de- 
 cisive battle at Vittoria, drove the French army out of 
 Spain, and followed it into France, which he entered on 
 the 7th of October, 1813. His last achievement was the 
 defeat of Marshal Soult at Toulouse, on the 10th of 
 April, 1814. 
 
 Further hostilities were put an end to by the intelli- 
 gence that Buonaparte had been forced to abdicate, and 
 that Louis XVIII. (the brother of the king who was put 
 to death in 1793) was restored to the throne. The de- 
 struction of the French army had encouraged Prussia 
 and Austria to declare war against Buonaparte ; and the 
 united Russian, Austrian, and Prussian forces, having 
 entered France, and obtained possession of Paris, had 
 produced the above result. Buonaparte was conveyed 
 to Elba, a small island on the coast of Italy, fixed on as 
 his residence. On the 3d of May, 1814, Louis XVIIL, 
 who had resided for some years in England, made his 
 solemn entry into the capital of the kingdom ; and on 
 
GEOKGE III. 145 
 
 the 30th of that month, peace was concluded between 
 Britain and the other allied powers and France. 
 
 In tic beginning of 1815, Buonaparte suddenly escaped 
 from Elba, and landed in France, where he was received 
 with acclamations by the army. He proceeded without 
 opposition to Paris, from which the kin';- had lied, and 
 immediately resumed the government. The allied 
 powers prepared to invade Franco; and Buonaparte 
 proceeded, with an army of 150,( 00 men, to meet them 
 in the Netherlands, where the British and Prussian 
 armies already were; the British under the duke of 
 Wellington, and the Prussians under Marshals Bulow 
 and BUicher. After several bloody encounters on the 
 15th and 16th, a general battle took place on the 18th 
 of June, near the village of Waterloo, in which, after a 
 desperate conflict which lasted the whole day, the French 
 army was completely routed, and Buonaparte with dif- 
 ficulty saved himself by flight. He returned to Paris, 
 but finding his situation hopeless, he endeavoured to 
 escape to America. Finding himself unable to avoid an 
 English ship of war, he gave himself up, and was sent 
 by the allies to the island of St. Helena," in the middle 
 of the Atlantic Ocean, where he remained till his death 
 on the 5th of May, 1821. Louis XVIII. returned to 
 Paris; and a new treaty of peace was concluded. 
 
 In following the course of these important events, a 
 few circumstances have been passed over which may 
 now be mentioned. 
 
 In 1810 the king was again afflicted with the same 
 calamity from which he had suffered in 1788. The 
 prince of Wales was appointed regent, and continued in 
 that situation till the king's death. He retained the 
 same ministers who had enjoyed his father's confidence. 
 
 In May, 1812, Mr. Perceval, the prime minister, was 
 shot in the lobby of the House of Commons, by a person 
 of the name of Bellingham, from some motive of private 
 revenge. The murderer was condemned and executed. 
 Mr. Perceval was succeeded, as minister, by the earl of 
 Liverpool. 
 
 In the same year, some disputes with America, relat- 
 13 
 
146 GEORGE III. 
 
 ing to matters of commerce, produced a war with that 
 country. Hostilities were carried on for nearly three 
 years ; and peace was restored by a treaty, on the 24th 
 December, 1814.* 
 
 In 1815, the princess Charlotte of Wales, the heiress- 
 apparent to the crown, was married to the prince Leopold 
 of Saxe-Cobourg. This union, in all respects a most 
 happy one, terminated by the death of the princess, 
 who expired on the 6th November, 1817, after being 
 delivered of a dead child ; an event which was deeply 
 lamented by the whole nation. 
 
 The states of Barbary, particularly Algiers, had of 
 late proceeded such lengths in the custom, which they 
 had been allowed to follow for ages, of plundering the 
 vessels of the Christian nations, and carrying their pri- 
 soners into slavery, that Britain determined to put an 
 end to the practice. Lord Exmouth, who had been sent 
 with a squadron to Algiers, at first endeavoured to gain 
 the object by negotiation ; but, having failed in this at- 
 tempt, he proceeded to enforce compliance with the de- 
 mands of the British. The dey determined to resist, 
 and on the 27th August, 1816, a tremendous battle took 
 place ; the Algerine batteries were destroyed ; their 
 navy, arsenal, and half the city were burnt ; and 7000 
 men were killed or wounded. Lord Exmouth lost 900 
 men. The result of this glorious achievement was the 
 liberation of a great number of captives, and the total 
 abolition of Christian slavery. 
 
 The queen died on the 17th of November, 1818; and 
 his majesty himself expired on the 29th January, 1820, 
 in the eighty-second year of his age, and sixtieth of his 
 reign. During the last year of his reign, the peace of 
 the country was disturbed by the proceedings of a party 
 known by the name of radical reformers, who assembled 
 the people of the manufacturing districts in great meet- 
 ings, and endeavoured to excite them against the con- 
 stitution and the government. One of these meetings, 
 
 * The particulars of this war are given in the History of the 
 United States, belonging to this series. 
 
GEORGE IV. 147 
 
 which took place at Manchester, on the 16th of August, 
 1819, could not be dispersed without force, and un- 
 happily several lives were lost. By the firmness of the 
 government, however, a stop was put to these tumul- 
 tuous assemblages. 
 
 King George III. during his long reign commanded 
 the respect and affection of his subjects, by the integrity 
 of his principles, the benevolence of his disposition, and 
 the purity of his life. Though in the discharge of his 
 arduous duties, during times of great difficulty and dan- 
 ger, his views may not have been uniformly sound, yet 
 'it is universally admitted, they were sincerely and earn- 
 estly directed to the good of his kingdom. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 George IV. 
 
 From 1820 to 1830. 
 
 The accession of George the Fourth to the throne 
 was little more than nominal, as he had, in his charac- 
 ter of regent of the kingdom, long exercised all the 
 functions of royalty. 
 
