134 HUGH SPENSER.-1322. his consideration, for in a book of laws made in his time, there are very particular directions when and how to till the ground. As the people had no means of fattening cattle in the winter, salted meat was used during the whole time that they could not feed them in the pastures on grass. 5. Horticulture was not entirely neglected. The houses of the nobility had commonly some sort of garden, or "pleasance," attached to them; and all the monasteries had orchards and gardens, including a "herberie," or physic garden, the chief medicines of the times being prepared from herbs. The list of culinary vegetables at this time was very small, there being few besides carrots, parsnips, and cabbages in general use. 6. Notwithstanding the bad husbandry, the nobles and rich people contrived to live very sumptuously. Edward II. issued a proclamation, forbidding his subjects to have more than two courses at dinner. It is to be hoped that the king set the example by making a reform at court. At a marriage feast of Henry the Third's brother, there were thirty thousand dishes. 7. It was the custom for kings to be attended at the table by their physicians, to tell them what to eat a necessary precaution, since their banquets were so profuse. There were but two regular meals in the day, dinner and supper. The time of dinner, even at court, was at nine in the morning, and the time of supper at five in the afternoon. 8. These hours were thought to be friendly to health and long life, according to the following verses, which were then often repeated · Lever à cinq, diner à neuf, To rise at five, to dine at nine, To sup at five, to bed at nine, CHAPTER LXXVI. Edward II. receives Hugh Spenser into his Favor.-He is dethroned and cruelly murdered by Isabella and Roger Mortimer. 1. EDWARD II. did not possess strength of mind enough to exist without some favorite. A Welsh gentleman, named Hugh Spenser, succeeded to Gaveston's place in the affection of the king, and in the envy and hatred of the nobles. Edward lavished favors upon him ture? 6. What of the style of living among the nobles? 7. What were the hours for meals? LXXVI.-1. Who succeeded Gaveston in the king's favor? What was the conse ISABELLA AND ROGER MORTIMER. -1326. 135 and his father, who was also named Hugh Spenser, as he had upon Gaveston, and the like consequences ensued. 2. Both parties resorted to arms. At last, in March, 1322, the Earl of Lancaster was taken prisoner. After a short trial, he was condemned to death, and, on the 22d of March, this once powerful nobleman, placed on a miserable horse, and clothed in a shabby dress, was led out of Pontefract, which had been his own chief place of residence, and taken to a hill near the town, where he was beheaded. 3. The question of doing homage for the territories held by the King of England in France had always, as will be recollected, been a source of contention between the two countries. A dispute now arose as to Edward's doing homage for Guienne, which had been restored to the English crown. 4. In 1325 Isabella was sent over to France to accommodate matters between her husband and her brother. She found at Paris a large number of nobles who had been obliged to leave England in the late rebellions. The hatred which she herself felt for the Spensers led to a secret friendship and intercourse with the exiles. 5. One of these, named Roger Mortimer, a man of infamous character, gained such an influence over her, that, yielding entirely to his counsels, she refused to return to England, and set herself up in rebellion against her husband. By artifice she obtained possession of the person of her son, the Prince of Wales, and then determined to make a hostile invasion of England. 6. As her brother disapproved her conduct, he would yield her no assistance. She applied, therefore, to the Earl of Hainault, and, by promising her son in marriage to his daughter Philippa, procured from him a small fleet and some troops, with which she landed in England, September 24th, 1326. The Spensers were so universally detested, that many nobles joined the queen, merely out of hatred to them. 7. The king, abandoned by everybody, fled into Wales, and sought to conceal himself; but he was soon discovered, and confined at Kenilworth Castle. The Spensers, being also taken prisoners, were put to death without any form of trial. 8. In the mean time, Edward, Prince of Wales, a boy fourteen years old, had been placed by his mother and Mortimer at the head of the rebel army, and declared regent. But as he possessed no authority, the kingdom was in a deplorable state. The mobs of London and other cities committed robberies and murders with impunity, and were called by the name of the Riflers. 9. The queen and Mortimer, having the king in their power, declared him incapable of governing, and proclaimed the prince king in his stead. But the latter refused to be king in his father's lifetime, without his consent. The parliament, who were completely subservient to the queen and her favorite, sent a deputation to inform Edward of his deposition. quence? 2. What was the fate of Lancaster? 3. What was a subject of dispute with France? 4. What did Isabella do? 5. What of Roger Mortimer? 6. What of the queen's attempt to get assistance? 7. What became of the queen? What of the Spensers? 8. What were the Riflers? 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. Relate the particulars of the king's treatment. When was he murdered? How old was he? 10. As soon as the miserable sovereign saw the deputies, he fainted; and when he recovered and was told their errand, he said to them that he was in their power, and must submit to their will. Judge Trussel, one of the party, then, in the name of the people of England, renounced all fealty to Edward of Caernarvon, as he was styled from the place of his birth; and Sir Thomas Blount, high steward, broke his staff, and declared all the king's officers discharged from his service. 11. Thus ended the reign of Edward II., a period of nearly twenty years of public disgrace and private calamity. But his own miseries did not end with it. He was committed to the custody of some wretches, who did all they could to kill him by ill usage. They hurried him about from castle to castle, in the middle of the night, and but half clothed. 12. One day, for sport, they ordered him to be shaved in the open fields, with water out of a dirty ditch, and refused to let him have any other. The unhappy monarch shed tears at this treatment, and, while the tears were trickling down his cheeks, said, with a smile of grief, “Here is clean warm water, whether you will or no." 13. But this method of killing him proved very slow, and compassion for the king's sufferings was working a change in the feelings of the people. Mortimer, therefore, gave directions that he should be murdered. These were executed with circumstances of the greatest cruelty, on the 21st of September, 1327, Edward being then in the forty-third year of his age. FAMILY OF EDWARD II. WIFE. Isabella, daughter of Philip the Fair, King of France. SONS. Edward, Prince of Wales, who succeeded to the throne. DAUGHTERS. Jane, married to David Bruce, King of Scotland. CHAPTER LXXVII. Edward III-War with Scotland.