6. Where was Gavestone besieged? and on what conditions did he sur. render himself? 7, 8. Were these conditions observed? and what was the conduct of the no bles towards him? 9. What misfortune did Edward experience in Scotland? 0. Who were the Spensers? 1 On what pretext did the king s enemies fly to arms? 2. How did the king act on this emergency 13. What was the manner of executing the earl of Lancaster! SECTION II. Mark what convulsions heave his martyr'd breast.- Lewis. 1. (A.D. 1325.) But he was now to oppose a more for aidable enemy in queen Isabella, a cruel haughty woman, who fled over to France, and refused to appear in England till Spenser was removed from the royal presence, and banished the kingdom. By this reply she gained two very considerable advantages: she became popular in England, where Spenser was universally disliked; and she had the pleasure of enjoying the company of a young nobleman, whose name was Mortimer, upon whom she had lately placed her affections, and whom she indulged with all the familiarities that her criminal passion could confer. 2. The queen's court now, therefore, became a sanctuary for all the male contents who were banished their own country, or who chose to come over. Accordingly, soon after, accompanied by three thousand men-at-arms, she set out from Dort* harbour, and landed safely, without opposition, on the coast of Suf folk. She had no sooner appeared than there seemed a ge neral revolt in her favour: and the unfortunate king found the spirit of disloyalty was not confined to the capital alone, but diffused over the whole kingdom. 3. He had placed some dependence upon the garrison which was stationed in the castle of Bristol, under the command of the elder Spenser; but they mutinied against their governor, and that uufortunate favourite was delivered up, and condemned by the tumultuous barons to the most ignominious death. He was hanged on a gibbet, in his armour; his body was cut in pieces and thrown to the dogs; and his head was sent to Winchester, where it was set upon a pole, and exposed to the populace. * Dort, or Dordrecht, is a city of Holland, situated on an island of the Meuse. By an irruption of the river Meuse, seventy-two villages and one hundred thousand persons were lost. It is said to have been occasioned by the malice of a man, who wished to inundate his neighbour's ground, by d troy ng the dyke near his house 4. Young Spenser, the unhappy son, did not long survive his father; he was taken, with some others who had followed the fortunes of the wretched king, in an obscure convent in Wales, and the merciless victors resolved to glu、 their revenge in adding insult to cruelty. The queen had not patience to wait the formality of a trial, but ordered him mine. diately to be led forth before the insulting populace, and eemed to take a savage pleasure in feasting her eyes with is distresses. 5. The gibbet erected for his execution was fifty feet high; his head was sent to London, where the citizens received it in brutal triumph, and fixed it on the bridge Several other lords also shared his fate; all deserving pity indeed, had they not themselves formerly justified the present inhumanity by setting a cruel example. 6. In the mean time, the king, who hoped to find refuge in Wales, was quickly discovered, and delivered up to his adversaries, who expressed their satisfaction in the grossness of their treatment. He was conducted to the capital, amidst the insults and reproaches of the people, and confined in the Tower. A charge was soon after exhibited against him, in which no other crimes but his incapacity to govern, his indolence, his love of pleasure, and his being swayed by evil counsellors, were objected against him. His deposition was quickly voted by parliament; he was assigned a pension for his support his son Edward, a youth of fourteen, was fixed upon to succeed him, and the queen was appointed regent during the minority. 7. The deposed monarch but a short time survived his misfortunes: he was sent from prison to prison, a wretched outcast, and the sport of his inhuman keepers. He had been at first consigned to the custody of the earl of Lancaster; but this nobleman showing some marks of respect and pity, he was taken out of his hands, and delivered over to lords Berkeley, Montravers, and Gournay, who were intrusted with the charge of guarding him a month about. 8. Whatever his treatment from lord Berkeley might have been, the other two seemed resolved that he should enjoy none of the comforts of life while in their custody. They practised every kind of indignity upon him, as if their design had been to accelerate his death by the bitterness of his sufferings. (A.D. 1328.) But when his persecutors saw that his death might not arrive, even under every cruelty, till a revolution had been made in his favour, they resolved to rid themselves of their fears by destroying him at once. 9. Accordingly his two keepers Gournay and Montravers came to Berkeley castle, where Edward was then confined and murdered him by a most cruel and torturing process, which left no marks of external violence. Questions for Examination. I What other enemy had Edward now to oppose? 2. Was there any revolt in the queen's favour and by whom was she a companied? 3. What happened to the elder Sperser? 5. In what manner was the younger Spenser executed? 6. What were the proceedings against the king? 7 Did the king long survive his misfortunes? 