Edward of Westminster

“ Tall of stature, beautiful in form and face, he excelled in all things, whether in the battle-field or at the council, and to his many gifts was added a noble and upright character, strong when the need for strength arose, but ever inclined to show mercy and compassion. This was the man on whose shoulders Edward virtually laid all the responsibilities of his realm, while he spent most of his time in his palace at Westminster, so that he might be on the spot to superintend the progress of the building, which went on apace, and to consult with Abbot Edwy as to the form it should take. ”

“ Only fourteen years old when he was crowned king, young Edward had already impressed all those who came in contact with him. Men saw in him a worthy successor of Edward I., whose great qualities stood out in shining contrast after the second Edward's disastrous reign. He was strong, he was brave; he, like his grandfather, passionately loved justice and passionately loved England. Nothing could have been more unfortunate than his boyhood or his early education. ”

“ The new palace of Edward the Confessor, the palace of Westminster, opened its gates, to receive the Saxon King and the Norman Duke, remounting on the margin of the isle, and now riding side by side. And as the Duke glanced, from brows habitually knit, first over the pile, stately, though not yet completed, with its long rows of round arched windows, cased by indented fringes and fraet (or tooth) work, its sweep of solid columns with circling cloisters, and its ponderous towers of simple grandeur ”

“ Trouble was on with the Welsh, and a Scotch war began before the other was over. The French king had transgressed Edward’s Gascon possessions and his sailors had landed at Dover, [128] putting a convent and some houses to the torch. Edward’s arms seemed doomed to universal failure; nowhere were his prospects bright. By no means the least serious feature of his position was an empty treasury. With the hope of devising the means of changing his fortune, he summoned to Westminster for the 1st August a Parliament composed of the barons and prelates of the realm. ”

“ In March Edward’s last Parliament met and ended. “The King being a little diseased by cold-taking,” recorded a contemporary chronicle,137 “it was not meet for his Grace to ride to Westminster in the air,”138 and on the 31st—it was Good Friday—the Upper House waited upon him at Whitehall, Edward in his royal robes receiving the Lords190 Spiritual and Temporal. At seven that evening Parliament was dissolved.
Many hearts, loyal and true and pitiful, will have grieved at the signs of their King’s decay. ”

“ But though Elizabeth left the Sanctuary, she was once more to return to its kindly shelter. She had always a mistrust of her husband's favourite brother, the Duke of Gloucester, and when King Edward died in 1473, she at once went back to Westminster with her daughters and her second son, the Duke of York. Her eldest boy, Edward, was already in his uncle's power and in the Tower, although the Duke of Gloucester had made him enter London in state, he riding bare-headed before him, and saying to the people loudly, "Behold your prince and sovereign." But the queen was not to be deceived by this. ”

“ King Edward's funeral procession moving into Edgeware Road, flanked by thousands of military and tens of thousands of mourning citizens. Slowly and quietly a great company assembled and then the Westminster Abbey choir of men and boys clad in white surplices and scarlet cassocks, took its position. On the left, preceded by the mace-bearer with his glittering mace, came the Speaker of the House of Commons in his flowing robes of black and gold, followed by 400 members of the same House led by the Prime Minister. ”

“ Of these the church showed itself most amenable to placation. Edward restored to Archbishop Winchelsey the lands of the see of Canterbury which he had confiscated. [170] To strengthen further a position which at best was exceedingly weak, Edward made a dramatic attempt to win over to his cause the support of the people.
On the 14th July, a week after his unsuccessful council with the barons, he appeared [139] on a wooden stage erected in front of the great hall at Westminster and addressed the populace. ”

“ Although the poor monarch had fainted during this interview, he failed to arouse the sympathy of the commissioners.
Edward II. was by no means a bad man, for his chief 209faults were those of judgment, and at times want of dignity, which led him to engage in boyish frolics, and occasionally to drink to excess.
A.D. 1326. On the following Christmas day, 1326, young King Edward, who was just fifteen years of age, was crowned in Westminster Abbey. Then twelve bishops and nobles were appointed to advise and assist the youthful sovereign in affairs of state. ”

