er him, he fought on foot. It was a fierce battle, and the dead lay
in heaps everywhere. The old King, stuck up in a suit of armour on a big
war-horse, which didn't mind him at all, and which carried him into all
sorts of places where he didn't want to go, got into everybody's way, and
very nearly got knocked on the head by one of his son's men. But he
managed to pipe out, 'I am Harry of Winchester!' and the Prince, who
heard him, seized his bridle, and took him out of peril. The Earl of
Leicester still fought bravely, until his best son Henry was killed, and
the bodies of his best friends choked his path; and then he fell, still
fighting, sword in hand. They mangled his body, and sent it as a present
to a noble lady--but a very unpleasant lady, I should think--who was the
wife of his worst enemy. They could not mangle his memory in the minds
of the faithful people, though. Many years afterwards, they loved him
more than ever, and regarded him as a Saint, and always spoke of him as
'Sir Simon the Righteous.'

And even though he was dead, the cause for which he had fought still
lived, and was strong, and forced itself upon the King in the very hour
of victory. Henry found himself obliged to respect the Great Charter,
however much he hated it, and to make laws similar to the laws of the
Great Earl of Leicester, and to be moderate and forgiving towards the
people at last--even towards the people of London, who had so long
opposed him. There were more risings before all this was done, but they
were set at rest by these means, and Prince Edward did his best in all
things to restore peace. One Sir Adam de Gourdon was the last
dissatisfied knight in arms; but, the Prince vanquished him in single
combat, in a wood, and nobly gave him his life, and became his friend,
instead of slaying him. Sir Adam was not ungrateful. He ever afterwards
remained devoted to his generous conqueror.

When the troubles of the Kingdom were thus calmed, Prince Edward and his
cousin Henry took the Cross, and went away to the Holy Land, with many
English Lords and Knights. Four years afterwards the King of the Romans
died, and, next year (one thousand two hundred and seventy-two), his
brother the weak King of England died. He was sixty-eight years old
then, and had reigned fifty-six years. He was as much of a King in
death, as he had ever been in life. He was the mere pale shadow of a
King at all times.

CHAPTER XVI--ENGLAND UND