through the right that God, of his grace, hath sent me, with help of my kin and of my friends to recover it; the which realm was in point to be undone for default of governance, and undoing of good laws." This speech was followed by loud cries of "Long live Henry the Fourth!" In proof of Richard having resigned the regal authority to him, Henry produced the signet-ring of the abdicated monarch; and the assembly having unanimously admitted his rights, the Archbishop of Canterbury approached him, and led him towards the vacant throne. On reaching the steps which led to it, he knelt down for a short time in silent prayer, and was then placed in it by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, amidst the renewed acclamations of the assembly.

Shakespeare, in his tragedy of "Richard the Second," has made the dethroned monarch an actor in this memorable scene:

Boling.-Fetch hither Richard, that in common view

He may surrender; so we shall proceed
Without suspicion.

Enter King Richard.

K. Richard.-Alack, why am I sent for to a king,
Before I have shook off the regal thoughts
Wherewith I reigned? I hardly yet have learned
To insinuate, flatter, bow, and bend my knee
Give sorrow leave awhile to tutor me

To this submission.

*

Now mark me how I will undo myself:
I give this heavy weight from off my head,
And this unwieldly sceptre from my hand,
The pride of kingly sway from out my heart;
With my own tears I wash away my balm,
With mine own hands I give away my crown,
With mine own tongue deny my sacred state,
With mine own breath release all duteous oaths;
All pomp and majesty I do forswear;

My manors, rents, revenues, I forego;

My acts, decrees, and statutes, I deny!

God pardon all oaths, that are broke to me !

God keep all vows unbroke, are made to thee!

Make me that nothing have, with nothing grieved,

And thou with all pleased, that hast all achieved!
Long mayst thou live in Richard's seat to sit,
And soon lie Richard in an earthly pit!

God save King Henry, unkinged Richard says,
And send him many years of sunshine days!
What more remains?

Shakespeare correctly places the scene in Westminster Hall, but it is not the case that the abdicated monarch was a witness of the triumph of his successor.

To the ill-fated Richard the Second we are indebted for the magnificent`old hall as it now stands. Under his auspices it was greatly strengthened and beautified; the present matchless roof having been added, and the exterior coated with thick walls of stone. At its completion, in 1398, it must have presented nearly the same appearance which it wears at the present day. As an apartment, it is said to be the largest in Europe, and its massive timber roof is perhaps the finest specimen of similar scientific construction in the world.

Henry the Fourth was crowned at Westminster on the 12th of October, 1399, and the same day presided at a sumptuous banquet in the hall; the two archbishops, and several of the other prelates, sitting at the same table with him, and Dymoke, the champion, entering the hall, "mounted upon a goodly steed, barbed, with crimson housings;" the herald, who accompanied him, vociferating the usual challenge.

Henry the Fifth, the victor of Agincourt, was also crowned at Westminster, but of the subsequent feastings and ceremonies in the hall we find no particular record. In 1421, however, on the occasion of the coronation of his queen, Katherine, daughter of Charles the Sixth of France, we find the ceremony in the abbey followed by a sumptuous entertainment in Westminster Hall; the queen being seated on a throne "at the marble table at the upper end of the hall," the Archbishop of Canterbury sitting on one side of her, and the King of Scot