dren will not suffer the royalty to go out of our lineage."

On the morning of the 20th of March Henry the Fourth, at the age of forty-six, departed from this world, in peace alike with his subjects, with foreign nationalities, and with his own conscience. His remains were conveyed by water to Feversham, and thence to Canterbury. In that stately and venerable cathedral, where reposed his illustrious, uncle, Edward the Black Prince, the first Lancaster was entombed by the side of Mary de Bohun, his first wife, whom he had loved well, for she was the mother of all his children.

Four sons and two daughters survived Henry of Bolingbroke. The eldest was Henry, Prince of Wales, of whom we proceed to speak in the next chapter. The second son, Thomas, Duke of Clarence, was born in 1389. He inherited from his ancestors their passion for military renown, and was a successful and popular general. He was lieutenant of Ireland in 1401, at the early age of twelve; was created Duke of Clarence in 1411; and married Margaret, daughter of Holland, Earl of Kent, who was already the widow of the famous Earl of Somerset. The benevolence and generosity of his character are celebrated by many of the writers of his time; but his fame is somewhat sullied by the excesses to which early in life he carried a love of dissipation. John of Lancaster, the most remarkable of the family if we except Prince Henry, was a sober, crafty, and meditative prince, of polished and captivating manners, excellent skill in diplomacy, and vigor in government. He was made constable of England in 1403; but was not created duke till the

year after his father died, when he received the title of Bedford. Under that name he is renowned in the history of the English administration of France, as Regent during the minority of Henry the Sixth. He married Anne, the sister of Philip the Second, Duke of Burgundy; and after her death, the Princess Jacqueline of Luxembourg. Humphrey, afterwards Duke of Gloucester, and the active coadjutor of his brother John in the government of France, was Bolingbroke's youngest son, and was especially celebrated for his fine knowledge of literature, and for the elegant patronage he bestowed upon literary men. Blanche, the eldest daughter, became the consort of the King of Denmark, and during his long illness administered her adopted kingdom with an ability and vigor which we might expect from a daughter of the Plantagenets. Philippa became Duchess of Bavaria.

Henry's first wife, Mary of Hereford, died in 1404; and in the following year he married Joan of Navarre, daughter of the King of Aragon. She was the widow of his cousin, the Duke of Brittany, and was a princess of rare accomplishments, but never bore to King Henry any issue.

It is observable that during the reign of this admirable monarch, those principles of liberty, of which we have already noticed the origin and growth, were advancing without ostentation and with methodical certainty. The House of Commons, taking advantage of the embarrassments of the dynasty, became alike necessary to the King, and, in a greater degree, independent of his dictation. The elections became more regular and more free. Immunity from arrest was secured by the persist

ency of the legislature, and laws were enacted to attain this end.

The freedom of debate, which in preceding reigns had been abridged at the will of the sovereign, was, under Henry, restored as a vital right of Parliament. It was insisted on by the Speaker, not only at the opening of every session, but as the prologue of every address to the throne. Verbal petitions to the King took the place of written ones—a step unquestionably progressive, which the King, though much annoyed by it, found himself constrained to allow, as by use it became a precedent. The addresses of the Speaker, which we observe at first to be obsequious and often servile, became more outspoken during Henry's reign, and did not hesitate to reprehend whatever in the royal policy the legislature condemned. The authority of the Commons was more clearly defined-the right to vote money, the right to make statutes, the right to appropriate the funds; and their rights of privilege, in their relations with the lords, were, after much contest, conceded to them.

The Lollards continued their agitations throughout Henry's reign, and the government followed them with bitter assiduity. The Church urged, and the King approved, the persecution of the "heretics." Nevertheless, the sect grew, though occasionally depressed, and sustained the link which was to bind Luther with Wickliffe. The first capital execution for heresy was made by Henry; in palliation of which the rudeness of the age, the undoubtedly sincere and no less blind devotion of the King to the Papal Church, and the insolent power of the hierarchy, are to be considered.

On the whole, the reign of Henry the Fourth

was one of the wisest and most blameless which we find in history; and the pure, merciful, and active character of the monarch merits the approbation of a pure, merciful, and active age.

THE CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH OF HENRY OF MONMOUTH - HIS CHARACTER THE REBELLION OF GLENDOWER - THE WELSH CAMPAIGNS-THE BATTLE OF SHREWSBURY.

No character in the history of any nation has been invested with more romantic heroism by poetry and tradition than that of Henry of Monmouth. To the mind of Shakspeare no prince so well deserved the illustration of dramatic and exalted genius. Those who look for a union of every heroic, admirable, and lovable quality in a single person, linger with content over the history of the victor at Agincourt. The contrast of his early career with that of his ma turer years only serves to heighten the fascination which the record of his life throws around him. Neither Edward the Black Prince, Richard the First, nor Edward the Third combined every chivalrous char acteristic so perfectly as Henry seems to have done. Most writers near his own time agree upon the principal points of his character; all yield to him a praise so ardent that, at four centuries' distance, we find ourselves all aglow with wonder and admiration. Shakspeare seems to have caught the infection, and to have caressed the fame of the hero-king with the