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Published by Longman, Rees Orme Brown & Green Nov 1828.

THE HISTORY OF PRINCE ARTHUR.

THE history, which belongs to Mr. Northcote's beautiful picture of Hubert and Arthur, is a very affecting one. Most of my young readers have, no doubt, read of that crafty, cruel, and treacherous King John, who was induced, very much against his inclination, by the threats of his assembled barons, to sign the Magna Charta. The object of this charter was to secure to the people of England the exercise of their laws, religion, and many other privileges, unmolested by the interference of either himself or any future monarch. Arthur Plantagenet, of Bretagne, was descended from a long line of kings. Nature had gifted him with every quality by which love and esteem are won, and was unkind to him only in having made him heir to a throne. With all the virtues and talents that would have sweetened and adorned a humble walk in life, she had placed him in the midst of dangers to which

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had placed him in the midst of dangers to which

such a title was, in those unsettled days, always exposed. On the death of his grandfather, Henry II. (a wise and good, but most unhappy prince), young Arthur became heir to the crown of England, in right of his father Geoffrey, who had died in the lifetime of the late king. In those rude and stormy days, however, the right of succession, now so firmly established and clearly understood, was often made to yield to the right of the strongest, and the lawful successor saw frequently his inheritance snatched from him by force or treachery. On the death of King Henry, Richard (the uncle of Arthur, and a younger brother of his father Geoffrey) succeeded without opposition to the throne, for he was too young and feeble to struggle for his right. This monarch, better known by his sirname of Coeur de Lion, or Lion-hearted, was one of those princes who took arms in defence of the oppressed Christians in Palestine ; and of whose valour and extraordinary strength so many singular anecdotes have been recorded. Before his departure for the Crusades, Richard made provision for the government of his kingdom during his absence, and named his nephew Arthur his successor. Richard, however, returned from the Holy Land, covered with renown and before

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