8 Can you relate the indignities practised upon him? 9 What was the manner of the king's murder? and by whom was it committed? John Offord, archbishop of Canterbury. Thomas Plantagenet, earl of Lan easter. Roger, lord Mortimer; Piers Gavestone and the two Spensers, fa vourites of the king. CHAPTER XIV. EDWARD III. Born 1312. Died June 21, 1377. Began to reign Sept. 22, 1327. Reigned nearly 50 years. SECTION I. 1. (A.D. 1327.) THE parliament by which young Edward was raised to the throne, during the life of his father appointed twelve persons as his privy counsel, to direct the operations of government. Mortimer, the queen's favourite who might naturally be set down as one of the members, artfully excluded himseif, under a pretended show of moderation; but at the same time he secretly influenced al the measures that came under their deliberation. 2. He caused the greater part of the royal revenues to be settled on the queen-dowager, and he seldom took the trouble to consult the ministers of government in any public undertak ing. The king himself was even so besieged by the fa vourite's creatures, that no access could be procured to him, and the whole sovereign authority was shared between Mortimer and the queen, who took no care to conceal her criminal attachment. 3. At length, however, Edward was resolved to shake off an authority that was odious to the nation, and particularly restrictive upon him. But such was the power of the favourite, that it required as much precaution to overturn the usurper as to establish the throne. The queen and Mortiiner had for some time chosen the castle of Nottingham for the place of their residence; it was strictly guarded, the gates locked every evening, and the keys carried to the queen. 4. It was therefore agreed between the king and some of the barons, who secretly entered into his designs, to seize upon them in the fortress; and for that purpose Sir William Bland, the governor, was induced to admit them by a secret subterraneous passage, which had been formerly contrived for an outlet, but was now hidden with rubbish, and known only to one or two. It was by this, therefore, the noblemen in the king's interest entered in the night; and Mortimer, without having it in his power to make any resistance, was seized in apartments adjoining those of the queen. 5. It was in vain that she endeavoured to protect him; in vain she entreated them to spare her “ gentle Mortimer;" the barons, deaf to her entreaties, denied her that pity which she had so often refused to others. Her paramour was condemned by the parliament, which was then sitting, without being permitted to make his defence, or even examining a witness against him. He was hanged on a gibbet, at a place called Elms, about a mile from London, where his body was left hanging for two days after. 6. The queen, who certainly was the most culpable, was shielded by the dignity of her station; she was only disgraced from all share of power, and confined for life in the castle of Ris ings, with a pension of three thousand pounds a year. From this confinement she was never after set free; and though the king annually paid her a visit of decent ceremony, yet she found herself abandoned to universal contempt and detestation; and continued, for about twenty-five years after, miserable monument of blighted ambition. 7. In order still more to secure the people's affections, Edward made a successful irruption into Scotland, in which, in one battle, fought at Halidon hill, about thirty thousand of the Scots were slain. Soon after, he turned his arms against France, which was at that time particularly unfortunate. Three sons of Philip the Fair, in full parliament, accused their wives of adultery; and in consequence of this accusation, they were condemned and imprisoned for life. 8. Lewis Hutin, successor to the crown of France, caused his wife to be strangled, and her lovers to be flayed alive. After his death, as he left only a daughter, his next brother, Philip the Tall, assumed the crown in prejudice of the daughter, and vindicated his title by the Salic law, which laid it down that no female should succeed to the crown. Edward, however, urged his pretensions, as being, by his mother Isabella, who was daughter to Philip the Fair, and sister to the three last kings of France, rightful heir to the crown. But first he, in a formal manner, consulted his parliament on the propriety of the undertaking, obtained their approbation, received a proper supply of wool, which he intended to barter with the Flemings; and being attended with a body of English forces, and several of his nobility, he sailed into Flanders, big with his intended conquests. 9. The first great advantage gained by the English was in a naval engagement on the coast of Flanders, in which the French lost two hundred and thirty ships, and had thirty thousand of their seamen and two of their admirals slain. 10. The intelligence of Edward's landing, and the devastation caused by his troops, who dispersed themselves over the whole face of the country, soon spread universal conster nation through the French court. Caen was taken and plundered by the English without mercy; the villages and towns, even up to Paris, shared the same fate; and the French had no other resource, but by breaking down their bridges, to attempt putting a stop to the invader's career. 11. Philip, then king of France, was not idle in making preparations to repress the enemy. He had stationed one of his generals, Godemar de Faye, with an army on the oppo site side of the river Somme, over which Edward was to |