sort of thing which would rouse Edward's righteous indignation. Before he could reach Scotland, Bruce had been crowned at Scone, though the ancient stone was no longer there. Edward's troops, however, were masters of the country. By his orders, the Countess of Buchan, who had placed the crown on Bruce's head, was seized and imprisoned in a cage, like a captive bird, high up on the walls of Berwick. The Scottish troops were easily routed. The Scottish leaders were sent to the block or to the gallows. In 1307 Edward set forth in person to complete his work by the destruction of Bruce himself. For good or for evil the old man's work was done. The noblest of our English kings died at Burgh-upon-Sands, near Carlisle. In England he had been a wise and firm ruler, striving to give to every man his due. His hand had been heavy upon Scotland, and by all Scotsmen he was long regarded as a bloodthirsty tyrant. Yet even in his dealings with Scotland he had meant to do well.

CHAPTER XII.

EDWARD II., 1307. EDWARD III., 1327.

1. Edward II. and Robert Bruce. There have been good kings and bad kings in our history, but Edward II. was the only one of our kings who did not even try to do in some way the work of a king. Edward II. cared for amusements and jests, and

pleasure of every kind, but he let public affairs alone. He was joking with an unworthy favourite named Piers Gaveston when he ought to have been governing England. For a time the English soldiers whom his great father had trained beld

Scotland down. Bruce fled, through adventure after adventure, from one Highland hiding-place to another. Whenever he saw a chance, he dashed out upon the English. But for a long time he was always forced to fly after a moment's success. There

G

is a story that, as he lay sleepless on his bed in utter despair of success, he watched a spider springing forward six times to attach its thread to a wall, and failing every time. The seventh time the spider succeeded. Bruce determined to try once more. This time he was at last successful. England was weakened by Edward's folly. The English nobles had risen against him, and when Englishmen were quarrelling with one another they had no time to oppose Bruce in Scotland. One fortress after another was taken, till Stirling alone of all the Scottish fortified towns remained in the keeping of an English garrison.

2. Bannockburn.-After this even Edward II. could no longer look on carelessly. In 1314 he led a mighty army to the help of the garrison in Stirling. Bruce met him at Bannockburn close by the town. Bruce was as wary as he was bold. 'Well skilled to rule the fight,' he dug pits in front of his army, placed sharp stakes upright in them, and covered them over with turf supported by sticks. The horses of the proud English knights, galloping over the ground, broke through the turf and plunged into the pits. The whole army of Edward was thrown into confusion. The Scots fought heartily for their native country. Suddenly, over the brow of a hill, a number of servants appeared, who were mistaken by the dispirited English for another army. Edward and his brilliant array of nobles and knights turned and fled. From that time forward there were many wars between England and Scotland; but Scotland never again ran any serious risk of being conquered.

3. The End of the Reign of Edward II. For some years longer Edward II. remained on the throne, doing no good to any one. Even his wife joined his enemies, and with general assent dethroned him, and made his eldest son king as Edward III. long afterwards Edward II. was brutally murdered at Berkeley Castle.

Not

4. Causes of the Hundred Years War.-In the reign of Edward III. began what is usually known as the Hundred Years War with France, because, though it did not continue for all that period without

stopping, fighting stopped very seldom, and then only for a very few years, till a hundred years were over. The beginning of the war was caused by two things. In the first place, the king of England still possessed lands in the part of France called Gascony, round Bordeaux, and the king of France coveted a country where the people talked French, though it had never been subject to any of his family before. In the second place, the French king wished to obtain power in Flanders, the western part of that country which is now known as the kingdom of Belgium. At that time it was very important to England that Flanders should not be in the power of the French king. It was full of great manufacturing towns, such as Ghent and Bruges, where wool was made into cloth, and as there was no calico made then, or cotton goods of any kind, woollen cloth was. even more wanted in the time of Edward III. than it is now. These towns, therefore, were in those days very much what Manchester and Leeds are in our time. In England there were no such places. Not only were there no great towns, but the country was very different from what it is now. There was

a much larger tract of open land without hedges, over which strayed large flocks of sheep, just as they do now in Australia; and many Englishmen lived and grew rich by shearing these sheep and sending the wool to be made into cloth in Flanders, as the Australians now send their wool to be made into cloth at Leeds, and the Americans and others send cotton to be made into calico at Manchester. Englishmen were therefore afraid lest the French