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John's fever was brought on by a surfeit of peaches and beer. He fell ill in the Cistercian Abbey at Swineshead, but died at Newark. Shakespeare follows here another tradition to the effect that John, the plunderer of abbeys, was poisoned by a monk.

93 in the Washes all unwarily. The forces John relied upon to withstand the Dauphin were overwhelmed by the tide while fording the Welland, a river flowing into the Wash.

94 the King's own sister: Eleanor, who was married to Earl Simon (1238), much to the indignation of the English nobles.

95 England's prince. When Prince Edward, the heir apparent, was christened (1239), Earl Simon stood as godfather.

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the King, at pinch. In 1244, Henry summoned Simon to aid him in France, and Leicester stood by the king to the great damage of his own interests. In 1248, the king besought de Montfort to undertake the government of Gascony, and Simon, "not wishing that the king should suffer for aught that I could do for him," assumed the difficult task.

Kenilworth. This famous castle, dating from about 1120, passed after the day of the de Montforts to John of Gaunt. It afterward became a royal possession, and was given by Elizabeth to the Earl of Leicester. (See Scott's" Kenilworth.") The stately pile was demolished by the Roundheads, but its ruins still attract multitudes of visitors.

The lightning in the skies. One day when Henry III. was being rowed along the Thames, he was forced by a sudden thunderstorm to take refuge in Durham Palace, where, to his surprise, he was received by the Earl of Leicester. Said the king, "I fear thunder and lightning not a little, Lord Simon, but I fear you more than all the thunder and lightning in the world." "Fear your enemies, my Lord King," replied the earl, "those who flatter you to your ruin, not me, your constant and faithful friend."

I will die under ban. Before the battle of Lewes, de Montfort said, "Though all should forsake me, I will stand firm with my four sons, in the just cause to which my faith is pledged, nor will I fear to risk the fortunes of war."

The people loved the proud French lord. The Londoners held with Earl Simon against the king, and sent fifteen thousand men to the force, with which the earl won the battle of Lewes. Representa

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tives of the Commons were summoned for the first time to the Parliament he held at Westminster (1265).

He had taught to war. When Earl Simon saw Prince Edward's troops moving to meet him at Evesham, he said, "By the arm of St. James, they come on in fine fashion, but it was from me that they learned it."

Evesham's battle-gloom. Although the battle took place early in the morning, the skies were so clouded with storm that the combatants fought in semi-darkness.

97 the traitor. This charge was brought against Wallace at his trial; but he was no traitor, since he fought for his country against a would-be conqueror.

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laurel wreath placed on the head of the captive in mockery of his supposed ambition to be king. The English believed that Wallace had said he would yet wear a crown in Westminster Hall.

Wallace. In the address to his men quoted by the contemporary chronicler, Bruce made no allusion to Wallace. As a matter of fact, he fought against Wallace at Falkirk.

Plantagenet: the nickname of Geoffrey of Anjou, father of Henry II., and the name borne by all the English sovereigns of that race. As John was the worst, so Edward II. was weakest of the line.

De Argentine: Sir Giles. He fought on after the retreat of the English and fell upon the field.

Edward Bruce: the brother of Robert and later king of Ireland. No spears were there the shock to let. The Scotch foot-soldiers, massed in solid battalions with spears pointing outward, were as awkward to handle as a porcupine.

103 No stakes to turn the charge were set. By Bruce's order, stakes were driven into the ground over which the English cavalry must pass.

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Ailsa Rock: a beautiful crag, rising abruptly from the sea off the coast of Ayrshire. The peasants believed that the multitudes of seafowl nesting on this mighty crag were transformed fairies who, at the coming of Christianity, had fled the islands.

Carrick spearmen. Carrick was the ancestral estate of the Bruce family.

Might have enforc'd me to have swum: a grammatical error still

too common.

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Tanti: so much for them. Gaveston makes a gesture of contempt, equivalent to snapping the fingers.

108 Lancaster: the proudest and most powerful of the English nobles. He was finally beheaded by Edward II. for his part in the plots against Gaveston.

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these two Mortimers: uncle and nephew. They represented the chief family of the Welsh Marches. The elder Mortimer died in the Tower (1326); the younger escaped to France and joined forces with Edward's queen, Isabella, for the invasion of England. His term of triumph was brief. Edward III. had him executed (1330) for his supposed complicity in the king's murder.

Kent: Edmund, the king's half-brother, a vacillating character unable to remain long loyal either to Edward or the barons.

Preach upon poles. Political offenders were beheaded in those cruel days and their heads were fixed on poles in a public place, as London Bridge.

Warwick: this earl is represented in the play as a grizzled warrior. He is a type of the mighty feudal baron, with a force of retainers able to match the royal army. He was beheaded with Lancaster.

