King John. O cousin, thou art come to set1 mine

eye;

The tackle of my heart is crack'd and burn'd

And all the shrouds wherewith my life should sail
Are turned to one thread, one little hair;
My heart hath one poor string to stay it by,
Which holds but till thy news be uttered;
And then all this thou seest is but a clod
And module 2 of confounded royalty.

Faulconbridge. The Dauphin is preparing hitherward,

Where heaven He knows how we shall answer him; For in a night the best part of my power,

As I upon advantage did remove,

Were in the Washes all unwarily

Devoured by the unexpected flood. (The King dies.) Salisbury. You breathe these dead news in as dead

an ear.

My liege! my lord! But now a king, now thus. Prince Henry. Even so must I run on, and even so stop.

What surety of the world, what hope, what stay,
When this was now a king, and now is clay?

Faulconbridge. O, let us pay the time but needful

woe,

Since it hath been beforehand with our griefs.
This England never did, nor never shall,

Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror,

But when it first did help to wound itself.
Now these her princes are come home again,
Come the three corners of the world in arms,

And we shall shock them. Nought shall make us

rue,

If England to itself do rest but true.

SIMON DE MONTFORT, EARL OF
LEICESTER

JAMES LINCOLN

HENRY III. was a weak and pleasure-loving king. In his coronation oath he had sworn to abandon the evil practices of John's reign, but he broke his pledge, defied the law, and plundered the poor without mercy. The barons rose against Henry as they had risen against John, and forced him to abide by the Charter. The revolt was led by Simon de Montfort. This greatest of English patriots was a Frenchman by birth, but he stood high in favor with Henry, who bestowed on him the earldom of Leicester. Earl Simon's steadfast loyalty to right and justice brought him into frequent conflict with the king. Thrice he was banished from the realm, and twice he levied an army to meet the royal troops sent against him. In the battle of Lewes (1264) King Henry and Prince Edward were taken prisoners. In the battle of Evesham (1265) De Montfort was killed and his following cut to pieces. But the final victory was with the champion of the nation's rights. When Prince Edward came to the throne, he governed in accordance with the principles maintained by Simon de Montfort.

Born and bred in a castle of France,

He wore an English sword.

He was Henry's pearl, made belted earl
And seated high at board,

Till the King's own sister loved his glance
And had him for wedded lord.

'Twas the Earl of Leicester took the vows

For his godchild, England's prince; But the grace of a king is a brittle thing, And evil tongues convince

More than the flush on lifted brows

And the look that will not wince.

The Earl and his Countess fled beyond
Our ribbon of sea and spray.

His enemies laughed and his own wine quaffed
To the set of the Frenchman's day;

But the loves of youth knit a silken bond
That may hold where chains give way.

So the King, at pinch, found a noble friend,
Where he well had earned a foe,
And on English earth, in Kenilworth,
Montfort made splendid show
For many a joyous year, whose end
Thank God he could not know.

Weak and wilful was Henry Third,
And the Earl had a haughty heart.
Again it came to the quarrel-flame,

And their hands were rent apart,
And again, like the song of a far-off bird,
Did memory soothe the smart.

But when all the land was murmuring

Against the royal greed,

For the reign went still from ill to ill,

A garden choked with weed,

The barons rose against the King,

De Montfort in the lead.

This King had ever a craven mind.
The lightning in the skies

Affrayed him sore, but he dreaded more
The flash of Earl Simon's eyes;

And the loves of youth went down the wind
Of a royal captive's sighs.

"Key of England" and "Mountain Strong,"
De Montfort's fame waxed bright.
"I will die under ban, a landless man,
Ere I forsake the right."

And the people lauded him in song
For Freedom's Redcross Knight.

The people loved the proud French lord,
But the Prince, his godchild, whom
He had taught to war, was his conqueror
With a host that scarce gave room
For the last grand swing of a hero's sword
In Evesham's battle-gloom.

Now call him Montfort the Englishman,

Who died for England's sake,

Who had fenced her cause with mightier laws

Than ever a king should break,

And fell on sleep, as the weary can,

When Freedom was awake.

THE DEATH OF WALLACE

ROBERT SOUTHEY

EDWARD I. was an able king. He did much for justice and good government in England, and he undertook to bring all of Great Britain under his rule. Wales was annexed after spirited but brief resistance, but Scotland proved more difficult of conquest. Edward took advantage of a dispute as to the succession to possess himself of the government. The Scotch, however, resented English dominion. Under the lead of William Wallace, they rose in revolt and won a signal victory at Stirling Bridge (1297). Demoralized by jealous wrangles among its leaders, the Scotch army was defeated at Falkirk in the following year. Wallace escaped, but a price was set on his head. He was betrayed, taken prisoner, and carried to London, where, after being dragged through the streets as a show for the angry populace (1305), he suffered the common fate of traitors.

Joy, joy in London now!

He goes, the rebel Wallace goes to death;
At length the traitor meets the traitor's doom.
Joy, joy in London now!

He on a sledge is drawn,

His strong right arm unweapon'd and in chains,
And garlanded around his helmless head
The laurel wreath of scorn.

They throng to view him now

Who in the field had fled before his sword,
Who at the name of Wallace once grew pale
And falter'd out a prayer.

Yes! they can meet his eye,

That only beams with patient courage now;

H