THE

National School Magazine.

NO. 25.]

APRIL 15th, 1825.

[VOL. II.

SHORT HISTORY OF ENGLAND. (No. XIII.-Continued from p. 84.)

EDWARD III.

THIS king came to the throne in the year 1327: he was very young at the

time, only fourteen years of age. His mother who had used her husband, the last miserable king, dreadfully ill, endeavoured to keep the young king from the throne; and she was assisted in this wicked design, by a bad man named Mortimer. But young Edward would not allow of this, and when he felt that he was old enough to govern for himself, he was determined to be his own master, and he therefore made an attack upon the queen and Mortimer, who were then living together at Nottingham Castle, and he seized them both. Mortimer was condemned by parliament, and was hanged; and the queen was deprived of her power, and confined for life to the castle of Risings. She was allowed a pension of three hundred a year, and the king sometimes paid her a visit; but she was neither pitied or respected by any body. She continued in this confinement till the day of her death, nearly five-and-twenty years.

Edward the Third was a very different man from his father: he was very bold and ambitious, and he soon began to endeavour to recover the

power in Scotland, which his father had lost. In the battle of Hallidown hill, they tell us that he left thirty thousand of the Scots dead on the field.

He was not, however, satisfied with Scotland, but tried to conquer France also. He said that the kingdom of France belonged to him in right of his mother, and on this pretence, he went to take it by force. He fought the great battle of Cressy, and gained a complete victory. It is said that the English had only thirty thousand men, -and the French a hundred and twenty thousand. To account, however, for this great victory, with so small a proportion of men, it is said that the sun shone in the faces of the French, and dazzled their eyes; and also that their bow-strings were wet from a shower of rain, whilst the English had kept their bows in cases.

King Edward had a son, named Edward, a most brave and gallant young man; and it was indeed his bravery that chiefly gained the battle of Cressy. This young prince was called the Black Prince, the reason of which is said to be that he wore black armour.

King Edward next tried to take Calais, which is the town in France nearest to England. It is just opposite to Dover, and the king was desirous of possessing it, that he might have a place to land his soldiers at. He was, however, a whole year before he could gain his point; and, when the citizens were at last starved out, and were obliged to give up the town, Edward was so enraged at them for their long and bold resistance, that he threatened to put them all to death. He, however, gave up this savage intention, and was content to have six of their leading men hanged; and those poor creatures were brought to the king's camp with halters about their necks. The queen Philippa, however, begged hard that such brave men might be spared, and the king at last consented to set them at liberty*.

Whilst the king was in France, the Scotch made an attack upon England, but the queen, who was then in England, set off with an army to drive them back, and she won a great battle

* See Picture.

at Neville's cross, and took the Scotch king prisoner.

The black-prince soon afterward gained another great victory in France, at the famous battle of Poictiers. He took John, king of France, prisoner; so that there were two kings prisoners in England at the same time.

King Edward was now called upon to endure a grievous affliction. His son, the black-prince, died of a consumption, and the poor king never recovered this severe blow. He gave up business, and became indifferent about all the concerns of the nation. He died at Sheene, (the place that is now called Richmond) in Surrey, in the year 1377, after a long reign of 50 years. (To be continued.)

FULFILMENT OF PROPHECY.

IT is interesting to look into the writings of historians, and to see how their accounts often confirm the truth of the holy Scriptures, although they wrote without any intention of the