gents at Mile-End, agreed to their four demands :—1. The total abolition of slavery. 2. The reduction of the rent of land to fourpence an acre. 3. Full liberty of buying and selling in all fairs and markets. 4. A general pardon for all past offences. Three of these demands were wise and moderate, and the petitioners quietly withdrew after the king had sealed this charter. But the Kentish men were less reasonable, and more atrocious in their conduct. They broke into the Tower, and murdered the primate, the treasurer, the king's confessor, and one of the farmers of the taxes, with three of his associates. Wat the Tiler and the Kentish rebels rejected the charter which the other insurgents had so gladly accepted, and two other charters which were drawn up failed to satisfy their exorbitant demands. In the hope that a personal conference would lead to a settlement, the king rode into Smithfield, and Wat Tiler advanced to parley with him. His coarse and insolent behaviour alarmed the king's attendants, and Lord Mayor Walworth plunged a short sword into his throat. Another blow from one of Richard's esquires brought him to the ground, when he expired almost instantly. The insurgents cried out that they were betrayed: a thousand arrows were immediately aimed at the royal party, when the young king rode gallantly up to the rebels and exclaimed: "What are ye doing, my lieges? Tiler was a traitor—I am your king -I will be your captain." The danger was over: the insurgents disbanded as fast as they could, throwing away their arms, and imploring mercy. The outbreak was not confined to the districts around London in Norfolk, Cambridge, and Huntingdon the peasants had risen, but were suppressed chiefly by the energy of the Bishop of Norwich. Richard was soon at the head of 40,000 men, and he took a bloody revenge: the charters were revoked, the people were again reduced to bondage, and 1500 died by the hands of the executioner. The assembled parliament scouted the notion of abolishing villainage, and passed a law by which "riots, rumours, and other such things," were made high-treason. 13. At this time there were two claimants for the papal throne: Clement VII., a Frenchman, whose cause was espoused by Scotland, France, Spain, Sicily, and Cyprus; and Urban VI., an Italian, who was supported by England, Flanders, and the rest of Europe. The Bishop of Norwich, who had gained distinction in the late insurrection, raised a small force and crossed over to Flanders, to aid partly in a crusade for Urban VI., and partly in defence of the Flemish commons. Philip von Artaveldt, whose father had been murdered thirtysix years before, was prevailed upon to leave his retirement and lead the armies of his dispirited fellow-citizens. After a brilliant and romantic career of fifteen months, he was defeated and slain in the sanguinary battle of Rosebecque, November 1382. Just at this time the English reinforcements arrived. The bishop stormed Gravelines, defeated the Count of Flanders, took Dunkirk, and held the whole coast as far as Sluys. He next marched to attack Ypres, where he was joined by 20,000 men of Ghent, whence, on the approach of a strong French army, he retreated to the coast. In England this failure was ascribed to the intrigues of the Duke of Lancaster. Jealous of the power of the king's uncles, his mother contrived to surround him with ministers and officers of obscure birth; and the liberality with which Richard bestowed wealth and honours upon his favourites, occasioned perpetual contentions between them and his aspiring relatives. The Duke of Lancaster became an object of suspicion, and deemed it prudent to seek an asylum in Scotland; nor would he return until the king had publicly acknowledged his innocence. the spring of 1384, during the session of parliament, which met at Salisbury, an Irish Carmelite friar gave Richard a parchment with the particulars of a conspiracy to rob him of his crown and place it on the head of Lancaster. The duke swore that it was utterly false, and demanded that the informer should be kept in safe custody until examined by the council, He was accordingly committed to the care of Sir John Hol land, the king's half-brother, who is said to have strangled the prisoner with his own hands during the night. The king's suspicions, however, were not allayed, and an attempt was made to arrest Lancaster; but Richard's mother at length effected a reconciliation, and the affair was allowed to drop. 14. In May of the following year, the French prevailed upon the Scots to break their truce with England, and besides 40,000 francs in gold, they sent over 1000 men-at-arms under John de Vienne, lord-admiral of France, to support an incursion into the English territory. Richard immediately took the field, and forced the allies to retire from Northumberland, which they had invaded, and then with 80,000 men crossed the border, burnt Edinburgn, Perth, and other towns, and withdrew upon receiving intelligence that De Vienne had crossed the Solway, and was besieging Carlisle. A dreadful crime sullied the glory of this campaign. While at York, Sir J. Holland murdered one of the royal favourites, and the grief caused by this assassination broke the heart of the king's mother. Honours were liberally distributed on the return of the army to England: Henry of Bolingbroke, Lancaster's son, was created Earl of Derby; the Earls of Cambridge and Buckingham, Richard's uncles, were made Dukes of York and Gloucester; and as there was no male heir from the king's marriage with Anne of Bohemia, daughter of the Emperor Charles IV., the king declared that his successor should be Roger, earl of March, grandson of Lionel, duke of Clarence. Soon after these arrangements, Lancaster departed to press his claims to the throne of Castile. His first campaign was fortunate, but in the second his army was so thinned by disease, and his own health suffered so severely, that he was forced to retire to Guienne. By an advantageous treaty, his daughter Catherine was married to the heir of the reigning king of Castile, and for many generations the issue of John of Gaunt sat on the Spanish throne. When parliament met in 1386, the Duke of Gloucester, Lancaster's younger brother, headed an opposition which determined to drive the favourites De la Pole and De Vere from office. The first was soon dismissed, and then impeached by the Commons of high crimes and misdemeanours. He was found guilty, and condemned to pay a heavy fine and be imprisoned. Attempts were now made to form a permanent council, like those in the reigns of John, Henry III., and Edward II.; but when the king resisted the measure, the statute by which Edward II. had been deposed was produced, as if to remind him of a similar fate. Richard now gave way, and the powers of government were vested for a year in the hands of eleven commissioners and the three great officers of the crown, Gloucester, the king's uncle, being placed at the head of the council. 