 In 1795 he had married his cousin, the princess Caro- 
 line of Brunswick, by whom he had an only daughter, 
 the princess Charlotte. They separated soon after- 
 wards ; and her unguarded behaviour led to suspicions 
 which produced an investigation, the result of which 
 proved that she had not conducted herself with the pro- 
 priety becoming her station. Soon afterwards she went 
 abroad, and travelled over various countries, from which 
 rumours of a scandalous nature, respecting her conduct, 
 were from time to time received. On the king's acces- 
 sion she returned to England, and it was then considered 
 necessary to investigate fully the charges against her. 
 A "Bill of Pains and Penalties" was accordingly 
 
148 GEORGE IV. 
 
 brought into the House of Lords, but it was supported 
 by such small majorities, that the ministers determined 
 to proceed no further in the matter. The queen was 
 seized with an illness in the month of July in the fol- 
 lowing year, and died on the 7th of August. 
 
 In 1822, Mr. Peel became secretary of state, in the 
 place of Lord SidmoTUh, who resigned. In the same 
 year, the marquess of Londonderry terminated his life 
 by his own hand, in a fit of derangement produced by 
 over-fatigue and exertion of mind. He was succeeded 
 in the office of secretary of state for foreign affairs by 
 Mr. Canning. Mr. Robinson was at the same time ap- 
 pointed chancellor of the exchequer; and Mr. Iluskisson 
 came into office as president of the board of trade. 
 
 It having been proposed by some of the foreign powers 
 to hold a meeting, or congress, at Vienna, for the purpose 
 of settling several differences which existed among the 
 European governments, the duke of Wellington was sent 
 to attend this meeting on the part of Great Britain. It 
 soon appeared, however, that it was the object of some 
 of these powers to make this congress an engine for the 
 suppression of freedom in Spain and Greece. France 
 having determined to restore the absolute power of the 
 king of Spain by force of arms, received assurance of 
 support from all the other powers assembled at the con- 
 gress, except Great Britain, who protested in the strong- 
 est terms against any such interference. 
 
 Notwithstanding the opposition of Great Britain, 
 France sent an army into Spain, in 1823. A small 
 party in Britain were desirous to take up arms in de- 
 fence of the Spanish constitution ; but the great majority 
 of the nation was fully satisfied with the conduct of go- 
 vernment, in having declined to interfere. The Spaniards 
 showed no inclination to support their constitutional go- 
 vernment, and the French army restored the absolute 
 power of the king without opposition. 
 
 In 1823, some proceedings took place in parliament 
 respecting the slave- in the British colonies. A motion 
 was made for the abolition of slavery, which, together 
 with the debate upon it, caused, however unintention- 
 
GEORGE IV. 149 
 
 ally, very disastrous effects. The negroes were led to 
 believe that their freedom had been granted by parlia- 
 ment, and was unjustly withheld by their masters. An 
 insurrection broke out in the colony of Deinerara, at- 
 tended with much destruction of life and property ; and 
 similar disasters in other colonies were only prevented 
 by means of the military force. The above motion was 
 not insisted on ; but several measures for improving the 
 conditions of the slaves, which were in preparation be- 
 fore it was brought forward, were earned into effect. 
 These consisted chiefly in restraining the use of the 
 whip, and abolishing its application to females; in pre- 
 venting the separation of families by sale; in protecting 
 the property of the slaves, admitting their evidence, and 
 rendering it more easy for them to obtain their freedom ; 
 and, above all, by providing for their religious instruc- 
 tion. For this last purpose, a regular church establish- 
 ment was formed in the West India islands, with two 
 bishops at its head. 
 
 In 1824, a war broke out in the East Indies with the 
 Burmese, a warlike and powerful people of India beyond 
 the Ganges. Great Britain had gradually obtained the 
 dominion over the whole peninsula of Hindostan ; but 
 the Burmese were not deterred by her great power from 
 making frequent encroachments on her territories. War 
 was therefore declared against them ; and the Burmese 
 empire was invaded in April, by a small army under 
 General Sir Archibald Campbell. After a series of 
 desperate engagements with the immense armies of 
 the enemy, the British penetrated above five hundred 
 miles into the heart of the empire, and the emperor sub- 
 mitted to the terms of peace which were imposed upon 
 him, when General Campbell was within fifty miles of 
 his capital. By the treaty the emperor surrendered a 
 part of his territory, engaged to abstain from further en- 
 croachments, and agreed to pay a sum equal to about a 
 million sterling. This treaty was made on the 24th of 
 February, 1826. 
 
 The year 1825 was a period of great public distress. 
 Commerce had, for some time, been rapidly reviving, 
 13* 
 
150 GEORGE IV. 
 
 and a great spirit of speculation arose. The Spanish 
 colonies in South America had recovered their indepen- 
 dence, and had obtained immense loans from the mer- 
 chants and possessors of money in England. The sums 
 thus lent were advanced under a mistaken belief of the 
 the wealth and tranquillity of these new states; but it 
 turned out that they were unable to repay the interest 
 of these loans, and an immense amount of British wealth 
 was thus lost. 
 
 Projects were next set on foot for speculating in the 
 gold and silver mines of South America, from which the 
 most extravagant expectations of profit were entertained. 
 Joint-stock Companies were established for purchasing 
 and working these mines ; and so eager was the public 
 to obtain shares in these companies, that shares, which 
 had been bought for 70Z., were sold, a few weeks after- 
 wards, for 1300/. At the same time innumerable pro- 
 jects for gaining money in England were started, and 
 companies were formed, into which the public rushed 
 with the utmost eagerness. These embraced every 
 branch of trade, from the most extensive manufactures, 
 down to the selling of milk and the washing of clothes, 
 in London. The rage for mercantile gambling was 
 more extensive than in the famous South-sea year 
 (1720), and was attended with most disastrous conse- 
 quences. Almost every one of these projects was found 
 to be visionary and ruinous ; and it has been computed 
 that above forty millions of the wealth of Britain were 
 in the course of this year thrown away in those different 
 ways. Besides the British manufacturers had been 
 sending to the foreign markets much greater quantities 
 of goods than there was a demand for ; and they had, 
 consequently, to sell them at a ruinous loss. The con- 
 sequence of all this was the failure of the most establish- 
 ed banks, and mercantile houses in all parts of the 
 kingdom, and a general panic overspread the country. 
 It abated, however, by degrees, and public confidence 
 was restored before the end of the following year. 
 
