mon dust at their feet. He began to study the true nature of these things. It is said that he first invented telescopes, which give such wonderful revelations of the distant heaven above us. He is also said to have invented gunpowder; we could heartily wish that that never had been invented; but Roger Bacon did not discover it with any thought of blowing his fellow-creatures to pieces with it; it was only as a curious experiment. This great man, being so much wiser than the rest of the world, was thought by the common people to be in league with the devil; the noise and flash of his gunpowder might very well frighten people dreadfully, and would seem quite demoniacal; and Roger Bacon had a very hard life, as many great men have. Though hundreds of years passed before he found followers, and before his thoughts became the thoughts of other men, his work did not really die; it is bearing fruit still. And we may hope that to him study was its own reward, as it is to those who love it. LECTURE XXIII. THE PARLIAMENT. The foreigners. The king's extravagance. Demands for money. The barons resist. Simon de Montfort. The parliament. Character of Prince Edward. The last Crusade. The foreigners. 1. WHILE all this was going on in the nation the king grew up, and soon began to affront his nobles and all his subjects by his extravagance and love of foreigners. His mother had come from Angoulême, and he himself by and bye married a princess from Provence, and crowds of their relations and dependants came to England. Henry, who was too amiable to say "No," received them all kindly, enriched them, and honoured them. He brought in other Frenchmen himself, who were "poor and covetous after wealth." "These men," says Roger of Wendover, "used their utmost endeavours to oppress the natural English subjects and nobles, calling them traitors, and accusing them of treachery to the king; and he, simple man that he was, believed their lies, and gave them the charge of all the counties and baronies, as also of all the youth of the nobility, both male and female, who were foully degraded by ignoble marriages." Wherever the king went he was surrounded by crowds of these foreigners. One of them in particular, who worked a great deal of mischief, was made Bishop of Winchester, and "nothing was done in England but what the Bishop of Winchester and this host of foreigners determined on," Roger complains. So it goes on and on; fresh crowds kept pouring in; more and more angry grew the English. 1235. 2. The king's foolish generosity and extravagance kept him. always in want of money. His sister Isabella was married to the Emperor of Germany, and her wedding ornaments and trousseau were so splendid that they "appeared to surpass kingly wealth." "She shone forth with such a profusion of rings and gold necklaces, and other splendid jewels, with silk and thread garments, and other like ornaments which usually attract the gaze and excite the desires of women, that they appeared invaluable." Then Roger, who, though a monk, seems rather to enjoy all these pomps and vanities, tells about her beautiful bed, and the fine sheets and pillows she had, and of Extravagance. her cups and dishes of the purest gold and silver, "and what seemed superfluous to every one, all the cooking-pots, large and small, were of pure silver." She was provided too with many fine, highly-trained horses, having their saddles, bridles, and other trappings elaborately gilt and embroidered. 3. This is the last thing Roger of Wendover tells us; his 'Chronicle' ends here very patriotically, for he takes a pride in tracing up the pedigree of Isabella, through Henry I.'s wife Matilda to "the renowned King Alfred (leaving out all mention of the Conqueror William), and through Alfred back to Adam, adding that, being "descended from such ancestors, she was in every respect worthy of a marriage with the emperor." 4. All those splendid things which Henry gave to his sister, including the silver saucepans, must certainly have cost a great deal of money, as well as his own marriage festival, which was likewise very magnificent. He got as much money as he could out of the people by all sorts of means; but though he made them very angry, he could not get enough. He was in debt; he was obliged to summon the nobles together to see what he could obtain from them. 5. We get the account of all this from another and still cleverer monk of St. Albans, who went on writing the history of the times he lived in after Roger left off, and who, perhaps because he was born or educated in that city, is generally called Matthew Paris. 1237. The nobles are summoned. He tells us that on the summons of the king the nobles assembled "in a countless multitude," being told that they were wanted "to arrange the royal business, and matters concerning the whole kingdom." But when they met together they found out that the "royal business" was to ask for a thirtieth part of their whole property. The king's clerk spoke for him very pitifully and meekly. He made a few excuses, and then said, "The king is now destitute of money, without which any king is indeed desolate; he therefore humbly demands assistance of you in money." 