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him, and his clear, strong mind could once more grasp the affairs of state, and, now more congenial to him, the teachings of the Church. Just before the sad event which was to make young Henry fatherless and a king, the scheme of marrying him to Catharine of Valois, the youngest daughter of the King of France, was first proposed. The Duke of York was sent on a private embassy to Paris to bring about this result. Although the negotiation was unsuccessful, the Princess who was the object of York's solicitation afterward became the queen of Henry the Fifth. As spring approached, the King's decline became rapid; and although he still moved about in the palace, the change in his countenance and step became daily more perceptible.

When the King at last approached his end, he called the Prince of Wales to him, and addressed him with words of great wisdom and eloquence. "Consider, my son and beloved," said he, "thy father, who once was strenuous in arms, but now is adorned only with bones and nerves. His bodily strength is gone; but, by the gift of God, spiritual strength hath come to him. For even this sickness, which, as I certainly believe, is unto death, renders my soul brave and more devoted than before. Think, my son, in the midst of the glory and prosperity of the kingdom, whither thou, too, shalt come. Love the Lord thy God, and, above all things, fear him. Let thy confessor be a man of wisdom and prudence, who may know how to give thee wholesome warnings, and may be bold to give them; and do not thou agree to those who sew pil lows under all armholes. Reveal all the counsel of thy heart to men distinguished for goodness, temper ance, and religious character, especially to those who

lead a lonely life in study, and in prayer, and in sacred repose. Be not thyself fond of ease; but always engaged either about the things of God, or about the good of the kingdom for the sake of God, or about some of those pleasures and excellent sports which have in them nothing of the foulness of vice. And may the God of our fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, give thee his blessing, laden with all good things, that so thou mayst live blessed for ever and ever!"

How tender and beautiful this endeavor to turn the son to the paths of virtue and godliness, in that last solemn hour! It is apparent that the troubled mind of the great monarch was at last placid in the thought of redemption, and that he no longer looked upon death with guilty dread. Thus Henry of Bolingbroke, King of England, passed the last hours of his eventful career—at peace with the world, at peace with his beloved son, and, as we believe, at peace with Heaven. His great acquisition, the crown, he transferred to his son as an undisputed inheritance. He had full belief that his England, which he loved as much as his cold nature could love any thing, was to prosper under a good reign, after his strong arm was withdrawn from its support. His penance for the crimes of which he stood condemned before the world had been likewise performed in the sight of men; and his penitence was doubtless sincere and sufficient. At

an

age which is to most the time of manly vigor, he died, worn down by the malignant leprosy, which, it was said by the astrologers, first attacked him when he ordered the death of the unhappy Richard. The Prince of Wales attended the King on the fatal 20th of March, 1413. The last sight that greeted the

glazing eyes were the features of that devoted son, who, after their temporary estrangement, had grown nearer to him day by day. When Henry the Fourth had ceased to live, the Prince retired to his chamber, and indulged for many solitary hours in mourning and praying. Then the funeral obsequies were per formed, which the Prince attended, broken with weeping, wearing a countenance of sincere misery, and ar rayed in the sombre apparel which was the outward mark of his deep emotion.

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CHAPTER VI.

"Consideration like an angel came,

And drove the offending Adam out of him."

THE ACCESSION OF HENRY THE FIFTH.

KING Henry the Fifth could be jovial Prince Hal no longer. A course of life which might not seem unbefitting the Prince, would by no means grace the dignity of the King. The assumption of royalty divests him who acquires it of many liberties. The revelries, the sports, the adventures, the free intermingling with the populace, the careless caprices of youthful spirit, the joys of modest charity, the sudden duels, the "hairbreadth escapes" of midnight rambles, all must be thrown aside, to give place to that solemn destiny which the fates have decreed to him. Henry was great in this that at the age of twenty-one he could lay aside the easy habits and trivial pursuits of a courtier, and assume, apparently without effort, the proper character of majesty. He had a vivid appreciation of the high office he was now summoned to assume; he saw that to be successful in it, he must secure both the affection and the respect of his subjects; he was not slow to perceive that he must turn from the light humors of boyhood, and must gird himself up with lofty purposes. When, therefore, he suc

ceeded his father, he so changed the tenor of his life, with such good grace, with such promptitude, that the good people of England woke up one morning to find that they had more than a good-natured Prince-a high-minded, dignified, and earnest sovereign. This transformation had been effected by that active virtue of self-control, which had already given here and there a happy augury of his future eminence. He had conquered himself; he had acquired, as a habit, that command over temper and impulse which was the crowning feature of his career. He resolved to bear himself so as to win the devotion of his subjects, the fear of his enemies, and the respect of all. Those companions who had beguiled his idle hours, and from whose conviviality and wit he had derived the fund of his lighter entertainment, he resolved to eschew; and to abandon, at the same time, the follies which would have unfitted his mind for the graver matters which were now to become his sole care. One of his first acts was to banish these merry fellows ten miles from his court; while, in acknowledgment of their past services, he distributed money among them for their respectable support. The late King's councillors retained their office as advisers of the Crown-Archbishop Arundel, Henry Beaufort, Sir John Stanley, Sir William Gascoigne, Lord Scroop, the Earl of Arundel, and the Earl of Westmoreland. The The magnanimity of his nature was apparent in the readiness with which he took them into his confidence. The ministers of Bolingbroke had looked coldly upon the heir apparent. They had not seemed desirous to maintain harmony in the royal family. They had opposed the Prince's propositions, and had been inclined to treat him as a raw and presumptuous boy, who sought to

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