 In 1826, Great Britain was called upon to interfere in 
 the affairs of Portugal. On the death of Don Juan, 
 
GEORGE IV. 151 
 
 king of Portugal, his son, Don Pedro, assumed the title 
 of emperor of Brazil, resigning the crown of Portugal 
 to his daughter, Donna Maria, and establishing a con- 
 stitutional government in that country. A party was 
 formed for overturning it ; and Spain assisted their de- 
 signs, by arming the Portuguese insurgents who had 
 taken refuge in her territories, and enabling them to in- 
 vade Portugal from the Spanish frontiers. The consti- 
 tutional regency demanded from Great Britain the 
 assistance to which, by treaty, Portugal was entitled 
 against foreign invasion. The demand was granted, and 
 a considerable army was immediately sent to Portugal. 
 The Portuguese insurgents were driven back to Spain ; 
 and the Spanish court agreed to disarm them, and give 
 them no further assistance. In 1828, Don Miguel, the 
 younger brother of Don Pedro, arrived in Portugal to 
 assume the regency in the name of his niece. He pro- 
 fessed fidelity to the constitutional settlement of the king- 
 dom ; and, soon after his arrival in Portugal, the British 
 troops were withdrawn. Immediately after their depar- 
 ture he took possession of the crown on his own ac- 
 count ; in which he appears to have been supported by 
 the mass of the people, and received no opposition from 
 the constitutional party. 
 
 Repeated changes took place in the councils of George 
 IV. during the latter years of his reign. These were 
 too complicated in themselves and in their causes to be 
 here detailed ; but it is proper here to mention that, on 
 the earl of Liverpool being attacked by a stroke of the 
 palsy, in 1827, his place at the head of the administration 
 was taken by Mr. Canning ; that on Mr. Canning's death, 
 in August of that year, he was succeeded by Lord 
 Goderich ; and that, on the resignation of Lord Goderich, 
 in the beginning of 1828, the duke of Wellington 
 became prime-minister. 
 
 The last remarkable foreign transaction of this reign 
 related to Greece. Great Britain, France, and Russia, 
 agreed to enforce a cessation of hostilities between Tur- 
 key and Greece, and to insist on Turkey being satisfied 
 with an annual tribute from the Greeks. The Turkish 
 
152 
 
 WILLIAM IV. 
 
 Mr. Canning. 
 
 government having- refused to agree to this proposal, a 
 combined fleet was sent to force compliance. It sta- 
 tioned itself ofFthe harbour of Navarino, where a large 
 Turkish fleet had assembled for an expedition against 
 the Greeks; and the commanders learning the deter- 
 mination of the Turks to agree to no proposals, at- 
 tacked their fleet in the harbour, on the 20th of October, 
 1827, and totally destroyed it, after a desperate engage- 
 ment. 
 
 In the year 1829, the emancipation of the Roman 
 Catholics of Ireland — a measure which had been for 
 many years keenly agitated — was accomplished. The 
 duke of Wellington and Mr. Peel, who had on all for- 
 mer occasions steadily opposed it, now determined to 
 bring it forward as a measure of government, on the 
 ground that any evils which might arise from it, were 
 less to be dreaded than insurrection and civil war in 
 Ireland. The measure met with much oooosition both 
 
WILLIAM IV. 153 
 
 in parliament and throughout the kingdom ; but the 
 emancipation bill was carried in both houses, and re- 
 ceived the royal assent on the 13th of April, 1829. The 
 effect of this act was, the admission of Romanists to 
 the enjoyment of nearly the same political rights as 
 Protestants. 
 
 This was the last great event of the reign of George 
 the Fourth. During this reign many important laws f 
 were made relative to the commerce and finances of the I 
 kingdom, the nature and effects of which must be studied 
 in works of greater magnitude than the present. 
 
 From the beginning of the year 1830, the king's 
 health began rapidly to decline, and, after a painful 
 and lingering disease, he expired on the 26th of June, 
 in the sixty-eighth year of his age, and eleventh of his 
 reign. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 William IV. 
 
 From 1830 to 1837. 
 
 On the death of George IV., the succession to the 
 crown devolved upon William Henry duke of Clarence, 
 the third son of George the III., and the eldest surviving 
 brother of the late monarch. On the 28th of June, 
 1830, he was proclaimed king, by the title of William 
 the Fourth ; though his coronation did not take place 
 till the month of September in the following year. 
 
 For some time before the death of George IV., the 
 question of Parliamentary Reform had been agitated 
 throughout the country with increasing earnestness. 
 Proposals had been made in parliament to deprive of the 
 right of sending members to the House of Commons, 
 certain boroughs, which, in the course of time, had lost 
 their previous importance, and to confer this right on 
 several towns which had risen, in modern times, into 
 
154 
 
 WILLIAM IV. 
 
 William IV. 
 
 magnitude and wealth. These propositions had been 
 resisted from a fear of the consequences that might re- 
 sult from so important a change in the established insti- 
 tutions of the country. 
 
 On the accession of William the Fourth he retained 
 in office the ministers of the late king, and expressed his 
 approbation of their previous conduct and policy; but 
 on the meeting of parliament in November, the opposi- 
 tion to the duke of Wellington and his cabinet had be- 
 come so strong, on account of their resistance to par- 
 liamentary reform, that the duke and his colleagues 
 found themselves unable to carry on the government, 
 and, consequently, tendered their resignation. This was 
 
WILLIAM IV. 155 
 
 accepted by the king ; and a Whig administration was 
 formed, at the head of which was Earl Grey. 
 
