Page:The child's pictorial history of England; (IA childspictorialh00corn).pdf/103

 13. The curfew was instituted by William the Conqueror, to prevent fires, which were very frequent, when houses were in general built of wood, and thatched; so, when this bell tolled at eight o'clock, the people, for a long time after the conquest, were obliged to put out their fires and candles; but the custom of tolling the bell was continued after that of putting out fire and candle was done away with, and even to this day, in many places.

14. Edward the First took care that the magistrates should do their duty, and punished those who broke the laws, which the kings had been afraid to do in the last two reigns, because their lives would have been in danger if they had.

15. I must also tell you that this wise monarch did not alter what the Earl of Leicester had done about the parliament; but he made it a rule that the people should continue to send their members, and every freeholder of land in the counties, and, in general, all men, in the cities and burghs, who paid taxes, had a right to vote at the election of members of parliament.

16. I should be glad to have nothing to say about warfare in this reign; but the Scottish wars form so large a portion of the history of the times, that you ought to know something about them.