CHAPTER XII.

HENRY THE THIRD-FROM 1216 TO 1272.

HENRY, the son of John, succeeded him when he was only nine years old, and as it was impossible for such a little child to govern the kingdom properly, the earl of Pembroke was made regent, that is, he managed all the business of government until Henry was old enough to take it upon himself. The earl was a sensible man, and by his prudent management brought back the wild, unruly barons to their duty, and rescued the country from the king of France, into whose power it had fallen in the last reign.

Henry did not grow in wisdom as in stature as he advanced to manhood, and took the government into his own hands. He was, although good-natured, as it is called, yet so weak and fickle, that he was quite unable to keep his subjects in order. He put unprincipled people into offices which should only have been held by the wise and good. When he knelt at the throne of grace, he should have offered up Solomon's prayer for the aid of God; "I am but

a little child; I know not how to go out, or come in ; and Thy servant is in the midst of Thy people which Thou hast chosen, a great people that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude; give, therefore, thy servant an understanding heart to judge Thy people, that I may discern between good and bad; for who is able to judge this Thy so great a people?" (1 Kings iii. 8, 9.)

Henry married Eleanor, daughter of the earl of Provence. He greatly displeased his people by raising to the highest offices of the state Eleanor's relations and friends, with many other foreigners, to the exclusion of the English nobility. The consequence of his folly and mismanagement was that, under Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, there was a rebellion, and Henry and his son prince Edward were both taken prisoners. But Edward, who was a fine, spirited young man, soon contrived to escape, and raised an army to set his father free.

The people had begun to dislike Simon de Montfort on account of his proud, tyrannical disposition, so that only a few friends remained to him. A battle took place between him and the young prince at Evesham, in Worcestershire, in which the earl was killed, and the king wounded, and very near being killed also;

EDWARD SAVES HIS FATHER.

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De Montfort having for that very purpose placed him in the front ranks of his army, covered with armour, so that he could not be recognized. But when nearly overpowered, he exclaimed, "I am Henry of Winchester, your king," and the prince heard his father's voice, and removed him from his dangerous post.

To the earl of Leicester, although an ungodly and bad man, we are indebted for one great improvement. He first assembled a regular parliament, or great council of the nation: it was not exactly like what we have now, as many improvements have been made in it, which you will better understand as you grow older. The gentlemen of the parliament, counsel or advise the sovereign as to the best method of governing the country. Of course, they ought to seek wisdom from God in order to be able to give good counsel; and, therefore, the two houses, before they begin business, always have prayers read to them, in the House of Lords by a bishop, and in the House of Commons by a chaplain appointed for the purpose; and we are taught to pray for them in church every Sunday while parliament is assembled.

I have had to tell you of so many undutiful sons in the last few reigns, that I am very glad now to have to mention the good prince Edward, who after saving

his father's life in the battle of Evesham, helped him to bring his people into subjection again, and behaved very kindly to those who had been his enemies, so that many of them became his firm friends. In this, you know, dear children, he was obeying the precepts and example of his Saviour. When he saw his father once more firmly established on his throne, he joined the Crusades, and there distinguished himself greatly by his courage and good conduct. It was, as I have said before, quite a mistake to suppose that it pleased God, who is a God of peace and love, to see His people shedding each other's blood in His service; but this was not the opinion of those warlike times, and we cannot blame Edward for doing what he had no means of knowing was wrong. His wife, Eleanor of Castile, accompanied him to Palestine, and was made the instrument of saving her husband's life. The Saracens, who found him too powerful to subdue in open fight, employed an assassin to murder him. The man contrived to stab the prince, who wrested the dagger from him, and slew the assassin ; but the weapon had been poisoned, and the wound would have been mortal, had not Eleanor risked her own life by sucking the poison from it. Edward remained in the Holy Land two years, and in that time the barons had

again become unruly, and troublesome to the old king Henry, so that at last, quite worn out, he died at Westminster in 1272, in the fifty-seventh year of his reign, the very longest of any English reign, except that of our good king George III.

In this reign the Jews were very ill-treated, and compelled, by the most dreadful tortures, to give up their wealth to their inhuman plunderers. Truly was fulfilled the awful prophecy against them, for their idolatry, rejection of the Messiah, and hardness. of heart. God had threatened them by the mouth of His servant Moses, with terrible punishments in case of their falling into these sins. He said, "Thou shalt find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest, but the Lord shall give thee a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind; and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee, and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life." (Deut. xxviii. 65, 66.)

The inhabitants of the various countries into which these scattered Israelites had fled, thought, in those dark times, that they pleased God by adding to their sufferings. But this was a very great mistake, as they would have known, had the Bible been open to them as now it is to us. God loves those who love His