Page:The Queens of England.djvu/156

 132 THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. equally by impatience and his despotic tendency, he contrived to do that which might have appeared to have been imprac- ticable — that is, he actually succeeded in having Mortimer the murderer, the traitor, the perpetrator of every crime most meriting capital punishment doomed to death informally and unjustly. No witnesses were called for his inculpation or de- fense; in fact, no trial was allowed him; but his judges, receiv- ing as sufficient evidence against him the unbounded notoriety of his misdeeds, sentenced him to be hanged. Being thus rid of Mortimer, this gallant and gifted youth suppressed the rob- bers and marauders that infested the country to an insufferable extent. This done, he turned his energies and armies upon Scotland, espousing the cause of Baliol against David Bruce. Five years were thus consumed in ineffectual wars, during which Philippa is stated by her biographers to have been far more profitably employed. In the first instance, she was en- gaged in strengthening the throne by augmenting the dynasty. The famous Black Prince was born on the 15th of June, 1330, at Woodstock; in 1334, the Princess Elizabeth was born; in 1335, the Princess Jane; and in 1336, at Tickhill, in Yorkshire, William of Hatfield, as the child, by some strange and unex- plained reason, is designated, first saw the light. But, in addition to these services to the House of Plantagenet, Philippa was still more importantly occupied in benefiting the nation ; for to her it is asserted that we owe the establishment of our cloth manufacturers in England. Among Rymer's Fcedera is preserved a letter, dated July 3, 1331, addressed to John Kempe, of Flanders, cloth-weaver in wool; by which he is informed "that if he will come to England with the servants and apprentices of his mystery, and with his goods and chattels, and with any dyers and fullers who may be in- clined willingly to accompany him beyond the seas, and increase their mysteries in the kingdom of England, they shall have letters of protection, and assistance in their settlement." To this statement Miss Agnes Strickland adds : "Philippa occasionally visited Kempe and the rest of her colony in Nor- wich ; nor did she disdain to blend all the magnificence of chivalry with her patronage of the productive arts. Like a beneficent queen of the hive, she cherished and protected the working bees. At a period of her life which, in common char- acters, is considered girlhood, she had enriched one of the cities of the realm by her statistical wisdom. There was wisdom.