ere
regularly observed. The king conducted himself by one set of principles,
the barons by another, the commons by a third, the clergy by a fourth.
All these systems of government were opposite and incompatible: each of
them prevailed in its turn, as incidents were favorable to it: a great
prince rendered the monarchical power predominant; the weakness of a
king gave reins to the aristocracy; a superstitious age saw the clergy
triumphant; the people, for whom chiefly government was instituted, and
who chiefly deserve consideration, were the weakest of the whole. But
the commons, little obnoxious to any other order, though they sunk under
the violence of tempests, silently reared their head in more peaceable
times; and while the storm was brewing, were courted by all sides, and
thus received still some accession to their privileges, or, at worst,
some confirmation of them.

It has been an established opinion that gold coin was not struck till
this reign; but there has lately been found proof that it is as ancient
as Henry III.[*]

* See Observations on the more ancient Statutes, p. 375, 3d
edit.

CHAPTER XVII.

[Illustration: 1_237_richard2.jpg RICHARD II.]

RICHARD II.

{1377.} THE parliament which was summoned soon after the king's
accession, was both elected and assembled in tranquillity; and the great
change, from a sovereign of consummate wisdom and experience to a boy of
eleven years of age, was not immediately felt by the people. The habits
of order and obedience which the barons had been taught, during the long
reign of Edward, still influenced them; and the authority of the king's
three uncles, the dukes of Lancaster, York, and Glocester, sufficed to
repress, for a time, the turbulent spirit to which that order, in a
weak reign, was so often subject. The dangerous ambition, too, of these
princes themselves was checked, by the plain and undeniable title
of Richard, by the declaration of it made in parliament, and by the
affectionate regard which the people bore to the memory of his father,
and which was naturally transferred to the young sovereign upon the
throne. The different characters, also, of these three princes rendered
them a counterpoise to each other; and it was natural to expect, that
any dangerous designs which might be formed by one brother, would meet
with opposition from the others. Lancaster, whose age and experience,
and authority under the late king, gave him the