the barons in the first session of his parliament, that forty challenges were given and received, and forty gauntlets were thrown down as pledges of the sincerity of their resentment. But though these commotions were seemingly suppressed by his moderation for that time, yet one conspiracy broke out after another, and were detected in the formation, or actually punished in the field.

This

That formed against him by the earl of Northumberland was the most formidable. It was in a skirmish between the Scots and English, that Archibald, earl of Douglas, with many of the Scots nobility, were taken prisoners by the earl of Northumberland, and carried to Alnwick castle. When Henry received intelligence of this victory, he sent the earl orders not to ransom his prisoners, as he intended to detain them, in order to increase his demands in making peace with Scotland. message was highly resented by the earl of Northumberland, who, by the laws of war which prevailed in that age, had a right to the ransom of all such as he had taken in battle. The command was still more irksome, as he considered the king as his debtor both for security and his crown. Accordingly, stung with this supposed injury, he resolved to overturn a throne, which he had the chief hand in establishing. A scheme was laid, in which the Scots and Welsh were to unite their forces, and o assist Northumberland in elevating Sir Edmund Mortimer, then a prisoner to Owen Glendour, a Welsh nobleman, as the true heir to the crown of England. When all things were prepared for the intended insurrection, the Earl declared himself unable to lead on the troops, being seized at Berwick with a sudden illness, real or pretended, says an eminent historian. But the want of his presence was well supplied by his son Percy, surnamed Hotspur, who took the command of the troops, and marched them towards Shrewsbury, in order to join his forces with those of Glendour, who had now advanced with his troops as far as Shropshire. Upon the junction of these two armies, they published a manifesto, which aggravated their real grievances, and invented more. In the mean

time, Henry, who had received no intelligence of their designs, was at first greatly surprised at the news of this rebellion. But fortune seemed to befriend him on this occasion: he had a small army in readiness, which he intended against the Scots, and knowing the importance of despatch against such active enemies, he instantly hurried down to Shrewsbury, that he might give the rebels battle.

Upon the approach of the two armies, both sides seemed

willing to give a colour to their cause, by showing a desire of reconciliation; but when they came to open their mutual demands, the treaty was turned into abuse and recrimination. On one side, was objected rebellion and ingratitude; on the other, tyranny and usurpation. The two armies were pretty nearly equal, each consisting of about twelve thousand men; the animosity on both sides was inflamed to the highest pitch; and no prudence nor military skill could determine on which side the victory might incline. Accordingly, a very bloody engagement ensued, in which the generals on both sides exerted themselves with great bravery. Henry was seen every where in the thickest of the fight; while his valiant son, who was afterwards the renowned conqueror of France, fought by his side; and though wounded in the face by an arrow, still kept the field, and performed astonishing acts of valour. On the other side, the daring Hotspur supported that renown which he had acquired in so many bloody engagements, and every where sought out the king as a noble object of indignation.

At last, however, his death, from an unknown hand, decided the victory; and the fortune of Henry once more prevailed. On that bloody day, it is said, that no less than two thousand three hundred gentlemen were slain, and about six thousand private men, of whom two thirds were of Hotspur's army. This battle was fought in the year 1403.

While this furious transaction was going forward, Northumberland, who was lately recovered from his real or feigned indisposition, was advancing with a body of troops to reinforce the army of malecontents, and take upon him the command. But hearing by the way of his son's and brother's misfortune, he dismissed his troops, not daring to keep the field with so small a force, before an army superior in number, and flushed with recent victory. The earl, therefore, for a while, attempted to find safety by flight: but at last, being pressed by his pursuers, and finding himself totally without resource, he chose rather to throw himself upon the king's mercy, than lead a precarious and indigent life in exile. Upon his appearing before Henry at York, he pretended that his sole intention in arming was to mediate between the two parties; and this, though but a very weak apology, seemed to satisfy the king. Northumberland, therefore, received a pardon; Henry probably thinking that he was sufficiently punished by the loss of his army, and the death of his favourite son.

