dom.

The adherents of the House of Montford were still powerful; and the fame of the English monárch had made him the object of jealousy with the French king. The prince now demanded the daughter of the late Earl of Leicester from the French court. Philip granted his request, and Llewellyn waited in impatient expectation for his bride.

Early in 1276, attended by her brother, a clergyman, she set sail for the coast of Wales; but had the misfortune to be captured by four ships from Bristol, and was conveyed to the English court. Here she was detained in honourable attendance upon the Queen, her brother being imprisoned during many years, and released only on condition of leaving the kingdom for ever.

As

The feelings of Llewellyn may be easily imagined; he was soon in arms, descending from his mountains, and spreading terror and devastation through the English borders. He subsequently offered a large sum for the ransom of his bride; but arms and negociation alike failed to move the stern purpose of the English king. vainly the latter summoned the prince to appear, as his vassal, at the court; till, exasperated by his refusal, Edward bore down upon the devoted country with the whole strength of his military talents and resources, both of which were great. Retreating to his mountain. fastnesses, Llewellyn was surrounded on all sides, his communications were cut off, he beheld his countrymen perishing by famine; and, after many fruitless efforts, was compelled to throw himself upon the mercy of the enemy. The most harsh and humiliating terms were exacted; among the rest, that he should attend the conqueror to London, there to do homage before the assembled nobles and prelates of the land.

At the English court he again beheld the lady of his early choice, nor did she desert him even now, when the object of secret pity or contempt to other eyes. Perhaps the consciousness of possessing the love of one so truly noble enabled him to endure his sufferings with greater equanimity, and to make those concessions which no other power could have wrung from him. Before the celebration of

his marriage, he was compelled to enter into a contract to appear twice every year before the English Parliament. Edward then restored the hostages he had received, and the estates belonging to the deceased earl. As a further mark of his Royal favour, the nuptials were to be graced by the presence of the King and Queen. Yet, on the day Llewellyn was to receive the hand of a niece of Henry III, Edward ungenerously stopt the procession as they were going to mass, and required Llewellyn to enter into a covenant, never to protect any person whatsoever contrary to his pleasure. Being wholly in the king's power, and equally impelled by love and policy, he affected to submit, aware at the same time that to repel such an insult would only tend to accelerate the ruin of himself and his country. In so arbitrary an act, enforced at such a moment, we are at a loss to discover any traces of that heroic gallantry, or those courtesies towards a fallen foe, which marked the cultivated period of European chivalry. Edward's insatiable ambition, perhaps, even under the guise of lenity,—was only more securely smoothing the way to the complete possession of the principality: by the severity of his government, he subsequently drove the Welsh to desperation, and, after violating every clause of the compact, accused their prince of having broken the engagements he had signed, ever the tyrant's plea for annexing another realm to his crown.

Nor was the position of the princes and nobles, who had attended Llewellyn to the English court, more enviable than his own. The Barons of Snowdon, having done homage before Edward on Christmas-day, were quartered, with large retinues, at Islington and the adjacent villages. We are told they liked neither the wine nor the ale of London, and sufficient milk could not be procured for so numerous a train; though plentifully entertained, they were much displeased with the new manner of living, so little suited to their usual habits. They held the English bread in contempt; and their pride was greatly hurt by the perpetual staring of the Londoners, who came to see them, following in crowds to gaze at their uncom

mon garb, as if they had been barbarians from some newly-discovered land. No,' cried the indignant Britons, never again will we visit Islington; we will die in our country as freemen rather than come, as England's vassals, to be the sport of a haughty vindictive master.'

Llewellyn almost immediately after his marriage retired into Wales, where the amiable and excellent qualities of his consortwhich had done so much to soothe the irritated feelings of both parties-prevented, for a season, any fresh manifestation of asperity. An interval of repose, in fact, which lasted two years, followed their return; when the early death of the lovely and faithful Eleanora seemed to snap the only tie which held both the princes and the people in temporary amity.* The grief of Llewellyn, and the lament of his favourite bards, on this occasion, are touching in the extreme; and brief as was her abode with Llewellyn and his people, her memory was embalmed in their tears.