 On the 1st of March, 1831, the " Reform Bill" was 
 brought into the House of Commons by Lord John Rus- 
 sell. The object of this important measure was to pro- 
 vide for a more equal and extensive representation of 
 the people in parliament. It amounted substantially to 
 this: a number of the smallest boroughs were disfran- 
 chised, or, in other words, deprived of the right of elect- 
 ing representatives, and others, which had formerly sent 
 two members to parliament, were restricted to one ; 
 while on the other hand, this right was conferred upon 
 many towns which had not formerly possessed it, and the 
 number of county members was considerably increased. 
 A new electoral qualification was introduced in the 
 boroughs ; the power of voting for representatives being 
 conferred on the occupiers of houses or other tenements, 
 within the borough, of ten pounds yearly rent and up- 
 wards. In the counties, the old qualification of pro- 
 perty of the annual value of forty shillings was con- 
 tinued, with the addition (which was made in the pro- 
 gress of the measure through parliament) of the occu- 
 pation, as tenant, of land of fifty pounds yearly rent and 
 upwards. 
 
 Such are the general features of the Reform Bill as 
 it was ultimately passed. It encountered, however, 
 long and strenuous opposition. The House of Commons, 
 soon after the bill was brought in, having voted that the 
 number of members for England and Wales should not 
 be altered as was proposed, the king dissolved the par- 
 liament. When the new parliament met, the bill was 
 again brought in, and passed the House of Commons on 
 the 21st September, 1831; but was rejected by the 
 House of Lords on the second reading. 
 
 A second bill, similar to the former, was immediately 
 brought in, again passed the House of Commons, and 
 again met with such a powerful resistance in the Lords, 
 that the ministers, finding themselves unable to carry it 
 through that House, tendered their resignations to his 
 Majesty. The situation of prime-minister was offered to 
 
156 WILLIAM IV. 
 
 Sir Robert Peel ; but he declined to accept it. Mean- 
 while, the country exhibited signS of great political agi- 
 tation, one remarkable indication of which was a run 
 (as it is termed) on the Bank of England, from which in 
 the course of two or three days money was drawn to 
 the amount of above a million of pounds sterling. In 
 these circumstances the duke of Wellington himself 
 recommended the recall of the king's ministers, who 
 were, accordingly, reinstated. At the same time, the 
 members of the House of Lords, who had hitherto re- 
 sisted the Bill, withdrew their opposition. It then passed 
 the House of Lords, without further impediment, and on 
 the 7th of June, 1832. received the royal assent and be- 
 came the law of the land. 
 
 Acts of parliament were also passed for the govern- 
 ment of British India, for the abolition of Negro Slavery, 
 and for the reform of the municipal corporations of Eng- 
 land and Scotland ; and another, which effected an en- 
 tire change in the administration of the Poor Laws. 
 
 After the passing of the Reform Bill, several changes 
 took place in the ministry. Earl Grey having resigned 
 in the summer of 1834, was succeeded by Lord Mel- 
 bourne. In November following, the administration of 
 Lord Melbourne was dissolved by his Majesty, and a 
 new ministry formed under Sir Robert Peel. A disso- 
 lution of parliament consequently took place, but, on the 
 meeting of the new parliament, in February, 1835, the 
 ministry met with so strong an opposition, that they 
 soon afterwards resigned, and Lord Melbourne was re- 
 stored, and continued to administer the government 
 during the remainder of king William's reign. 
 
 In the beginning of 1837, the king's health began to 
 decline, and a general debility was followed by dropsy. 
 He lingered for several months, enduring his sufferings 
 with firmness and Christian resignation ; and at length 
 expired on the morning of the 20th of June, 1837. 
 
 William the Fourth was, during his whole reign, 
 greatly beloved by the nation. In his youth he had 
 served long and actively in the navy, and had acquired 
 the plain blunt manners of the sailor. With these he 
 
WILLIAM IV. i 157 
 
 united much integrity of principle, and a kind and bene- 
 volent temper. His habits of life and those of his queen, 
 Adelaide, were simple, domestic, and economical, but 
 their economy in their personal expenditure was accom- 
 panied by a course of truly royal beneficence and charity. 
 In business he was sedulous and active, and is said even 
 to have exceeded his farther in those habits of regularity 
 and dispatch, for which that monarch was distinguished. 
 Without being possessed of strong parts, or great ac- 
 quirements, he was endowed with much good sense, and 
 actuated by pure motives in the discharge of his duty. 
 
 King William was succeeded by the present sove- 
 reign, Queen Victoria, the daughter of his Majesty's 
 next younger brother, the late duke of Kent. 
 
 14 
 
158 
 CONTEMPORARY KINGS 
 
 OF 
 
 ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, AND FRANCE, 
 
 FROM THE TIME OF 
 
 WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR, 
 
 WITH THE DATES OF THEIR ACCESSION, AND THE DURATION 
 OF THEIR RESPECTIVE REIGNS. 
 
 The number of years given includes the wlwle of the last year of the 
 reign. Thus, Henry I. is stated to have reigned 36 years, that is, 
 he died on the 2d of December, in the 36th year of his reign, which 
 commenced August 2. 
 
 Reigned Reigned Reig. 
 
 A.D. ENGLAND. Yrs. SCOTLAND. Yrs. FRANCE. Yrs. 
 
