with his mother, and there a mutual attachment sprung up between Philippa and himself; and thus, by a strange dispensation of fortune, the vices of the mother were the instruments for providing the son with a virtuous, rational, active, and affectionate wife.

But though the betrothal took place at Valenciennes in October, 1327, the marriage did not occur until January, 1328, at York. At this period he was still under the domination of his mother and the infamous Mortimer, who appropriated to themselves all the power and the revenues of the state. With little pomp, therefore, his union must have been celebrated, had not his bride, who was the daughter of one of the richest princes of that time, arrived in England with a splendid retinue and all the other accessories of opulence. Thanks, therefore, to this assistance, and to the attendance of many of the nobility, the ceremony of the marriage was performed with a decent parade. Thus, from the very beginning of his life until the end, one of the most prominent features in the career of this redoubted conqueror was his poverty. In vain he appears to have strained acts, and to have violated acts; to have systematised plunder under the title of purveyance; to have infringed all the rights of property, and all the few privileges which the subjects then possessed; to have taxed, traded, begged, borrowed, stolen, and even pawned his own person to his creditors— still the mighty Edward and his hungry court seem always to have been half-clothed and half-fed.

For nearly two years after his marriage, Edward still remained under the sinister influence of Isabella and Mortimer. But in the autumn of 1330 he undertook one of those enterprises which excite in its favour the interest and sympathy of every reader. Being as he was, not yet eighteen, he resolved to rid himself of the pernicious control of his vicious mother and her usurping and detestable paramour; when he, the sovereign, to obtain this end, was compelled to work as secretly and darkly as if he had been some fell conspirator seeking to destroy the rightful occupant of the throne. With so much prudence did he mature his plans, and with so much spirit execute them, that the blow fell on the base Mortimer like a thunderbolt; and without even the power to attempt resistance, he was made prisoner in Nottingham Castle. But then the lawless disposition of Edward evinced itself; for, prompted equally by impatience and his despotic tendency, he contrived to do that which might have appeared to have been impracticablethat is, he actually succeeded in making Mortimer, the murderer, the traitor, the perpetrator of every crime most meriting capital punishment

be doomed to death informally and unjustly. No witnesses were called for his inculpation or defence; in fact, no trial was allowed him; but his judges, receiving as sufficient evidence against him the unbounded notoriety of his misdeeds, sentenced him to be hanged. This singular mode of condemnation, so much more likely to be productive of an expeditious than an infallible justice, is most strikingly characteristic of those rude times. But even in them it was considered as somewhat too wanton and arbitrary, and twenty years afterwards a parliament revoked, in favour of his son, the sentence by which Mortimer, the assassin, was illegally gibbeted.

From this period a free scope was afforded to Edward for the exercise of his talents and energies. The first effort of this gallant and gifted youth was to rid his kingdom of the numerous robbers and marauders who had multiplied to an insufferable extent during the political troubles and judicial impotence of the last reign.

The suppression of the robbers, and the strength which Edward added to the hands of the ministers of justice, exerted a most beneficial influence on the repose and energy of the kingdom; consequently, the ambitious stripling had both time and power to gaze around him, and determine where he should strike his first blow for conquest and for fame. Scotland at last obtained this undesired preference; and he resolved openly to espouse the cause of Baliol, who pretended to the throne of that country, in opposition to the rightful successor, David Bruce. For a time the former prince was triumphant, and his competitor was expelled the kingdom, together with his betrothed wife, Jane, sister of Edward; but, by a sudden insurrection of the chieftains favourable to David Bruce, Baliol was in his turn compelled to fly. Edward quickly assembled an army to re-instate him on his throne; and, on the 19th of July, 1333, he encountered the forces of Scotland, commanded by Sir Archibald Douglas, at Halidown Hill. The overthrow of the Scots was complete, and nearly thirty thousand of them were slain. The result of this sanguinary victory was, that the claim of England to the homage of Scotland was again admitted, and that Berwick, Dunbar, Roxburgh, Edinburgh, and all the north-eastern counties were annexed to England.

But no sooner was Edward returned to his own dominions, than the Scots again revolted. He re-assembled his army, and once more invaded them; but they declined a battle, and withdrew into their highlands. Thus baffled of a contemplated victory, Edward was necessitated to retire, after having burnt the houses and desolated the estates of the

supporters of Bruce, who arose again immediately after his departure, and captured all the English garrisons. A third time he hastened to Scotland with his army, when, Hume says, "he found everything hostile in the kingdom, except the spot on which he was encamped; and though he marched uncontrolled over the Low Countries, the nation was farther than ever from being broken and subdued." A striking picture and a striking lesson, which Edward seems to have had the common sense to perceive; for we hear no more of conflicts with Scotland until the Scotch, in their turn, became invaders, and David assailed the dominions of his brother-in-law.

These ineffectual wars lasted five years, during which Philippa is stated by her biographers to have been far more profitably employed. In the first instance, she was engaged in strengthening the throne by augmenting the dynasty. The famous Black Prince was born on the 15th of June, 1330, at Woodstock; in 1334, the Princess Elizabeth was born; in 1335, the Princess Jane and in 1336, at Tickhill, in Yorkshire, William of Hatfield, as the child, by some strange and unexplained reason, is designated, first saw the light.

But, in addition to these services to the House of Plantagenet, Philippa was still more importantly occupied in benefiting the nation; for to her it is asserted that we owe the establishment of our cloth manufactures in England. Among Rymer's Foedera is preserved a letter, dated July 3, 1331, addressed to John Kempe, of Flanders, cloth-weaver in wool; by which he is informed "that if he will come to England with the servants and apprentices of his mystery, and with his goods and chattels, and with any dyers and fullers who may be inclined willingly to accompany him beyond seas, and increase their mysteries in the kingdom of England, they shall have letters of protection, and assistance in their settlement."

To this statement Miss Agnes Strickland adds-"Philippa occasionally visited Kempe and the rest of her colony in Norwich; nor did she disdain to blend all the magnificence of chivalry with her patronage of the productive arts. Like a beneficent queen of the hive, she cherished and protected the working bees. At a period of her life which, in common characters, is considered girlhood, she had enriched one of the cities of the realm by her statistical wisdom. There was wisdom, likewise, in the grand tournaments she held at Norwich, which might be considered as exhibitions showing the citizens how well, in time of need, they could be protected by a gallant nobility. These festivals displayed the defensive class and the productive class in admirable union and