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have possessed in sovereignty all that which he was now only suffered to gaze upon as a vassal of his host.

He was often silent and abstracted during the fêtes, and he mused and cast his eyes around him, and sighed and said,-" Wherefore are these not mine?-Why must I bend the knee in homage, for a few poor measures of this land, when all of the fair territory which clippeth it around, doth rightfully belong to me?-Why shall I swear fealty as a vassal, when I should claim obedience as a Sovereign?

Not only did such feelings arise in Edward's breast, but in those also of almost all who had accompanied him, of whom there were none, not deeming it beneath the dignity of their Monarch, to do homage to a Prince, who ought, they said, to swear fealty to him,and who would not have sacrificed both life and fortune to have enforced the right; and this may be considered as another example of how little we can judge whether the attainment of our wishes will, or will not,

render us more happy.-Had Edward succeeded, he would, most likely, have fixed his court in France, -for who would live amid the smoke and yellow fogs of London, had he the means of enjoying the pure bright sky of Paris?-and thus England, instead of being the finest government in the world, would have dwindled down to the mere province of an empire.

But Philip, amid the sumptuousness of the entertainments, and all the courtesies with which he recieved his guest, was not unmindful wherefore he had bidden him to the feast; and at the conclusion of it, took occasion to break the matter to him.

"Cousin," he one morning said, “it much contents me to again behold you in this country, and I have endeavoured — though

sorrily I fear hath my design been executed -to welcome you with the splendor which is your due, and which may convince you of the pleasure this meeting brings me. If, in this purpose, I have failed, impute the fault not to the host, but to the land

which gives no better cheer. -Accept kind will for grand performances, and on your return to England, say-Philip had received us better, had Philip's means but equalled his good wishes."

"Truly," replied Edward, "I have to thank your Grace, not only for the kind intentions you were pleased to mention, but also for the sumptuous manner in which you have received me. "Tis now on five years agone that I accompanied my mother into France, and was then too young to take much note of it; but now, when I compare the court of England with that of France, I own the splendor of the latter makes me marvel."

"At all events then," replied Philip, smiling courteously, "I have the satisfaction of thinking that my guest is not displeased at the manner of his reception.-But," he continued, in a graver tone of voice, "let us now speak of that business which is the chief cause of my now beholding you at Amiens. -At what time would it best suit your Grace

to do homage for Acquitaine and the other lands you hold in France?"

"As your Grace saith," replied Edward, I have hither come to swear such homage as the Dukes of Acquitaine do owe unto the crown of France, and am prepared to show that act of duty; but pray your Grace will first instruct me in the nature of the oath it is expected I shall make.—There is a dispute upon that point."

"Indeed!" replied Philip, "the bruit of it hath never reached mine ears! I do remember me that when, some fifteen years agone, your Grace's good old father did acknowledge Philip's sovereignty, he kneeled, and placing his two hands between his Lord's, swore homage liege for all the lands he held."

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Then troth doth memory fail me," Edward replied, or much have I been misinformed, or badly construed what hath been related; for I have heard, or think that I have heard my father say, that when he did swear fealty unto your uncle Philip-named the Bel, it was but simple homage, and that, though

Acquitaine and Guienne, Ponthieu and Montreuil, and his other French possessions, were dependant on the crown, that yet the".

"Certes, and in truth," exclaimed Philip, angrily, "it doth surprise me much your Grace should hold in doubt the nature of that homage which the Dukes of Acquitaine have ever paid mine ancestors and this the more, because the oath the King, your Grace's father, swore, was sworn before innumerable witnesses, of whom some present now, can testify that it was liege.-Besides this, had your Grace, ere leaving England, looked into the archives of the kingdom, you would have therein found a notice of the act."

"By the rood, and so I should!-'Tis well imagined. I marvel this escaped me!"—replied Edward-aroused as it would seem by Philip's words, to a method, which had not till then occurred to him, of satisfying his doubts; but in reality, glad of being thus furnished with an excuse for delaying the homage,—" By the holy rood, and so the archives of my kingdom will instruct me.-I'll back to England, and

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