 ,066 October H j ™™£ | » j {•*-- J . 37 Philip 1 49 
 
 1087 September 9 William Rufusl3 
 
 1094 Donald XII 6 
 
 1099 Edgar 10 
 
 1100 August 2 •• Henry 1 36 
 
 1108 Alexander 18 
 
 July 29 Louis VI 30 
 
 1124 David 1 30 
 
 1135 December 2 Stephen 19 
 
 1137 Oct. 1 or 25 Louis VII 43 
 
 1153 May 23 Malcolm IV. . 13 
 
 1154 Octobei 25 . Henry II 35 
 
 1165Dec.l0 Wm.theLion50 
 
 1180Sept.ll Philip II 43 
 
 1189July7 RichardI 10 
 
 1199 April 6.... John 18 
 
 1215 Alexander II .34 
 
 1216 Oct. 19 .... Henry III 57 
 
 1233 July 1 or 14 Louis VIII 4 
 
 1236 Nov. 7 Louis IX 44 
 
 1248 Alexander III. 38 
 
 1270 August 25 Philip III 16 
 
 1272 Nov. 16. ... Edward 1 35 
 
 1285 Oct. 6 or 15 Philip IV 30 
 
 *»«•« rx p " or 
 
 1292 John Baliol... 5 
 
 1297 to 1305 Interregnum. 
 
 1306 Rob't I. Bruce24 
 
 !307July7 BdwardH. ...20 
 
CONTEMPORARY KINGS. 
 
 159 
 
 A.D. 
 
 1314 Nov. 24. . 
 
 1316 June 5... 
 
 lassjaB.a ... 
 
 1327 Jan. 25.. 
 
 February 
 
 1329 June 9... 
 
 1332 
 
 1343 
 
 1350 Aug. 22. . 
 1364 April 8 .. 
 1370 Feb 29 . . 
 1377 June 22. . 
 1380 Sept. 16. . 
 1390 April 12. . 
 1399 Sept. 29 . . 
 1406 March 16 
 1413 March 20 
 1422 Aug. 31.. 
 
 Oct. 20 . . 
 
 1438 Feb. 21 . . 
 
 1460 Aug. 3. . . 
 
 1461 March 4 . 
 
 July 22 . . 
 
 1483 April 9 . . 
 
 June 26. . 
 
 Oct. 30 . . 
 
 1485 Aug. 22. . 
 1488 June 9... 
 1498 April 7 . . 
 1509 April 21 . 
 1513 Sept. 9... 
 1515 Jan. 1 ... 
 1542 Dec. 13 . . 
 1547 Jan. 28 . . 
 
 March 31 
 
 1553 July 6 . . . 
 
 1558 Nov. 17 - 
 
 1559 July 11 .. 
 
 1560 December 
 
 1567 July 24 . . 
 
 1574 May 30 . . 
 
 1589 August 2 
 
 Reigned Reigned Reig. 
 
 ENGLAND. Yrs. SCOTLAND. Yrs. FRANCE. Yrs. 
 
 Louis X 2 
 
 Philip V 6 
 
 Charles IV. ... 6 
 
 Edward III. . .51 
 
 David II. 
 
 Ed. Baliol* Ul 
 
 Dav. Il.rsid S 
 
 Philip VI 24 
 
 Richard II. . . .23 
 
 Robert II 21 
 
 John the Good. 14 
 Charles V 16 
 
 Charles VI. 
 
 Henry IV 14 
 
 Robert III. .. .16 
 
 .43 
 
 James 1 31 
 
 Henry V 10 
 
 Henry VI 39 
 
 Charles VII. ..39 
 
 James II.. 
 James III. 
 
 Edward IV. . .23 
 
 Edward V. . . 
 Richard III. .. 3 
 
 Henry VII. ...24 
 
 James IV. 
 
 Henry VIII. . .38 
 
 Louis XI 23 
 
 Charles' VIII. . 15 
 Louis XII. .'...17 
 
 James V 30 
 
 Edward VI. . . 7 
 
 6 
 
 45 
 
 Mary. 
 
 .25 
 
 Francis 1 33 
 
 Mary 
 
 Elizabeth 
 
 Henry II 13 
 
 ( James VI., ^ 
 J afterwards I „„ 
 \ James I. of f J0 
 [England. J 
 
 Francis II 2 
 
 Charles IX. ...14 
 
 Henry III 16 
 
 Henry IV 21 
 
 Reigned 
 A. D. ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND UNITED. Yrs. 
 
 1603 March 24 .. James 1 23 
 
 1611 May 14 
 
 Louis XIII 33 
 
 1625 March 27 .. Charles 1 24 
 
 1643Mayl4 Louis XIV 73 
 
 * Reigned eleven years of the period included in the reign of David IX. 
 
160 CONTEMPORARY KINGS. 
 
 A. I). ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND UNITED. Vrs. FRANCE. Yrt 
 
 1649 January 30 Charles II 37 f 
 
 to 1660 .... Usurpation of Cromwell 
 
 1(385 February James II 5 
 
 1689 William III. and Marv 6 
 
 1694 Dec. 28.... William III. (alone) ."..8 
 
 1702 March 8 ... Anne 13 
 
 1714 August 1 • • George 1 13 
 
 1715 September 1 Louis XV 59 
 
 3727 June 11.... George II 34 
 
 1760 Oct. 25 George III 60 
 
 1774 May 10 Louis XVI 19 
 
 1792, 1 s 
 
 1793 Jan. 81.:. I Louis XVII 3 I J 
 
 1796 Jun< •')... ( Louis XVIII 31 ( §• 
 
 L799tol 14'...' Consulate ....5Jo 
 
 1804tol.:14 Napoleon 10 
 
 1814 Louis XVIII. restored 
 
 1820 January 29 George IV 11 
 
 1824 Sept. 16 Charles X G 
 
 1830 June 26.... William IV 7 
 
 August 9 Louis Philip I 
 
 1837 June 20 Victoria I 
 
QUESTIONS 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 EXAMINATION OF PUPILS 
 
 I. INVASION OF BRITAIN BY JULIUS CAESAR.— 
 BRITAIN UNDER THE ROMANS, (p. 9.) 
 
 When did Julius Cesar invade Britain ? — What was the state 
 of Britain at that period ? — Who were the Druids ? — What took 
 place on Caesar's landing in Britain I 
 
 When was Britain again invaded? — Who was then emperor of 
 Rome ; and who was king of the Britons ? — What was the result 
 of this invasion ? 
 
