Richard II

f the Ins

. 1

embarrassmen

ions in t

us co

m a considerable body of armed men. There were also in other parts of London and vicinity many more, amounting in all to about four thousand. It was recommended by some of the king's counselors that these men should all be ordered to attack the insurgents the next morning, and kill them without mercy. It is true that there were b

very hazardous mode of proceeding, a

or if we once attempt to put them down by force, and should not be able to go through with it, we shall only make matters a great deal worse.

o attack the rioters immediately, but to wait

be very turbulent and noisy, and to threaten that they would attack the Tower itself if the ki

e-E

ted with the rio

At this place was an extended meadow, to which the people of London were accustomed to resort on gala days for parades and public amusements. The king sent out a m

e whole immense mass began to set

s attendants had gone to Mile-End, succeeded in forcing their way in through the gates, which, it seems, had not been left properly guarded, and thus gained possession of the Tower. They ransacked the various apartments, and destroyed every thing which came in their way that was at all obnoxious to them. They broke into the chamber of the Princess o

rank. These men were particularly obnoxious to the rioters, so they seized them, and without any mercy dragged them into the cou

the insurgent

hought he was exposing himself by going among such an immense number of lawless and desperate men. Some of them deserted him on the way to the place of meeting, and rode off in different directions to places of safety. The king himself, however, though so young-for he was now o

y wit

as serfs, in a bondage which exposed them to all sorts of cruelties and oppressions, since they were amenable, not to law, but wholly to the capr

cedes to th

cipation for the different counties and districts which the various parties of insurgents had come from should be immediately issued. This decision seemed to satisfy them.

f the co

with each other, and who are never satisfied to stop with the attainment of the objects originally desired. Thus, in the present instance, although a great number of the rebels were satisfied with the promises made by the king at Mile-End, and so went home, multitudes still remained. Large parties went to London to join those who had already go

on of the

rees in those times, in the Latin language, were engrossed carefully upon parchment, signed by the king, and sealed by his seal. The announcement that the secretaries were preparing these decrees, when the work had b

night in and

their shouts, sometimes of merriment and sometimes of anger, filling the air. The peaceable inhabitants passed the night in great alarm. Some of them endeavored to conciliate the good-will of the insurgents by

ext m

ed Smithfield-a space set apart as a cattle-market, at the outskirts of London, toward the north. All the leaders who had

escape from the Tower, concluded to go to Westminster to attend mass. His real motive for making this excursion was probably to show the insurgen

the insurgent

ut, instead of going back through the heart of London, as he had come, he took a circuit to the northward by a road which, as it happened, led through Smithfield, where a great body of the insurgents had assembled, as h

er pa

insurgents-for there were about twenty thousand on the field-and recommended that the king's party

that they wanted more. He thought that by a fr

do, the attention of the leaders of the insurgents had been

r adv

th him. All the rest of you are to remain here. You must not move f

n gesture with his hand, which

ers to

keep him. He is young, and we can make him do whatever we say. We will put him at the head of our company, as if he were our commander, and we were obeying his orders

he fairness o

e accounts which we have of these transactions were written by persons who hated the insurgents, and wished to present their case in the most unfavorable lig

between Walte

rse of men who were assembled in the field, and told the king that they were all under his orders, and that what he commanded them to do they would do. The king told him that if that were the case, he would do well to recommend them

ey wanted the decrees

these men, and as many more besides in the city, and we wish you to give us all th

they could, and the men might depend that those which had not yet been de

hat they had better return peaceably to their hom

a quarrel with

he king's attendants, and seeing one that he had known before, a squir

! You

tion to the king's sword, which it was his duty

horse toward the

at dagger that

he squire, d

king, "let him t

the rebel, and wished to let him

turning it over and over in his hands as he sat upon his horse. It was very richly ornamented, and Wal

f with examining the dagger,

d he, "let me

nd, moreover," he added, after pausing a moment and looking at Walter with an expression of defiance, "if you and I had

urch of St. Bartholomew, near the place

er, "I will not eat this d

mayor of London and a dozen horsemen rode

yor, "how dare you utter

d Walter, turning fiercely toward the

or the king himself was now b

last assaulte

s head with a cimeter which he had in his hand. The blow stunned him, and he fell heavily from his horse to the ground. One of the horsemen who had c

nt among

not to move from their position until Walter should make the signal; but when they saw Walter struck down from his horse, and stabbed as h

coolness o

ng's party; but Richard, who in all these transactions evinced a degree of bravery and cooln

no leader but me. I am your ki

eir ground, and seemed still bent on mischief. The king went back to his party, and asked them what they should do next. Some advised tha

us to try to make our escape, but if w

nveyed t

ought to

This cry produced universal excitement and alarm. The bands of armed men quartered in London were immediately turned out, and great numbers of volunteers too, seizing s

This it was thought that they could easily do, although the insurgents were far more numerous than they; for the king's party consisted,

rrender their ban

engers forward to remonstrate calmly with the men, and demand of them that they should give up their banners. If they would do so, the messengers said that the king would pardon

; and in this way a considerable number of the decrees were given up. The king tore them to pieces on the field,

he army which was gathering against them was increasing in strength and resolution every moment. The dispers

nterview wit

is mother. She was overjoyed

not conceive what pain and anguish

deal. But it is all over now. Now you can rejoice and thank God, for I

lts of the

and also that the condition on which they had been granted, namely, that the men should retire at once quietly to their homes, had not been complied with on their part. He found it somewhat difficult to recover them all, but he finally succeeded. He also sent commissions to all the towns and villages which had been impl

less as it had been. A considerable general improvement was the result. Indeed, such outbreaks as this against oppression are like the earthquakes of South America, which, though they c

ggles as these, that have been made from time to time by the common people of England in the course of their history, that their descend