abolish those diftinctions which might be apt to keep the nation in its former dependence. He carefully destroyed all records and monuments of antiquity, that infpired the people with a fpirit of national pride. He carried away a ftone, which the tradition of the vulgar pretended to have been Jacob's pillow, on which all their kings were feated when they were anointed. This, the ancient tradition had affured them, was the mark of their government; and wherever it was placed, their command was always to follow. The great feal of Baliol was broke; and that unhappy monarch himself was carried as a prifoner to London, and committed to cuftody in the Tower. Two years afterwards he was restored to his liberty, and ba nished to France, where he died in a private ftation, without making any further attempts to reinftate himself upon the throne; happier perhaps in privacy, than if gratified in the purfuits of ambition.

The ceffation which was given to Edward by thofe fucceffes, in his infular dominions, induced him to turn his ambition to the continent, where he expected to recover a part of those territories that had been ufurped from his crown, during the imbecility of his predeceffors. There had been a rupture with France fome time before, upon a very trifling occafion. A Norman and an English fhip met off the coaft, near Bayonne; and having both occafion to draw water from the fame fpring, there happened a quarrel for the preference. This fcuffe in which a Norman was flain, produced a complaint to the king of France, who defired the complainant to take his own revenge, and not bring fuch matters before him, This the Normans did fhortly after; for feizing the crew of a fhip in the channel, they hanged a part of them, together with fome dogs, in the prefence of all

their companions. This produced a retaliation from the Englifh cinque-ports; and the animofity of the merchants on both fides being wrought up to fury, the fea became a fcene of piracy and murder. No quarter was given on either fide; the mariners were destroyed by thousands; and at laft the affair became too ferious for the fovereigns. of either fide to continue any longer unconcerned fpectators. Some ineffectual overtures were made for accommodation; but Edward feeing that it was likely to come to an open rupture, gave orders for having his territory of Guienne, upon the continent, put into a pofture of defence. Nor was he remifs in making treaties with feveral neighbouring princes, whofe affiftance he purchafed, though greatly to the diminution of his fcanty revenues. He even fent an army collected in England from the gaols, which had been filled with robbers from the former reign, and who were now made ferviceable to the ftate. Thefe, though at first fuccessful, under the command of John de Bretagne, earl of Richmond, were, however, foon repulfed by the French army, under the command of Charles, brother to the king of France. Yet it was not eafy to difcourage Edward from any favourite purfuit. In about three years after, he again re1296 newed his attempts upon Guienne, and fent thither an army of seven thousand men, under the command of his brother, the earl of Lancafter. That prince gained, at first, fome advantages over the French at Bourdeaux; but he was soon after seized with a diftemper, of which he died at Bayonne.

A. D.

The king finding his attempts upon that quarter unfuccessful, refolved to attack France upon another, where he hoped that kingdom would be more vulnerable. He formed an alliance with

John,

John, earl of Holland, by giving him his daughter Elizabeth in marriage; and also with Guy, earl of Flanders, whofe affiftance he procured, for the ftipulated fum of feventy-five thousand pounds. From these affiftances he entertained hopes of being once more able to recover his hereditary dominions; and he accordingly fet himself earneftly about providing money for fuch an arduous undertaking. This was not obtained without the greatest struggles with his clergy and the people; fo that when he came to take the field in Flanders, at the head of an army of fifty thousand men, the proper season of action was loft; wherefore the king of France, and he, were glad to come to an accommodation, by which they agreed to fubmit their differences to the arbitration of the pope. By his mediation it was agreed between them, that their union fhould be cemented with a double marriage; that of Edward with Margaret, Philip's fifter; and that of the prince of Wales with Isabella, the French monarch's daughter. Philip was prevailed on to reftore Guienne to the English. He agreed alfo to abandon the king of Scotland, upon condition that Edward should in like manner neglect the earl of Flanders. Thus, after a very expenfive war, the two monarchs were obliged to fit down juft where they began; and, instead of making preparations against each other, they refolved to turn the weight of their power upon their weaker neighbours.

But though this expedition was thus fruitlessly terminated, yet the expences which were requifite for fitting it out, were not only burdenfome to the king, but even in the event, threatened to fhake him on his throne. In order at firft to fet the great machine in movement, he raised confiderable fupplics by means of his parliament; and

that auguft body was then firft modelled by him into the form in which it continues to this day. As a great part of the property of the kingdom was now, by the introduction of commerce, and➤ the improvement of agriculture, transferred from the barons to the lower claffes of the people, fo their confent was thought neceffary for the raifing any confiderable fupplies. For this reafon, he iflued writs to the sheriffs, enjoining them to fend to parliament along with two knights of the fhire, (as in the former reign) two deputies from each borough within their county; and these provided with fufficient powers from their conflituents, to grant fuch demands as they fhould think reafonable for the fafety of the ftate. The charges of thefe deputies were to be borne by the borough which fent them; and so far were they from confidering their deputation as an honour, that nothing could be more difpleafing to any borough than to be thus obliged to fend a deputy, or to any individual than to be thus chosen. However, the authority of these commoners encreased by time, Their union gave them weight; and it became customary among them, in return for the fupplies which they had granted, to prefer petitions to the crown for the redrefs of thofe grievances, under which they fuppofed the nation to labour. The more the king's neceffities encreased, the more he found it expedient to give them an early redress, till from requesting, the commons proceeded to requiring; and having all the property of the nation, they by degrees began to be poffeffed of the power. Such was the conftitation of that parliament, to which Edward applied for affistance against France. He obtained from the barons and knights, a grant of the twelfth of their moveables, from the boroughs an eighth; and from the clergy he refolved to exact a fifth: but

he

he there found an unexpected refiftance. This body of men, who had already felt the weight of his neceffities, resolved to avail themselves of any pretext rather than thus fubmit to fuch an heavy and difproportioned impofition. The pope had fonte time before iffued a bull, prohibiting the clergy from paying taxes to any temporal prince, without permiffion from the fee of Rome; and thofe of England, now pleaded conscience, in refufing to comply with the king's demand. They alleged, that they owed obedience to two fovereigns, a spiritual and a temporal; but that their eternal happiness bound them to obey one, while only their worldly fafety led them to acknowledge the commands of the other. Edward was fomewhat mortified at their refufal, but employed their own arguments with great force against them. He refused them his temporal protection, ordered his judges to receive no caufe brought before them by the clergy, but to hear and decide all causes, in which they were defendants; to do every man juftice against them; and to deny them justice even under the greatest injury.

In this outlawed fituation, they fuffered numberlefs hardships from every ruffian, while the king's officers remained unconcerned fpectators of the ravages committed upon them, without incurring the hatred of oppreffive or vindictive cruelty. Whenever the clergy ventured from home, they were difmounted from their horses, and rob bed of their cloaths; the primate himfelf was attacked on the highway, and stripped of all his equipage and furniture. These severities, at length, prevailed; and the clergy agreed to lay the fums they were taxed in fome church appointed them, which were to be taken away by the king's officers. Thus at once they obeyed the king, without incurring the cenfures of the people. But tho'

these