charters. After standing out for some time, he was obliged to comply with these terms: Magna Charta and the Charter of Forests were both confirmed, with some additional articles, in a parliament held at Westminster in October of this year. Meanwhile, although he had got disencumbered for the present of the war on the Continent, by the conclusion of a truce with king Philip, the rebellion in Scotland had already gained such a height as to have almost wholly cleared that country of the English authorities. The forces of the government had been completely put to the rout by Wallace at the battle of Stirling, fought on the 11th September, and in a few weeks more not a Scottish fortress remained in Edward's hands. Wallace was now appointed Governor of Scotland, in the name of king John (Balliol). In this state of things Edward, about the middle of March 1298, returned to England from Flanders where he had spent the winter. He immediately prepared to march for Scotland. The great battle of Falkirk followed on the 22nd of July, in which Wallace sustained a complete defeat. But although one consequence of this event was the resignation by Wallace of his office of governor, it was not followed by the general submission of the country. The next five years were spent in a succession of indecisive attempts on the part of the English king to regain possession of Scotland; the military operations being frequently suspended by long truces. At length, having satisfied his barons by repeated renewals of the charters, and having finally relieved himself from all interference on the part of the king of France by a definitive treaty of peace concluded with him at Amiens on the 20th May, 1363, Edward once more set out for Scotland at the head of a force too numerous and too well appointed to be resisted by any strength that exhausted country could now command. The result was again its temporary conquest, and merciless devastation from the Tweed to the Murray Frith. The Castle of Stirling was the last fortress that held out; it did not surrender till the 20th of July in the following year. Edward meanwhile had wintered in Dunfermline; he only returned to England in time to keep his Christmas in Lincoln. Wallace fell into his hands in a few months afterwards, and was hanged, drawn, and quartered as a traitor, at Smithfield in London, on the 23rd August, 1305. But another champion of the Scottish independence was not long in appearing. Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick, whose grandfather had been the chief competitor for the crown with Balliol, had resided for some years at the English court; but he now, in the beginning of February, 1306, suddenly made his escape to Scotland; and in a few weeks the banner of revolt against the English domination was again unfurled in that country, and the insurgent people gathered around this new leader. Bruce was solemnly crowned at Scone on the 27th March. On receiving this news Edward immediately prepared for a new expedition to Scotland; and sent the Earl of Pembroke forward to encounter Bruce, intending to follow himself as soon as he had completed the necessary arrangements. The army of Bruce was dispersed at Perth on the 19th June by Pembroke, who had thrown himself into that town; and the king of the Scots became for a time a houseless fugitive. But the great enemy of that unfortunate people had now reached the last stage of his destructive career. Edward got no farther than a few miles beyond Carlisle in his last journey to the north. After spending the winter months at Lanercost, where he was detained by a severe illness, he appears to have arrived in that city in the beginning of March, 1307; here he was again taken ill, but his eagerness to advance continued unabated: having somewhat recovered he again set out, although he was still so weak and suffered so much pain that he could accomplish no more than six miles in four days. On the 6th of July he reached the village of Burgh-upon-Sands, and next day expired, to copy the words of Lord Hailes, 'in sight of that country which he had devoted to destruction.' On his death-bed he is said to have enjoined his son and successo 6 to prosecute the design which it was not given to himself to finish: according to Froissart, he made him swear that after the breath had departed from the royal body he would cause it to be boiled in a cauldron till the flesh fell off, and that he would preserve the bones to carry with him against the Scots as often as they should rebel. This oath, however, if it was taken, was not kept. The corpse of king Edward was interred in Westminster Abbey on the 28th of October. 