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Son of the late Regent; he afterwards died miserably through the artifices of the Bishop of Winchester, who was himself quickly disgraced by the new Archbishop of Canterbury. Lockman.

Bore it hence.

Hevede, is had.

Eleanor of Castile, consort to the Prince, is said, at the imminent hazard of her own life, to have preserved that of her husband, by extracting the poison with her lips.

He received at the same time intelligence of his son's death, a boy six years of age, which he received with resignation; but appeared extremely afflicted at the death of his father: some surprise being expressed at this, he observed, the loss of a son he might hope to replace; but that of a father was irreparable. Andrews, &c.

Gray.

It is but justice to observe, that the tale of Edward's cruelty to the Welch Bards is much disputed. Andrews says, “It has little authority on its side, except an obscure tradition, and a hint in the Gwydir MS.”

Edward the Second, born at Caernarvon Castle. The Welch had promised, it is said, to be satisfied with a native prince, who could not speak a word of English, and this ruse of Edward's perfectly succeeded.—Vide The Chapter of Welch Princes at the end of this reign.

Edward was delighted when Baliol, by refusing to go and pay homage, gave him pretence to subdue Scotland. “Ha,” said he, “Le fol felon tal folie fait! S'il ne voulut venir à nous, nous “viendrons a lui.”—“Is he then so great a fool! Well, if he will not come to me, I must e'en go to him.” Fordun.

The wife of Bruce, while at the English court, had the following odd attendant allowed her: “a footboy, sober, and not riotous, to make her bed.” Rymer's Fædera.

She had also three men and three women servants, three greyhounds, plenty of fish and game, and the fairest house in the manor. J. P. Andrews.

At the battle of Dunbar, where Baliol was taken prisoner, and Edward became possessed of the national regalia, together with the fatal stone, on which was engraven,

Anglice.

Camb-Wals.

He called the God of Mercy (a most ill-applied attribute) to witness that he would utterly exterminate the Scotch revolters, which oath was rendered more solemn (according to the strange romantic turn of the age) by the presence of two milk white swans with trappings of gold, which were brought into West-minster-abbey on this occasion, and had their part in the sacred rites of the day. Speéd.

He called the God of Mercy (a most ill-applied attribute) to witness that he would utterly exterminate the Scotch revolters, which oath was rendered more solemn (according to the strange romantic turn of the age) by the presence of two milk white swans with trappings of gold, which were brought into West-minster-abbey on this occasion, and had their part in the sacred rites of the day. Speéd.

Dream.

Dreamed.

Called.

Gaveston returning in 1312, the whole kingdom was up in arms; the favourite was besieged in Scarborough, taken, and beheaded by the Earl of Warwick.

Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, grandson of King Henry III.

Isabella of France, daughter of Philip le Bel, the greatest beauty of her age, whom Edward's father had in his dying moments conjured him to marry.

The Spencers were recalled and loaded with fresh honours.— They were, however, on the King's fortunes suffering a reverse, both executed by the Queen's and Mortimer's party.

Miscreants, who after practising every degradation on the deposed King, that meanness and malice could invent, put him to a most excruciating death in Kenilworth Castle. When to add to other atrocious indignities, they brought cold and dirty water for Edward to shave with, the unfortunate Monarch, whose tears flowed fast, exclaimed, “You see I have warm water “in spite of you!” It is some alleviation to know that all concerned in Edward's murder met signal retribution. Gurney died by the hands of the executioner; Mautravers perished for want; Edmund, Earl of Kent, who conspired against the King, his brother, was beheaded through the intrigues of Mortimer, and the Queen; of whom the former was hanged, and the latter imprisoned for life.

Adam de Orleton, Bishop of Hereford, is said to have sanctioned the assassination of Edward by this ambiguous line:

Or,

The punctuation making it either,

Or,

Of these verses, which Bishop Tanner styles, “Lamentatio gloriosi “Regis Edwardi, de Karnarvon, quam edidit temporæ suæ incarcerationis.”

Horace Walpole says,

I should believe that this melody of a dying Monarch is about as authentic as that of the old poetic warbler the Swan, and no better founded than the title of Gloriosi.

Mortimer was created Earl of March, at the close of the last reign, in 1327.

Drayton.

Drayton.

A labyrinth constructed under the castle, through which the King's guards made way to the apartment, where,

Taking an ungenerous advantage of some border excursions, he declared the treaty of Northampton broken, and besieged Berwick; while Baliol (who had been intruded on the Scots as King by Edward, to the prejudice of David Bruce, and chased back to England by the indignant natives,) with an English army entered Scotland, and made Moray, the Regent, prisoner. Archibald Douglas, who succeeded to the Regency, attacking the English, with more courage than conduct, at Hallidown Hill, was slain with the principal nobility, and the army utterly destroyed, with hardly any loss on the side of Edward.— And says an old MS. in the Harleian Collection,

Vide J. P. Andrews.

