Page:The child's pictorial history of England; (IA childspictorialh00corn).pdf/117

 *stantly robbing his subjects; as, for instance, he once wanted to borrow a large sum of the citizens of London, which they would not lend him, because they knew very well he would never return it; so he took away their charter, that is, the grant which gives them the right to elect a lord mayor, and to manage the affairs of the city independently of the king; and they were obliged to give him ten times as much to get it back again, as they had refused to lend.

9. The citizens of London were very rich at this period, many of them being great merchants, and it was in this reign that the famous Whittington was Lord Mayor.

10. He had made a large fortune in the coal trade, which was then a new branch of commerce, for coals were very little used for firing till the time of Edward the Third.

11. King Richard had unjustly banished his cousin Henry, Earl of Hereford, and on the death of Henry's father, the Duke of Lancaster, had taken possession of his estates.

12. This nobleman was a grandson of Edward the Third, and was much liked by the English, who would rather have had him for their king than the unworthy sovereign they had got, although he would have had no right to the throne, even if Richard had been dead.