It was now evidently Edward's design to annex Wales to the English crown. Among other cherished traditions of the Welsh was the favourite prophecy of the re-appearance of the celebrated Arthur, destined to restore the empire of the ancient Britons. To remove a national impression so inimical to his views, Edward, with his queen, undertook a journey to Glastonbury, where the remains of that venerated hero lay inhumed.

Under the pretext of doing honour to the British king, by a new and more magnificent interment, he orderd the body to be taken out of its coffin, with that of Gweniver his queen, and to be exhibited to public view. They were then deposited near the high altar, with an inscription on the coffin announcing, that these were the bones of the deceased Arthur; that they had been viewed by the King and Queen of England, in presence of the Earl of Savoy, the Bishop of Norwich, and many others of the nobility and clergy.

* Welsh Chronicle, p. 348.-Eleanora de Montford died in giving birth to a daughter, in the year 1280.

The discontent excited by the nobles, who had attended Llewellyn into England, was increased by the stern relentless policy of Edward, and his determination to alter the institutions and customs of the country. His conduct towards their prince was of the same oppressive character. Suits at law instituted both against him and his brother David, were uniformly decided in favour of the English claimants, and they were repeatedly summoned to appear in person, at different places, in order to receive judgment. But since the death of his consort, the Welsh prince had refused to attend the personal summons of King Edward, and the following remarkable occurrence is probably connected with one or other of these vexatious proceedings, so deeply wounding to the feelings of a descendant of an ancient line of kings. Edward being at Aust Ferry on the Severn, and knowing that the Prince of Wales was on the opposite side, sent him an invitation to come over the river, that they might confer on some matters in dispute. This being declined by Llewellyn, Edward procured a boat and crossed over to the Welsh Prince, who, struck with the apparent nobleness of the action, threw himself into the water to receive him, telling the king at the same time that his humility had conquered his pride, and his wisdom triumphed over his folly.

In the year 1281, the spirit of general resistance to the English laws received a powerful accession in the Prince's brother, David, who privately withdrew from the English court. He opened the campaign by the storming of Hawarden Castle; after which the two brothers, uniting their forces, invested the castles of Flint and Rhuddlan. From their hills and vallies the Welsh rushed to join their countrymen; and, north and south, the country rose once more in arms. Fortress after fortress fell before the storm of national vengeance and despair; until at length it burst upon the English borders, ravaging the marches from end to end.

The King of England meantime was keeping his Easter at Devizes; on being acquainted with the extent of the evil, he

rose up, and, in the vehemence of his passion, swore that nothing

less than the entire subjugation of Llewellyn and his country should henceforth satisfy him. He wrote to the two archbishops requiring them to fulminate the most terrible denunciations of the church against the Welsh prince and all his adherents.

Nor was Edward supported only by the temporal and spiritual power of England. Gaston de Bern, and many foreign auxiliaries, were eager for the horfour of serving in the Welsh expedition, like Cossacks scenting blood in the rear of some Russian autocrat. Of the sense entertained of the difficulties and duration of such a war, we have ample proof in the removal of the Barons of the Exchequer and the Judges of the King's Bench, who repaired to hold their courts at Shrewsbury.

In April 1282, Edward began his march towards Chester; he encamped upon Saltney Marsh; and, about the middle of June, took the Castle of Hope. The Welsh raised the siege of Rhuddlan, retreating slowly on his approach. So well had Llewellyn taken his measures, that the enemy, powerful as he was, made no progress till the close of the year. The Archbishop of Canterbury then came into Wales, and interposing his good offices intreated Llewellyn in frequent interviews to offer an unconditional surrender. The prince in reply made a public declaration, that as the guardian of his people's safety, his conscience alone should direct his submission; nor would he consent to any compliance which might derogate from the dignity of his station. On this memorable answer being reported to Edward, he reiterated his resolution to compel the prince and his people to submit without any conditions whatsoever.

Meanwhile the Prince continued at his palace of Aber, with his army stationed on the heights of Penmaen Mawr, the strongest fortification of the entire Snowdon region, with a fortress capable of containing twenty thousand men.

The spirit of a free constitution, and an ardour for national liberty, breathes in every line of the pathetic memorials of the Welsh princes; nor can we behold, without admiration, a small and