 Who invaded Britain in the time of Nero ? — Who was queen of 
 the Britons ; and what was her fate ? 
 
 Who established the dominion of Rome in Britain ? 
 
 When was Britain finally abandoned by the Romans ? 
 
 II. INVASION OF THE SAXONS— THE SAXON 
 HEPTARCHY, (p. 12.) 
 
 What induced the Saxons to come to Britain ? — When did they 
 arrive ? — How long did the contest last ? 
 
 What was the Saxon Heptarchy? — What language was then 
 spoken in England ? 
 
 When was England united into one kingdom ; and by whom ? 
 
 What was the state of society during the Heptarchy ? 
 
 III. DANISH INVASrONS.-SAXON KINGS TO THE 
 TIME OF ALFRED.-HIS REIGN, (p. 15.) 
 
 When did the Danes begin to invade England? — Who were the 
 kings of England from Egbert to Alfred I — When did Alfred 
 ascend the throne ? — What remarkable circumstances occurred 
 during his wars with the Danes I — How did he govern?— When 
 did he die ? 
 
 14* (161) 
 
162 QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 
 
 IV. SAXON AND DANISH KINGS TO THE NORMAN 
 CONQUEST, (p. 17.) 
 
 Who were the successors of Alfred to the reign of Edwy ? 
 
 How did Canute acquire the kingdom? — What remarkable cir- 
 cumstance is related of him ? — What is said of Harold ? 
 
 When did Edward the Confessor succeed to the kingdom ? — 
 When did he die; and by whom was he succeeded ? 
 
 By whom was England invaded in the reign of Harold? 
 
 Who were the Normans ? — From whom was William duke of 
 Normandy descended? 
 
 When did William of Normandy arrive in England ; and what 
 ensued ? — What government now ended ? 
 
 What was the name of the great assembly or council of the 
 nation; and of whom did it consist? — Describe the constitution. 
 
 What were the chief courts of justice during the Saxon period? 
 
 What was the nature of the criminal laws? 
 
 V. WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR (p. 23.) 
 
 When was William the Conqueror crowned ? — In what 
 manner did he govern his English subjects ? — What was the 
 nature of the Feudal system ? — Did William succeed in abolishing 
 the use of the English language ? — When did his death take place ; 
 and by what was it caused ? — What was his character ? 
 
 VI. WILLIAM RUFUS.— HENRY I.— STEPHEN, (p. 27.) 
 
 Who succeeded William the Conqueror ? — What was the cha- 
 racter of William Rufus ? — What occasioned his death? — By 
 whom was he succeeded ? 
 
 Was Henry I. the heir to the crown? — Who was the heir; 
 and what were his character and fate ? — When did Henry die ; 
 and by whom was he succeeded ? 
 
 Was Stephen the heir to the crown? — By whom was his pos- 
 session disputed ? — In what year did he die ? 
 
 VII. HENRY II.— RICHARD I. (p. 30.) 
 
 What was the title of Henry II. to the throne ? — By what acts 
 did he commence his government? — What was the nature of his 
 disputes with the Popish clergy ? 
 
 Who was Thomas a Becket ? — What was his conduct towards 
 the king; and how did his death take place ? 
 
 What were the transactions of Henry II. in regard to Ireland ? 
 — What were the chief circumstances of the latter part of his 
 reign ; and when did his death take place ? — What was his cha- 
 racter ; by whom was he succeeded ? 
 
 On what is the fame of Richard I. founded ?— What occurred 
 
QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 163 
 
 to him in returning from the Holy Land ?— When did he die ; and 
 what was his character ? 
 
 VIII. JOHN.— HENRY III.— EDWARD I. (p. 37.) 
 
 By what title did John succeed to the crown? — What other 
 person claimed it? — What was the effect of John's conduct 
 towards his nephew Arthur? — What were the nature and conse- 
 quences of John's dispute with the Pope? — What induced the king 
 of France to invade England; and what was the result? — What 
 circumstances caused John to grant the Magna Charta ? — What 
 was the nature of that deed ? — When did John die? — By whom 
 was he succeeded ? 
 
 At what age did Henry III. succeed? — By whom was the king- 
 dom governed till the king became of age ? — What was the con- 
 dition of the barons at this time ? — What name was given to the 
 great council ? — What produced a civil war at this time ? — What 
 was the issue of the earl of Leicester's rebellion ? — When did 
 Henry III. die, and how long did he reign ? — What was the state 
 of England during his reign ?— Who was his successor ? 
 
 By what measures did Edward I. begin his reign ? — What were 
 his transactions in regard to Wales and Scotland ? — When and 
 where did he die ; and by whom was he succeeded ? 
 
 IX. EDWARD II.— EDWARD III. (p. 48.) 
 
 What was the character of Edward II. ? — When did the battle 
 of Bannockburn take place ? — What produced the rebellion of the 
 earl of Lancaster ; and how did it terminate ? — What was the cha- 
 racter of Queen Isabella, and her conduct towards the king ? — 
 What was his fate ? — By whom was he succeeded ? 
 
 By whom was England invaded soon after the accession of Ed- 
 ward III ? — On what pretext did Edward invade France ? — What 
 were the principal events of the war with France ? — What were 
 the last military exploits of Edward III ? — When did he die ? — 
 What was the extent of the influence of the parliament during 
 this reign ? 
 
 X. RICHARD II.-HENRY IV.-HENRY V. (p. 57.) 
 
 How was Richard II. related to the last king ?— At what age 
 did he succeed ? — What was the state of the people at this period? 
 — What were the circumstances of Wat Tyler's insurrection ? — 
 Whom did Richard marry ?— What was the queen's character ?— 
 What was the fate of Richard II.?— Who claimed the crown after 
 Richard was deposed ? 
 