“ Edward fought his way through, and came out triumphantly on the other side. When he was sixteen he married Philippa of Hainault, and a year later a son was born to them. The delight of the nation was intense; Edward was deeply touched at the signs of affection everywhere shown to him by his subjects, and he resolved all the more earnestly, with the growing strength of his young manhood, to be a king indeed, to rule his people justly, to lead them wisely, to live up to the great things expected of him. ”

“ At the festival of Whitsuntide in Westminster Abbey, he admitted his son, with many other young nobles, to the order of knighthood, and throughout one long night the Prince of Wales kept his vigil before the altar at the shrine of the Confessor. Then at the royal banquet which followed, Edward, though so weak he could barely stand, swore solemnly to march at once to Scotland to crush the rebellion which had broken out afresh when all seemed peaceful, and to avenge the death of Comyn, who had been murdered in the church at Dumfries by Robert Bruce. ”

“ The English sovereign, who had been harassed at first by the Scotch cur, soon brought him howling for mercy, which was accorded on condition of his resigning the kingly office, a proposition which Baliol basely submitted to. Edward made a triumphal progress through Scotland, and taking a fancy to an old stone, upon which the kings had sat to be crowned at Scone, caused the very uncomfortable coronation chair to be removed to Westminster. ”

“ King Edward, greeting his loving subjects, expatiated upon the miseries which the realm was likely to sustain by the invasion of the wicked, barbarous, and perfidious Scots. Church and state, he alleged, were in equal danger, and "inasmuch as that which concerneth all ought to be determined by the advice of all concerned, we have determined," continued the writ, "to hold our Parliament at Westminster in eight days from the feast of St. Hilary." The effect of the announcement was magical. Parliament! ”

“ Clement V. excommunicated the Earl of Carrick, and deprived Lamberton and Wishart of 234their bishoprics. The warlike zeal of the English barons was stimulated by liberal grants of the forfeited estates of Bruce and his partisans. Feeling the infirmities of age coming upon him, Edward saw that his best chance of success was to inspire his son with something of his spirit. The Prince of Wales accordingly received a grant of Gascony, and on Whitsunday, May 22, was dubbed knight at Westminster along with over two hundred other aspirants to arms. ”

“ A parliament assembled at Westminster on 7 Jan. 1327. At Orlton's instigation the estates chose Edward, duke of Aquitaine, as their king. Bishop Stratford drew up six articles justifying Edward's deposition. But a formal resignation was thought desirable by the queen's advisers. Two efforts were made to persuade Edward to meet the parliament (Parl. Writs, II. i. 457; Lanercost p. 257) , but on his resolute refusal a committee of the bishops, barons, and judges was sent to Kenilworth. On 20 Jan. Edward, clothed in black, gave them audience. ”

“ In particular he left the impress of his policy on the land laws of England, notably by the clause De Donis of the Westminster statute of 1285, and the statute Quia Emptores of 1290. The general effect of his work was to eliminate feudalism from political life. At first he aimed at abolishing all franchises whose holders could not produce written warranty for them. This was the policy of the statute of Gloucester of 1278, but the baronial opposition was so resolute that Edward was forced to permit many immunities to remain. ”

“ INTERIOR LOOKING EAST. In 1610 he was created Prince of Wales and there were great festivities in the White Chamber of Westminster Palace, as there, in the presence of the Lords and Commons, he knelt before the king, wearing a robe of purple velvet, to receive the crown of Llewellyn. Once again he won all hearts, and the members of Parliament congratulated themselves that so worthy a prince was heir to the throne. He became more and more the idol of the people, and indeed rarely if ever since the days of Edward, the Black Prince, had a king's son been so full of promise. ”