99. THE CONQUEST OF WALES. GOLDSMITH. The Welsh had for many ages enjoyed their own laws, language, customs, and opinions. They were the remains of the ancient Britons, who had escaped the Roman and Saxon invasion, and still preserved their freedom and their country uncontaminated by the admission of foreign conquerors. But as they were, from their number, incapable of withstanding their more powerful neighbours on the plain, their chief defence lay in their inaccessible mountains, those natural bulwarks of the country. Whenever England was distressed by factions at home, or its forces called off to wars abroad, the Welsh made it a constant practice to pour in their irregular troops, and lay the open country waste wherever they came. Nothing could be more pernicious to a country than several neighbouring independent principalities, under different commanders, and pursuing different interests; the mutual jealousies of such were to harass the people; and wherever victory was purchased, it was always at the expense of the general welfare. Sensible of this, Edward had long wished to reduce that incursive people, and had ordered Llewelyn to do homage for his territories; which summons the Welsh prince refused to obey, unless the The king was king's own son should be delivered as a hostage for his safe return. not displeased at this refusal, as it served to give him a pretext for his intended invasion. He therefore, (A.D. 1277), levied an army against Llewelyn, and marched into his country with certain assurance of success. Upon the approach of Edward, the Welsh prince took refuge among the inaccessible mountains of Snowdon, and there resolved to maintain his ground, without trusting to the chance of battle. These were the steep retreats that had for many ages before defended his ancestors against all the attempts of the Norman and Saxon conquerors. But Edward, equally vigorous and cautious, having explored every part of his way, pierced into the very centre of Llewelyn's territories, and approached the Welsh army in its last retreat. Llewelyn at first little regarded the progress of an enemy that he supposed would make a transient invasion, and then depart; but this contempt was turned into consternation when he saw Edward place his forces at the foot of the mountains, and surround his army, in order to force it by famine. Destitute of magazines, and cooped up in a narrow corner of the country, without provisions for his troops, or pasturage for his cattle, nothing remained but death or submission; so that the unfortunate Welsh prince, without being able to strike a blow for his independence, was at last obliged to submit at discretion, and to receive such terms as the victor was pleased to impose. Llewelyn consented to pay fifty thousand pounds, as a satisfaction for damages; to do homage to the crown of England; to permit all other barons, except four near Snowdon, to swear fealty in the same manner; to relinquish the country between Cheshire and the river Conway; to do justice to his own family; and to deliver hostages for the security of his sub mission. But this treaty was only of short duration: the oppression of the conqueror, and the indignant pride of the conquered nation, could not long remain without It producing new dissensions. The lords of the marches committed all kinds of injustice on their Welsh neighbours; and although Edward remitted the fifty thousand pounds, he laid other restrictions some time after upon Llewelyn, which that prince considered as more injurious. He particularly exacted a promise from him at Worcester, that he would retain (A.D. 1281) no person in his principality that should be disagreeable to the English monarch. These were insults too great to be endured, and once more the Welsh flew to arms. A body of their forces took the field, under the command of David, the brother of the prince, ravaged the plain country, took the castle of Hawarden, made Sir Roger Clifford, justice of the Marches, who was very dangerously wounded, their prisoner, and soon after laid siege to the castle of Rhudlan. An account of these hostilities being quickly brought to Edward, he assembled a numerous army, and set out with a resolution to exterminate Llewelyn and his whole family, and to reduce that people to such an abject state, that they should never after be able to revolt, or distress their peaceable neighbours. At first, however, the king's endeavours (A.D. 1282) were not attended with their usual success; having caused a bridge of boats to be laid over the Menay frith, a body of forces, commanded by Lord Latimer and De Thorne, passed over before it was finished to signalize their courage against the enemy. The Welsh patiently remained in their fastnesses till they saw the tide flowing in beyond the end of the bridge, and thus cutting off the retreat of the assailants. was then that they poured down from the mountains with hideous outcries, and, with the most ungovernable