The French are said to have had four hundred vessels, out of which number they lost two hundred and thirty: while Edward's fleet only consisted of two hundred and forty. It is presumed these ships were principally transports, and those but of small dimensions; the disparity of numbers, however, serves to prove that the bravery and conduct of the British were always supereminent on the ocean.

Four thousand men at arms, which implies a distinction, are given in the list; besides thirty thousand common soldiers.

Phillippa on more than one occasion had the happiness to be successful in the amiable character of an intercessor. In the fourth year of this reign, a scaffold on which the Queen and many ladies were seated to see a tournament in Cheapside, fell down, and the royal and noble auditresses were precipitated from a considerable height; the carpenters would have inevitably suffered death, but the stern Edward was softened by the prayers and tears of the amiable Phillippa.

Though many give credit to what Andrews calls the picturesque story of this order, originating from the Countess of Salisbury's garter, yet he adds from Rastell's Chronicle, that “Some do affirme that this order beganne fyrst by King Richard Cœur de Lyon, at the siege of the citie of Acres, where in his greate necessy tie there were but twenty-five knights that firmlye and surelye abode by him, where he caused all them to wear thonges of blue leythere aboute their legges, and afterwards they were called knights.”

The number of French slain were, two Dukes, nineteen Earls, many Knights and Gentlemen, with several thousand men at arms. The prisoners were still more numerous, at the head of whom was their King John, who was treated with the most delicate respect by his conqueror, after his arrival in England. Henry Picard, Lord Mayor of London, had the honour to entertain the captive Kings of France and Scotland, and the King of Cyprus at one table, with most hospitable magnificence.

Chaucer, styled the first English poet, was page to Edward III. in 1359, married Phillippa, the sister of Catherine Swynford, (the future wife of John of Gaunt,) and is said to have had a large income, he was imprisoned as a Lollard, but ended his life in ease and plenty, at Donnington Castle, Berks, where he composed most of his best productions.

Mingling.

Their.

Born at Aberdeen, but who, after he was an Archdeacon, obtained a licence from Edward III. to study at Oxford.

Fellow of Oriel College.

Hardis, shepherd.

With confidence.

Stopped,

Shakespeare.

The celebrated John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster; the Earl of Cambridge, afterwards Duke of York; and the Duke of Gloucester; all uncles to the King, were appointed his guardians, he being but ten years old.

Vere, Earl of Oxford, Marquis of Dublin, and Duke of Ireland; Tresilian, a Judge; Michael de la Pole, a merchant's son; and Nevil, Archbishop of York.

A reformer of the Romish Church, he was cited by the Ecclesiastical Courts, but protected against them by the Duke of Lancaster.

Sir William Walworth, Lord Mayor of London, enraged at Tyler's insolence in an interview with the King, struck him to the ground, and the dagger with which he dispatched him is commemorated by a place in the city arms.

Gower's verses as a specimen of this reign's literature may not be unacceptable, particularly from the comic effect produced by putting English nick-names into a Latin dress.

Isaac.

Norwich.

She broke her heart because Richard would not forgive Lord Holland, her son by a second marriage, for the murder of Lord Stafford's heir. Yet the inconsistent King granted him the next day the very pardon which, however unjust, would some hours earlier have saved his parent's life.

The King was forced through a dread of deposition to abandon his Ministers, and even commit the government of the realm to twelve commissioners appointed by parliament.

He took one hundred and fifty sail.

Celebrated by ancient Scotch Bards as the battle of Otterbourne. —Vide Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, p. 27.

Richard at this period abounded in money, which he raised by various extortions, to squander it away in ridiculous prodigality; of this, John Handinge, a cotemporary poet, “not over smoothly,” sings:—

Richard's favorite method of obtaining money, was by loan; the proportions of the respective sums (as given by Andrews, from Rymer's Fædera) will shew the comparative wealth of the English Chies:

“From London, was asked ....................... 10,000 Marks. “York, Gloucester, Salisbury, and Lincoln, each 200 Marks. “Cambridge, Canterbury, & Southampton, each 100 Marks. “Bristol ....................................... 800 Marks. “Norwich ....................................... 500 Marks. “Lynn .......................................... 400 Marks. “Bath, Derby, and Litchfield, each ............. 20 Marks. “Harwich and Liskeard. each .................... 10 Marks.

Daughter to Charles the Sixth of France.

Henry of Bolingbroke, son to the Duke of Lancaster.

A manuscript in the late Royal Library at Paris, entitled Embassies, and numbered 8448, makes the unfortunate Richard reproach the ingratitude of Bolingbroke, in what are given as his genuine words: “Thrice have I saved his life; once my dear uncle of Lancaster (on whom God have mercy) would have slain him for his treason and villainy; and then, O God of Paradise, all night did I ride to preserve him from death. Once, also, he drew his sword on me, in the chamber of Queen Ann! Oh, heaven! how truly is it said that the most deadly foe a man can have, is he whom he has saved from destruction.”