Richard now became unpopular, and showed signs of worthlessness.  He banished his cousin Henry, and dispossessed him of his estates.  This, of course, irritated Henry, who entered England while the king was in Ireland, and his forces were soon joined by sixty thousand malecontents.

Poor Richard wandered away to Wales, where he was in constant danger of falling off, and after living on chestnuts knocked from the high trees by means of his sceptre, he returned disgusted and took up his quarters in the Tower, where he died of starvation in 1400.

Nothing can be more pathetic than the picture of a king crying for bread, yet willing to compromise on tarts.  A friendless king sitting on the hard stone floor of the Tower, after years spent on board of an elastic throne with rockers under it, would move even the hardened historian to tears. (A brief intermission is here offered for unavailing tears.)

[Illustration:  A FRIENDLESS KING SITTING ON THE HARD STONE FLOOR OF THE TOWER.]

CHAPTER XV.

MORE SANGUINARY TRIUMPHS:  ONWARD MARCH OF CIVILIZATION GRAPHICALLY DELINEATED WITH THE HISTORIAN’S USUAL COMPLETENESS.

The Plantagenet period saw the establishment of the House of Commons, and cut off the power of the king to levy taxes without the consent of Parliament.  It also exchanged the judicial rough-and-tumble on horseback for the trial by jury.  Serfdom continued, and a good horse would bring more in market than a man.

Agriculture was still in its infancy, and the farmer refused to adopt a new and attractive plough because it did not permit the ploughman to walk near enough to his team, that he might twist the tail of the patient bullock.

The costumes of the period seem odd, as we look back upon them, for the men wore pointed shoes with toes tied to the girdle, and trousers and coat each of different colors:  for instance, sometimes one sleeve was black and the other white, while the ladies wore tall hats, sometimes two feet high, and long trains.  They also carried two swords in the girdle, doubtless to protect them from the nobility.

[Illustration:  SLAVES WERE BOUGHT AND SOLD AT THE FAIRS.]

Each house of any size had a “pleasance,” and the “herberie,” or physic garden, which was the pioneer of the pie-plant bed, was connected with the monasteries.

[Illustration:  ASTROLOGY WAS THE FAVORITE STUDY OF THOSE TIMES.]

Roger Bacon was thrown into prison for having too good an education.  Scientists in those days always ran the risk of being surprised, and more than one discoverer wound up by discovering himself in jail.

Astrology was a favorite amusement, especially among the young people.

Henry IV., son of John of Gaunt, fourth son of Edward III., became king in 1399, though Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, and great-grandson of Lionel, the third son of Edward III., was the rightful heir.  This boy was detained in Windsor Castle by Henry’s orders.