6. It is not wonderful that the nobles, "not expecting anything of this sort, murmured greatly," and at last replied with indignation. They said they were oppressed on all sides ; Discontent. constantly paying such large sums of money; and "they declared that it would be unworthy of them, and injurious to them, to allow a king so easily led away, who had never repelled nor even frightened one of the enemies of the kingdom, even the least of them, to extort so much money so often, and by so many arguments, from his natural subjects, as if they were slaves of the lowest condition." They also said that they ought to help in choosing the king's counsellors and ministers. 7. Then the king tried to excuse himself by saying he had spent so much money on his own marriage and his sister's marriage. To which they openly replied that he had done all this without the advice of his subjects, and they ought not to share the punishment, as they were innocent of the crime. Taxation. 8. This is a very important point to notice, because it involves another of the great principles which the English kings and nation struggled and fought about at intervals for many centuries; namely, that the people who pay the money ought to have a voice in the spending it; that the government is not to lay on taxes without saying what the money is wanted for, and hearing whether the country, the people who are to pay, approve it or not. That, too, is firmly settled now. The government cannot lay on a single tax, or get a sixpence out of the country, without saying what they want it for; and the House of Parliament, which represents the country, if they do not approve, may say No. This was, however, quite a new idea about this time. Before that the king and his ministers laid on the taxes as they thought fit. A good king would have only laid on just taxes, and for good purposes. A wicked king would lay on unjust taxes, and for bad purposes. A weak and extravagant king (like Henry III.) would also lay on unjust and heavy taxes for foolish purposes. So there is no doubt the barons were quite right in demurring to the demand. 9. The end of it this time was, that the king submitted to the advice of his subjects, proclaimed Magna Charta over again, and made other good promises, which pleased everybody so much. that they gave him the money he asked for. But about five years afterwards he wanted money again; he had broken all his promises, and no one knew what had become of the money This time the nobles were still more angry, and bound themselves by a most solemn oath to give the king no more. 10. All this time a great deal of good was gradually working out of the evil. The more money the king demanded, the more good rules the barons made to limit his power. Parliament began to meet more and more often. This Parliament. word "parliament " is quite new in English history at the time we are speaking of. It was a French word, and means "talking" or making speeches. It is not certainly so good a word as the old-fashioned "witan" or "witenagemot," the assembly of wise men, but it grew more and more like the old assemblies of our free ancestors. One very great and most important change in this direction was made at this time. The council, or witan, only consisted of great lords, bishops, abbots, and the like. They helped the king to make all the laws and appoint all the taxes. But it was not only they who had to pay the taxes. All the smaller country gentlemen, knights and yeomen, had to help in that. Why, then, were they not to have a voice in the spending?* 11. There were great difficulties in the way. England being now all one country, under one king, instead of consisting of numbers of little tribes, there was no place where Represent such a multitude could assemble. Nor would they all want the trouble of coming a long journey to London, or wherever the parliament might he held. What was to be done? A very good plan had been devised. These country gentlemen and knights, of whom there were a great many in every county, might choose two or three of their number to go to parliament, might tell them what they wished about the laws or about the taxes, and bid them speak for them. Those who were thus chosen to represent the others were called "knights of the shire." And so they are still; we have never yet been able to find a better plan than this; it is the beginning of what is called "representative government." ative government. 12. These knights of the shire or county had already been called up sometimes to the meetings of the council before now; but there were also other people who had to help pay the taxes, and very rich people too, who had never yet been allowed to say a word, either as to the laying them on, or the spending of them. They were not nobles or knights at all, nor had they any land belonging to them. These were the rich merchants and tradesmen in the towns. The Lord Mayor of London, indeed, was already considered a very important person, and, as we saw, was one of the twenty-five who had been appointed to harass the king. But now, towards the end of Henry III.'s reign, the inhabitants of the large towns were called on to elect men to speak their mind in parliament, and to look after their interests. This also goes on to the present day. We have * In old times (see p. 42) every freeman had been entitled to a place in the great assembly of his tribe. |