About three in the afternoon, the famous battle of Crescy began, by the French king's ordering the Genoese archers to charge; but they were so fatigued with their march, that they cried out for a little rest before they should engage. The Count Alençon, being informed of their petition, rode up and reviled them as cowards, commanding them to begin their onset without delay. Their reluctance to begin was still more increased by a heavy shower, which fell at that instant, and relaxed their bow-strings; so that the discharge they made produced but very little effect. On the other hand, the English archers, who had kept their bows in cases, and were favoured by a sudden gleam of sun-shine, that rather dazzled the enemy, let fly their arrows so thick, and with such good aim, that nothing was to be seen among the Genoese but hurry, terror, and dismay. The young Prince of Wales had presence of mind to take advantage of their confusion, and to lead on his line to the charge. The French cavalry, however, commanded by the Count Alençon, wheeling round, sustained the combat, and began to hem the English in. The Earls of Arundel and Northampton now came to assist the prince, who appeared foremost in the very shock; and, wherever he appeared, turned the fortune of the day. The thickest of the battle was now gathered around him, and the valour of a boy filled even veterans with astonishment; but their surprise at his courage could not give way to their fears for his safety. Being apprehensive that some mischance might happen to him in the end, an officer was dispatched to the king, desiring that succours might be sent to the prince's relief. Edward, who had all this time with great tranquillity viewed the engagement from a wind-mill, demanded, with seeming deliberation, if his son was dead? but being answered that he still lived, and was giving astonishing instances of his valour; "Then tell my generals (cried the king) that he shall have no assistance from me; the honour of the day shall be his; let him shew himself worthy the profession of arms, and let him be indebted to his own merit alone for victory." This speech, being reported to the prince and his attendants, inspired them with new courage; they made a fresh attack upon the French cavalry, and Count Alençon, their bravest commander, was slain. This was the beginning of their total overthrow; the French, being now without a competent leader, were thrown into confusion; the whole army took to flight, and were put to the sword by the pursuers without mercy, till night stopped the carnage. Never was a victory more seasonable, or less bloody to the English, than this. Notwithstanding the great

slaughter of the enemy, the conquerors lost but one squire, three knights, and a few of inferior rank.

But this victory was attended with still more substantial. advantages; for Edward, as moderate in conquest as prudent in his methods to obtain it, resolved to secure an easy entrance into France for the future. With this view he laid siege to Calais, which then was defended by John de Vienne, an experienced commander, and supplied with every thing necessary for defence. These operations, though slow, were at length successful. It was in vain that the governor made a noble defence, that he excluded all the useless mouths from the city, which Edward generously permitted to pass. Edward resolved to reduce it by famine; and it was at length taken, after a twelvemonth's siege, the defendants having been reduced to the last extremity. He resolved to punish the obstinacy of the townsmen, by the death of six of the most considerable citizens, who offered themselves, with ropes round their necks, to satiate his indignation; but he spared their lives, at the intercession of the queen.

While Edward was reaping victories upon the Continent, the Scots, ever willing to embrace a favourable opportunity of rapine and revenge, invaded the frontiers with a numerous army, headed by David Bruce, their king. This unexpected invasion, at such a juncture, alarmed the English, but was not capable of intimidating them. Lionel, Edward's son, who was left guardian of England during his father's absence, was yet too young to take upon him the command of an army; but the victories on the Continent seemed to inspire even women with valour: Philippa, Edward's queen, took upon her the conduct of the field, and prepared to repulse the enemy in person. Accordingly, having made Lord Percy general under her, she met the Scots at a place called Nevil's Cross, near Durham, and offered them battle. The Scots king was no less impatient to engage; he imagined that he might obtain an easy victory against undisciplined troops, and headed by a woman. But he was miserably deceived. His army was quickly routed, and driven from the field. Fifteen thousand of his men were cut to pieces; and he himself, with many of his nobles and knights, were taken prisoners, and carried in triumph to London.

A. D. 1346.

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A victory gained by the Black Prince, near Poictiers, followed not long after, in which John, King of France, was taken prisoner, and led in triumph through London, amidst an amazing concourse of spectators. Two kings, prisoners in the same

court, and at the same time, were considered as glorious achievements; but all that England gained by them was only glory. Whatever was won in France, with all the dangers of war, and the expence of preparation, was successively, and in a manner silently, lost, without the mortification of a defeat.

