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LITERATURE.

an authority which silenced all opposition ; and maintaining the disputed prerogative of the pope against the united influenceof prelates and kings, with a vigour only to be paralleled bv its success. 1411. ./Wy 24. The battle of Harlow, between the GsbHc and Lowland Scottish factions, led hj the earl of Mar and Donald of the isles. This battle was, in its consequences, of the highest im- portance, since it decided the tuperiority of the more civilized regions of Scotland, over those Inhabited by the Celtic tribes, who remwned almost as savage as their forefathers the Dulriads. Another mark of the advance of civilization, observes Sir Walter Scott, was the erection of the university of St. Andrew's, which was founded and endowed about this time, under the auspices of Henry Wardlaw, archbishop of St. Andrew's, and a cardinal.

1413. It wasnottill the 14th year of the reign of Henry IV. that villians (servants or slaves) fanners and mechanics, were permitted by law to put their children to school, and long after this period they dared not to educate a son for the church without a licence from their lord.

In this reign (Henry IV.) there was only one poet, and he contributed nothing to the improve- ment of our versification and language. His real name was John Walton, though he is called Johannes Capellanus. He translated into English verse Boethius's treatise on the Conso- lation of Philosophy, a work of genius and merit, which in the middle ages was admired above every other composition.

1413, Feb. 20, Died Thomas Arundel, arch- bishop of Canterbury, he was born in 1353. At the age of 21 he wsis consecrated bishop of Ely. In 1396 he was raised to the primacy, with which be exereised the office of lord high chancellor. Richard II. banished him, for some attempts to establish a regency, on which he went to Rome. When Henry IV. ascended the throne, Arundal returned to England. He was a zealous defender of the temporalities of the church and exerted himself greatly against the Wiclifites. For the severity of his conduct a^inst those who embraced uie doctrines of Wiclif, see the various constitutions which he framed, and also Fox's Book of Martyrs.

1413, March 20. Died Henry IV. and was buried at Canterbury. It is said of this monarch that he wished all his subjects could afford them- selves a good supper once a week.

1415. The first record written in the English tongue, and by any Englishman, is in this year, being the confession of Richard Earl of Cam- bridge.

1415, June 22. John Huss, a Bohemian cler- gyman who had embraced the opinionsof Wiclif, was burnt at the stake on this day. His friend and fellow-sufferer, Jerome of Prague, followed him through the flames the following year.

While Sie abettors of Wiclif 's tenet were de-

Sressed and cruelly treated at home, that the octrines which had been advanced by him con- tributed to the diffusion of reUgious knowledge among foreign nations. Bohemia was the king-

dom where his principles were tlie most zealously and extensively adopted, and where they were productive of effects which make no inconsider- able figure in the public history of Germany. Huss and Jerome were the first who suffered m Bohemia, in the cause of religous toleratioii. They bore their sufferings with constancy, going to the stake as to a feast, and allowing no ex- pression to escape them which could indicate uneasiness of mind.

1415. In the second year of the reign of king Henry V. a parliament held at Leicester, it was enacted, " that whosoever they were that should read the scriptures in their motiier tongue, (which was then called Wicleu's learning) they should forfeit land, cattle, body, life, and goods, from their heirs for ever, and be condemned for heretics to God, enemies to the crown, and most errant traitors to the land." Besides this, it was enacted, "that neither sanctuary, nor privileged ground within the realm should hold them, though they were still permitted to thieves and murderers. And if in case they would not give over, or were after their pardon relapsed, they should suffer death in two manner of kinds ; that is, they should first be hanged for treason against the king, and then be burned for heresy against God, and yet neither of botli be committed." — State Trials.

Lewis, in his History of English Translatums, says " Because writing was dear and expensive, and copies of the whole New Testament not easy to be purchased by the generality of persons, Dr. Wiclifs portions of it were often written in small volumes. Of these we often find mention nude in the bishop's registers as prohibited books, for having and reading which, people were then de- tected and prosecuted, and burnt to death, with these little hooks hanging about their necks"

Henry V. though he is said to have been fond of reading, derives his lustre from his character as a warrior, and not from his patronage of the fine arts. Although his coronation was attended with harpers, who must have accompanied Uieir instruments with heroic rhymes, he was no great encourager of the popular minstrelsy. When, on his entrance into the city of London in triumph, after the battle of Agineourt,* children had been placed to sing verses as he passed, an edict was issued by him, commanding that, for the future, no songs should be recited in praise of the late victory. This humility perhaps was affected; and, if it was real, does not appear to have been the result of true wisdom. Brightly as the name of Henry V. shinesou otlier accounts, he was in the same disgraceful situation with that of his bthei. Indeed, the scheme he had formed with regud to the conquest of France, Itud him under • greater necessity of courting the clergy than his father had ever experienced; and iLe bishops knew how to avail uiemselves of a crisis which could be converted to the farther establishment of their own pwer, and to the sujppression of a free inquiry into the doctrines of Christianily. Secure in the protection of the crown, persecution

• The batUe of AginconTt was fought on Friday, October J5, MIS.— See Sbakapeare's play of Henry V.

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