ENGLISH HISTORY. RICHARD II. THE animated lines of the poet Gray well describe the last hours of Edward III., and the eventful character of the reign of his grandson Richard 11. "Mighty Victor, mighty Lord, Low on his funeral couch he lies! Is the sable warrior fled? Thy son is gone. He rests among the dead. Fair laughs the morn, and soft the zephyr blows, That hush'd in grim repose, expects its evening prey. Those who had the direction of public affairs were unpopular, and their acts improvident. The temper and bearing of John of Gaunt, the king's uncle, were not pleasing, and caused his exclusion, for some time, from that active part in the government to which his rank and circumstances seemed to entitle him. By his marriage with his first wife, the heiress of Lancaster, he had acquired the large estates he possessed; and from his second marriage with one of the daughters of Peter the Cruel, he advanced an empty claim to be king of Castile and Leon, and assumed the title; but he had been, and still was unsuccessful as a commander against the French, and he excited the displeasure of the clergy by patronizing Wickliff, whom he protected when called before an ecclesiastical court, in 1377. The war with France, and the needlessly profuse expenses of the coronation, caused a demand for money, and the Commons procured the appointment of persons to control the expenditure. The war between England and France consisted of desultory expeditions, ravaging the towns and country near the sea-coast, and proved effectual only in H adding to the national guilt, and demoral- | of Dartford, being enraged at an insult izing those who engaged in them. A well authenticated instance will show the reader the dreadful results of such war, even to the country to which the ravagers belong; and conveys no desirable picture of the state of things in this period. In 1380, Sir John Arundel headed a large body of troops, assembled in Hampshire, and about to proceed upon an expedition against Brittany. They were wind-bound for some time, and their leader, not contented with permitting the usual military licentiousness of robbing the peasantry of their provisions and ill-treating their persons, went to a neighbouring nunnery, and required that his knights might be permitted to visit the inmates. The abbess in vain refused, the civil power did not interfere; and when the troops embarked, they carried with them most of the nuns. A tempest arose, when these atrocious ruffians imputed their danger to the Divine displeasure, not on account of their wicked conduct, but because they had on board females who were dedicated to sacred services. With this impression, they hastened to cast the helpless victims into the sea. We cannot regret to find that the just vengeance of the Almighty pursued them; the vessels were wrecked on the coast of Ireland; where the leader and most of his followers perished. offered to his daughter by the tax-collector, slew the offender. Another party released the priest Ball from the archbishop's prison at Maidstone, and the insurrection became general. The insurgents collected at Blackheath, to the estimated number of 100,000, acknowledging Wat Tyler as their leader. The ministers of Richard persuaded him to refuse to listen to their grievances, calling them, "shoeless rebels." Excited by this refusal to farther acts of outrage, they proceeded to Southwark, and when the Lord Mayor caused the gates at the foot of London Bridge to be closed, the people opened them, and allowed the insurgents to enter. They committed no acts of rapine, but declared that they only required the redress of grievances; and their demands were certainly just and moderate. They desired the abolition of slavery, and the payment of rent for land instead of personal services, by which a tyrannical lord would often oppress his vassals; that all should have equal privileges of buying and selling. They were joined by numbers from the neighbouring counties, and it was known that many others were on their way from a distance. and ministers. They then destroyed the Savoy, the palace of the duke of Lancaster; and during seven days committed many acts of plunder, devastation, and murder. The young king, with a part of his court, had an interview with the largest body of Tyler's followers, at Mile-end, and gave them a charter, abolishing the slavery in which the lower orders had These worse than fruitless expeditions, been held so long. But the rest of the and the profusion of the court, rendered mob, who had remained on Tower-hill, supplies of money necessary, and the forced an entrance into that fortress, parliament in two successive years im- seized Simon of Sudbury, archbishop of posed a poll-tax, which all persons above Canterbury, then lord chancellor, and fifteen years of age were to pay, accord-beheaded him and some other unpopular ing to their rank, the lowest sum being a groat. This payment being evaded, an effort was made to collect it, in the eastern