-Of the Scottish Troops.-Narrow Escape of Edward.-Peace with Scotland. 1. We have now to tell the story of a king who is esteemed one of the greatest of English sovereigns, though he has been more generally admired for his bravery and military skill than for his many other better qualities. Edward III. was tall and majestic in his person, and his countenance bore a very noble expression. LXXVII.-1. What is said of the person of Edward III.? 2. What of his abilities' WAR WITH SCOTLAND.-1330. 137 2. His address was pleasing, and he excelled in all the manly and warlike exercises. He was also well versed in the learning of his time, and had an excellent understanding; but, unfortunately for his country, all the powers of his mind were early engrossed by one ruinous desire, that of making conquests. 3. He had, at the very beginning of his reign, an opportunity of displaying his abilities. As he was only fifteen years old at the time of his father's deposition, the government had been intrusted to a regency consisting of twelve persons. But he was allowed to appear at the head of the army destined to act against the Scots, who thought the present a favorable time to retaliate on the English for all the sufferings they had brought on Scotland. 4. The English army was so much superior in numbers to the Scottish, that in a battle in the open field the former would probably have been successful. But the great difficulty was to obtain this advantage. The larger part of the Scottish troops were light-armed, and all their baggage consisted of a bag of oatmeal, which each soldier carried, to be used in case of necessity; together with a thin plate of iron, on which he instantly baked the meal into cake in the open field. 5. But his chief subsistence was the cattle which he seized, and his cooking was as expeditious as all his other operations. After flaying the animal, he placed the skin, loose, and hanging in the form of a bag, upon some stakes; he poured water into it, kindled a fire below, and thus made it serve the purpose of a pot. 6. These troops, being mounted on small horses, passed rapidly from one place to another even quite distant. The smoke and flame of burning villages would direct the English to the place of their encampment, but before they could arrive there, the Scots were already far away. At one time Edward lost the track of them altogether, and although he offered a large reward to any one who should bring him an account of their movements, it was several days before he received the wished-for intelligence. 7. Upon one occasion he ran a very narrow risk of being taken himself. Douglas, one of the bravest and most patriotic of the Scottish nobles, having obtained the password, and surveyed exactly the situation of the English camp, entered it secretly in the night-time, with a body of two hundred determined soldiers. 8. He advanced directly to the royal tent, but some of Edward's attendants, waking at this critical moment, gave the alarm. His chaplain and chamberlain sacrificed their lives for his safety, and the darkness favored his attempt to escape. 9. Robert Bruce, finding that he had to contend with a far more formidable antagonist than the late king, readily accepted proposals for peace which were made by the regency. All claim to homage was renounced on behalf of the English king, and Robert was acknowledged as independent sovereign of Scotland. To cement the 3. What was his age when he came to the throne? To whom was the governme trusted? 4, 5. What is said of the Scottish troops? 6. What of Edward's attemp bring them to battle? 7, 8. Relate the attempt to take Edward. 9. What wer terms of peace? in to 138 MORTIMER PUT TO DEATH.-1330. union, it was agreed that David, the heir to the Scottish throne, should marry Jane, the sister of Edward. CHAPTER LXXVIII. Edward III., having put Mortimer to Death, governs the Kingdom with great Prudence.-He makes War on Scotland.-Claims the Crown of France. 1. In pursuance of the agreement with the Earl of Hainault, Edward was married, in 1328, to his daughter, Philippa. She proved to be a queen of the highest and most irreproachable character, and no less distinguished for her sense and intrepidity, when the occasion called these qualities forth, than for her benevolence and gentleness. 2. Although there was nominally a regency, yet the sovereign power was in fact usurped by Mortimer, who adopted such measures as he pleased without consulting anybody. His wickedness and rapacity made him more deservedly odious than either Gaveston or the Spensers had been. Although the greatest care was taken to conceal them from him, the abuses which were practised could not escape the observation of so sagacious a prince as Edward. 3. When he reached his eighteenth year, feeling himself capable of governing, he determined to make an effort to throw off the yoke of the insolent favorite of his mother. But he was so surrounded by the spies of Mortimer, that he was obliged to use as much secrecy and precaution as if he were plotting treason. 4. He engaged the assistance of many of the nobles, and then determined to seize upon the queen and Mortimer, who were residing at Nottingham Castle. This castle was kept closely guarded, and though the king was allowed to enter it, yet it was with very few attendants. The gates were locked every evening, and the keys carried to the queen. 5. But Edward contrived to find an entrance for his friends, through a subterranean passage. In spite of the entreaties of the queen, who called upon her son to have pity on the gentle Mortimer," he was seized and carried away prisoner to Westminster. He was soon afterwards hanged at Tyburn; and Eleanor, being deprived of her ill-gotten riches, was confined, during the rest of her life, to her own house at Rising. 6. Edward now proceeded, with great industry and judgment, in settling the affairs of his kingdom; but unhappily his love of war soon called him off from the arts of peace. In 1331 he renewed the war with Scotland, and in less than a year, drove David, an infant only seven years old, from the throne which his father had so hardly won. LXXVIII.-1. Whom did Edward III. marry? When? 2. What is said of Mortimer? 3. What of the feelings of the king? 4, 5. Relate the fate of Mortimer and the queen. 6. What did Edward proceed to do? When was the war with Scotland re |