HISTORICAL SUMMARY. EDWARD THE THIRD. 1327.-EDWARD THE THIRD was crowned when only fifteen years of age. A Regency was appointed, but the Queen-mother and Mortimer engrossed the government to themselves. Edward married Philippa of Hainault. 1328.-Mortimer concluded a peace with the Scots. David, Robert Bruce's son, was married to Joanna, Edward's sister. Every claim that England had on Scotland was relinquished. 1330. On the death of Charles, King of France, without sons, Edward laid claim to the crown, in right of Isabella, his mother; but the Peers of France adjudged it to Philip of Valois. 1331. The conduct of the Queen-mother and the Earl of March becoming notoriously infamous, the former was sent prisoner to Castle Rising, in Norfolk, and the latter hanged. Edward, afterwards the Black Prince, was born, Edward disapproving of the peace made by Mortimer with Scotland, supported the claims of Baliol to the throne of that kingdom, entered Scotland with an army, defeated the Bruce party at Halidon, and having possessed himself of several of the strongest fortresses in the kingdom, received the oath of fealty from Baliol. 1334. The Scottish nobles revolted against Baliol, returned to their allegiance to David Bruce, and expelled almost all the English from the kingdom. 1344.-The battle of Cressy was fought, in which Edward totally defeated the French King, and the young Prince of Wales gained great glory. 1346.-The Scots were defeated by Queen Philippa at Neville's Cross, and their king, David Bruce, made prisoner. 1354.-John, King of France, was defeated and made prisoner at the battle of Poictiers, by the Black Prince. 1359.-A peace was concluded between England and France, by which nearly as much French territory was ceded to the former as she had anciently ed, and King John was set at liberty. T The Prince of Wales married his cousin, Joanna of Kent. 1363.-The Prince of Wales, being created by his father Prince of Aquitaine, kept his Court at Bordeaux. 1366.-The Prince of Wales, carrying a numerous army into Spain, gained the battle of Najara, and restored the deposed King of Castile, Pedro, to the throne. 1369 to 1376.-Edward having grown old and infirm, and the Prince of Wales being dangerously ill, Charles, King of France, took advantage of the incompetency of the generals to whom the affairs of the English in France were entrusted, to recover almost all the provinces which had been ceded to Edward. The Prince of Wales died in 1376. The Chaplet of Pearls. He was a king indeed! For wisdom, not a statesman in his realm THE BATTLE OF CRESSY. IR EMERIC DE PAVIA, a valiant Lombard, whom King Edward the Third had made Governor of Calais, was walking moodily on the ramparts of that town; his step was hurried and impatient. He often raised his hand and passed it rapidly across his brow, as if he would by that act wipe away some torturing recollection from his brain. Sometimes he stamped furiously on the ground, and at others sat down on the battlements; and while he leaned his head on his clenched hands, the sweat poured from his brow, and his whole frame shook convulsively. At times he looked towards the sun, which had nearly attained his meridian height, and was gilding the broad expanse of ocean, the town and Castle of Calais, and the distant plains of Picardy, with the full effulgence of his beams ;-at others, he stretched his eye across the Channel, and looked wistfully, yet fearfully, towards the white cliffs of Dover. So entirely absorbed in his own reflections was the Governor, that he did not observe a person near him wrapped in a long black cloak, who seemed narrowly to watch his motions. The stranger's face was enveloped in his cloak. At first he seemed to avoid coming in contact with Sir Emeric; afterwards, however, he crossed his path repeatedly, evidently intending, but still unable, to attract his notice. At length, during one of the most violent of Sir Emeric's paroxysms, the stranger approached him, and, tapping him on the shoulder, said in a low but distinct tone of voice, "Then the tale that was told to me is true." "Ha!" said the Governor, starting and grasping his sword, "who and what art thou? What is the tale that has been told thee ?" "That Sir Emeric de Pavia is a traitor!" said the stranger. "Dastard and liar!" said the Governor : "who and what, I say again, art thou that darest to call Emeric of Pavia a traitor ?" "Behold!" said the stranger, flinging back his mantle, and exhibiting the fine majestic features of a man about thirty-five years of age, which were well known to Sir Emeric. The latter fell on his knees, and in a suppliant tone exclaimed, "Guilty, my most gracious Liege, guilty!-Pardon, pardon!" "Emeric," said King Edward,-for it was he,-" thou knowest that I have entrusted to thee what I hold dearest in this world, after my wife and children,—I mean the town and castle of Calais, which thou hast sold to the French, and for which thou deservest death." "Ah! gentle King, have mercy on me!" said the Governor. "All that you have charged me with is true, most true; but there is yet time to break the disgraceful bargain. I have not yet received one penny of the filthy lucre for which I agreed to deliver this town and castle to your Grace's enemies." "Emeric," said the King, raising him from his suppliant posture, "I have loved thee well, and even from a child have loaded thee with marks of my favour. Your plot, well and secretly contrived as it was, could not be hidden from me. I had certain intelligence of it a month ago. kept News was then brought to me at Westminster, that thou hadst sold this place to Sir Geoffrey de Charni for twenty thousand crowns, and that this day he is to proceed from St. Omers with his forces, and arrive here at midnight, for the purpose of receiving possession from thee.-Was my information true or false ?" "It was most true, my Liege," said Emeric, again attempting to throw himself at the King's feet. "Listen to me," said the King, preventing him: "it is my wish that you continue this treaty. When Sir Geoffrey's forces arrive, lead them to the great tower; and on this condition I promise you my pardon. I have just arrived from England with three hundred men-at-arms and six hundred archers; but have arrived so privily, that no one knows but thou that I am here. The Prince of Wales and Sir Walter Manny are with me. Go with me, that I may give you directions for placing the men in ambuscade in the rooms and towers of the castle. Sir Walter Manny shall conduct this enterprise; and my son and I, who would at present remain unknown, will fight under his banner." Again did the repentant Governor throw himself at the feet of his sovereign, and again did the latter raise him from his suppliant posture, and assure him of pardon, and of an entire oblivion of the intended treason, if he remained faithful to him at the present crisis. Sir Geoffrey de Charni, accompanied by the Lord of Namur, the Lord de Crequi, Sir Odoart de Reny, and numerous others of the most distinguished among the French lords and knights, arrived from St. Omers, with all the forces he could collect, crossed the bridge of Neuillet, and sat down about midnight before that gate of the Castle of Calais, which is called the gate of Boulogne. Here he halted, to give time for the rear of his army to come up, and here he found Sir Emeric de Pavia anxiously awaiting his arrival. "My gallant Lombard!" said Sir Geoffrey, "is all well, and are you ready to deliver up possession of the castle ?" "All is well, Sir Knight," said the Lombard," and the castle is yours on payment of the twenty thousand crowns." "Then Sir Odoart de Reny," said Sir Geoffrey, addressing that |