counties, with much severity. The collectors were encouraged to conduct themselves with brutality, especially in the families of the lower classes; and the spirit of discontent already roused in their minds by the privileges assumed by the nobility, was now driven to desperation. A baker at Fobbing in Essex urged his neighbours to open insurrection, and the commonalty of Essex and Kent were soon in a state of excitement. A judge was sent into Essex to punish the insurgents, but they obliged the legal officers to fly. Another judge was compelled to relinquish the trial of offenders in Kent; and Wat the Tyler, an inhabitant | This conduct soon brought matters to a crisis. Other charters were given, but they were not satisfactory; and the king agreed to meet their leaders in Smithfield. Wat Tyler required that all the lawyers should be beheaded, and made other similar demands. While the king was pausing as to his reply, Tyler took hold of the bridle of the monarch's horse, when Walworth, the mayor of London, struck a short sword into the throat of the rebel leader; another also struck him, and he fell dead on the spot. The rebels, seeing this, shouted aloud for vengeance, and | drew their bows; but the king, with admirable presence of mind, rode up to them, saying, "Why this clamour, my liege men? What are ye doing? Will ye kill your king? Be not concerned for the death of a traitor and a scoundrel. I will grant all that you can ask." The multitude were stayed, and while they parleyed with the king, Walworth collected a thousand armed men, who, with Sir Robert Knolles as their commander, hastened to rescue their monarch. The multitude were then seized with a panic fear, threw down their weapons, and fled, the king forbidding pursuit. Thus ended this insurrection. There were also disturbances in several parts of the country, mostly before that headed by Tyler; but these were soon suppressed. That in Norfolk was the most formidable, but it was put down chiefly by the active exertions of the bishop, who headed his forces in complete armour. The only person distinctly aimed at by the insurgents was the duke of Lancaster, who was sought for by two large bodies of rebels, and compelled to flee to Scotland. It is thought by some, that considering his attachment to Wickliff, this was probably an organized effort of his ecclesiastical enemies to direct the popular fury against one whose dislike to the errors of popery alarmed them. As soon as the court recovered from its alarm, the king revoked the charters he had granted. A commission was issued for the trial of the offenders, and a contemporary historian states that several hundred persons were hanged or beheaded. Turner, in his history of this period, remarks, that this insurrection must have been excited by operations out of the common way, and enumerates several causes which combined to produce these disturbances, and also that general discontent, which ended in the revolution by which Richard was dethroned. These may be stated as arising—1. From the wars with France. In the changed state of affairs, the French made descents on the coast of England, and the disbanded and unemployed soldiery went about committing acts of outrage and plunder. These circumstances both excited discontent, and called forth characters to take an active part in the insurrections which ensued. 2. The free population had increased, and the state of society in general had improved, which rendered very obnoxious the bondage of slavery, in which a large number of the common people were held, and made them eager for its abolition. The state of France was very similar. 3. The wealth and corruptions of the clergy, who considered themselves a distinct and privileged order, forgetting the principle laid down by the apostles, that they were servants of the church at large, for Christ's sake. The doctrines of truth were sedulously opposed by these ecclesiastics, but the community could not but contrast their actual proceedings with the precepts of Christ, and felt more and more indisposed to submit to their assumptions and encroachments. There was also increasing eagerness to diminish the vast and disproportioned possessions of the monastic bodies, and of the clergy at large. All these causes produced a desire for change in the discontented and oppressed, while those who sought to rivet the chains of civil tyranny and ecclesiastical domination, were not unwilling to see an outbreak of popular licentiousness and tumult, being assured that such demonstrations would supply a strong argument against all alterations which tended to limit their own authority, and to improve the state of society in general. it Such is the view given by Turner, and appears correct, when applied to the history of this reign. In other periods a similar state of affairs will often be found productive of similar results. The personal character of the ruler has usually a considerable influence upon an unsettled state of society; and