As a specimen of the happy manner in which our author unites the utmost elegance of language, with that simplicity which adapts itself to the tenderest years, we select his story of Wat Tyler:
WAT TYLER.
Richard II. born 1366—Died 1399—Reigned 22 years.
"There are often great riots in England, which are sometimes very dangerous, for when mobs assemble nobody knows what such a great crowd of foolish ignorant people may do; but one time, about four hundred years ago, there happened the most dangerous riots that ever were known, for all the country people armed themselves with clubs, and staves, and scythes, and pitchforks, and they rose in such great numbers, that they drove away all the king's soldiers, and got possession of the city of London.
"The chief leaders of this mob were not gentlemen nor soldiers, but common peasants and tradesmen, who were called after the names of their trades, Wat Tyler, Hob Carter, and Tom Miller; and as these fellows could neither read nor write, and were poor ignorant wretches, they took a great hatred to all gentlemen, and every body who could read and write, and they put some of them to death; and the whole city was kept for several days in the greatest confusion and danger, and all quiet honest people were afraid for their lives.
"The king at this time was called Richard, not Cœur de Lion,—but another king Richard, who was called Richard the Second. He was the grandson of Edward the Third; but he was neither so wise nor so fortunate as his grandfather, who was a great king. Richard was very young, not more than seventeen years old, and it is not surprising that he hardly knew how to stop the proceedings of this riotous mob; for his soldiers were driven away, many of his ministers were put to death, and the rest of them were forced to fly.
"At last the king thought it best to go and meet the mob, and hear what they had to say. So he went with the lord mayor, and a few other lords and gentlemen, to a place called Smithfield, where the mob were encamped as if they had been an army. When Wat Tyler, who was their chief leader, saw the young king coming, he advanced to meet him, and then they began to talk and dispute together; but at length Wat Tyler was so insolent to the king, that his conduct was not to be borne; and although it was in sight of his own army, the lord mayor of London had the courage to strike him down with his mace, and then the other gentlemen put Wat Tyler immediately to death.
"The rioters seeing Wat Tyler, their leader, fall, prepared to revenge themselves on the king and his party; and the whole, even the king himself, would undoubtedly have been murdered on the spot, but that Richard, young as he was, saved them all by his own courage; for when he saw the mob so furious, instead of seeming frightened, he rode up to them alone, and said to them, in a good-humoured manner, 'What is the matter my good people? Are you angry that you have lost your leader? I am your king, and I will be your leader myself.'
"The mob was astonished and over-awed by the king's courage, and they immediately obeyed him, and followed him out into the fields; for the king was glad to get them out of the city, where they were committing all manner of mischief.
"When he had them in the fields, he had such a strong guard of his own soldiers that he was no longer afraid of the rioters. So he commanded them all to disband, and go quietly to their own houses; which accordingly they immediately did, and not a life was lost after the death of Wat Tyler, who very well deserved his fate for his rebellion against the king, and for all the mischief and murders that his rebellion had occasioned."
We rather think this story may be read with advantage at present by children of a larger growth—as we certainly did not expect that Wat Tyler would have been held up as a patriot even to a Spafields mob. We regret that we have not room for further extracts, "The Murder in the Tower," in particular, is very affectingly told. But the specimen we have already quoted will render it quite superfluous for us to say one word more in praise of this excellent little work, which we have no doubt will soon form a part of every juvenile library; and we can assure the distinguished author, from our own experience, that these stories have been as "successful in other families as they have been in his own."
