dom. The adherents of the House of Montford were still powerful; and the fame of the English monarch had made him the object of jealousy with the French king. The prince now demanded the daughter of the late Earl of Leicester from the French court. Philip granted his request, and Llewellyn waited in impatient expectation for his bride.

Early in 1276, attended by her brother, a clergyman, she set sail for the coast of Wales; but had the misfortune to be captured by four ships from Bristol, and was conveyed to the English court. Here she was detained in honourable attendance upon the Queen, her brother being imprisoned during many years, and released only on condition of leaving the kingdom for ever.

The feelings of Llewellyn may be easily imagined; he was soon in arms, descending from his mountains, and spreading terror and devastation through the English borders. He subsequently offered a large sum for the ransom of his bride; but arms and negociation alike failed to move the stern purpose of the English king. As vainly the latter summoned the prince to appear, as his vassal, at the court; till, exasperated by his refusal, Edward bore down upon the devoted country with the whole strength of his military talents and resources, both of which were great. Retreating to his mountain fastnesses, Llewellyn was surrounded on all sides, his communications were cut off, he beheld his countrymen perishing by famine; and, after many fruitless efforts, was compelled to throw himself upon the mercy of the enemy. The most harsh and humiliating terms were exacted; among the rest, that he should attend the conqueror to London, there to do homage before the assembled nobles and prelates of the land.

At the English court he again beheld the lady of his early choice, nor did she desert him even now, when the object of secret pity or contempt to other eyes. Perhaps the consciousness of possessing the love of one so truly noble enabled him to endure his sufferings with greater equanimity, and to make those concessions which no other power could have wrung from him. Before the celebration of

his marriage, he was compelled to enter into a contract to appear twice every year before the English Parliament. Edward then restored the hostages he had received, and the estates belonging to the deceased earl. As a further mark of his Royal favour, the nuptials were to be graced by the presence of the King and Queen. Yet, on the day Llewellyn was to receive the hand of a niece of Henry III, Edward ungenerously stopt the procession as they were going to mass, and required Llewellyn to enter into a covenant, never to protect any person whatsoever contrary to his pleasure. Being wholly in the king's power, and equally impelled by love and policy, he affected to submit, aware at the same time that to repel such an insult would only tend to accelerate the ruin of himself and his country. In so arbitrary an act, enforced at such a moment, we are at a loss to discover any traces of that heroic gallantry, or those courtesies towards a fallen foe, which marked the cultivated period of European chivalry. Edward's insatiable ambition, perhaps,-even under the guise of lenity,—was only more securely smoothing the way to the complete possession of the principality: by the severity of his government, he subsequently drove the Welsh to desperation, and, after violating every clause of the compact, accused their prince of having broken the engagements he had signed, ever the tyrant's plea for annexing another realm to his crown.

Nor was the position of the princes and nobles, who had attended Llewellyn to the English court, more enviable than his own. The Barons of Snowdon, having done homage before Edward on Christmas-day, were quartered, with large retinues, at Islington and the adjacent villages. We are told they liked neither the wine nor the ale of London, and sufficient milk could not be procured for so numerous a train; though plentifully entertained, they were much displeased with the new manner of living, so little suited to their usual habits. They held the English bread in contempt; and their pride was greatly hurt by the perpetual staring of the Londoners, who came to see them, following in crowds to gaze at their uncom