208 ENGLAND. 



so well known by the name of Magna Charta. John had scarcely 

 signed it, when he retracted, and called upon the pope for protec- 

 tion ; on which the, barons withdrew their allegiance from John, and 

 transferred it to Lewis, the eldest son of Philip Augustus, king of 

 France. This gave offence to the pope ; and the barons, being ap- 

 prehensive of their country becoming a province to France, returned 

 to their allegiance to John : but he was unable to protect them, till 

 the pope refused to confirm the title of Lewis. John died in 1216, 

 in the eighteenth year of his reign, and the forty-ninth of his age. 



England was in a deplorable situation when the crown devolved 

 upon Henry III, the late king's son, who was but nine years of age, 

 The earl of Pembroke was chosen his guardian ; and the pope tak- 

 ing part with the young prince, the French were defeated and dri- 

 ven out of the kingdom, and their king obliged to renounce all 

 claims upon the crown of England. The regent, earl of Pembroke, 

 who had thus retrieved the independency of his country, died in 

 1219, and the regency devolved upon the bishop of Winchester. The 

 king was of a feeble and pliable disposition, and had been persuaded 

 to violate the Great Charter. Indeed he seemed always endeavour- 

 ing to evade the privileges which he had been compelled to grant and 

 confirm. An association of the barons was formed against him and 

 his government ; and a civil war commencing, Henry seemed to be 

 abandoned by all but his Gascons and foreign mercenaries. His pro- 

 fusion brought him into great difficulties ; and the famous Stephen 

 Montfort, who had married his sister, and was made earl of Leices- 

 ter, being chosen general of the association, the king and his two 

 sons were defeated, and taken prisoners, at the battle of Lewes. A 

 difference happening between Montfort and the earl of Gloucester, a 

 nobleman of great authority, prince Edward, Henry's eldest son, 

 obtained his liberty, and assembling as many as he could of his fa- 

 ther's subjects, who were jealous of Montfort, and Weary of the ty- 

 ranny of the barons, he gave battle to the rebels, whom he defeated 

 at Evesham, August 4th, 1265, and killed Montfort. Prince Edward 

 being afterwards engaged in a crusade, Henry, during his absence, 

 died in 1272, the sixty-fourth year of his age, and the fifty-sixth of 

 his reign, which was uncomfortable and inglorious. 



Edward returning to England, on the news of his father's death, 

 invited all who held of his crown in cafiite to his coronation dinner, 

 which consisted (that the reader may have some idea of the luxury 

 of the times) of 278 bacon hogs, 450 hogs, 440 oxen, 430 sheep, 

 22,600 hens and capons, and 13 fat goats (See Rymer's Fcedera.) 

 Alexander III T king of Scotland, was at the solemnity ; and on the 

 occasion 500 horses were let loose, for those that could catch them 

 to keep them. 



Edward was a brave and politic prince. He reduced the Welsh 

 to pay him tribute, and annexed that principality to his crown ; and 

 was the first who gave the title of Prince of Wales to his eldest 

 son. He died in 1 307, in the sixty-ninth year of his age, and thir- 

 ty-fifth of his reign, while he wa-s engaged in a new expedition 

 against Scotland. He ordered his heart to be sent to the Holy Land, 

 with 32,000 pounds for the maintenance of the Holy Sepulchre. 



His son and successor, Edward II, showed early dispositions for 

 encouraging favourites ; but Gaveston, his chief minion, a Gascon., 

 being banished by his father Edward, he mounted the throne with. 

 vast advantages, both political and personal, all which he soon for- 



