21. As for Edward's cleverness, we will only read what Baker says of him. "He had in him the two wisdoms-not often found in any singly; both together, seldom or never—an ability of judgment in himself, and a readiness to hear the judgment of others."

22. He was married some years before his father's death. His wife was a Spanish princess, named Eleanor. When she came to England she was received with great honour. 1254. "The king gave orders," says Matthew Paris, "that His she should be received with the greatest honour and marriage. reverence at London, as well as at other places; but especially at London, where her arrival was to be celebrated by processions, illuminations, ringing of bells, songs, and other special demonstrations of joy and festivity. On her approaching that city, therefore, the citizens went to meet her, dressed in holy-day clothes, and mounted on richly-caparisoned horses; and when the noble daughter-in-law of the king arrived at the place of abode assigned her, she found it hung with palls of silk and tapestry like a temple, and even the floor was covered with arras." This seems to have been the first time Englishmen had ever seen a carpet on the floor; they were still content with hay and rushes, as Becket had been; for Matthew Paris adds, "This was done by the Spaniards, according to the custom of their country ; but this excessive pride excited the laughter and derision of the people" (rather like the John Bull of our days, who is ever ready to laugh at "new-fangled" plans to which he is not accustomed).

23. Eleanor proved a most sweet and loving wife, and Edward was devotedly attached to her. When, at last, after many years of happy life, she died at some distance from London, either in Lincolnshire or Nottinghamshire, the king brought her body to Westminster to be buried. That was a long and troublesome journey in those days, when the roads were very bad, and they had to rest several nights on the way. At each place where they halted for the night King Edward afterwards caused a monument to be set up. The Gothic architecture was now in its prime, and these monuments were very beautiful. One of them still stands by the side of a road near Northampton; it is richly ornamented with sculptured niches and statues of Queen Eleanor. The last place they stopped at was a little village between London and Westminster, and there too a beautiful monument was set up. It was said that it was called "the dear queen's cross.' In those days the kings and queens still talked French more than English,

so this name was in French "Chère Reine;" and we may still see a model of Edward's monument at Charing Cross, with the "dear queen's" images on it. But though this would be a very pretty derivation for the name, it appears that little village had been called Charing long before.

1271.

24. After Simon de Montfort's death, and when all was quiet in England, Prince Edward went on a Crusade to the Holy Land, accompanied by his wife. This was the ninth and last Crusade. Like all the others, there was much bravery and self-devotion, as well as much cruelty. But they could not gain their end; they could not win back Jerusalem. By degrees the kings of Europe began to realize that they had better stay at home and govern their own kingdoms, than wander away, spending their own lives and their people's lives on what seemed at last only a dream, though a beautiful dream.

25. Though the Crusades were so mixed with evil, with pride and jealousy and cruelty, though so many noble lives were wasted and buried there, we cannot think they were all evil. There was true religion, true, unselfish devotion, in many hearts. And in other ways too they worked some good. They led people to travel, and to see other countries and other races of men; and this must have made some of them larger-hearted, as King Richard had learned to see the nobleness and goodness of the Mahometan Saladin.

But Edward's adventures in Palestine must not detain us; we have quite enough to do with England, and Wales, and Scotland. He was still abroad when his father died, and he by no means hurried himself to come home, for it was not till August 1274 that he made his appearance in England.

26. The coronation-feast must have been something like a feast indeed. Orders were sent to provide 380 oxen, 430 sheep, 450 pigs, 18 wild boars (so there must have been still wild boars in England, but apparently not many), and more than 19,000 fowls and capons. He and his queen were welcomed with the greatest joy and honour: "the streets were hung with rich cloths of silk and arras and tapestry; the aldermen of the city threw out of their windows handfuls of gold and silver, to signify the great gladness they had conceived of his safe return; the conduits ran plentifully with white wine and red, that each creature might drink his fill." Besides the aldermen's gold and silver, 500 great horses, on some of which Edward and his followers had ridden to the banquet, were let loose among the crowd, any one to take them for his own as he could.

LECTURE XXIV.-EDWARD I. ENGLAND AND WALES.

Edward's government. Dispute about taxation. Humphrey Bohun. The old over-lordship of England in Wales and Scotland. The Welsh people. Conquest of Wales.

1272.

1. EDWARD deserved a hearty welcome. He set his mind to govern his people well, and for their good and happiness. Though he had fought against Simon de Montfort on his father's side, yet he now clearly saw that his plans had been for the real advantage of the country, and he carried them out himself. He summoned parliaments such as Simon had summoned, consisting of the lords and bishops, the county members, and the town members.

