Page:The Queens of England.djvu/128

iog THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. in spite of her struggles and entreaties, from the sick room. "It was better," they said, "that she should scream and cry, than that all England should mourn and lament." The surgical operation, a fact too well authenticated to leave any room for the romance of the princess sucking the poison from the wound, produced the desired effect, and not long afterwards — having signed a truce with the sultan — Edward proceeded to Sicily, where he was entertained with great magnificence by Charles of Anjou, king of that island. Here Eleanor received the news of the death of her eldest child, Prince John, whom she left, three years before, in the bloom of childish beauty. Shortly afterwards, another messenger arrived, with the tidings that the old king, Henry the Third, had breathed his last at St. Edmondsbury, and that Edward, without opposition, had been proclaimed King of England in his stead. Edward is said to have received the news of his first-born's death with great fortitude and composure ; but, on being in- formed that his father was no more, he was deeply affected. Not a little surprised at the very different manner in which he had received the intelligence of these two events, the King of Sicily asked him how it was that the death of an old man caused him so much anguish, whereas he had borne the loss of his promising child without shedding a tear. "The loss of infants," said Edward, "may be repaired by the same God that gave them ; but when a man has lost a good father, it is not in the course of nature for God to send him another." From Sicily, the king and his consort proceeded to Rome, where they were most hospitably entertained by Pope Gregory the Tenth, and from thence to Bordeaux, where they made a short stay. While at this place, they had a very narrow escape with their lives. "As the king and queen," says Daniel, "were talking together in their bed-chamber, a flash of light- ning- struck in at the window, passed by them, and killed two of their servants who were waiting upon them." From Bordeaux, Edward proceeded overland to Calais, signalizing himself at several tournaments during his progress, and on the 2d August, 1273, arrived safely with his queen at Dover. During her absence from England, Eleanor had become the mother of two children ; the one, a daughter, born in Syria, styled, from the place of her birth, Joanna of Acre ; and the other a son, who was born in the town of Maine, in France, on the 23d of November, 1272.