This marriage, contracted without his leave, so offended King Henry, her son, that he withheld her dower from her; and, although but fourteen years old, as their quarrel proceeded, with his own hand he wrote a letter to the Pope requesting him to excommunicate both his mother and father-in-law. To this somewhat unscrupulous request from so young a king the Pope wisely demurred. The thunders of the Vatican were not to be lightly used, and they had indeed been of late frequently hurled both on France and England. On inquiring into the cause of the quarrel, his Holiness accordingly conceived that matters might be easily made whole by "very easy arguments of love;" and, after a somewhat lengthened correspondence, a match was made up between the young king of Scots and "little Joan Makepeace," as she was afterwards called: the Scottish king receiving back his two sisters, who had previously been pawned to King John for a considerable sum of money.

Her early marriage and association with the vile John, whose character was a complication of vices as mean and odious as they were ruinous to himself and destructive to his subjects, appear to have had their effect upon the disposition and temper of Isabella in after-life. She was now married to one whom she had long regretted and still loved; but, woman-like, she felt dissatisfied with the more lowly estate to which she was necessarily reduced. She found it impossible to forget her former grandeur as Queen of England. The horrors of the situation she was willing to banish from her mind whilst she clung to its state and dignity. More especially was she incensed and annoyed on finding herself obliged to yield place and precedence to a female whose rank she considered inferior to her own. weening pride eventually proved her ruin. had created his brother Alphonzo count of Poictiers, and as possessor of Poitou Isabella's husband was obliged to do homage to him. This was wormwood to the

And this overLouis of France

countess-queen; and her rage and disdain were increased tenfold when she found that Jane of Toulouse, the wife of Alphonzo, in like manner took precedence of herself. In her ire she stirred up her husband to throw off his allegiance to the French king, and involve himself in a most disastrous war, and from that moment the fate of both was sealed. Defeat followed defeat, and, notwithstanding the unlucky count was aided by Henry of England, to whom he had, at his wife's instigation, transferred his allegiance, the valiant Marcher found himself obliged to send his young son Hugh to sue for pardon from Louis.

This disastrous issue of her "pride and purposes" it might have reasonably been supposed would have humbled the spirit of Isabella. Such, however, was not the case. She seems, on the contrary, to have treasured up a secret feeling of revenge against the French monarch, and suborned some of her followers to attempt his life by poison.

Doubts have been thrown, by some writers, upon Isabella's participation in this attempt; but as she fled for sanctuary to the Abbey of Fontevraud immediately after the arrest of the assassins, and as they accused her in confession, there is sufficient cause to suspect her guilt. In the meantime, whilst she remained in sanctuary, her husband and her son Hugh were both seized by direction of the French king, and ordered to be brought to trial for participation in the diabolical attempt. Lusignan repelled the charge in toto. He demanded the duel, and defied Alphonzo, his accuser, vowing he would prove the innocence of himself and family in the lists. Alphonzo, however, declined putting the issue of his life and truth on such a venture. He backed out of the meeting upon the plea that a traitor like the Count de la Marche was unfit to meet a true knight. Isabella's youthful son, Hugh, upon this evasion, also rebutted the charge, and offered himself as an

antagonist. At first this second challenge was accepted, but eventually declined, by Alphonzo, whose courage seems to have been none of the greatest. He stigmatised the young Marcher as infamous, in common with his whole family; and, being backed up by place and power, he maintained his point, and evaded the encounter.

When the news of this slur upon the characters of her husband and son was brought to Isabella at Fontevraud, she felt that her worldly career was over. Her pride was already half subdued by close confinement in the secret chamber to which she had been consigned; grief and remorse did the rest. She felt that by her evil counsels she had deprived her husband of his patrimony, and nearly ruined her family; and the remainder of her life was passed in penance and prayer; and assuming the veil, she soon afterwards died. At her own request she was buried without pomp or ceremony in a lowly grave amongst the sisterhood of the abbey.

Three years after her death the Count de la Marche was seen amongst those who followed the expedition of the French king to Damietta,

"The cross upon his shoulder borne

Battle and blast had dimm'd and torn."

According to Montfaucon, he fell fighting against the infidel in the same ranks with his old enemy, Alphonzo count of Poictiers.

And thus died Isabella of Angoulême and the Count de la Marche. Both may be said to have felt the evil influence of the bad John, and, through him, misspent their whole lives. Isabella left behind her a reputation for exceeding beauty, and pride as great; and from her having been the cause of the war of precedence-if it may be so called,-she was nicknamed by the French and Poictevins "Jezebel of Angoulême."

Previous to his departure for the Holy Land, the unlucky

Count de la Marche had bequeathed all his younger sons and his daughter Alice to Henry III. His eldest son, Hugh, who had so manfully asserted the innocence of his family, succeeded to both his father's patrimony and also to his mother's fair inheritance. Henry accepted the trust, and amply provided for his half-brothers and sister. The latter he gave in marriage to the Earl of Warren.

MARGUERITE OF FRANCE,

SECOND QUEEN OF EDWARD I.

BY MISS POWER.

IN perusing the annals of England, we find in but too many instances that the unions of our monarchs with French princesses were productive of but little happiness either to themselves or to their people. Although history does not dilate very largely on the life and character of Marguerite,―her star probably being somewhat shaded by the glories and adventures of her husband, the statesman and warrior, and by the brilliant virtues and noble qualities of her predecessor, Eleanora the Faithful,1-we have sufficient evidence to prove that, in this instance at least, the remark does not apply. It seems, however, that there is some reason to suspect that in this second marriage of "Sire Edward," he had a somewhat narrow escape of faring but little better in a French alliance than certain of his progenitors and successors.

The disconsolate monarch, who passed the earlier period of his widowerhood in devising and executing the most splendid memorials of his beloved Eleanor, whose death

Speed gives us the following eulogy on the memory of this queen :-" To our Nation she was a loving mother, and (saith one) the Columne and pillar (as it were) of the whole Realme. In her honour the K. her husband (who loved her above all worldly creatures) caused those many famous trophies, or crosses, to bee erected wheresoever her noble Coarse did rest, as it was conveyed from Lincolneshire to buriall in Westminster. Nor could anything but the respect to other weightie matters, now presently in hand, withhold our pen from paying to her memory a farre more copious commendation."

a “Thomas Walsingham."