only be let at fourpence an acre. That last sounds absurd to us now, but there were reasons which made it not so absurd then. 28. King Richard promised to grant all their demands, and, speaking very calmly and sensibly to them, "his word greatly appeased the more moderate of the multitude, who said, 'It is well; we wish for nothing more." Great numbers of them then returned quietly to their homes, and no one can deny that they had behaved wonderfully well. 29. Meanwhile, unhappily, a great part of the mob had not. gone to Mile-End at all, but had stayed rioting in London, Whilst the king's back was turned, some of the lawyers and other men were murdered; especially the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had put John Ball in prison. The rabble went on drinking Rhenish wine and Malmsey Madeira. Moreover, many of those who remained would not be content with what the king had promised, but had a great number of wicked schemes in their heads; or, at least, so Jack Straw is said to have confessed afterwards. 30. The next day the king, with only about sixty followers, fell in with a great body of the insurgents at Smithfield, and, seeming still anxious to pacify them, had some talk with their leader. But Wat Tyler behaving insolently, and threatening one of the king's attendants, the Mayor of London, William Walworth, who was in Richard's train, struck him from his horse, and he was killed. Upon seeing this his followers set themselves in battle array, and bent their bows. It was a perilous moment; but the young king, with rare spirit and courage, rode boldly forward alone, saying, "I am your king; I will be your leader." The rioters, struck with admiration or shame, attempted no further violence, but really followed the king. Soon a large body of citizens hastened to the spot to protect him, and the crowds, at Richard's command, quietly returned home. Thus ended the revolt; for the insurgents in the other counties, hearing how those in London had submitted, for the most part dispersed of themselves; the others were put down by force. End of the revolt. 31. The worst part of the story is still to be told. None of the king's fair promises were kept. As to the free pardon that had been granted, not only were the leaders, John Ball and Jack Straw, caught and beheaded, but a great many others were executed also, in all, it is said, as many as 1500. We must not lay all the blame of this on Richard. For one thing, his pardon had been granted before he knew of the murder of the archbishop and the others, which took place in his absence. Perhaps, too, he would have liked to keep his promise about freeing the villeins, for when parliament met he begged them to consider the propriety of abolishing the system of serfdom, or villeinage. But parliament refused; they said "no one should rob them of their villeins." 32. Thus it would seem as if all had been in vain. But it was not so really; the insurrection bore fruit. The poll-tax was entirely done away with; that was one good fruit. Results. Another was, that though the masters would not, in so many words, set the villeins free, it appears that the spirit the men had shown made them a great deal more careful as to their treatment; they did not dare any longer to demand the services they had been used to, fearing the men would refuse to obey. Gradually they perhaps saw how much better the other plan of hiring and paying labourers worked. Thus, at the end of fifty years from the plague of the Black Death, the freedom of the English serfs was secured. The long struggle of the labourers succeeded at last, and every Englishman was free. 33. Before leaving this subject we will notice for a moment how the same conflict went on in France. There, too, the peasants had been oppressed, far more than in England indeed; the serfs had been treated like beasts of burden. They rose up at last against their oppressors, plundered and burnt their castles, and massacred the nobles, men, women, and children, wherever they could find them. The English revolters did nothing at all like this; there was nothing which could be called a massacre." We think the English government was very unjust and cruel in the punishments it inflicted, but it was mild and merciful compared with the French. The way the poor miserable peasants were treated makes one's blood run cold. The dauphin on one occasion killed 20,000 of them; they were cut down in heaps, crushed to death, and slaughtered like wild beasts. In some parts the whole country was cleared of them by the savage butchery of the knights and lords. 66 But what was the result? In England, as we have just seen, it was not very long before justice and the right prevailed; neither rich nor poor had any such horrible things to remember, or wrongs to avenge on either side. The English nation went on, more or less peacefully, growing in liberty and unity. The French nobles, no doubt, thought they had "stamped out" the rebellion. They continued century after century to treat the poor as badly as ever, and at last came the frightful explosion of the French Revolution. LECTURE XXXII.-RICHARD THE REDELESS. Henry of Character of Richard. His uncles. Troubles of the reign. Death of the 1. RICHARD'S behaviour at the time of the revolt showed great presence of mind, courage, and a certain generosity, and it might have been hoped that a young boy possessing these qualities would grow into a fine and noble king. But it was not so; for though he was handsome, clever, and affectionate, as well as high-spirited, he grew up headstrong, proud, self-willed, and very revengeful; he had been spoiled by flattery and ill-management in his youth, and never learned how to govern himself; far less, therefore, could he govern a great kingdom. He soon gained the title of Richard the Redeless, which has just the same meaning as the old nickname of Ethelred the Unready, the unwise or uncounselled one. The king's 2. While he was still young his uncles strove to get all the power they could, and gave great offence to the king. We have already heard about John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and how he had set every one against him uncles. by his pride and extravagance, and how he cared for nothing but pleasing the rich courtiers, so that the peasants had burned down his palace, and declared they would never have a king named John. This must have shown him how utterly he was hated, and that there was no hope of his ever being king; and after that he seems to have quite altered his conduct, and to have become a peace-maker rather than a disturber. In Shakespeare's play of Richard II. John of Gaunt appears as a very noble character and great lover of his country, but this picture would only have been true of him in his later years. 