 What was the most formidable of the rebellions against Henry 
 IV. ?— What cruel and unjust practice was first introduced in 
 this reign?— When did Henry IV. die ; and by whom was he suc- 
 1 
 
164 QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 
 
 What was the character of Henry V. ? — What induced him to 
 make war upon France? — What great buttle was fought during 
 that war? — What was the result of the war with France? — When 
 did Henry V. die? — Whom did his widow marry; and what king 
 of England was descended from that marriage ? 
 
 XI. HENRY VI.-EDWARD IV.-FDWARD V.- 
 RICHARD III. (p. 64.) 
 
 At what age did Henry VI. succeed \ — Wiio governed while he 
 was under age? — On what grounds did Richard, duke of York, 
 claim the crown ? — What was the Btate of the country at this 
 time? — When did the battle of St. Albau's take place 1 — Between 
 whom was it fought ? — When did the battle of Wakefield-green 
 take place ? 
 
 When was Edward IV. crowned ? — What were the proceed- 
 ings of Queen Margaret after the battle of Wakefield-green ? — 
 What were the proceedings of the earl of Warwick after the 
 quarrel with Edward? — When did Edward IV. die ? — By whom 
 was he succeeded ? 
 
 What was the conduct of Richard duke of York after the death 
 of Edward IV.? — What was the fate of the young king Ed- 
 ward V. ? 
 
 Who asserted a claim to the crown after the accession of Rich- 
 ard III. ? — What was the fate of the duke of Buckingham's rising 
 in favour of the earl of Richmond? — when was the battle of Bos- 
 worth-field fought ? — What was the state of England at this time? 
 — What character is given of Richard 111. by Halsted ? 
 
 XII. HENRY VII.— HENRY VIII. (p. 73.) 
 
 Whom did Henry VII. marry ? — How did he treat the descend- 
 ants of the house of York? — What were the circumstances of the 
 insurrections caused by Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck? — 
 When did Henry die ? — Who succeeded him ? 
 
 What were the first remarkable acts of Henry VIII. on suc- 
 ceeding to the throne ? — What were his transactions in relation to 
 France and to Scotland ? — By what conduct did he begin to dis- 
 please his subjects? — What was the fate of Cardinal Wolsey ? — 
 W 7 hat determined Henry to quarrel with the Pope ? — When were 
 the monasteries suppressed in England ? — How did Henry pro- 
 ceed in regard to religion? — Who were Henry's successive 
 wives, and what was the fate of each ? — When did his death take 
 place ? — What was the state of England in his reign ? — >Vhal col- 
 leges were founded ? 
 
 XIII. EDWARD VI.-MARY. (p. 83.) 
 
 What remarkable event took place in the reien of Edward 
 VI. ?— What produced a war with Scotland ?— What was the fate 
 
QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 165 
 
 of the duke of Somerset ? — What was the scheme of the duke of 
 Northumberland for obtaining ihe sovereign power I — When did 
 the death of Edward VI. take plate > — What was his character? 
 
 Upon Edward's death, who was first proclaimed queen? — Who 
 afterwards took possession of the throne '. — What was the fate of 
 Lady Jane Grey I — What was her character i 
 
 What was the conduct of Queen Mary in regard to religion? — 
 Whom did the queen marry? — Who were the most remarkable 
 persons who suffered on account of religion in her reign I — In 
 what year did she die ? — How long did she reign ? 
 
 XIV. ELIZABETH, (p. 88.) 
 
 What was the character of Elizabeth ? — What was her con- 
 duct in regard to religion and civil government ? — What was her 
 conduct towards Mary Queen of Scots ? — Who attempted to 
 invade England in Queen Elizabeth's reign ? — What was the con- 
 duct of the queen on that occasion ? — When did Queen Elizabeth 
 die,- and what were the circumstances attending her death' — 
 What was the state of England during her reign ? — What was the 
 state of learning ? 
 
 XV. JAMES I.-CHARLES I. (p. 95.) 
 
 What was the title of James I. to the throne of England ? — At 
 what age did he succeed to the crown ? — What was the fate of Sir 
 Walter Raleigh ? — What is the history of the gunpowder plot ? — 
 To whom did James marry his daughter Elizabeth ; and to what 
 war did that marriage give occasion? — When did James die ? — 
 What children did he leave ? — What were the subjects of dispute 
 between James and his parliament? 
 
 At what age did Charles I. succeed to the crown ? — What was 
 his character ? — What was the conduct of Charles's first parlia- 
 ment; — What was the subject of his dispute with his second par- 
 liament ? — What was the conduct of the third parliament ? — When 
 was it dissolved; and how long did the nation remain without a 
 parliament? — Whom did Charles employ as his counsellors at this 
 time ? — Who were the Puritans ; and what was the king's conduct 
 towards them ? — What was the king's conduct in regard to the 
 religion of Scotland ? — When did Charles call another parlia- 
 ment ; and what happened on its assembling? — When did the 
 king's last parliament meet ? — What step did the king take on the 
 quarrel with the parliament coming to extremities? — What were 
 the classes that chiefly joined the king ; and that sided with the 
 parliament? — What happened to the king after the battle of 
 Marston Moor ? 
 
 What was the conduct of Cromwell after the king was impri- 
 Honed ? — What was the result of the king's attempt to escape? — 
 How did Cromwell force the parliament to submit to him ?— Un- 
 
166 QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 
 
 der what law was the king brought to trial ?— What was the event 
 of his trial ?— When was he beheaded ■ and what was his deport- 
 ment in his last moments? 
 
 XVI. THE COMMONWEALTH, (p. 104.) 
 
 What was the first measure of the House of Commons after the 
 death of the king ?— What was the conduct of the Scots ?— What 
 happened to Charles after the battle of Worcester ? 
 
 In what war did Cromwell engage at this time ?— What sort 
 of parliament did he assemble?— How did he conduct the go- 
 vernment?— What was his situation in his latter days ?— When 
 did his death take place? 
 