Richard II. was an individual precisely suited to excite civil discord and revolution. He came to the throne a mere boy, and those about him seem to have sought to spoil him by flattery, rather than to give his mind a right bias. Weak, indolent, and vicious, attached to favourites as weak and vicious as himself, he had neither the respect nor the affection of his subjects; while his profusion and carelessness left him always in need; and he pressed heavily on the middle and higher ranks, by the weight of taxation. All these evils have been fully described by contemporary writers. In addition to his personal expenditure for dress and other articles of ostentation, at one pe riod of his reign, 10,000 followers were provisioned from his palace, and 300 was soon compelled to dismiss the chancellor, whose estates were confiscated; and a commission of fourteen prelates and nobles was appointed to conduct the government, under the direction of the duke of Gloucester. Considering the early age of Richard, we must regret that these commissioners did not endeavour to produce better conduct on his part. servitors were employed in his kitchen. | their complaints, and this weak monarch This state of affairs must have had a wide effect upon the community. The nobles and subjects in general imitated their monarch; a taste for luxury and expense was cherished, which engendered a spirit of rapacity and oppression, and made every class desirous of change. | The fantastic and costly garb of Richard's courtiers is shown in the drawings of those times. Though both extravagant and unbecoming, it was encouraged by the weak and frivolous monarch. Scripture tells us that much depends upon the personal character of the sovereign, both from the indirect influence of his example, and the direct measures of his government. "If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked," Prov. xxix. 12. Richard 11. had no desire to enforce order or virtue, and the histories of ancient and modern times equally prove, that unless private morality prevails in high places, there can be no hope for public prosperity and tranquillity. These remarks especially apply to the latter years of this reign; and afford a clue to the events which followed. war; The ensuing years were chiefly distinguished by internal discords, in which the duke of Lancaster was accused of treasonable designs, and the ambitious and discontented warrior nobles seemed about to plunge the nation into a civil but the queen-mother exerted herself to reconcile the king and his uncle, and this was with difficulty effected. John of Gaunt, after an invasion of Scotland, which produced little advantage, went abroad upon an expedition against Spain, being eager to acquire the kingdom of Castile, which the Pope had authorized him to seize. The climate brought sickness and mortality among his troops, and the expedition ended without success. His absence induced the king of France to make large preparations for invading England, but after much expense and trouble had been incurred, the design was relinquished. During the absence of John of Gaunt, the conduct of the king and his favourites, Vere, duke of Ireland, and De la Pole, earl of Suffolk, excited the displeasure of the parliament. At first, their remonstrances were unsuccessful, the king declaring that he would not turn out the meanest scullion to please their humours. But his parliament insisted on his appearing in person to hear The king did not readily submit to this restraint; he met his favourites at Nottingham, and requiring the attendance of the judges, procured from them an opinion that_the_royal_prerogative was above law. He then endeavoured to raise a military force to act against the members of the parliament, who were denounced as traitors; but the voice of the people was against these measures. The barons were effectually supported; the king endeavoured to raise forces to oppose them; but these were outnumbered and dispersed at Radicot, in Oxfordshire. The favourites were forced to flee, and some of their active supporters were executed. The king desired to destroy every one who opposed his tyranny; and the nobles, including the duke of Gloucester, one of the king's uncles, discussed whether they should attempt to depose their monarch. this took place before the king was twenty-one years old. All In 1889, the king declared himself of age, and appointed as his chancellor, William of Wickham, the bishop of Winchester, who assured them that the king would govern better in future. Soon after this the king showed that his love of pleasure and ostentation was unchanged, by causing shows and tournaments to be exhibited with much cost and magnificent display. A better spirit was manifested by the king's refusal to sanction two measures recommended by the parliament, which would have enabled the nobles to enslave such of their vassals as had been made free of corporate towns, and prevented any children of the villeins, or lower