3. Another younger son of Edward III. was the Duke of York. He does not seem to have been clever like his brothers, nor ever to have quite known his own mind, or what side he meant to take; as we may read also in Shakespeare's play. It is important to remember these two dukes, because it was their descendants who caused the dreadful civil wars, of which we shall soon have to hear, between the houses of Lancaster and York. 4. The youngest uncle of the king was the Duke of Gloucester. He was clever and ambitious, and as soon as John of Gaunt retired he got most of the power into his own hands. Richard made favourites, as Edward II. had done, and they were hated and looked on as upstarts, just as Gaveston and Hugh le Despenser had been. The Duke of Gloucester gained great influence with the parliament, and encouraged them to make a dead set against these favourites, and to call on the king to dismiss them. Richard, the spoilt child, was growing up very haughty and arrogant, and he replied that for such men as the members of parliament he would not dismiss the meanest servant in his kitchen. 1387. 5. But by this time parliament was so powerful that it was no use treating them in this high-handed way. Richard had to give in. Not only were his ministers dismissed and banished, but a new sort of government was appointed, with the Duke of Gloucester at its head, and making Richard a mere puppet. The Duke of Gloucester in his turn used his power very tyrannically; a great many knights, judges, and others whom he looked on as his enemies were put to death, and when the king attempted to interfere the Duke led an army of 40,000 men against him. Richard had to yield once more, and his friends to fly for their lives. 1389. Richard assumes the authority. 6. Before long, however, Gloucester's power came to an end. One day, in the midst of a great council, the king, turning suddenly to the duke, said, "Uncle, how old am I?" "Your highness," replied the duke, "is in your twenty-second year." "Then," said Richard, "I must certainly be old enough to manage my own affairs; I am much obliged to you, my lords, for your past services, but I want them no longer." down the Duke of Gloucester's ministers, and set up others in their stead, and governed the country himself. Things went on very quietly for eight years; but all that time he kept in his own heart the determination to be revenged on his uncle and those who had supported him. So he put 7. During this quiet time he made an effort to subdue and tame the people of Ireland. They were still as wild as they had been in the days of Henry II. Even the Englishmen who had settled down in the country had Ireland, become quite as uncivilized as the natives, and had learnt all their ways. Richard showed great skill and good sense in his way of treating them, and by a mixture of firmness and gentleness he brought the island for the time to obedience and a sort of order. The four Irish kings did homage to him. He treated them with kindness and courtesy, knighted them, and tried to civilize them. The English gentleman who was intrusted with the task of teaching them good manners gave a very droll account of his difficulties, and the pains he took to break them of their uncouth habits; such as making grimaces as they sat at table, and eating out of the same plates as their servants and minstrels. He tried to make them wear dresses like English princes, of silk and fur; but he could not succeed very well, and complains that they would frequently return to "their coarse behaviour." And when, after nine months, Richard went back to England, after doing what he could to establish justice and peace, all the Irish did as the four kings did, and returned to their wild and lawless ways. 8. While quite young the king had married a princess of Bohemia, whom he dearly loved, and whom all the country loved. She was called the "good Queen Anne;" it was she who was the friend and protector of Wycliffe; and it was most likely through her that Wycliffe's doctrines were carried to Bohemia, and took root there. There is no doubt that many of his books were sent to Bohemia, some of which are said to remain even now in an ancient library at Prague. John Huss and Jerome of Prague, who were some of the earliest reformers on the continent of Europe, probably learnt their doctrines in that way. In England, however, the teaching of Wycliffe fell into great disfavour after the peasants' revolt, because it was generally believed that some of his followers, if not he himself, had favoured the preaching and opinions of John Ball; and the son of John of Gaunt, Wycliffe's early protector, afterwards became a cruel persecutor of those who followed his doctrines. Anne of Bohemia. Statute of 9. Nevertheless the conflict with the Pope on temporal matters went on as vigorously as ever, and a law was passed 1393. which was called the Statute of Præmunire (the Præmunire. first word with which it began in Latin), ordering heavy punishment to any one who should venture to bring in his bulls, or exercise any authority in his name, in the kingdom of England. Not long after this the good Queen Anne died; and when, at the end of two years, Richard chose a new wife, his choice was |