2. But things were very different then from what they are now. We all know how fond people are of being members of parliament now; how they do and say all they can to Edward's induce the electors to choose them, and look upon it parliaments. as the greatest honour, as indeed it is. But in those days it was considered a great burden and a great trouble. It was very difficult to get the members to come to parliament; the towns did not like the trouble and expense of sending representatives (who were paid in those days), and it was quite difficult to assemble them together. People did not as yet know the good that would come of it. It is generally a few, or perhaps only one wise man, who first sees what is the right thing to do, as the world slowly changes; he is probably called a fool for it, or mad, for the common run of people cannot see what he sees. Perhaps, and indeed most likely, he gets killed, as Simon was, or despised and half-starved, as Roger Bacon was. But by and bye his ideas tell; a few more people begin to understand them; then more and more; at last his wise thought is believed by everybody-it becomes a sort of common-place; and in the end the truth prevails, and must prevail, in the world which God made.

3. Another set of people who might have come to parliament

would not come. Those were the clergy. Just as there were bishops in the Upper House, there might have been clergymen in the Lower. But they would not come. And now all a clergyman can do in governing his country is just what other men can do ; he can vote for members of parliament, but he cannot be one himself. This is probably a very good thing. For highly as the clergy are to be respected in their own sphere, in teaching and studying, in caring for the poor and in visiting the sick, it has been found in all history that they are not good at governing. We have already seen enough of the Pope's government, and the harm it did; but when Protestant and Puritan clergy have got into power (as they did once in Scotland) it has not answered well, either for themselves or the country.

4. But though Edward fully approved of the new sort of parliament, allowing all the principal classes of people to be represented, there was one thing which he took a very The taxes. long time in consenting to, and a most important

thing too; which was, that no taxes should be laid on without the consent of the people taxed. He had a masterful temper, and he wished to lay on the taxes himself as he thought fit. He was not a selfish, extravagant, and foolish king, like his father, and very likely would have laid on fair taxes, and for wise purposes. But the barons knew better than to give up the right they had fought for and won. Though Edward was a good king, who was to say what his son might be? It came to a struggle. There were two principal nobles who withstood the king. When they found that he obstinately held out they refused to obey him. He was going to Flanders on a war, and he ordered his nobles to follow him. They refused. Then the king said to one 1297. of them, Humphrey Bohun, Earl of Hereford, "Sir Earl, you shall either go or hang." But Humphrey stoutly answered, "Sir King, I will neither go nor hang." The end of the struggle was that right conquered. The king owned that he was wrong, and gave in; the principle was firmly established. But a king, some centuries after this, threw the whole country into rebellion and lost his own life by trying, as Edward tried, to evade it-to levy taxes at his own will, without the consent of the people.

5. Meanwhile, Edward made many good laws for the protection and prosperity of the nation, and the land was very peaceful and thriving. But we must now turn to Edward's wars; for though we will never, if we can help it, waste much time over wars in foreign parts, Edward's principal

Wars.

wars were in Great Britain itself, and brought us into connection with other people dwelling in the island, who are now our fellowsubjects. He made up his mind to leave France alone. His father had longed to get back his possessions on the Continent, but Edward saw that was hopeless, and he turned his whole attention to Great Britain.

6. We have now travelled over a period of more than 1300 years in the history of our country; that is, from the The British time when its written history began. Through all Isles. this time there has been one great difference between

its condition then and its condition now. Now the British Isles are regarded as one nation, governed by one queen and one parliament, and called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Great Britain, of course, includes England, Wales, and Scotland. Our history, so far, has been working up to this result. In the early part of it, after the English first came over from Germany, even England itself was not one. There were many different kingdoms and kings. Little by little, these kingdoms grew together. First there was one principal king, and the other kings were under him; then by degrees the other kings dropped off, and the one principal became the only one among the English. 7. But besides the English, there were a great many other people in the British Isles. There were three sets of Welsh people, in Wales, Strathclyde, and Cornwall, speaking another language and having a great many kings of their own. There were the Scotch, who were also divided into different sets of people, with their own kings and chiefs. And there were the Irish. As the centuries went on, some of these began to be united to England too. Some of the Welsh kingdoms, as Cornwall, and a good part of Strathclyde, were swallowed up, and became part of England. The greatest of the English kings became a sort of head or overlord to most of the others. Alfred's son, the first Edward, had been, as they then said, "the father and lord" of all the Scotch and all the Welsh, besides being King of England. The Scotch and the Welsh princes did homage to the English kings again and again, as when Edgar the Peaceable was rowed on the river Dee by eight tributary kings, and again when Macbeth and the other Scotchmen did homage to Cnut. Afterwards Henry II. conquered Ireland, so that things seemed to be gradually working towards the united kingdom which we have now.

8. But all this time the union had been very loose. None of the smaller kingdoms could believe that it would be really for their good to be united into one strong body; they all wanted