not--and in this respect undoubtedly the custom had become obsolete--
the struggle rested between John Baliol and Robert Bruce, of whom the
first was the son of Dervorgoyl, daughter of Margaret, eldest daughter
of David Earl of Huntingdon, brother of King William the Lion; while the
latter was the son of Isabel, the second daughter of David. Every
reader knows that the question was submitted by consent of the Scottish
nobles to Edward the First as arbitrator, and that he gave his decision
in favour of Baliol. In other words, he gave it against the existing
law both of England and Scotland, which did not recognise
representation, and according to which the son of the second sister
ought to have been preferred to the grandson of the elder.

The anxiety of our kings to bring in this law of representation is a
curious psychological fact. Richard the First tried to do it by will,
in leaving the crown to his nephew Arthur; but the law was too strong
for him, and the rightful heir succeeded--his brother John. Edward the
First contrived to abrogate the law, so far as Scotland was concerned, a
hundred years later. And eighty years after him Edward the Third tried
again to alter the English law of succession, and this time the
experiment succeeded. But its success was due mainly to two reasons--
the personal popularity of the dead Prince whose son was thus lifted
into the line of succession, while the rightful heir was extremely
unpopular; and the fact that the disinherited heir gave full consent and
assistance to the change in the law.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The knights and squires of the Earl of Cornwall's household were
gathered together on the balcony which faced the river. One only was
absent, Piers Ingham, who was occupied in a more interesting manner, as
will presently be seen. His colleague, Sir Lambert Aylmer, was holding
forth in a lively manner for the benefit of the four squires, who were
listening to him with various degrees of attention. Reginald de
Echingham could never spare much of that quality from his admirable
self, and De Chaucombe was an original thinker, who did not purchase
ready-made ideas from other people. Barkeworth invariably agreed with
the last speaker in public, but kept his private views an inscrutable
mystery; while all that could be said of Gernet's notions was that he
had "_un grand talent pour le silence_."

To this quartette Sir