fury, put the whole body, that had gotten over, to the sword. This defeat revived the sinking spirits of the Welsh, and it was now universally believed by that superstitious people, that Heaven had declared in their favour. A story ran, that it was foretold in the prophecies of Merlin, that Llewelyn was to be the restorer of Brutus's empire in Britain: a wizard had prognosticated that he should ride through the streets of London with a crown upon his head. These were inducements sufficiently strong to persuade this prince to hazard a decisive battle against the English. With this view he marched into Radnorshire; and passing the river Wye, his troops were surprised and defeated by Edward Mortimer, while he himself was absent from his army upon a conference with some of the barons of that county. Upon his return, seeing the dreadful situation of his affairs, he ran desperately into the midst of the enemy, and quickly found that death he so ardently sought for. One of the English captains, recognizing his countenance, severed his head from his body, and it was sent to London, where it was received with extreme demonstrations of joy. The brutal spirit of the times will sufficiently appear from the barbarity of citizens on this occasion; the head being encircled in a silver coronet, to fulfil the prediction of a wizard, it was placed by them upon a pillory, that the populace might glut their eyes with such an agreeable spectacle. David, the brother of this unfortunate prince, soon after shared the same fate; while his followers, quite dispirited by the loss of their beloved leader, obeyed but slowly, and fought with reluctance. Being at last totally abandoned, he was obliged to hide himself in one of the obscure caverns of the country; but his retreat being soon after discovered, he was taken, tried, and condemned as a traitor. His sentence was executed with the most rigorous severity; he was hanged, drawn and quartered, only for having bravely defended the expiring liberties of his native country, and his own hereditary possessions. With him expired the government, and the distinction of his nation. It was soon after united to the kingdom of England, made a principality, and given to the eldest son of the crown. Foreign conquest might add to the glory, but this added to the felicity of the kingdom. The Welsh were now blended with the conquerors; and in the revolution of a few ages, all national animosity was entirely forgotten, A A 100.-THE BARD. GRAY. [This Ode is founded on a tradition current in Wales, that Edward the First, when he completed the conquest of that country, ordered all the Bards that fell into his hands to be put to death.] "Ruin seize thee, ruthless king! To save thy secret soul from nightly fears, He wound with toilsome march his long array. Stout Glo'ster stood aghast in speechless trance; "To arms!" cried Mortimer, and couch'd his quiv'ring lance. On a rock, whose haughty brow Robed in the sable garb of woe, With haggard eyes the poet stood; Stream'd like a meteor to the troubled air) "Hark, how each giant oak, and desert cave, To high-born Hoel's harp, or soft Llewellyn's lay. I see them sit, they linger yet, Avengers of their native land: With me in dreadful harmony they join, And weave with bloody hands the tissue of their lire. "Weave the warp, and weave the woof, The winding sheet of Edward's race. Give ample room, and verge enough The characters of hell to trace. Mark the year, and mark the night, When Severn shall re-echo with affright The shrieks of death, thro' Berkeley's roof that ring, She-wolf of France, with unrelenting fangs, That tear'st the bowels of thy mangled mate, From thee be born, who o'er thy country hangs The scourge of heav'n. What terrors round him wait! Amazement in his van, with flight combin'd, And sorrow's faded form, and solitude behind. "Mighty victor, mighty lord. Low on his funereal couch he lies! No pitying heart, no eye, affords A tear to grace his obsequies. Is the sable warrior fled ? Thy son is gone. He rests among the dead. The swarm that in thy noon-tide beam were born? Gone to salute the rising morn. Fair laughs the morn, and soft the zephyr blows, While, proudly riding o'er the azure realm, In gallant trim the gilded vessel goes, Youth on the prow, and Pleasure at the helm ; Regardless of the sweeping whirlwind's sway, That, hush'd in grim repose, expects his ev'ning prey. "Fill high the sparkling bowl, The rich repast prepare, Reft of a crown, he yet may share the feast Close by the regal chair Fell Thirst and Famine scowl A baleful smile upon their baffled guest. Heard ye the din of battle bray, Lance to lance, and horse to horse? Long years of havock urge their destin'd course, Revere his consort's faith, his father's fame, Twin'd with her blushing foe, we spread: |