Awakens vengeance. O imprudent Gauls, Relying on falfe hopes, thus to incenfe 161 580 The warlike English! One important day With furious inroad pierce: the mighty force 585 Such was the difpofition of Edward III., that he required but flight pretenfions to the crown of France, to profecute a claim to that monarchy. Charles le Bel, King of France, dying without iffue male, Edward claimed the crown, in right of Ifabel his mother, fifter to the late King; although the Salique law, which excludes females from any right to the crown, had never been violated in the fucceffion of the French monarchs, and Ifabel, having therefore no right herself, could convey none to her defcendants.Upon this ground, however, during the long reign of this martial Prince, war was carried on between France and England; with the moft brilliant fuccefs, on the fide of the English, that ever diftinguished the arms of any nation. 583 Fierce Brutus' offspring to the adverfe front Advance refiftlefs- -] It is mentioned by hiftorians, that the great flaughter at the battle of Crecy, was owing to the execution done by the Welch Infantry, that ferved under the Black Prince that day.- -The Welch, or ancient Britons, may be poetically defcribed as the offspring of Brutus; from the legendary tale, that Brutus, a Trojan, was the first perfon who peopled England. 584. and their deep array With furious inroad pierce —] · And with fierce enfigns PIERC'D THE DEEP ARRAY Milton, P. L. vi. 356. With many an INROAD gor'd P. L. vi. 387. -nor ftood at gaze The adverse legions, nor less hideous JOIN'D THE HORRID SHOCK Y Milton, P. L. vi. 205. The third time, with his wide-extended wings, 590 Ten thousands ignominious fall; with blood New authors of dissension spring: from him 592. Great Edward, thus aveng'd, With golden Iris his broad fhield emboss'd-] 595 Edward III., when he fet up his pretenfions to the French crown, quartered the arms of France, being three Flower-de-Luces, or Irifes. At the fame time, he adopted the motto of DIEU ET MON DROIT. -A later bard, in allufion to this circumftance of Edward's affuming the arms of France, thus defcribes that victorious monarch: Great Edward with the LILIES on his brow, From haughty Gallia torn Gray's INSTALLATION ODE. To emboss is to cover; thus Spenfer, FAERY QUEEN, B. i. C. iii. St. 24. A knight her met in mighty arms EMBOSS'D 596. New authors of diffenfion fpring: from him Two branches -] Edward III. left three fons, befides Edward the Black Prince, who all married, and had children; Lionel, Duke of Clarence, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and Edmund de Langley, Duke of York.-The Duke of Clarence left a daughter, married to Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, by whom the had a daughter, Anne; and a fon, Roger, Earl of March, who was killed in a skirmish in Ireland.--The Duke of Lancafter was father of Henry IV. and the Lancaftrian line; whose symbol was a Red Rose. -The Duke of York left a fon, the Earl of Cambridge, who married Anne, the grand-daughter of his uncle Clarence, and being beheaded by Henry V., left a fon, Richard, Duke of York, father of Edward IV., and the Houfe of York; who were diftinguished by a White Rofe.. The war between the two Rofes, as thefe contending families were called, is, at the same time, the most confused, and the moft bloody period of our English hiftory. It is finely alluded to by Mr. Gray, in his Bard, Heard Thich laft line, it may be obferved, was poffibly fuggefted by lufion of Anthony's fpeech to Ventidius, which finishes the of Dryden's ALL FOR LOVE. Come on, my foldier! Our hearts and arms are still the fame. I long Once more to meet our foes; that thou, and I, Like Time and Death, marching before our troops, AND STUDY OF REVENGE, IMMORTAL HATE, Milton, P. L. i, 106, Sons against fathers tilt the fatal lance, 605 Carelefs of duty, and their native grounds groans, Barons, and peasants, on th' embattled field, 615 We may compare Shakespear's defcription of the fame bloody period, in the concluding fpeech of his RICHARD III. England hath long been mad and fearr'd herself; Of Tudor's race -] Catherine, Queen Dowager of England, widow of Henry V., married Owen Tudor, a private gentleman of Wales; but of a family whofe pedigree genealogifts trace up to Cadwallader. By him fhe had two fons, Edmund and Jafper, who, in the 41ft of Henry VI., were declared in Parliament, uterine brothers of the King, who created Edmund Earl of Richmond, and Jafper Earl of Pembroke. The Earl of Richmond married Margaret, only daughter of John Beaufort Duke of Somerset, grandfon of John of Gaunt Duke of Lancafter by a fpurious branch, and Book II. CIDER. 165 Of Tudor's race, whom in the womb of time 620 Cadwallador forefaw! Thou, thou art he, Great Richmond Henry, that, by nuptial rites, and left by her a fon, Henry, Earl of Richmond, afterwards King Henry VII.; who first fet up his claim to the crown, as representative of the Houfe of Lancaster. 620. whom in the womb of time Cadwallador forefaw In the Hiftories of Wales, we are told, that "Cadwallador, the laft King of the Britons, defcended of the noble race of the Trojans who "first peopled this ifland, being driven by a famine to forfake his realms, "fojourned with Alan, King of Little Britain, or Brittany, in France. During his abfence, the Saxons, Angles, and Juthes arrived in Britain, "and, finding it uninhabited, took poffeffion of it. Cadwallador, hearing "of this, prepared to recover his kingdom by force of arms; but, as he was getting ready a fleet for that purpofe, he was commanded by an angel, in a vifion, to defift, for that it was God's will the Britons "fhould not reign any more in the island, until the time came that Mer"lin had foretold to Arthur; but, at that time, the Britons fhould, by "the merit of their faith, recover the fovereignty of the island." Henry VII. who was a Welchman both by defcent and birth, being the grandfon of Owen Tudor, and born at Pembroke Caftle, might be confidered as renewing the true British line; and, accordingly, the old hiftorians of our country, when they speak of this Prince's acceffion to the throne, feldom fail to mention, that in him was fulfilled the Prophecy of Cadwallador, that the British blood should once more reign in Britain. In reference to this fuppofed old British claim, Shakespear, in his Richard III., makes Richard call Richmond the Briton. Now, for I know THE BRITON RICHMOND aims 621. 622. ACT iv. Scene 2, HIC VIR, HIC EST, tibi quem promitti fæpius audis, by nuptial rites] Virg. ÆN. vi. 791. Although Henry's pretence to the crown, as reprefentative of the Houfe of Lancaster, was certainly unjustifiable, he being the offspring of a fpurious branch, yet the circumftances of the times gave confequence to fo feeble a claim; and he was confidered, by the Lancaftrian party, as the legal heir. His marriage with the Princefs Elizabeth, daughter of Edward |