Commend your souls to God,' he said to the faithful few who were around him, 'for our bodies are the prince's.' His little army was overpowered. The earl was slain, and his body was shamefully mutilated. After a while, all further resistance was overcome. The King's authority was restored, and up to his death, in 1272, no man ventured to raise a hand against him. CHAPTER XI. (EDWARD I. 1272.) 1. The Rule of Edward I. in England.Henry's son, Edward I., was a very different man from his father. He was great enough, and wise enough, to carry out the work which Earl Simon had begun. He allowed no foreigners to thrust Englishmen out of places of authority on the soil of England. He made no promises with the intention of breaking them. He surrounded himself with the best and wisest counsellors that he could find. Wise as his counsellors were, he did not trust in them alone. He thought, as Earl Simon had thought, that what was intended for the good of all, should be submitted to the counsel of all. He did not, for a long time, summon a Parliament in which all classes of men were found; but he summoned just those men who knew anything about the KING EDWARD I. matter he wanted advice on. In this way he became a great lawgiver; because he never made a law without hearing what those people had to say, whom the law principally concerned. In his hands, England prospered as it had never done before. Edward kept the peace well; so that, in his days, the barons did not dare to oppress the freeholder and the citizen, or to resist the authority of the King. 2. The Conquest of Wales.-Edward enjoyed the sight of a people living peacefully and orderly. He fancied, that the best thing that could happen to people, who were not under his rule, would be to be brought under it. Of all the Britons who were found on the south of the Solway Firth, at the coming of Hengist and Horsa, only those of North Wales still retained their independence under their own princes; though, even there, the princes acknowledged the superiority of the English King. Edward resolved to make this superiority felt as a real authority. Two princes in succession resisted the attempt. Edward overpowered them, and united the hills round Snowdon to his English kingdom. He showed his infant son to the Welsh, and offered the child to them as their prince. From that time the eldest son of the English King has always borne the title of Prince of Wales.' 3. Edward's Interference in Scotland.Wales was a small country, and its conquest was not very hard. Later in his reign Edward attempted a more difficult task. Alexander III., King of Scotland, fell with his horse over a high cliff on the coast of Fife. He was taken up dead; and his grand-daughter, known as |