death, to his eldest son the Prince Edward.  To the second oath the Earl of Gloucester objected.  He was immediately joined at Oxford by his associates; and in a few days the Earl of Leicester appeared at their head.  With the royal banner displayed before them, they took Gloucester, Worcester, and Bridgenorth; ravaged without mercy the lands of the royalists, the foreigners, and the natives who refused to join their ranks, and, augmenting their numbers as they advanced, directed their march toward London.  In London the aldermen and principal citizens were devoted to the King:  the mayor and the populace openly declared for the barons.  Henry was in possession of the Tower; and Edward, after taking by force one thousand marks out of the temple, hastened to throw himself into the castle of Windsor, the most magnificent palace, if we may believe a contemporary, then existing in Europe.  The Queen attempted to follow her son by water; but the populace insulted her with the most opprobrious epithets, discharged volleys of filth into the royal barge, and prepared to sink it with large stones as it should pass beneath the bridge.  The mayor at length took her under his protection and placed her in safety in the episcopal palace near St. Paul’s.

The King of the Romans now appeared again on the scene in the quality of mediator.  The negotiation lasted three weeks:  but Henry was compelled to yield to the increasing power of his adversaries; and it was agreed that the royal castles should once more be intrusted to the custody of the barons, the foreigners be again banished, and the Provisions of Oxford be confirmed, subject to such alterations as should be deemed proper by a committee appointed for that purpose.  Henry returned to his palace at Westminster; new officers of state were selected; and the King’s concessions were notified to the conservators of the peace in the several counties.

The King now found himself sufficiently strong to take the field.  He was disappointed in an attempt to obtain possession of Dover; but nearly succeeded in surprising the Earl of Leicester, who with a small body of forces had marched from Kenilworth to Southwark.  Henry appeared on one side of the town, the Prince on the other; and the royalists had previously closed the gates of the city.  So imminent was the danger that the Earl, who had determined not to yield, advised his companions to assume the cross, and to prepare themselves for death by the offices of religion.  But the opportunity was lost by a strict adherence to the custom of the times.  A herald was sent to require him to surrender; and in the mean while the populace, acquainted with the danger of their favorite, burst open the gates and introduced him into the city.