public education which have tended to the increase of learning and wisdom in our land, so I will here tell you of the foundation of several colleges of this century. Henry the sixth laid the first stone of King's College Chapel, Cambridge, in 1441. This is one of the most beautiful ecclesiastical buildings in the country. His queen, Margaret of Anjou, founded Queen's College, Cambridge; to Henry the sixth we are also indebted for Eton College, which was at first intended for the education of only seventy boys, though it is now greatly extended.

Unscrupulous as was Richard the third in the means he adopted to obtain his power, he made by no means a bad ruler. He insisted on the right administration of the laws, and passed some which reflect credit on his reign. Among other regulations, he diminished the number of retainers whom it was then the fashion for great men to have about them; idle followers who wore their badge, and feasted in their castles, and were ever ready to enter into their masters' quarrels on the slightest grounds. To give you some idea how serious an evil this had become, I will tell you of the state in which the earl of Warwick, the king-maker, lived. Thirty-thousand men were daily maintained at his various castles and manors;

BREAKFAST OF AN EARL.

181

and when he visited London, he came with a train of 600 men, all in red jackets, with his badge of the bear and ragged staff embroidered on the sleeve. Six oxen were daily consumed in his house for breakfast, and all persons acquainted with any of his household, might come and take away as much meat as they could carry on their daggers. The dagger was used then as we use a table-knife, a luxury unknown to these great men. * It is stated, in the "Northumberland's family book," that the breakfast for an earl and his countess was, 66 a loaf of bread in trenchers, two manchets, or small loaves of the finest flour, weighing each six ounces; a quart of beer, a quart of wine; two pieces of salt fish ; six baconed (or pickled) herrings, and four white herrings, or a dish of sprats." This was a fast-day allowance. On other days the fish at breakfast was replaced by mutton or beef.

The last time I told you of the dress of these dark ages, it was the fashion for gentlemen to wear ridiculously long points to their shoes. In the reign of Richard the third, they were as ridiculously broad; so that he made a law that no one was to wear them more than six inches in breadth. Edward the fourth

Farr's "History of England."

introduced the fashion of wearing excessively tight jackets, with such immense hanging sleeves, that he used to tie his behind him when he went out, for fear of treading on them. The ladies used to wear tall caps, in the shape of a church spire, about a yard high, with long streamers hanging from the top. It is no wonder that the clergy preached against such fopperies as these, and that grave statesmen thought it necessary to make laws for the better regulation of the toilette.

Worse than all these follies, however, was the shocking practice of swearing, which at this time disgraced the national character, and which brought the English into deserved contempt on the continent. It is mentioned, by an historian of Henry the sixth, as a praiseworthy singularity in him, that he neither fell into this profane custom himself, nor allowed it in others, but always reproved any whom he found to be addicted to this evil habit, which is in direct violation of the word of God, and has often brought fearful judgments on those who practise it.

CHAPTER XXII.

HENRY THE SEVENTH.-FROM 1485 TO 1509.

HENRY the seventh, aware of his want of title to the throne, thought it advisable to strengthen his position by marrying Elizabeth of York, the eldest daughter of Edward the fourth, who, after the murder of her two brothers, was heiress to the kingdom. But he was of a gloomy, cold, unamiable temper, and made but an unkind, neglectful husband. Elizabeth, on the contrary, was of a sweet and gentle character, never interfering with public affairs, but trying to win her husband's affection, and devoting herself to the early training and education of her children.

It is pleasant in the stormy pages of history to meet with, here and there, so Christian a character, and this is why I have mentioned Elizabeth of York, who would otherwise have been passed over unnoticed; her quiet and feminine disposition keeping her name unconnected with any of the government measures of the day. She was just such a wife as is described in the opening verses of the third chapter of St. Peter's

first epistle, and as unlike her proud, ambitious, predecessor, Margaret of Anjou, as possible.

Henry's dislike to the Yorkists was so great, that his very first act on being proclaimed king was, to imprison in the Tower the young Edward, earl of Warwick, son of the duke of Clarence, who was said to have been drowned in malmsey wine. Two years afterwards, a young man of low birth, named Lambert Simnel, instructed by Simon, a priest of Oxford, passed himself off as this very earl of Warwick, and persuaded a great many people who were friendly to the Yorkists, to join his standard. He began his imposture in Ireland, where it was more difficult to find it out. He was actually crowned in Dublin by the title of Edward the sixth, a diadem worn by an image of the Virgin Mary being used for the purpose. As the simplest way of putting an end to the plot, Henry caused the real earl of Warwick to be taken from the Tower, and paraded through the principal streets of London, and this satisfied most people. Simnel's Irish adherents remained true to him, and the duchess of Burgundy sent him some German troops. But they did not find the English disposed to join them. However, they continued their march till they met Henry's army at Stoke, near Newark, and

But