BOOKS AND READING
BY HILDEGARDE HAWTHORNE
Good Stories of the Fourteenth Century
The Scotch wars began under the first Edward, of whom you read in the last article,—he that was called Longshanks. He was a great man, beloved by his people,—a golden-haired, wise king, thoroughly English, a brave soldier, and a man of nobility of character and high purposes. He conquered Wales, and then started in to subdue the Scots, who were for having a king of their own, and were rather puzzled whom to choose among several claimants. Edward soon reduced the lords to submission, and Scotland seemed to be his, when Wallace, an outlaw knight, called the people to his standard, and defied the English king, A time of great struggle followed, Wallace proving a mighty captain and inspiring leader: but at the battle of Falkirk, the Scots were routed with terrible loss; a few years later, Edward beheaded the great Scotchman, and Scotland fell under English rule. Another Scot, however, who had fought with Wallace, Robert Bruce, managed to arouse the people once more, and, after years of fighting against the second Edward, he won the stirring battle of Bannockburn, making Scotland an independent kingdom and himself king.
Nothing much more romantic than these Scotch wars has occurred in history, and in two books, both a little old-fashioned but none the less mighty good reading, you can follow the story of the two heroes. The first is Jane Porter’s “The Scottish Chiefs,” whose particular hero is Wallace, and the second, Grace Aguilar’s “The Days of Bruce.” There are countless adventures and excitements in these novels, and a tender sort of love story runs through them. They give excellent pictures of the times, a real “feel” of the Scotch enthusiasm and devotion; and though they are rather long, they repay the time spent on them, For a shorter account of the same two heroes you can go to Alice S. Hoffman's “Heroes and Heroines of English History’ (Dutton), a delightful book full of breezy stories.
Two hooks of a somewhat similar kind are Laurence Gomme’s “Stories of English Kings,” and of “English Queens” (Longman’s), which are crammed with charming anecdotes and tales, from many sources, relating to the rulers of England. If you have these volumes you can turn to the particular king or queen you want to know about, and read the story of some romantic happening in his or her life,
Edward's son, Edward II, had none of his father’s virtues, and proved a bad king for England. He lasted twenty years, and was deposed by the barons, who had all hated him, and with whom he was constantly quarreling, He inherited the war with Bruce from his father, and the first half of his reign was mostly given up to it, and in “The Days of Bruce” you will sec how he narrowly escaped falling into the hands of the victorious Scots. A book by Henty, “St. George for England,” touches on the end of his reign—he was murdered in prison soon after being deposed—and takes you on into Edward III's days, when the Hundred Years’ War began with France. It is n’t much as literature, but the story is interesting and the historical picture true and accurate, The boy hero sees heaps of fighting, and meets all the important personages of the time.
Edward III had a long reign, packed full of fighting, but the hero of his successful battles was his son, the famous Black Prince. There are a number of splendid stories agout this English leader, who seemed to he invincible. W. O. Stoddard has a stirring tale called “With the Black Prince” (Appleton), that no one ought to miss, and I have had a letter from one of my young readers, Edith Pierpont Stickney, of St. Paul, telling me that another fine book is “Cressy and Poictiers,” by J. G. Edgar, in Everyman's Library. This tale follows the adventures of a page of the prince all through the French campaign, in the two wonderful battles of the title, through the siege of Calais, and back to England, to the battle of Neville’s Cross, where the prince repulsed and turned back a Scotch invasion,
Another enjoyable book that is interested in this same Black Prince is Miss Yonge’s “The Lances of Lynwood,” in which the prince’s adventures in Spain are told, and many there were. Unluckily, during the hardships of this long struggle that had neither definite result nor real success, the poor prince contracted an illness, and when he returned to his own country, he had not long to live. It was his little son, Richard II, who became king when Edward III died.
Another story of the time of Edward III that741
