Page:The Queens of England.djvu/135

 MARGUERITE OF FRANCE, SECOND QUEEN OF EDWARD THE FIRST. The disconsolate monarch, Edward the First, who passed the earlier period of his widowerhood in devising and exe- cuting the most splendid memorials of his beloved Eleanor, having left nothing undone that affection and grief could sug- gest to do honor to her memory, sunk from a state of restless and active affliction to one of the most profound and morbid melancholy. Accustomed for years to the fond companion- ship, the wise counsels, and the ready sympathy of the most faultless of wives, he pined in his lonely wretchedness ; and though actively engaged in the commencement of the war with Scotland, which, with little intermission, occupied the remain- ing years of his reign, nothing could drive from his heart the brooding sorrow that preyed upon him, until at last he turned his thoughts to a second marriage. Hearing much of the charms of Blanche, daughter of Philip le Hardi, the late, and sister of Philip le Bel, the present King of France, Edward sent ambassadors to ascertain whether the reputation she had acquired was merited, and with authority, if such were the case, to treat for her hand. The reports of her exquisite beauty being fully confirmed by those deputed to judge, Edward became so enamored of her yet unseen perfec- tions, that he entered upon the terms for the marriage with a haste and want of caution greatly out of keeping with his usual wise and thoughtful mode of proceeding. Philip le Bel, crafty and unprincipled, resolved to take ad- vantage of the anxiety of his brother-in-law elect to complete the match, and declared that before he would consent, Edward should settle the duchy of Guienne on any son he might have by Blanche, after which it was to descend to the heirs of this son, finally reverting to England in the event of a failure of issue in that line. To this the king agreed, and surrendered "3