EDWARD THE FIRST.

EDWARD, surnamed Longshanks, the first king after the Norman Conquest who was an Englishman at heart, was strong and tall, towering by head and shoulders above his fellows, a good horseman, and noted for his skill in knightly exercises. His credit as a Crusader was heightened by his having narrowly escaped with his life from the poisoned dagger of an assassin, who, indeed, might have succeeded only too well in his murderous attempt, but for the devotion of Edward's young and beautiful wife, Eleanor of Castile, who is said to have sucked the poison from her husband's wounded

arm.

Edward was on his way home from Palestine, and had already reached Italy, when he heard of his father's death; but his return to England was delayed for nearly two years after this event by the disturbed state of his continental dominions.

At last he and his devoted queen were crowned at Westminster, in August, 1274; and the sceptre which the late king had held with so timid and irresolute a hand for fifty-six years was now grasped by a man with a clear head and an iron will.

Already Edward's martial skill and courage had been proved in battles and in tournaments; and a military reign might have been anticipated. But instead of waging war like his ancestors and successors, for territory on the Continent, all his energies were devoted to a great home scheme;

namely, the incorporation of the whole island into. one kingdom, under the same sovereign and subject to the same laws.

For many reasons this was a very desirable object to attain, if it could be done by mutual consent; but, unfortunately, neither the Welsh nor the Scotch were willing to give up their native princes for a foreign ruler, and in trying to force them into submission, Edward was led to commit many acts of cruelty and injustice.

But considerations such as these were not likely to stand in the way of Edward's ambition; so, as early as 1277, we find him in Wales at the head of a large force, compelling Llewelyn to sue for terms; and when, in 1282, the natives tried to throw off the hated yoke, he again invaded the principality with an army too powerful to be successfully resisted; and ere long Wales ceased to exist as an independent state.

The conquest of Wales was followed by several years of peace, during which time a great calamity befel the king in the loss of his good and beautiful queen, Eleanor. It was a calamity to the whole nation as well, for Eleanor had rendered herself very dear to her husband's subjects. How good a woman she was, and how great was Edward's loss, we may gather from the words of an old historian, who says,-" She was a godly, modest, and merciful princess; a loving mother to our nation, the comforter of the sorrowful, and a peace-maker between those who were at strife."

This good queen died at Hartley, near Grantham,

and at each of the places where her body rested on its way to Westminster, a handsome cross was erected to her memory.

In the same year as Eleanor died, 1290, Edward was guilty of a gross act of injustice to the Jews, who, in the early part of the reign, had been largely stripped of their possessions, and subjected to capital punishment, on the ground of their having tampered with the coinage.

Now, however, the king seized the property of the whole community, and ordered them to quit the realm by a certain day. Having no alternative but to obey the royal mandate, over 15,000 of this persecuted race left the country, with scarcely sufficient means to pay their passage beyond the sea.

The remainder of Edward's reign was chiefly spent in a vain attempt to add Scotland to his dominions.

The Scotch, led by such men as William Wallace, struggled bravely to maintain their freedom; but having been defeated at Dunbar, Falkirk, and elsewhere, they were reduced, for the time, to a sullen submission; while Wallace was betrayed by a false friend, sent to London in irons, and there hanged, beheaded, and quartered.

Edward was now growing old, and just as he thought success had crowned his arms, a new enemy came into the field, in the person of Robert Bruce, who, next to Baliol, was heir to the Scottish throne, and who, within six months after the death of Wallace, was crowned at Scone.

On hearing of the new rising, Edward's deepest

anger was kindled, and he prepared to make one more effort to preserve that which had cost so much blood and treasure. But the infirmities of age were upon him, and by the time he reached Carlisle, the

exertion of mounting his horse was almost too much for his feeble frame. During the next four days he could only travel six miles; and then, when within sight of the land he had spent the best years of his life in trying to subdue, he died, at Burgh-upon

Sands, in the sixty-seventh year of his age, and the thirty-fifth of his reign.

The legal and constitutional measures of Edward's reign offer a bright contrast to its military events, and have won for this king the proud title of the English Justinian.

In the early part of Edward's reign the presence of representatives in Parliament from shires and towns was still thought unnecessary; and it was not until the year 1295 that the first true Parliament assembled. Then the earls and great barons, the bishops and abbots, were summoned severally by the king's special writ; and the commons by writs addressed to the sheriffs, requesting them to have two knights elected in each shire, two citizens in each city, and two burgesses in each borough.

With the assistance of Parliament so constituted, Edward made many good laws; but the chief reform of his reign was won, much against the king's will, by the determined action of Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, and Humphrey Bohun, Earl of Hereford, and their friends, who obtained from Edward the confirmation of the Charters, with the important addition that he should levy no taxes without the common consent of the realm.

The king and his successors, in spite of this, found ways of raising money arbitrarily; but it was always felt that to do so was contrary to the spirit of the Constitution; and generally produced a remonstrance, more or less strong, from the House of Commons, and opposition, more or less determined, from the great body of the people.