class, from entering the church. He had, however, not long before, consented to some laws, which limited the rate of wages in a very oppressive manner, and confined labourers to their own districts, besides preventing the children of a farmer from following any other occupation, unless begun before they were twelve years of age. Some years passed away, during which much discontent prevailed, but the people | king had formed designs against his were restrained from open violence. The father and himself. Hereford saw that queen, Ann of Bohemia, died, much the best way to defeat such a plan was to lamented, and an alliance with France make it known, while he had no wish to was formed by a contract between the screen Norfolk, who had been one of king and the French princess Isabella, the king's instruments in the arrest of then only eight years of age. This alli- the duke of Gloucester. Hereford, ance was very displeasing to the na- therefore, publicly mentioned in parliation, and added to the popularity of the ment this communication of Norfolk, duke of Gloucester. The king now ex- affecting to consider it as a slander erted himself. Froissart says he began against the king. Norfolk being into reign more fiercely than before, and volved in his own toils, denied the charge, that none dare speak against any act of and challenged Henry to single combat, the king. In 1897, having a parliament according to the knightly fashion of favourable to his views, he proceeded to that age; this was then permitted by violent courses. He had previously the law, and magnificent preparations conciliated the leading ecclesiastics by were made for the fight between these severity against the followers of Wick- powerful nobles. The combat was just liff, who were styled the Lollards. They about to begin, when the king seized had lost a valuable supporter in the the opportunity for displaying his power, "good queen Ann, one of the few and for getting rid of two discontented females of rank in those days, who were chiefs, one of whom was too popular to truly illustrious by the study of Scrip- be endured, and the other, if defeated, ture; John of Gaunt was also absent. might have disclosed particulars of RiThey were assisted by the co-operation chard's guilt, which the king was anxious of many who were desirous of political to suppress. He forbade their fighting, reform and worldly freedom, and only and sentenced Hereford to banishment assumed a desire for the liberty sought for ten years; Norfolk to perpetual by the followers of the truth to conceal exile. Nearly the whole of the property and advance their temporal views. of the latter was confiscated, and John of Gaunt dying soon after, the king seized the patrimony of Hereford.___Other violent measures followed. The earl of Northumberland was banished, and his property confiscated; large payments were exacted from various parts of England, on the plea of acts against the royal favourites, some of long standing. The king accused his uncle, the duke of Gloucester, of treason. The particulars alleged against him were of some years' standing, and did not extend beyond a dislike to his nephew's conduct, and a desire to restrain his evil courses; he had also censured the king's intercourse with France. The whole proceeding inflicts indelible disgrace on Richard. He visited his uncle at his seat at Pleshy, was entertained there, and by false pretences persuaded the duke to return with him to London. There Gloucester was betrayed into the hands of armed men placed to arrest him; and having been carried privately to Calais, he was murdered by being smothered between two beds. The earl of Arundel, another popular nobleman, was also executed. Richard now assumed absolute power. He was more prodigal than ever, and in all things followed the caprice of the moment. He raised large sums by forced loans, and availed himself of every opportunity to establish his despotic authority. A remarkable instance of this, which now occurred, tended to his overthrow. The duke of Norfolk told Henry, duke of Hereford, the son of the duke of Lancaster, that the | The king's infatuation was equal to his tyranny. Having thus set the whole kingdom against him, he went to Ireland with a large army, and easily ravaged the country, but its wild and uncultivated state rendered his conquest of little avail; meanwhile England was left under the government of one of the king's uncles, the duke of York, a weakminded, inactive character. All England was now excited against Richard. Bands of armed men appeared in every part, plundering the neighbourhood, and ready for more extensive action. Several of the nobles consulted with the leading citizens of London, and the result was, a determination to recal Hereford. The archbishop of Canterbury, disguised as a pilgrim, proceeded to the continent, and had a secret interview with Henry at Paris; and the injured noble, after some reluctance, agreed to forward these plans. He embarked in |