There was seldom now any fighting with Scotland on a grand. scale, as in the days of Wallace and Bruce; it was principally a kind of marauding war that was carried on along the borders. There were two great families especially who were always fighting in these parts: on the Scotch side the Douglases, and on the English the Percies, at whose head was the Earl of Northumberland.

13. It appears that both parties thoroughly enjoyed this state of things. One old writer tells how they would fight with the utmost valour, till "sword and lance could endure no longer," and then they would part from each other, saying, "Good day, and thanks for the sport you have shown;" or, as Froissart said, "they so glorify in their deeds of arms, and are so joyful, that, at their departing, courteously they will say, 'God thank you."" It was one of these little battles that was sung about in our splendid old ballad of 'Chevy Chase,' or 'the Chase of the Cheviots.'

14. The Earl of Northumberland, who had helped Henry IV. to the throne, had a very famous son, Henry Percy, who, because

of his impetuosity and fiery character, was called The Percies. Hotspur, and who is described in Shakespeare as

"the Hotspur of the north; he that kills me some six or seven dozen of Scots at a breakfast, washes his hands, and says to his wife, Fie upon this quiet life."

15. Just about this time the Percies and the Douglases had a greater battle than usual, at a place called Homildon Hill, where the Scotch were totally defeated, and Douglas and some other very important Scotch nobles made prisoners. The custom in those times was, that if a man of rank and consequence were made prisoner, he would pay a large sum of money to be set free, and the Percies expected to receive a heavy ransom for these Scotchmen. But the king interfered; he took one of their prisoners away from them, and demanded that the ransom of the rest should be paid to him, and not to the Percies.

16. Hotspur's fiery blood would not stand this. In the greatest fury and indignation he renounced the king's cause, complained bitterly of his ingratitude for the services he and his father had rendered to him, and determined to join his enemies. The first of these with whom he made friends was his own prisoner, the Scotch Douglas, with whom he had always been fighting hitherto. Then he thought of the Welshman Owen Glendower, who had done the very same thing with his prisoner Mortimer. All these now allied themselves together

against the King of England; though, if we are to believe Shakespeare, the impetuous, rough, and plain-spoken Hotspur did not get on very well with Owen Glendower, who was pompous, prosy, and pretentious.

17. Thus there was a formidable combination against Henry: Wales and Scotland with France backing them up, and, worse still, rebels at home. The Percies were soon joined by other English nobles who had been Richard's old friends, and especially by Scrope, the Archbishop of York. The king, however, was prompt and determined; he soon collected a large army. Prince Henry, who, with all his frolics, could be brave and in carnest when needful, helped his father. The king had also another clever and courageous young son named John, who

1403. Battle of

afterwards became very distinguished. With them he marched against the rebels. They met at Shrewsbury where a great battle was fought, in which the Shrewsbury. rebels were defeated and Henry Hotspur killed.

1405.

18. The rebellion was crushed for a time, but before long it broke out again. A lady contrived to steal the young Mortimer out of Windsor Castle, and to flee away with him, but they were soon overtaken, and the prince brought back. After a time the principal conspirators were taken prisoners and put to death; even the Archbishop of York was beheaded. Though more than one archbishop had been murdered in England before now, this was the first time that a great Churchman had been executed by the law, and it caused great indignation in the country. Pious people began to make pilgrimages to his tomb, and it was soon reported that miracles were worked there. 19. By degrees, however, in one way or another, all the great dangers which had threatened Henry passed away. His principal enemy in France, the Duke of Orleans, was murdered, and the Duke of Burgundy, who succeeded to his power and influence, was inclined to be friendly to England. So that Owen Glendower and his Welshmen were left without the help of France, and could do no more harm. The Earl of Northumberland was defeated once more and killed. And Scotland had to be quiet, for Henry contrived to get into his power a most important person, no other than the King of Scotland himself.

20. All Robert Bruce's descendants in the male line had died out by this time, and the family of one of his daughters had been called to the throne. This daughter had married a The King of Scotland. great nobleman, the high steward of the kingdom. We saw that it was customary in those days to sur

name men after their trade or business. Though this was most generally done among the lower orders, it was also sometimes the case in higher ranks, and the lord steward's children and grandchildren came to be called Stewart as their family name. This was the beginning of the royal line of the Stewarts, some of whom were afterwards kings of England.

