*

sary. Still, although this pleasing story is without foundation, the excellence of a whole life, and the conjugal devotion of thirty-six years, afford a better claim to that respect in which the memory of Elinor of Castile, during more than five centuries, has been held, than a single act of transient, though devoted affection.

The recovery of Edward seems to have been slow and weary of lingering in a land where no renown was to be gained, he at length concluded a truce of ten years with the sultan ; and with Elinor, and an infant, who from the place of her birth was named Joan of Acre, set forth on his return. At Sicily, he was received with honours due to the champion of the cross, by its king; and proceeding towards Rome he was met by the cardinals, who accompanied him to the pontiff, and his subsequent journey through Italy was marked with all the honours of a triumph. On the borders of Savoy he found himself hailed, by the waiting prelates and nobles, as monarch of England; and the many tears which Edward shed, when informed of a death that placed the crown on his brow, were honourable alike to father and son. Indeed, whatever censure we may pass on the public conduct of Henry or Edward, we most willingly allow, that in the domestic relations their characters were without a stain.

Hemingford says that Elinor was told, it was better that she should weep for the pain that Edward would suffer, than that the whole nation should mourn for his death. The common story is first to be found in a Spanish historian, Roderic Santius, who did not write until two hundred years after.

A singular instance of Edward's unconquerable love for chivalric sports, was displayed during this homeward journey. The count of Chalons sent him a challenge to meet at an approaching tournament: it was in vain that Edward was urged, and even by papal authority, to decline it, since as a king he was bound to only receive the challenge of monarchs. But Edward rejected the papal counsel; and, followed by a thousand men at arms, and archers on horse and on foot, rushed to the tourney. The count of Chalons, however, met him with a double number of combatants, and the "play of lances" soon became a deadly fray. But Edward and his company bore themselves right bravely; at length he and his opponent met. Their lances shivered; and Chalons, unlike a courteous knight, who would have retired to the other end of the lists, seized a new lance, which also broke, and, enraged at his failure, threw himself upon Edward. At this moment Edward's steed bounded forward, and the count was thrown to the ground. He now cried for mercy, which Edward granted; but, indignant at his unknightly conduct, he struck him with the flat part of his sword, and compelled him to surrender to a person of inferior birth.

At length, in August 1274, Edward and Elinor arrived in England; and, on the Sunday after the Assumption, made their entrance into the city. On this occasion, the chronicler,* probably one of the

*Wikes.

spectators, dilates upon the splendour with which the city was adorned, and the gorgeous dresses of its citizens; while an anonymous writer in Leland, adds, that the London merchants showered gold and silver from their windows upon Edward, as he passed along. On the following Sunday, the coronation of Edward and Elinor took place at WestminsterRobert Kilwardby, the archbishop of Canterbury, presiding and amidst a splendid company, among whom were the queen mother, the king's brother, and his brother-in-law the duke of Brittany. The king of Scotland was also there, accompanied by a hundred knights, all mounted on noble palfreys richly trapped; and having dismounted, he displayed the extravagant liberality of turning his horse loose, with those of his knights, to be the prize of the commons. This right royal example, the writer tells us, was followed by many of the English nobles; and the extravagance of the gift may be estimated, when we find that the price of a good steed-and such these must have been-varied at this period from 20 to 30 marks (£200 to £300), exclusive of their very expensive trappings.

The coronation service was performed amid the loudest acclamations; and when the king, "fair of aspect, of lofty stature, and graceful form," stood resplendent with all the symbols of kingly rule, and his beautiful queen "shone with her most glorious crown" beside him, the exulting chronicler declares that neither tongue or pen could adequately describe the scene; and he addresses to the beautiful Elinor the verses appropriated to the service for female saints, and exclaims: "specie tuâ,

et pulchritudine tua, intende, prospere, procede, et regna."*

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One of Edward's earliest measures, as king, was to augment the dower of his beloved Elinor; the queen mother having been secured in the possession of that, which by custom seems to have belonged to the queens of England. He therefore assigned lands, to the value of £4,500; and probably with a view of raising her dower yet nearer to an equality with that of his mother, gave those strict directions which Prynne has recorded, respecting the queen's gold being collected for every fine for which it was due. From the same account, we find that she appointed Bennet of Winchester-a Jew-" to keep her gold, and dispatch her other business in the exchequer." In Edward's eighth year, a mandate to his seneschal of Aquitaine appears, directing that queen's gold should be there paid "in as ample proportion as to Joan, countess of Poictiers and Thoulouse, that Elinor, a duchess and a queen, might not be worse than the countess." These mandates seem to have produced their intended effects, for the revenue from this source appears very much increased; in one year alone, Elinor receives no less than £4,430. During the subsequent years of his reign, the affection of Edward is displayed by large additions to her dower. In his tenth year he assigns her Longwood chace, Rughey chace, and Chute forest, with the right of selling the oaks. In his eleventh year he gave her all the goods and chattels of the Jews, which had been for

feited; and in his eighteenth year, the manors of Havering, Kingston, and Cookham, with the privilege of three fairs every year at Sandwich. A strong proof of the attachment of Edward, is also afforded in a mandate in the Fœdera, addressed to the keeper of his mint, in 1286; in which, after directing that de Farendone, the king's goldsmith, should receive "six score pounds of white silver, to make a vase;” this gigantic bowl, though probably to be placed among the royal treasures, is yet specified as being "for the use of the king, and his dearest consort Elinor, queen of England." It is gratifying to find that every addition made to the dower of Elinor increased her beneficial influence. No chronicle records the exactions of the queen of Edward the First, nor the oppressions of her numerous tenantry; for that "no one was injured in her times through royal claims; nor was there any oppression, if by any means even the slightest complaint of it reached her ears," is the eulogy of Elinor of Castile.

The first years of Edward's reign were employed in reducing Wales, and incorporating it with England; but while we willingly allow the tale of his massacre of the Welch bards to be mere fiction, sufficient proofs of his cruelty, both toward the people and their native princes, may be found, to render the poet's designation, "ruthless king," most appropriate. Strange was it, that the lover of chivalry should not have paused in his sanguinary career, while standing amid the very scenes of king Arthur's prowess, and among a people by whom his