which had been borne both by Edward the Third and the Black Prince.

Harassed by the Irish, who assailed the vanguard and cut off stragglers, the English troops suffered great hardships and were almost in a starving condition, and were therefore compelled to move down to the coast to meet three ships which had been despatched to their succour from Dublin, laden with provisions. The third miniature3 presents a somewhat ludicrous picture of the scramble for food by the men-at-arms: Every one spent his halfpenny or penny for himself' (to quote Mr. Webb's translation) 'some in eating, others in drinking; the whole was rifled without delay. I believe there were more than a thousand men drunk on that day, seeing that the wine was of Ossey and Spain, which is a good country.'

The army then marched for Dublin, but on the route an envoy arrived from MacMorogh proposing to come to terms, and Thomas Despencer, earl of Gloucester, was detached with a sufficient force to meet him. Creton accompanied the earl, as one desirous of seeing the honour, condition, force, and power of Macmore, and in what way he would do his duty to obtain a good and confirmed peace,' and he graphically describes the approach of the Irish chieftain: Between two woods, at some distance from the sea, I beheld Macmore and a body of the Irish, more than I can number, descend the mountain. He

had a horse without housing or saddle, which was so fine and good that it had cost him, they said, four hundred cows; for there is little money in the country, wherefore their usual traffic is only with cattle. In coming down it galloped so hard that, in my opinion, I never in all my life saw hare, deer, sheep, or any other animal, I declare to you for a certainty, run with such speed as it did. In his right hand he

The Fall of Richard the Second

bore a great long dart, which he cast with much skill. Here see the appearance that he made exactly pourtrayed.'

But the meeting led to no result. MacMorogh refused to submit and went his way, and the English withdrew to Dublin. It was there that Richard had the news of Henry Bolingbroke's landing in England and of his march to Bristol, where he had executed the treasurer, William Scrope, earl of Wiltshire. Henry landed at Ravenspur at the end of June, and occupied Bristol a month later. It was reported too that the deposed archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas FitzAlan or Arundel, had also returned from exile, and was preaching and was reciting a papal bull of indulgence to arouse the people in favour of the invader. This is the subject of the fifth miniature in which the congregation, whom the prelate is addressing, is seated on the ground: a position which is not a mere conventional arrangement of the artist, but was actually taken by the lay folk at sermons, as we know from other representations.

The treacherous advice of the constable, Edward Plantagenet, earl of Rutland and duke of Aumarle, prevailed with Richard to remain in Ireland until the fleet was gathered to transport him to England with all his forces, and to send John de Montacute, earl of Salisbury, in advance, in order to oppose Henry's progress. It is significant of the slowness of Richard's party to appreciate fully the serious character of the crisis, that Salisbury, though bound on a journey of such urgency, begged Creton to accompany him 'pour rire et pour chanter,' a compliment to the Frenchman's agreeable talents from one who was himself also a poet; for Salisbury 'si faisoit balades et chançons, rondeaulx et laiz.' Thus our author and his travelling companion, the French knight, passed the sea and landed with the earl in North s Plate III, page 167.

Wales, at Conway, as represented in a naive manner in the sixth miniature."

Once landed, they learned more accurately the extent of Bolingbroke's success; and then Salisbury strained every nerve to gather the levies of North Wales and Chester in Richard's defence. But the people lost heart; the king was not present; he must be dead; and the rumour of Henry's severities alarmed them. Salisbury's camp was abandoned, and he himself had to fall back again to Conway. Richard had thrown away his opportunity. He had delayed his departure from Ireland for eighteen days; only then did his fleet sail and bring the expedition back to Milford. The leading ship bears on its sail one of Richard's badges, the sun in splendour.

Then the unfortunate king determined to steal away and join Salisbury in the north, supposing him to be holding the field. Disguised as a Friar Minor he set out accompanied by a small following, according to Creton's account consisting of his half-brother John Holland, earl of Huntingdon and duke of Exeter; his half-nephew, Thomas Holland, earl of Kent and duke of Surrey; the earl of Gloucester; Thomas Merke, bishop of Carlisle, and two other bishops; sir Stephen Scrope, William Feriby, and Janico d'Artas or Jean d'Artois, with thirteen others. Gloucester and the two bishops drop out; but the rest, faithful to the end, are supposed to take some part in the several adventures depicted in the remaining miniatures. The party rode quickly and

reached Conway in safety, learning there the miscarriage of Salisbury's attempt to raise the country. At the meeting of the king and the earl, instead of joy there was very great sorrow. Tears, lamentations, sighs, groans, and mourning quickly broke forth. Truly it was a piteous sight to behold their looks and countenance and woful meeting.'

In the eighth miniature, as also in all subsequent miniatures in which he appears, Richard is clad in a robe of vermilion with a black hood, certainly not the garb of a Friar Minor in which he is said to have disguised himself, and which would have been grey; we must attribute this discrepancy to the fancy of the artist. Salisbury stands in front of the king conversing with him; and in the group behind Richard is the bishop of Carlisle, easily recognizable here and in other miniatures by his close-fitting hood. Creton and his companion must have rejoined Richard on this occasion. Our author concludes this part of his narrative with an account of the break up of the camp at Milford at the instigation of the traitor Aumarle, and with the connivance of Sir Thomas Percy, the steward of the household; and of the pillage by the native Welsh of the English as they straggled through the country to Henry's camp, a proceeding which afforded

him much satisfaction:

Ensi perdirent tout leur pillage Anglez,
Scu que Galoiz les suirent de pres,
Comme hardiz, estourdiz, fors, et frez,
Et
gens de fait.

Certez ce fu a mon vueil trop bien fait.

Plate IV, page 169.