The English, by their frequent supplies, had been quite exhausted, and were unable to continue an army in the field. Charles, who had succeeded his father John, who died a prisoner in the Savoy, on the other hand, cautiously forbore coming to any decisive engagement; but was contented to let his enemies waste their strength in attempts to plunder a fortified country. When they were tired, he then was sure to sally forth, and possess himself of such places as they were not strong enough to defend. He first fell upon Ponthieu; the citizens of Abbeville opened their gates to him; those of St. Valois, Rue, and Crotoy, imitated the example; and the whole country was in a little time reduced to total submission. The southern provinces were, in the same manner, invaded by his generals with equal success; while the Black Prince, destitute of supplies from England, and wasted by a cruel and consumptive disorder, was obliged to return to his native country, leaving the affairs of the south of France in a most desperate condition.

But what of all other things served to gloom the latter part of this splendid reign, was the approaching death of the Black Prince, whose constitution shewed but too manifestly the symptoms of a speedy dissolution. This valiant and accomplished prince died in the forty-sixth year of his age, leaving behind him a character without a single blemish; and a degree of sorrow among the people, that time could scarcely alleviate.

The king was most sensibly affected with the loss of his son; and tried every art to allay his uneasiness. He removed himself entirely from the duties and burdens of the state, and left his kingdom to be plundered by a set of rapacious ministers. He did not survive the consequences of his bad conduct; but died about a year after the prince, at Shene, in Surry, deserted by all his courtiers, even by those who had grown rich by his bounty. He expired in the sixty-fifth year of his age, and fifty-first of his reign, 1377; a prince more admired than beloved by his subjects, and more an object of their applause than their sorrow,

A. D. 1340.

It was in this reign that the Order of the Garter was ·} instituted; the number was to consist of twenty-four persons besides the king. A story prevails, but unsupported by any ancient authority, that the Countess of Salisbury, at a

ball, happening to drop her garter, the king took it up, and presented it to her with these words, "Honi soit qui mal y pense;"-Evil be to him that evil thinks. This accident, it is' said, gave rise to the order and the motto.

Edward left many children by his Queen Philippa, of Hainault: his eldest son, the Black Prince, died before him; but he left a son, named Richard, who succeeded to the throne.

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RICHARD II,

As he

ICHARD II. was but eleven years old when he came to the throne of his grandfather; and found the people discontented and poor, the nobles proud and rebellious. was a minor, the government was vested in the hands of his three uncles, the Dukes of Lancaster, York, and Gloucester; and as the late king had left the kingdom involved in many dangerous and expensive wars, which demanded large and constant supplies, the murmurs of the people increased in proportion. The expences of armaments to face the enemy on every side, and a want of economy in the administration, entirely exhausted the treasury; and a new tax, of three groats on every person above fifteen, was granted by parliament as a supply. The indignation of the people had been for some time. increasing; but a tax so unequitable, in which the rich paid no more than the poor, kindled the resentment of the latter into a flame. It began in Essex, where a report was industriously spread, that the peasants were to be destroyed, their houses

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burned, and their farms plundered. A blacksmith, well known by the name of Wat Tyler, was the first that excited them to arms. The tax-gatherers, coming to this man's house while he was at work, demanded payment for his daughter; which he refused, alledging she was under the age mentioned in the act. One of the brutal collectors insisted on her being a full grown woman; and immediately attempted a very indecent proof of his assertion. This provoked the father to such a degree, that he instantly struck him dead with a blow of his hammer. The standers-by applauded his spirit, and, one and all, resolved to defend his conduct. He was considered as a champion in the cause, and appointed the leader and spokesman of the people. It is easy to imagine the disorders committed by this tumultuous rabble; the whole neighbourhood rose in arms; they burnt and plundered wherever they came, and revenged upon their former masters all those insults which they had long sustained with impunity. As the discontent was general, the insurgents increased in proportion as they approached the capital. The flame soon propagated itself into Kent, Hertfordshire, Surry, Sussex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridge, and Lincoln. They were found to amount to above a hundred thousand men by the time they were arrived at Blackheath. At the head of one party of these was Wat Tyler, who led his men into Smithfield, where he was met by the king, who invited him to a conference, under a pretence of hearing and redressing his grievances. Tyler ordered his companions to retire, till he should give them a signal, boldly ventured to meet the king in the midst of his retinue, and accordingly began the conference. The demands of this demagogue are censured by all the historians of the time, as insolent and extravagant; and yet nothing can be more just than those they have delivered for him. required that all slaves should be set free; that all commonages should be open to the poor as well as rich; and that a general pardon should be passed for the late outrages. While he made these demands, he now and then lifted up his sword in a menacing manner; which insolence so raised the indignation of William Walworth, then mayor of London, attending on the king, that, without considering the danger to which he exposed his majesty, he stunned Tyler with a blow of his mace; while one of the king's knights, riding up, dispatched him with his sword. The mutineers, seeing their leader fall, prepared themselves to take revenge; and their bows were now bent for execution, when Richard, though not yet quite sixteen years of age, rode up to the rebels, and, with admirable presence of mind,

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