21. Scotland was in a very miserable condition. The kings were not strong enough to keep order, and there were constant tumults, fights, and murders. The king's eldest son had been murdered, and it was thought wise to send the next son, who was now heir to the kingdom, to be educated in France. But on his way thither some English vessels fell in with his ship, took possession of the young Prince James, and brought him to Henry. Though England and Scotland were now at peace, Henry would not let the boy go away. He said, in a sort of grim joke, that "if the prince was to learn French he could learn it quite as well in his court as in France, for that he himself knew French very well." The Scotch prince very soon after became king through the death of his father, but even then Henry would not set him free.

22. He did not treat him ill, but gave him an excellent education, as he had promised, and the young king grew up clever, accomplished, and good. He was even a true poet. After Chaucer died there had been no one to take his place. The Englishmen who tried to write poetry made very dull work of it for some time after this; but James of Scotland wrote real poetry, which we may still enjoy reading. While he was a prisoner in England he fell in love with an English lady, a relation of the king's, about whom he made some beautiful poetry. After a time he was allowed to marry this lady. The marriage was performed in St. Saviour's Church in Southwark, close to London Bridge, which was then called St. Mary Overy's, and it proved a very happy one. He went back to Scotland at last, when he had been in England for eighteen years, and was one of the best kings the Scotch ever had. So good and just, indeed, was he that the turbulent nobles would not submit to him; they rebelled, and finally murdered him, his faithful English wife defending him to the last.

23. After all his anxieties, Henry IV. did not live long to enjoy the peace which followed. He fell into very bad health, and was liable to terrible fits. He had all through his reign been wishing to go to the Holy Land and fight a Crusade; for though the Crusades had long been at an end really, the thought

and the dream of winning back the Lord's sepulchre had not yet died away. It is probable that his conscience stung him sometimes for the way in which he had treated his cousin Richard, and that he thought to make amends in that way. There had been a prophecy about him too that he should die in Jerusalem. 24. At last one day he was praying in Westminster Abbey before the shrine of Edward the Confessor, when he was seized with a fit. There was a chamber in the abbey, as there is still, called the Jerusalem Chamber. chanced that the sick king was carried into this room. When he came to himself he asked where he was, and on being told that he was in the "Jerusalem Chamber," he exclaimed, "Laud be to the Father of heaven! for now I know that I shall die in this chamber, according to the prophecy made of me aforesaid, that I should die in Jerusalem." And there indeed he died.

1413. Death of Henry.

It

LECTURE XXXIV.-THE CONQUEST OF FRANCE.

Character of Henry V.
France. Harfleur.

Lord Cobham and the Lollards. The war with
Battle of Agincourt. Rouen. Treaty of Troyes.

The king's marriage. His death and burial.

1413. Henry V.

1. THOUGH the Prince of Wales, who now became king as Henry V., had been wild and dissipated and headstrong, there had always been glimpses of a high and noble nature about him; and everybody was now willing to overlook his youthful follies, and to accept him with good hopes as their king. We shall see how thoroughly he altered from this time, as is not uncommon in a man of strong character, when, just as he is passing from youth to manhood, a great crisis occurs in his life. All the vigour he had formerly poured into his gaieties and follies he now turned to serious matters, so that England never, perhaps, had a more firm, brave, clever, and religious king than Harry Madcap.

2. In the first acts of his reign he showed a generous spirit towards those whom his father had regarded with dread and jealousy. The legal heir to the throne, the young Mortimer, had always been a thorn in the side of Henry IV., as Harry Hotspur very well knew.

"He said he would not ransom Mortimer ;
Forbade my tongue to speak of Mortimer;
But I will find him when he lies asleep,
And in his ear I'll holla Mortimer;"

His gene

Nay, I'll have a starling shall be taught to speak
Nothing but Mortimer, and give it him

To keep his anger still in motion."

rosity.

3. Henry IV. had kept Mortimer in honourable but real captivity. He was now a grown young man, and one of the new king's first acts was to set him at liberty, and show him friendship. Perhaps his long imprisonment and good education had made a philosopher of him, for, though released from captivity, he never seems to have wished to be king, but