ship at anchor, in which no quarter was
given, the matter became too serious to be
passed over. King Edward, as Duke of
Guienne, was summoned to present himself
before the King of France, at Paris, and
answer for the damage done by his sailor
subjects. At first, he sent the Bishop of
London as his representative, and then his
brother EDMUND, who was married to the
French Queen's mother. I am afraid Edmund
was an easy man, and allowed himself to be
talked over by his charming relations, the
French court ladies; at all events, he was
induced to give up his brother's dukedom
for forty days—as a mere form, the French
King said, to satisfy his honor—and he was
so very much astonished, when the time was
out, to find that the French King had no
idea of giving it up again, that I should not
wonder if it hastened his death: which soon
took place.

King Edward was a King to win his foreign
dukedom back again, if it could be won by
energy and valour. He raised a large army,
renounced his allegiance as Duke of Guienne,
and crossed the sea to carry war into France.
Before any important battle was fought,
however, a truce was agreed upon for two years;
and, in the course of that time, the Pope
effected a reconciliation. King Edward, who
was now a widower, having lost his affectionate
and good wife Eleanor, married the French
King's sister MARGARET; and the Prince of
Wales was contracted to the French King's
daughter ISABELLA.

Out of bad things, good things sometimes
arise. Out of this hanging of the innocent
merchant, and the bloodshed and strife it
caused, there came to be established one of the
greatest powers that the English people now
possess. The preparations for the war being
very expensive, and King Edward greatly
wanting money, and being very arbitrary in
his ways of raising it, some of the Barons began
firmly to oppose him. Two of them, in particular,
HUMPHREY BOHUN, Earl of Hereford,
and ROGER BIGOD, Earl of Norfolk, were so
stout against him, that they maintained he
had no right to command them to head his
forces in Guienne, and flatly refused to go
there. " By Heaven, Sir Earl," said the King
to the Earl of Hereford, in a great passion,
"you shall either go or be hanged! " " By
Heaven, Sir King," replied the Earl of
Hereford, " I will neither go nor yet will
I be hanged! " and both he and the other
Earl sturdily left the court, attended by many
Lords. The King tried every means of raising
money. He taxed the clergy in spite of all the
Pope said to the contrary; and when they
refused to pay, reduced them to submission, by
saying Very well, then they had no claim upon
the government for protection, and any man
might plunder them who would—which a good
many men were very ready to do, and very
readily did, and which the clergy found too
losing a game to be played at long. He seized
all the wool and leather in the hands of the
merchants, promising to pay for it some fine
day; and he set a tax upon the exportation
of wool, which was so unpopular among the
traders that it was called " The evil toll."
But all would not do. The Barons, led by
those two great Earls, declared any taxes
imposed without the consent of Parliament,
unlawful; and the Parliament refused to
impose taxes, until the King should confirm
afresh the two Great Charters, and should
solemnly declare in writing, that there was
no power in the country to raise money from
the people, evermore, but the power of Parliament
representing all ranks of the people.
The King was very unwilling to diminish his
own power by allowing this great privilege
in the Parliament; but there was no help for
it, and he at last complied. We shall come
to another King by-and-bye, who might have
saved his head from rolling off, if he had
profited by this example.

The people gained other benefits in Parliament
from the good sense and wisdom of this
King. Many of the laws were much
improved; provision was made for the greater
safety of travellers, and the apprehension of
thieves and murderers; the priests were
prevented from holding too much land, and so
becoming too powerful; and Justices of the
Peace were first appointed (though not at
first under that name) in various parts of the
country.

And now we come to Scotland, which was
the great and lasting trouble of the reign
of King Edward the First.

About thirteen years after King Edward's
coronation, Alexander the Third, the King of
Scotland, died of a fall from his horse. He had
been married to Margaret, King Edward's
sister. All their children being dead, the
Scottish crown became the right of a young
Princess only eight years old, the daughter of
ERIC, King of Norway, who had married a
daughter of the deceased sovereign. King
Edward proposed, that the Maiden of Norway,
as this Princess was called, should be
engaged to be married to his eldest son; but,
unfortunately, as she was coming over to
England she fell sick, and landing on one of
the Orkney Islands, died there. A great
commotion immediately began in Scotland, where
as many as thirteen noisy claimants to the
vacant throne started up and made a general
confusion.

King Edward being much renowned for
his sagacity and justice, it seems to have been
agreed to refer the dispute to him. He
accepted the trust, and went, with an army, to
the Border land where England and Scotland
joined. There, he called upon the Scottish
gentlemen to meet him at the Castle of
Norham, on the English side of the river
Tweed; and to that Castle they came. But,
before he would take any step in the business,
he required those Scottish gentlemen, one and