O, our heads! Warwick speaks in sarcastic derision. All Warwickshire will love him for my sake. And northward Gaveston hath many friends. Lancaster speak ironically.

Warwick and

receive my seal: the great seal, emblem of sovereignty. It was usually intrusted to the chancellor and gave to him vice-regal powers.

Killingworth. Edward was forced to resign the crown at Kenilworth, the "Killingworth " of the play. He was afterward placed in charge of two ruffians, Gournay and Maltravers, who transferred him to Corfe Castle, thence to Bristol, and finally to Berkeley. Accounts differ as to details, but there is little doubt that he was cruelly treated and finally put to death by his brutal guardians.

Tisiphon one of the Greek Furies, with writhing snakes for hair. Trussel: the proctor of the Parliament, who renounces the homage of the realm in the name of that august body.

Isabella. The queen was the daughter of Philip the Fair, king of France. Alienated by the king's neglect, she had sought refuge and aid at Paris.

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Let him be king. The prince indicates Kent, not Mortimer.

his highness' pleasure. The reference is to Edward II., to whom his son's heart remained loyal.

we have more sons. Edward III. had seven sons, of whom five lived to manhood. The fourth son, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and the fifth son, the Duke of York, figure in Shakespeare's "Richard II."

armor.

Prince Edward: the Black Prince, so called because he wore black He was but sixteen years of age at this time. He lived to win other brilliant victories, but at ruinous cost in both money and men. Worn out at last with campaigning, he returned to England and died (1376) the year before Edward III. passed away.

125 King of Boheme: an ally of France. He was old and blind, but, eager to play a man's part, he begged the knights of his bodyguard to lead him into the thick of the fray. In order that they might keep by his side, they fastened their horses' bridles to his and so rode forward in line. The king fought gallantly, but against overwhelming odds. He was found next morning lying dead among his knights, the bridles of their horses still tied together.

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Arise, Prince Edward, trusty knight at arms. Prince Edward had been knighted before the battle of Cressy.

Wat Tyler. There were several tilers among the insurgents. John Tyler of Dartford, who killed the tax-collector for insulting his daughter, should be distinguished from Wat Tyler of Maidstone, who commanded the insurgents at Blackheath.

128 or a Charles: Charles V. of France, the son and successor of that King John who was taken prisoner by the Black Prince at Poictiers.

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six groats. The groat amounted to fourpence (eight cents), not a large sum, but its purchasing power was as much as that of one dollar to-day. The poll tax of 1381 was exacted from every man and woman in the kingdom above fifteen years of age, in proportion to wealth. The poorest paid at least one groat.

Blackheath: a moor five miles south of London, where Wat Tyler's troops gathered on the eve of the entry into London, June 12, 1381.

The Tower. Tyler desired to treat with the king, and Richard would have gone to meet him, but the ministers of state induced the lad to take refuge in the Tower.

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130 Archbishop of Canterbury: bitterly hated by the people because he had advised the poll tax. He was murdered in the Tower after the departure of the king.

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Walworth, Thomas: Lord Mayor of London. He had thrown wide the gates of the city because he dared not openly resist the people, but at Smithfield he picked a quarrel with Wat Tyler and slew him in the presence of the king.

Absolves you of your promise. The good offices of the archbishop were not needed. Parliament revoked the freedom charters granted by the king.

Westminster Hall: the place devoted to sessions of the superior law courts. The trial of John Ball actually took place at St. Albans, July 14, 1381, before Sir Robert (not John) Tresilian.

his strange, wild notions.

Froissart gives an interesting sample of Ball's preaching. See also William Morris's "Dream of John Ball." 137 York: the king's youngest uncle, as unstable in his action as was Kent in the play of " Edward II."

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Flint Castle. Richard was captured at Conway Castle, where he promised to resign the crown. He was then taken to Flint Castle, where Henry met him. He consented to go to London, and there, "with cheerful mien, he read the act of renunciation."

140 Yet looks he like a king. The "rose-red" Richard had all the aspect of royalty, but not the substance.

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Northumberland: the passionate Earl Percy of the north, already zealous in the service of the usurper.

pestilence. The Black Death that swept away half the population of England in 1349 and 1350 returned again and again in the latter half of the fourteenth century, and was dreaded as the scourge of God. The purple testament. To open a will is to begin to execute its provisions. So Bolingbroke has come to turn his secret plan of war into bloody action.

tender-hearted cousin. The Duke of Aumerle was York's eldest son. He lost his ducal title by Henry's first Parliament, but became Duke of York on his father's death. He fell at Agincourt, leading the vanguard.

Whither you will, so I were from your sights. Richard was for some time confined in the Tower, but the conspiracies of his friends