 Who succeeded Cromwell as protector?— How did Richard 
 Cromwell conduct himself?— Who was Fleetwood? 
 
 Who resolved to restore Charles II. ?— What steps were taken 
 for this purpose ; and when was Charles II. proclaimed in Lon- 
 don ? — What were the sentiments of the people ? 
 
 XVII. CHARLES II.-JAMES II. (p. 108.) 
 
 How did Charles reward General Monk ?— Whom did he choose 
 for his prime minister ?— How did he proceed against the persons 
 concerned in his father's death ?— How did he recompense those 
 who had adhered to him ?— What great calamities happened in 
 London at this time ?— What was the popish plot f— When was the 
 parliament dissolved ; and for how many years had it sat?— What 
 measures did the parliament take to prevent the king from re- 
 storing popery? — When did Charles II. die ; and by whom was he 
 succeeded ? 
 
 How did James show his intentions in regard to religion ? 
 
 When did William, Prince of Orange, land in England ? 
 
 What was the fate of James ? 
 
 When did the parliament meet; and what were its proceedings? 
 
 XVIII. WILLIAM III. (p. 113.) 
 
 What was the Bill of Rights ? — What took place in Scotland 
 and Ireland in regard to the settlement of the crown? — When was 
 the battle of the Boyne fought ?— When did the peace of Ryswick 
 take place ?— What was the origin of the national debt? — What 
 was the most remarkable law enacted in this reign ?— What was 
 the nature of the act of settlement ? 
 
 XIX. ANNE. (p. 116.) 
 
 What was the first important measure of Anne's reign?— 
 Name the principal battles during the war.— When did the terms 
 whig and tory originate ?— When was the treaty of Utrecht made? 
 —When did the union with Scotland take place ?— When did 
 
QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 167 
 
 Queen Anne die? — What was her character ? — Of what house was 
 she the last sovereign >. 
 
 XX. GEORGE I. (p. 120.) 
 
 How did George I. become king ? — What measures were taken 
 against the ministers of the late queen ? — When did the rebellion 
 break out in Scotland ? — What remarkable battle was fought in 
 Scotland ? — What did the Pretender do on this occasion? — How 
 were the rebels treated ? — What remarkable act of parliament was 
 passed? — For what is the year 1720 memorable? — When and 
 where did the king die ? — Who were his children ? 
 
 XXI. GEORGE II. (p. 123.) 
 
 At what age did George II. come to the throne ? — Who became 
 his chief minister ? — What were the names given to the great par- 
 ties of the state? — When did war breakout with Spain; and what 
 was its cause ? — What produced the retirement of Sir R. Walpole 1 
 — Why did England engage in the war of 1742? — What great bat- 
 tles took place in 1742 and 1743 ? — When did the rebellion in 
 Scotland break out ? — What was its object ? — When was Quebec 
 taken ? — When was Pondichery taken? — What was the result of 
 Admiral Byng's attempt to relieve Minorca ? — What step waa 
 taken by the king of England for the protection of Hanover ? — 
 What led to the battle of Minden ? — When did the king die; and 
 by whom was he succeeded ? 
 
 XXII. GEORGE III. (p. 130.) 
 
 What was the king's age at the time of his accession ? — WhV 
 did Britain declare war against Spain ? — What led to the war with 
 the American colonies ? — When did France join the Americana 
 against Britain ? — What remarkable occurrence took place in the 
 House of Lords at this time ? — What were the chief events of the 
 war till its termination ? — What calamity happened to the king in 
 1788 ?— What now ensued ? 
 
 XXIII. GEORGE III. continued, (p. 134.) 
 
 When did the French revolution commence ? — What produced 
 war between France and Great Britain ? — What remarkable sea- 
 fights took place in 1797 ? — What occurred in the fleet lying at 
 the Nore?— What happened in Ireland in 1797 ?— What led to the 
 battle of Aboukir? — When was it fought? — When did the unio* 
 between Great Britain and Ireland take place ? — What battle wag 
 fought in Egypt in 1801 ?— When did A ustria and Russia make peace 
 with France? — What caused the expedition to Copenhagen if 
 1801 ; and what was the result ? — When and where was peace 
 concluded with France? — When did war again breakout ? — When 
 was the battle of Trafalgar fought? — What was its event? — What 
 
168 QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 
 
 were the results of the expedition to South America?— To Con 
 ■tantinople? — To Egypt? — To Copenhagen ? — What gave rise to 
 the war in Spain in 1808? — What caused the restoration of Louis 
 XVIII. ; and when did it take place ? — What caused a renewal of 
 the war I — When was the battle of Waterloo fought ? — When, 
 and for what reason, was the prince of Wales appointed regent? 
 — When, and in what maimer, did the death of Mr. Perceval take 
 place? — When did the war with the United States of America 
 break out, and when did it terminate ? — To whom was the prin- 
 cess Charlotte of Wales married; and when did her death take 
 place? — When did Queen Charlotte die? — When did the king 
 die ? — What was his character ? 
 
 XXIV. GEORGE IV. (p. 147.) 
 
 When and to whom had George IV. been married ? — When did 
 the queen's trial take place ? — What was the object of the con- 
 gress of Vienna ?— When did the Burmese war break out ? — What 
 were the nature and causes of the public distress in 1825? — In 
 what transactions relating to the affairs of Portugal was Britain 
 engaged in 1826? — What was the last remarkable foreign trans- 
 action of this reign ? — When did the death of George IV. take 
 place, and by whom was he succeeded? 
 
 XXV. WILLIAM IV. (p. 153.) 
 
 What question had been agitated before the death of George 
 IV. ? — What occasioned the duke of Wellington to resign office ? 
 — By whom was the Reform Bill introduced ? — What were its 
 objects? — Did it encounter great opposition ? — When did it receive 
 the royal assent ? — What other important acts of parliament were 
 passed in this reign? — When did the king die?— What was his 
 character ? — Who is the present sovereign of England 
 

 
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