“ During their wanderings abroad the chancellor wrote for the instruction of the young prince Edward his celebrated work De laudibus legum Angliae. On the defeat of the Lancastrian party he made his submission to Edward IV., from whom he received a general pardon dated Westminster, October 13, 1471. ”

“ Edward; for that, with the other most ancient regalia of this kingdom, was kept in the arched room in the cloisters in Westminster Abbey, till the grand rebellion; when in 1642, Harry Martin, by order of the parliament, broke open the iron chest in which it was secured, took it thence, and sold it, together with the robes, sword, and scepter of St. Edward. However after the restoration, King Charles II. had one made in imitation of it, which is that now shewn.
II. The golden orb or globe put into the King’s right hand before he is crowned ”

“ Mighty is the King and his people shall be glad."
Other parties of West African and Indian troops were driven up and cheered the bare walls of the Palace with fervour. The Duke of Connaught, and afterwards the Duke of Cambridge, visited the Indian troops at Hampton Court. On July 9th, Colonel Lord Binning and the officers and men of the Royal Horse Guards provided an entertainment for the Colonial contingents at the Albany Barracks. Entertainments for the Colonial Premiers were almost continuous. The Duke and Duchess of Westminster gave an afternoon party in their honour at Grosvenor House ”

“ Edward running the fantastic risks of a knight-errant in Burgundy, and becoming embroiled in bouts of partisan warfare in the South of France, while the Queen visited her royal relatives in Spain, and rested for some time at Bayonne, where her son Alphonso was born.
It was not till late in the following year that they returned to 58England, when both Edward and Eleanor were hallowed and crowned at Westminster amidst surroundings of the greatest magnificence, and with the promise of a fortunate reign, especially in their relationship with the King of Scotland (19th August, 1273) . ”

“ No man is to sit at his board but such as earl Rivers shall allow; and at this hour of meat it is ordered "that there shall be read before him noble stories, as behoveth a prince to understand; and that the communication at all times, in his presence, be of virtue, honour, cunning (knowledge) , wisdom, and deeds of worship, and of nothing that shall move him to vice." [32]
From this quiet, happy life the little boy was rudely awakened by his father's death. He was proclaimed King of England under the title of Edward the Fifth ”

“ And during the young prince's short life England was a prey to war without, intrigue and revolution within. The whole of Edward the Second's reign is a confused record of public and private strife. A horrible succession of famines laid waste the land. A fresh campaign against Scotland ended in a humiliating truce for thirteen years. The Queen, Prince John's mother, on pretence of concluding a treaty between her husband and her brother, King Charles the Fourth, carried off Prince Edward, a child twelve years of age, to France. There she was joined by her vile favorite Mortimer ”

“ Many a good poetic vein is buried under a trade, and never produces anything for want of improvement. We see the ways of discourse and reasoning are very different, even concerning the same matter, at court and in the university. And he that will go but from Westminster Hall to the Exchange, will find a different genius and turn in their ways of talking; and one cannot think that all whose lot fell in the city were born with different parts from those who were bred at the university or inns of court. ”

“ Upon leaving Pall Mall, Mr. Cobbett took a house in Duke Street, Westminster. His country trips were few, for his work did not at present give him opportunity to escape from town for any lengthened period. But, in 1804, the occasion of a visit to Hampshire was prolonged so far as to revive his ardent wish for a permanent rural life. Mr. Wright (who occupied apartments at a tailor’s, at No. 5, Panton Square) was getting increasingly useful to him, and their mutual confidence was now of the closest character. ”

“ Cobbett had been lecturing the electors of Westminster upon their duties. He pointed out that, with such traditions as theirs, there was less excuse for “base conduct” than in any other body of electors; yet, that the constituency was sinking to the level of a nomination-borough. Base conduct meant: clamouring against “peculators and depredators,” and then being led by the nose by men who not only “clamoured,” but pledged their word to reform, and to inquire into abuses ”