Miss Corner

“ The houses of the great men were very like large barns, and each house stood on an open space of ground, enclosed by a wall of earth and a ditch, within which there were stacks of corn, sheds for the horses and cattle, and huts for the thralls to sleep in. ”

“ You have been told that Ireland had been subject to England, ever since the time of Henry the Second; but there had constantly been quarrels and warfare between the native Irish, and the new Irish, who were the descendants of the English, who had settled there, after the conquest.
40. Then the new Irish were just as ready to quarrel with new English settlers, as the old Irish were with them; and, till the last fifty years, little had been done to make the people of Ireland a better or a happier race. ”

“ James the First was not a good king, for he had a mistaken notion that a king ought to do whatever he liked; and that, if he wanted money he had a right to make new taxes, without the consent of parliament, and, in fact, he thought it unnecessary to have any parliament at all, and he taught his son Charles to be of the same opinion, which was the cause of that [152] monarch’s untimely fate, and the civil wars that you will presently read about. ”

“ Now it is a very good thing for men to be brave, for I do not know what we should do [86] without brave men for soldiers and sailors, to fight for us; but it is not the most useful quality a king can possess; and I think you will agree with me, when I tell you that Richard the First, instead of staying at home to make good laws, and take care of his subjects, went away to fight, or gain glory, as fighting was then called, in the Holy Land, while all things were going wrong in England, for the want of somebody to keep order. ”

“ The war caused a great deal of unhappiness in private families; for, although it was principally the soldiers who fought, everybody was interested in the question whether there should be a king, or not; and such violent quarrels [155] arose, that the nearest relatives, even fathers and sons, and brothers often became enemies, and many young men went to join one army, or the other; so that sometimes two brothers might be on different sides; and then think how dreadful it was, when a battle took place, that they should be fighting against each other. ”

“ Wherever there is civil war, there is sure to be famine and misery of all kinds, and there never was more misery in England than during the reign of king Stephen; for, in order to keep as many of the Barons on his side as he could, he let them do just as they pleased; and he gave titles and estates to a great many bold and bad men, who built castles and kept bands of ruffians, who went at night to rob and plunder the towns [81] and villages; so that the people, when they shut up their houses at night, used to kneel down and pray that God would protect them from robbers and murderers. ”

“ In the reign of James the First, there were such severe laws against those who did not conform to the church of England, that hundreds of people emigrated to America, and settled themselves in colonies in a wild country, where at first they suffered many hardships and privations; but these colonies, and others, afterwards formed, gradually improved, till they became large flourishing states, now called the United States of America. ”

“ Athelstan had a good deal of fighting to do, for the people of the Daneland revolted, and he was obliged to lead his soldiers into their territory, to bring them to order; and then he had to march against Howel, the Prince of Wales, who was defeated in battle, when Athelstan nobly gave him back his dominions, saying, “There was more glory in making a king than in dethroning one.” ”

“ Edward the First was a much wiser and better prince than his father, but he was too fond of war, and too anxious to be renowned as a conqueror, which was the cause of the long wars in Scotland, for his great ambition was to conquer that country. ”

“ But, I am sorry to say, the king did not keep his promise to let all persons enjoy their own religion, which caused a great deal of unhappiness, for numbers of families, to escape being put in prison, or having their property taken from them, left their comfortable homes, and went to settle in the new American colonies, where they had to endure many hardships, for it is a long time before the people in new settlements can obtain the means of living in any degree of comfort. ”

“ London was greatly improved by the building, in some parts, of wide handsome streets, in the place of narrow, dirty, crowded ones, and the manners of the English were improved also, by their intercourse with foreign nations; for after the peace, people began to visit France, Italy, and other parts of Europe, while a great number of foreigners came here, and we adopted such of their customs as were superior to our own; for people may always improve from each other. ”

“ One very remarkable event which occurred in this reign, was the conquest of Ireland. That [85] country had been, for many years, divided into several small kingdoms, and the disputes of the chiefs had often given rise to warfare among themselves; but it now happened that the king of Leinster, having been deposed by another prince, went direct to the king of England, to beg his assistance, which Henry readily promised, on condition that, if he were restored, he should hold his kingdom as a vassal of the English crown. ”

“ The country was not then called England, but Britain; and its inhabitants were called Britons. They were divided into many tribes; and each tribe had a king or chief, like the North American Indians; and these chiefs often went to war with one another.
4. Some of the tribes lived like savages, for they had no clothes but skins, and did not know how to cultivate the land: so they had no bread, but got food to eat by hunting animals in the forests, fishing in the rivers, and some of them by keeping herds of small hardy cattle, and gathering wild roots and acorns, which they roasted and eat. ”

“ There had been a great revolution in France. The people rose up against king Louis the Sixteenth, who was made prisoner, and beheaded; just as Charles the First was treated here, and for much the same cause. Then a number of persons took the government into their own hands, and governed without a king, and declared war against the king of Great Britain, and also against the stadtholder of Holland, and the king of Spain, for disapproving of what the French people had done. ”

“ The war in which king William was engaged, had nothing whatever to do with the English, but was only for the sake of helping the Archduke of Austria, to fight out his quarrels with the king of France; yet, after William’s death, these wars were carried on during the whole reign of queen Anne, who succeeded [172] William the Third, in the year 1702, after he had reigned thirteen years.
12. These wars caused great distress in England, where the taxes were increased, to pay the expenses of the soldiers, and trade was much injured, as we were at war with both France and Spain. ”

“ English merchants now began to think of trading to the East Indies: but as it required a great deal of money to fit out ships, to make so long a voyage, for it took about four times as long then as it does now, a number of rich merchants joined together, and for a sum of money, obtained a charter from the queen, which made it unlawful for any other persons to carry on any trade with that part of the world. ”

