"thinking verêlie that he had been departed, "covered his face with a linen-cloth.

"The Prince his fonne, (afterwards King "Henry the Fifth,) being hereof advertised, "tooke awaie the crowne and departed. The "Father, being fuddenlie revived out of that

trance, quicklie perceived the lacke of his ce crowne; and having knowledge that the Prince "his fonne had taken it awaie, caufed him to come before his prefence, requiring of him, "what he meant, fo to mifufe himself. The "Prince with a good audacitie answered, Sir, "to mine and to all men's judgements, you "feemed dead in this world; wherefore I, as

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your next heire apparent, take that as mine ' own, and not as yours.'- Well, faire Sonne, "(faid the King, with a great figh,) what right "I had to it, God knoweth.'- Well, (faid the "Prince,) if you die King, I will have the gar“land, and truft to keep it with the sworde against all mine enemies, as you have done.'"Then (faid the King) I commit all to God, " and remember you to do well. With that " he turned himfelf in his bed, and fhortlie after departed to God."

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SIR WILLIAM GASCOIGNE,

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE KING'S BENCH.

THE following account of this courageous and inflexible Magistrate is taken from " Magna Bri"tanniæ Notitia," article " Gunthorp :"

"Famous only for the antient, virtuous, and "warlike family of Gafcoign, two of which "(both Knights and named William) were High "Sheriffs of the county of York in the reigns of Henry VI. and VII. But, before either of "these, there was a Knight of this family, named "alfo Sir William Gafcoign, far more famous

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than they. He was bred up in our Municipal "laws in the Inner Temple, London, and grew "fo eminent for his fkill and knowledge in

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them, that he was made Chief Juftice of the

King's Bench by Henry the Fourth, in the "eleventh year of his reign, and kept that high "fituation till the fourteenth year of that King's

reign, demeaning himself all the time with "admirable integrity and courage, as this exam"ple will fhew:

"It chanced that the fervant of Prince Henry "(afterwards Henry V.) was arraigned before "the Judge for felony; and the Prince, being ❝zealous to deliver him out of the hand of juf"tice, went to the Bench in fuch a fury, that

"the spectators thought he would have ftricken "the Judge; and he attempted to take his fer"vant from the bar: but Sir William Gascoign, "well knowing whose person he represented, fat "unconcerned; and, knowing the Prince's at"tempt to be illegal, committed him to the "King's Bench Prifon, there to remain till the "King his father's pleasure was known. This "action was foon represented to the King, with "no good will to the Judge, but it proved to "his advantage; for when the King heard what "his Judge had done, he replied, that he "thanked God for his infinite goodness, who ❝ had at once given him a Judge that dared impartially to adminifter juftice, and a fon who "would fubmit to it.' The Prince himself, "when he came to be King, (reflecting upon this

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transaction,) thus expreffed himself in relation "to Sir William Gascoign: I fhall ever hold "him worthy of his place and of my favour; "and I wish that all my Judges may poffefs the "like undaunted courage to punish offenders, of "what rank foever."

HENRY THE FIFTH.

[1413-1422.]

"THIS King," fays Hollinfhed, cc even at first "appointing with himself, to fhew that in his per❝fon princelie honours fhould change publicque

manners, determined to put on him the shape "of a new man. For, whereas aforetime he "had made himfelfe a companion unto mifrulie 66 mates of diffolute order and life, he now "banished them all from his prefence, (but not "unrewarded, or elfe unpreferred,) inhibiting "them, upon great paine, not once to approach, "lodge, or fojourne within ten miles of his

court or presence; and in their places he "chofe men of gravitie, wit, and high policie,

by whofe wife councill he might at all times rule to his honour and dignitie: calling to "minde, how once, to the offense of the King "his Father, he had with his fift ftricken the "Chiefe Juftice, for fending one of his minions "(upon defert) to prifon, when the Justice "ftoutlie commanded himself alfo ftrict to ward, "and he (the Prince) obeied."

THOMAS POLTON,

ONE of the Ambaffadors from England to the Council of Conftance, in the thirty-first feffion of that Council, and in the year 1417, prefented a memoir in favour of the privileges and dignity of his country, and of its right of being a nation by itself, which was read to the Council, and the claims afferted in it were allowed by that Affembly, in fpite of the remonstrances made against it by the French Ambaffador, who infifted that they fhould remain as formerly, by a decree of Pope Benedict IX. a part of the German Nation*.

On the arrival of Sigifmund the Emperor at the Council, in the fame year, the English repre

* The English were allowed to make the Fifth Nation. The reasons alleged by their Ambassadors for the allowance of their claim, were, That England had given birth to Conftantine the Great; That it had never fallen into any herefy; That, whilst in France there was only one language spoken, in England five were spoken; and, That Albertus Magnus and Bartholomew Glanville had long fince divided Europe into four Kingdoms-that of Rome, that of Conftantinople, that of Ireland (which had fince that time belonged to the English), and that of Spain, without making the leaft mention of France; and, That the Common Law takes notice of four Universities only, according to the four Nations→→ that of Paris for the French, Oxford for the English, Bologna for the Italians, and Salamanca for the Spaniards.

fented