The arrival of the king, however, soon changed the
current of the wondering multitude. Edward was now in his sixty-fourth
year, and the fiftieth of his reign. Though the decline of his life did
not correspond with the splendid and noisy scenes which had illustrated
the earlier periods of his history, yet he still manifested the same
restless and undaunted spirit, ever considered as the prevailing
attribute of his character. Towards the close of his career he had the
mortification to endure the loss of his foreign possessions, having been
baffled in every attempt to defend them. He felt, too, the decay of his
authority at home, from the inconstancy and discontents of his subjects.
Though his earlier years had been spent amid the din and tumult of war
and the business of the camp, yet was he, at this period, almost wholly
given up to pleasure and the grossest of sensual indulgences. Alice
Pierce, to whom he was immoderately attached, had gained an ascendancy
over him so dangerous that the parliament remonstrated, with a courage
and firmness worthy of a more enlightened era, and in the end he was
obliged to remove her from court.
Pages:
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205