“ The Romans, about the time of the birth of Christ, were the richest, the most powerful, and the cleverest people in the world. Rome was a grand city, and there were many other fine cities in Italy belonging to the Romans, who knew how to build handsome houses, and make beautiful gardens, besides being excellent farmers. ”

“ I dare say you have heard stories about press-gangs taking away poor men against their will, to make sailors of them. This cruel expedient for getting plenty of sailors, was resorted to in all the wars during the reigns of George the Second and George the Third, when many a poor fellow, in going to or returning from his daily labor, was met by a party of armed men, called a press-gang, and carried off, by force, to a ship, without being allowed to go home, or take leave of his family. ”

“ Great Britain was now not a kingdom, for there was no king, but it was a Republic, or Commonwealth, which is a government managed by the people, or their representatives in parliament.
30. But Oliver Cromwell was an ambitious man, and wanted to have all the power in his own hands; so he got the soldiers on his side, and then told the members of parliament that it was time for them to go out of office, that there might be a new election; and on their refusal, he went to the House of Commons with a regiment of soldiers, turned out the members, locked the doors, and took away the keys. ”

“ However, all these new discoveries, together with the invention of printing, made people think more about learning, and less about fighting than they used to do; especially as the nobility were beginning to live more in the way they do now, and to have handsome houses in London, instead of living always in their gloomy old castles. ”

“ After the Norman conquest they were called villeins, which meant villagers, and they lived in the same manner, and had the same kind of duties to perform for their lords, as in the Saxon times; but there were many new feudal customs brought here by the Normans; as for example, a mill was set up on every estate, to which all the poor people were obliged to take their corn to be ground, instead of grinding it at home with hand-mills, as they used to do; and, out of each measure, a part was taken for the baron, which was a very hard tax upon them, especially if they had large families. ”

“ It was the fashion for many ages, not only in England, but all over Europe, for young men of noble birth to roam about the world in search of adventures; and, as they were generally [76] poor and depended chiefly on their swords for subsistence, they would engage in anybody’s quarrels; fight in the cause of women or children who were either injured or oppressed, and enlist in the service of princes and barons who were at war. ”

“ But it was not quite so easy to do justice then; for, as long as the feudal laws lasted, the rich could always oppress the poor, and every great man had an army of his own vassals, who would do any thing he bade them, whether it was lawful or not. ”

“ But this unfortunate prince was made prisoner, in Normandy, by his wicked uncle, and most people believe he met with a violent death.
26. It was a very serious misfortune for the country when the king happened to be a bad man, because the government was, at that time, despotic; that is, the king made the laws himself, and had the power of doing whatever he pleased; whereas, now, the laws are made by the parliament; so that, before any new act can be passed, a great many good and clever men must agree to it, which is a great protection to the people. ”

“ That same year is memorable for the opening of the first Railway for travelling, which was that between Manchester and Liverpool; a circumstance that may be mentioned as the commencement of one of the greatest changes of modern times, and when we consider the number and extent of the railways now in use, we cannot but admire the immense works of the kind that have been performed in so short a space of time. ”

“ Another feudal custom was this; a duty was laid on every thing sold at the fairs and markets; that is, if a man went to the market to buy a sheep, he must pay so much for the sheep, and so much for duty, the duty being for the baron, or lord of the manor. ”

“ The queen, who was sister to the French king, went to France, to raise money to pay soldiers to fight for her husband, and to bring arms for them. He was supported by most of the English nobility, while the principal commoners sided with the parliament.
14. The first general for the parliament was the Earl of Essex, who resigned in favor of general Fairfax, but the greatest general of the parliamentary army was a country gentleman named Oliver Cromwell, who was very clever, both as a military officer and a statesman; and, after the death of Charles, he became the ruler of England. ”

“ I told you how Esca had established the little kingdom of Kent. Well, in the course of the wars, six more kingdoms had been formed in the same manner, by different Saxon chiefs, so that, by the time the conquest was completed, there were seven kingdoms in Britain, namely, Kent, Sussex, Essex, and East Anglia, Northumbria, Wessex, and Mercia; and this division of the country among seven kings, was called the Saxon Heptarchy.
25. The Saxons were not clever people, like the Romans, but were rough and ignorant, and cared for nothing but fighting ”

“ The Normans were great warriors; so that even many of the clergy would sometimes put on armour under their robes, and lead their own vassals to battle; and they had as much interest in the dispute as the nobles, for they expected to come into possession of some of the Bishops’ sees and rich abbey lands, provided Duke William should succeed in his enterprise. ”

“ While some workmen were making ships, others were employed in rebuilding of the towns and villages that had been burned down by the Danes; and the king ordained that there should be schools in different parts of the kingdom, where noblemen’s sons might be educated, for he had found the benefit of learning himself, and thought it a sad thing that all the great men should be so ignorant as they were.
28. You may, perhaps, wonder why so good a man as Alfred should only think of having the great people taught to read ”

“ The ladies and gentlemen who attended the queeen rode on horseback, for coaches were not used in England till some years afterwards, when a gentleman, from Holland, brought a carriage over here, and then the English soon began to build coaches, and ladies of rank left off riding on horses, as they used to do, seated on a pillion, behind their husbands.
5. Elizabeth was a good queen in many respects, for she was a friend to learning, commerce, and all useful arts; and she chose able ministers, who ruled the country with wisdom and prudence ”

“ Now, the inhabitants of any city, where the king happened to be holding his court, were obliged to give board and lodging, at free cost, to all these people, who generally behaved very ill; for they would insist upon having the best rooms, order whatever they chose, and treat the family just as if they were their servants. ”