not allow the friends of Sir Edmund Mortimer to ransom him from the Welsh. Henry alleged2 as the reason for this that Mortimer had shown himself disloyal to the King, and that he had willingly given himself up to the Welsh, and had not been taken prisoner by them. The real reason, however, was that Henry felt that Sir Edmund Mortimer could be dangerous to him if he cared to take up the cause of the young Earl of March, his nephew, who was the true heir to the throne. So Henry was very willing that Mortimer should remain in the hands of the Welsh.

He

3. Now Henry Hotspur had married Mortimer's sister, and he became very indignant when the King would not allow Mortimer to be ransomed. persuaded his father, the Earl of Northumberland, and other powerful lords to join him; they entered into negotiations with Glendower, and marched against Henry. A bloody battle took place at Shrewsbury, when the rebels were totally defeated, and Hotspur himself was killed. Henry's throne was thus saved from a dangerous rebellion. Prince Henry gradually subdued South Wales; and Glendower was at last compelled to take refuge among the mountains of Snowdon. Here he maintained the contest till his death.

1403

36. THE BOYHOOD OF PRINCE HENRY.

1. Young Prince Henry gave his father a good deal of trouble by his wild conduct. He was fond of gaiety and merry companions, and sometimes he and his friends used to waylay his father's receivers on the road and rob them. All these adventures of the young Prince and his companions may be read in Shakspere's play of "King Henry IV." Though Shakspere does not always keep to the exact histori

PRINCE HENRY BEING ARMED.

cal truth, his plays are very valuable as showing the characters of the Kings and other people he writes about. 2. Prince Henry had many good qualities. He was very brave, and at the battle of Shrewsbury, although he was wounded in the face by an arrow, he would not leave the field, but insisted

on his attendants carrying him into the thickest part of the fight. The Welsh admired the young Prince very much. He was fond of songs and music, was very clever with the bow, and could run so fast that he could overtake a wild buck in the royal park.

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re-ceiv-ers

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37.-THE AFFAIRS OF SCOTLAND.

1. Early in his reign, Henry IV. found himself at war with Scotland. A dispute arose between the Scotch King and one of his nobles, who fled to England. The King of Scotland, Robert III., demanded that the runaway noble should be given up as a traitor; but, so far from complying with the demand, Henry renewed the claim to the overlordship of Scotland, collected an army, and marched as far as Edinburgh. He was compelled to retire through want of food, and he gained no advantages from the war. All through his reign, Henry was harassed by plots against his life and throne, and the country that was for a time most dangerous to him was Scotland.

GENTLEMAN IN THE TIME
OF HENRY V.

2. Scotland at this time was in a most unsettled condition; but an event occurred in the year 1405 which relieved Henry of all further anxiety. Robert III. was a weak King, and his brother, the Duke of Albany, aimed at making himself King. With this end he murdered his eldest nephew by starving him. to death. To try and protect his second son, James, from some such cruel fate, Robert determined to send him to France to be educated. The young Prince sailed from the Bass Rock, at the mouth of the Firth of Forth, but was driven to land on the English coast. He was taken before Henry, who at once saw

how great an advantage this event put into his hands. He detained the young Prince as a prisoner, saying he could educate him quite as well as the 1405 King of France could. The old King of Scots died of grief soon after he heard the news of his son's capture, and the government passed into the hands of the cruel Duke of Albany. Henry treated young James very well, and made his life as easy as possible to him. He was excellently educated, and became afterwards a good king as well as a fair poet.

3. A new conspiracy1 against the King grew up in the North. It was headed by the Earl of Northumberland, who had been pardoned after the battle of Shrewsbury, and Richard Scroop, Archbishop of York. They advocated2 the cause of the Earl of March. But the rebellion was put down without much trouble, and Archbishop Scroop was beheaded at York. This was the first time in English history that an Archbishop was beheaded. The Earl of Northumberland and the other leaders escaped; but two years later, while trying to raise another rebellion, they were captured and killed.

38.-LEGISLATION AGAINST HERETICS.

1. As Henry's claim to the throne was such a weak one, he needed all the support he could get from the different classes of the people, and with this view he

courted the clergy eagerly. The doctrines of Wiclif still had a strong hold on the minds of the people; but they had not so much influence now as in the reign of Richard II., when it was said that of every two persons talking in the street one was sure to be a Lollard. The clergy were now regaining their power, and to please them, Henry had a law passed through Parliament, which provided that when any

LOLLARDS' ROOM IN THE TOWER.

heretic1 who refused to abjure (that is, to give up his heretical opinions) was given over to the secular2 authorities by the bishop, he should be burned by the civil magistrate before the people.

2. Thus, for the first time, the statute-book of England was disgraced by a law for the suppression of freedom of opinion in religion. It was not long