By these means, Henry seemed to surniount all his troubles and the calm which was thus produced, was employed

by him in endeavours to acquire popularity, which he had lost by the severities exercised during the preceding part of his reign. For that reason, he often permitted the house of commons to assume powers which had not been usually exercised by their predecessors. In the sixth year of his reign, when they voted him the supplies, they appointed treasurers of their own, to see the money disbursed for the purposes intended; and required them to deliver in their accounts to the house. They proposed thirty very important articles for the government of the king's household; and, on the whole, preserved their privileges and freedom more entire during his reign than any of his predecessors. But while the king thus laboured, not without success, to retrieve the reputation he had lost, his son Henry, prince of Wales, seemed equally bent on incurring the public aversion. He became notorious for all kinds of debauchery, and ever chose to be surrounded by a set of wretches, who took pride in committing the most illegal acts with the prince at their head. The king was not a little mortified at this degeneracy in his eldest son, who seemed entirely forgetful of his station, although he had already exhibited repeated proofs of his valour, conduct, and generosity. Such were the excesses into which he ran, that one of his dissolute companions having been brought to trial before Sir William Gascoigne, chief justice of the King's Bench, for some misdemeanor, the prince was so exasperated at the issue of the trial, that he struck the judge in open court. The venerable magistrate, who knew the reverence that was due to his station, behaved with a dignity that became his office, and immediately ordered the prince to be committed to prison. When this transaction was reported to the king, who was an excellent judge of mankind, he could not help exclaiming in a transport: "Happy is the king who has a magistrate endowed with courage to execute the laws upon such an offender; still more happy in having a son willing to submit to such a chastisement!" This, in fact, is one of the first great instances mentioned in the English history of a magistrate doing justice in opposition to power; since, upon many former occasions, we find the judges only ministers of royal caprice.

Henry, whose health had for some time been declining, did not long out-live this transaction. He was subject to fits, which bereaved him, for the time, of his senses; and which at last brought on his death, at Westminster, in the forty-sixth year of his age, and the fourteenth of his reign.

EXERCISES.

In what years did the reign of Henry IV commence and terminate? By what circumstances were the first years of his reign marked? How did he incur the resentment of the earl of Northumberland? What two nations were to unite to dethrone Henry IV.? Whom did they intend to place on the throne? What was the conduct of Northumberland on this occasion? Who commanded in his stead? Who was at the head of the Welsh forces? What did the two parties object to each other? What gave the victory to Henry? In what year was the battle fought? Did Northumberland imi tate the resolution and bravery of his son? What induced the king to pardon him? What means did Henry employ to obtain popularity? Relate the measures adopted by the House of Commons respecting the supplies in the king's household. What was the conduct of the Prince of Wales? Who was then chief justice of the King's Bench? How did the Prince of Wales behave towards him? Relate the conduct of that magistrate, and the exclamation of the king when the transaction was reported to him. What occasioned the death of Henry? In what year of his life and reign did that event happen?

TH

year 1422.

HE first steps taken by the young king confirmed all those prepossessions entertained in his favour. He called together his former abandoned companions; acquainted them with his intended reformation; exhorted them to follow his example; and thus dismissed them from his presence, allowing them a competency to subsist upon till he saw them worthy of

farther promotion. The faithful ministers of his father, Hen ry IV., at first, began to tremble for their former justice in the administration of their duty; but he soon eased them of their fears, by taking them into his friendship and confidence. Sir William Gascoigne, who thought himself the most obnoxious, met with praise instead of reproaches, and was exhorted to persevere in the same rigorous and impartial execution of justice.

About this time the heresy of Wickliffe, or Lollardism, as it was called, began to spread every day more and more, while it received a new lustre from the protection and preaching of Sir John Oldcastle, baron of Cobham, who had been one of the king's domestics, and stood high in his favour. The primate, however, indicted this nobleman, and, with the assistance of his suffragans, condemned him, as a heretic, to be burnt alive. Cobham, however, escaped from the Tower, in which he was confined, the day before his execution, privately went among his party, and stimulating their zeal, led them up to London, to take a signal revenge on his enemies. But the king, apprised of his intentions, ordered that the city gates should be shut: and coming by night with his guards into St. Giles's fields, seized such of the conspirators as appeared, and afterwards laid hold of several parties that were hastening to the appointed place. Some of these were executed, but the greater number pardoned. Cobham himself found means of escaping for that time, but he was taken about four years after; and he was first hanged as a traitor, and then burned as a heretic.

Henry, to turn the minds of the people from such hideous scenes, resolved to take the advantage of the troubles in which France was at that time engaged; and assembling a great fleet and army at Southampton, landed at Harfleur, at the head of an army of six thousand men at arms, and twenty-four thousand foot, mostly archers.

But although the enemy made but a feeble resistance, yet the climate seemed to fight against the English; a contagious dysentery carrying off three parts of Henry's army. The English monarch, when it was too late, began to repent of his rash inroad into a country, where disease and a powerful army every where threatened destruction; he therefore began to think of retiring into Calais.

The enemy, however, resolved to intercept his retreat; and after he had passed the small river of Tertois at Blangi, he was surprised to observe, from the heights, the whole French army drawn up in the plains of Agincourt; and so posted, that it