ENGLAND. (CIVIL HISTORY.) 



fortunes of Edward consisted solely in the failure in 

 his attempts at making foreign conquests, he might 

 have been considered as comparatively happy ; but 

 his weak mind was incapable of regulating the law- 

 less conduct of his barons : and his wife, a woman of 

 a bold, intriguing, and somewhat libertine disposi- 

 tion, joined in the confederacy against him. Edward 

 chose his favourites, not among the turbulent chiefs, 

 but among such as either had a disposition resemb- 

 ling his own, or had the art to flatter him in his 

 weaknesses. Frequent quarrels led the way to civil 

 wars. The queen fled to France with her paramour 

 Mortimer. She invaded England, and was joined by 

 the discontented in every quarter. The king was 

 compelled to submit to such terms as his enemies 

 pleased to dictate. He was deposed. His son, yet a 

 minor, was declared his successor ; and the queen 

 was, during the minority, appointed regent. The 

 king was, tor some time, detained in prison, and at 

 last was murdered under circumstances of the most 

 barbarous cruelty. 



The regency of the queen was, in fact, the reign of 

 Mortimer. Through a pretended moderation, in- 

 deed, he refused to accept a place in the privy coun- 

 cil ; but, while he governed the queen, his power in 

 tiie kingdom was supreme. Edward III. soon 

 showed a disposition entirely different from that of 

 his father. He assumed the reins of government 

 into his own hands ; and commenced his reign with 

 a vigorous exertion of power. He seized Mortimer 

 and the queen in the castle of Nottingham. The 

 former was, with little examination, condemned to 

 death; the latter was confined, during life, iii the 

 castle of Risings. 



The sceptre was no sooner secured in the hands of 

 Edward, than he displayed a warlike genius. He 

 undertook the invasion of France, but returned un- 

 successful ; and gave vent to his discontent, by op- 

 pressing his subjects ; but he found that he would be 

 under the necessity of putting a stop to his arbitrary 

 proceedings. He was anxious again to be engaged 

 in war : money was necessary for the execution of 

 his projects ; and without granting his subjects the 

 redress of their grievances, he perceived that he 

 could hope for no supply from them. He granted, 

 therefore, a confirmation of the Great Charter, and 

 promised, in all his proceedings, to respect the liber- 

 ties of his subjects. He obtained the supply he so 

 much desired; and immediately resumed his arbitrary 

 conduct. The known vigour of Edward's character, 

 prevented those disturbances which might otherwise 

 have been the consequence of his measures ; and a 

 successful war, carried on at the same time against 

 France and Scotland, prevented those murmurs 

 which his tyranny might otherwise have occasioned. 

 In the former country, the king, and Edward his son, 

 generally known by the name of the Black Prince, 

 gained the character of accomplished warriors. The 

 battles of Cressy and Poictiers, fought with great 

 disparity of numbers, ended in the most complete 

 victories which English history has recorded. To 

 augment the triumph, the kings of France and of 

 Scotland were prisoners in London at the same time ; 

 and, if conquest can confer felicity, England might, 

 at that time, be said to be happy. The Black Prince 

 did not long survive these important victories: he 

 died in 137G. His father died in 1377. 



The people of England now began to show, though 

 in a turbulent manner, that they had acquired just 

 notions of government. A poll-tax, of all taxes the 

 most unjust, and in this case rendered more unjust, 

 by imposing the same sum on the rich and on the 

 poor, excited the indignation of all, especially of the 

 lower ranks, by whom it was most severely felt. A 

 blacksmith in Kent, resenting an indignity offered to 



his daughter, by one of the tax gatherers, with a 

 blow of his hammer laid him dead at his feet. This 

 was the signal for insurrection : the people flocked 

 together from every hand, and 100,000 men, under 

 the smith, called Wat Tyler, marched towards Lon- 

 don, claiming a redress of their grievances. But, 

 after committing several outrages, the rebels were 

 dispersed. Wat Tyler, while conferring with the 

 king, was put to death ; and the prudence of Rich- 

 ard II. who had succeeded to his father Edward, 

 appeased the insurgents, who were preparing to 

 avenge the death oftheir leader. 



The conduct of Richard on this occasion, when he 

 was only sixteen years of age, inspired hopes of a 

 prosperous administration ; but Richard was mild, 

 perhaps effeminate, and deficient in that vigour which 

 was necessary to curb the licentiousness, of the 

 nobles : though guilty of few outrages, therefore, 

 towards his people, almost the whole of his reign was 

 turbulent and unhappy. Like Edward II. Richard 

 had several favourites of a character similar to his 

 own. These were hated by the barons, and were 

 made the cause of several insurrections. The duke 

 of Gloucester, who endeavoured to profit by the 

 imbecility of the king's cliaracter, was apprehended, 

 and first sent to Calais, and afterwards put to death. 

 The duke of Hereford accused the duke of Norfolk 

 of having used seditious expressions : Norfolk denied 

 the charge, and offered to prove his innocence, by 

 fighting Hereford in single combat. The day was 

 appointed, the combatants appeared within the lists : 

 but before they could engage, the king interposed ; 

 banished Norfolk for life, and Hereford for ten 

 years. 



Norfolk retired to Venice, where he soon after 

 died. Hereford, whose term of banishment was now 

 limited to five years, and who obtained a patent, 

 securing to him such inheritances as might fall to 

 him during his absence, retired to France. His 

 father, the duke of Lancaster, died, and the king, 

 regardless of his promise, claimed the estate for him- 

 self. Hereford was enraged ; he supposed, with some 

 reason, that the same power which had, contrary to a 

 public deed, assumed his inheritance, would likewise 

 extend the duration of exile. He determined, there- 

 fore, to put in practice a scheme which perhaps he 

 had for some time cherished : he resolved to enter 

 that kingdom in a hostile manner, which he no 

 longer hoped to visit with the king's approbation. 

 Assuming the title of duke of Lancaster, which he 

 thought of right belonged to him, and taking advan- 

 tage of the king's absence on an expedition to Ire- 

 land, he landed in Milford Haven. His retinue, when 

 he lauded, consisted only of sixty persons ; but such 

 was the popularity of the duke, and such the number 

 of malcontents in the kingdom, that, in a few days, 

 he found himself at the head of 60,000 men. Richard 

 landed from Ireland with an army amounting to 

 20,000. He was unable to contend with Lancaster, 

 and every day made him more unable, as his men 

 daily deserted. Compelled to yield to the duke 

 without any conditions, he was carried to London ; 

 confined hi the tower ; solemnly deposed by parlia 

 ment, as unfit for the government of England ; and 

 afterwards privately put to death. Lancaster claimed 

 the crown as his by right of descent. The most obvi- 

 ous foundations of his claim were his present power 

 and popularity. He was called to the throne, and 

 laid the foundation of the bloody contest between the 

 houses of York and Lancaster. 



The manner in which the duke of Lancaster, after- 

 wards known by the name of Henry IV., acquired 

 the crown, rendered his reign, as might be expected, 

 extremely turbulent. The nobles, by whose aid he 

 ascended the throne, thought that no reward eoualled 



