SUMMARY OF THE REIGN OF

HENRY III. SURNAMED OF WINCHESTER.

Born at Winchester, A. D. 1206-7. Crowned at Gloucester, October, 1216. Married Eleanor, daughter of Raymond of Provence. Had issue, Edward, who succeeded him; Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, and nominal King of Sicily; Margaret, married to Alexander III. of Scotland; Beatrice, espoused to John de Dreux, Duke of Bretagne ; and five others who died in their infancy. Henry reigned fifty-six years. Died, and was buried at Westminster, 1272.

PRINCIPAL EVENTS.

The Dauphin expelled by Pembroke, the Lord Protector. Barons conspire against the King. The first (so named) Parliament called, to which Knights and Burgesses were summoned. The King and Family made prisoners at the battle of Lewes. Prince Edward escapes. Battle of Evesham.

EMINENT PERSONS.

Richard Magnus, Edmund of Abingdon, Boniface, and Robert Kilwarby, Archbishops of Canterbury. Des Moches, Bishop of Winchester, and Lord Chancellor. Bishop of Valence, brother to the Queen. Earl of Pembroke, Protector. Montfort, Earl of Leicester, General of the Barons. Richard Clare, and Gilbert, his sons, Earls of Glocester.

COTEMPORARY SOVEREIGNS.

Popes.

Honorius III. A. D. 1216. Gregory IX. 1227. Cælestine IV. 1241. Innocent IV. 1243. Alexander IV. 1254. Urban IV. 1261. Clement IV. 1265. Gregory X. 1271.

Emperors.

Emperors.

Of the East. Theodore I. 1204. dore II. 1225. John IV. 1259.

Of the West.-Frederick II. 1211.

Kings.

John II. 1222. Theo-
Michael VIII. 1259.

Of France. Philip II. 1180. Louis VII. 1223. St. Louis IX. 1226. Philip HI. 1270.

Of Portugal.-Alphonsus II. 1212. Sancho II. 1233. Alphonsus III. 1247.

Of Denmark.-Waldemar II. 1202.

I. 1250. Christopher J. 1252.

Of Sweden. Waldemar, 1250.

Eric VI. 1240. Abel Eric VIII. 1259.

Of Scotland.-Alexander II. 1214. Alexander III. 1249.

HENRY THE THIRD.

"The sequent reign beheld the beggar'd shore
"Grim with Italian usurers, prepared

"To lend, for griping unexampled hire

"To lend, what Rome might pillage uncontroll'd SHENSTONE.

"Les hommes plus estimables sont encore hommes, et "montrent encore quelques restes des foiblesses de l'huma"nité parmi les pieges innombrables & les embarras insé"perables de la Royauté.-Tel Critique aujourd'hui impitoyablement les Rois, qui gouvernoroit demain moins "bien qu'eux, & qui feroit les memes fautés avec d'autres "infiniment plus grandes, si on lui confisit la meme puis"sance."

66

" Mercy,

FENELON.

"Is mightiest in the mightiest! it becomes

"The throned monarch better than his crown;
"It is an attribute to GOD himself,

"And earthly power doth then shew likest God's,
"When mercy seasons justice!"

SHAKESPEARE.

HowE'ER historians may our HENRY blame,
Mercy was ever blended with his name,
Nor should his foibles in our memory live,
Who knew his worst opposers to forgive;
Humane, indulgent, (haply to a fault,)
Tho' wanting energy when cares assault,

HENRY

HENRY OF WINCHESTER, an instance brings,
Of" Mercy throned in the hearts of Kings."

Eleven years, no more, the Prince had known, When PEMBROKE's aid secured him England's throne:

The gallant Regent, Lord of Lincoln fight, Asserted HENRY's, and the kingdom's right; Compell❜d French Louis to depart the land, And held 'till death, the reins with equal hand.

HUBERT de BURGH and WINCHESTER Combined,
Rule Albion, one in pow'r, but two in mind;
Each Regent disapproves the other's act,
And jarring counsels the young Prince distract:
The Prelate WINCHESTER is first displaced,
Restored, and HUBERT in his turn disgraced.
Successless war with France the state alarms,
And a new PEMBROKE* calls the land to arms;
Against the King, his rebel sword he tries,
Fortune first smiles, deserts him, and he dies;

* Son of the late Regent; he afterwards died miserably through the artifices of the Bishop of Winchester, who was himself quickly disgraced by the new Archbishop of Canterbury.

LOCKMAN.

And

Not long in quiet did the realm remain,
The flames of evil warfare rage again;
The Sov'reign, whether wisely, or misled,
Fair ELEANOR of Provence having wed,
The Barons, jealous of her former friends,
Relume the brand, which far and wide extends;
SIMON DE MONTFORT, Earl of Leicester, heads
The martial Nobles, and their army leads;
Aw'd by their active union, HENRY signs
The Oxford statutes, and his pow'r resigns
To a Conservative Commission; framed
One half by him, the rest the Barons named;
Ágain, ill reconciled, the crown and Peers
Are foes, and Civil Broil her standard rears
At LEWES; HENRY and each haughty Lord
"Refer decision to the sharpest sword."
The King, his brother, son, and nephew, ta'en,
Submit to MONTFORT, and his Barons reign;
We know not if the end what means they tried
May sanction, but it cannot be denied,

TO LEICESTER and his friends, our nation owes
The source whence all her independence flows,

The