15. In the following year, the king, acting under the advice of De la Pole and Chief-justice Tresilian, submitted the question to the judges as to the legality of this commission of government. All asserted that it was illegal, and that the promoters were liable to capital punishment. This decision was betrayed to Gloucester, who with his partisans immediately advanced towards London at the head of 40,000 men. The favourites instantly took to flight; the royal troops, wherever they resisted, were utterly defeated; and the " wonderful parliament" of 1388 condemned five of Richard's obnoxious councillors as guilty of high-treason. Their property was confiscated, and Tresilian and Brember, lord mayor of London, were executed. The judges also were impeached; their plea that they acted under terror of the king and the favourites was of no avail; they were capitally convicted; but on the intercession of the bishops, their punishment was commuted into perpetual banishment to Ireland. Other parties also fell victims to the Duke of Gloucester's revengeful disposition. In this year, on the 15th of August, the battle of Otterburn, renowned in English song by the name of Chevy Chase, was fought between Earl Douglas and Lord Harry Percy, surnamed Hotspur. The Scottish earl was slain; but the English were defeated, after both Hotspur and his brother Ralph Percy had been made prisoners. 66 I am At a great council in the month of May 1389, Richard suddenly asked his uncle, "How old do you think I am ?" "Your Highness," replied Gloucester, "is in your twentysecond year." "In that case," rejoined the king, surely of age to manage my own affairs. I thank you, my lords, for your past services, but I want them no longer." He immediately demanded the great seals from the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the keys of the exchequer from the Bishop of Hereford, and then expelled Gloucester from the council almost without opposition. Lancaster soon after returned from the continent, and became all at once exceedingly popular. By his means a reconciliation was effected; Gloucester was readmitted to the council; and Lancaster, after being created Duke of Aquitaine, was intrusted with the French negotiations, which ended in a truce for four years, in which Scotland also was embraced. After the death of Richard's wife, "the good Queen Anne," the king crossed over to Ireland at the head of a large force. This was rendered necessary by the resistance of the native chiefs and the revolt of some of his English subjects. 16. IRELAND. The native Irish, the most distinguished of whom were the O'Neals, the O'Connors, and the O'Briens, preserved their independence in Ulster, Leinster, and Connaught; but they were disunited and jealous of each other, and often received money from England to raise troops against their fellow-countrymen. A similar disorder prevailed among the English colonists. These, who were the issue of the first conquerors, regarded themselves as the lawful possessors of the soil; they had intermarried with the natives, and had adopted their dress, manners, language, and laws. The English who had been sent over by the king, or who had been banished, were necessarily protected by the government, and were viewed with no friendly eyes by the Anglo-Irish. The laws enacted for the administration of that island seemed to have been framed solely with a view to exasperate the inhabitants. Every Englishman who assumed an Irish name, learnt the language of the country, or adopted the national costume, was liable to imprisonment and confiscation of his property. Whoever married a native, educated his children after the Irish fashion, or stood sponsor for an Irish child, was guilty of high-treason; as were also those who recognised the Irish legislation, and submitted to the decisions of the Brehon laws. When Richard II. had created his favourite Robert de Vere duke of Ireland, and, by conferring on him the lifegovernment of that island, had granted to him in perpetuity all the lands he might conquer from the natives, his manifest intention was to drive back the latter within their ancient limits, and to restore peace in the country. The duke's exile and death had thwarted these intentions; but the Irish were weary of their dissensions, and all the official reports declared that they were inclined to submission. Richard's campaign was brief and bloodless. The leaders submitted, and after passing the winter in Ireland, and redressing abuses, the monarch returned home in triumph. 17. In October 1396, Richard married Isabella, daughter of Charles VI. of France, a princess of great beauty, but little more than seven years old. This marriage was most unpopular in England, and vehemently opposed by Gloucester. Richard meditated revenge, and by treachery and artifice he entrapped into his power the Earls of Warwick and Arundel, and his uncle Gloucester. Lancaster, York, and Henry Bolingbroke accused these and other noblemen of treason, and a parliament was summoned to try the traitors. Arundel was beheaded on Tower Hill; Gloucester died in prison at Calais, not without suspicion of foul play; and Warwick was sentenced to perpetual imprisonment in the Isle of Man. This parliament further undid all that was done by the "wonder |