Richard letters patent, authorising him to take possession of his paternal inheritance by deputy, in case the duke of Aquitane died in his absence. John of Gaunt however had no sooner expired, than Richard, abetted by his committee of parliament, revoked these letters; thus at a single stroke depriving Bolingbroke of this immense succession. About the same time, Roger Mortimer, earl of March, who had been recognised by parliament as heir to the crown, and who had for several years presided over the government of Ireland, was killed in a skirmish with the barbarous natives of that country, and Richard, irritated at the intelligence, and prompted by love for his deceased kinsman, resolved upon an expedition against his destroyers.

Henry of Bolingbroke was restrained by no such considerations as had governed the public life of his father. He saw with delight that Richard, with the flower of the military forces of England, was removed to a distance, that his governmant was every where both hated and despised, and that Mortimer, the next heir to the crown, being dead, had left only an infant family to inherit his claim. He landed in England with a very small number of followers. Being come, he protested that he did not entertain a thought injurious to the established government, and had no design in his expedition but to claim in person, since he was not permitted to do so by his representative, the extensive domains of his deceased father. Many of the English nobility resorted to him in support of this his equitable pretension, immediately on his arrival. And the whole kingdom seemed, as it were by concert, to embrace the party of the invader; the duke of York, who had been left regent, after a show of resistance joined him; and three of the king's principal advisers were put to death by summary execution. Richard, immediately on receiving the news of the invasion, returning to defend his birthright, was deserted by his followers, and taken prisoner; and, in less than three months from the landing of Henry, he was proclaimed king, and entered into undisputed possession of the functions of royalty.

The event of this revolution was not less fatal to the unhappy Richard; who survived the destruction of his kindred and partisans only a few weeks, and twelve months after the death of his illustrious uncle, having perished with hunger in the castle of Pomfret, where he was confined, and in which, sixteen years before, John of Gaunt had been obliged to take refuge from the snares which Richard had spread for his life.

WILLIAM OF WYKEHAM,

BISHOP OF WINCHESTER, CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND, FOUNDER OF NEW COLLEGE, OXFORD, AND OF THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL, AT WINCHESTER.

WYKEHAM'S MONUMENT IN WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL."

WE select this distinguished man as a fit subject to display the ascendency, power, and character, of one of many churchmen, who figured in political and ecclesiastical history, between the Conquest and the Reformation. He was one of the best of them, for he left substantial proofs of his benevolence; but he was distinguished, like the rest, for a degree of towering ambition, which rendered his merits very questionable to his cotemporaries.

William Wykeham, or de Wykeham, was born at Wykeham, in Hampshire, in 1324 to 8, in the 18th year of Edward II. His parents were persons of good reputation and character, but in mean circumstances. By the celebrated motto, " MANNERS MAKETH MAN," which he added to his arms, he designed to be understood, that a man's real worth is to be estimated, not from the outward and accidental advantages of birth, rank, and fortune, but from the endowments of his mind, and moral qualifications.

His first and great benefactor, was Nicholas Uvedale, Lord of the Manor of Wykeham, and governor of Winchester Castle, an officer of great note in those days, who, after he had given him his school education, took him into his family, and he became his secretary. He was afterwards recommended by Uvedale, to Edyngdon, bishop of Winchester, and by both, to King Edward III. The later writers of WORTHIES, No. 5.

K

Wykeham's life, have generally mentioned his removing from Winchester to Oxford, to prosecute his studies, and that he continued there nearly six years. It was just at the time when Wykeham must have been at the University of Oxford, if he had ever been there at all, that certain logical contentions, turning merely upon words, so far prevailed, as to divide the scholars into factions. The nominals listed themselves under the standard of Occham, the invincible Doctor, in opposition to the Keals, the followers of Duns Scotus, entitled the Subtle Doctor. This occasioned the revival of the old quarrels between the northern and southern society the former, for want of a better reason, it seems, joining themselves to the party of their countryman Scotus; and, consequently, the latter, out of a mere spirit of opposition, siding with Occham. The parties, in their madness, soon transgressed the bounds of Academical disputation, and came to blows; they had frequent battles, which generally ended in bloodshed.

It was, however, for abilities very different from what were commonly attained, at that time, in the university, that Wykeham was recommended to Edward III. He is said to have been brought to Court, and placed in the king's service, when he was about two or three and twenty years of age. The first office which he appears to have borne, was that of clerk of all the king's works, in his manors of Henle and Yelshamstead. On the 30th of October, 1356, he was made surveyor of the king's works, at the castle and in the park, of Windsor.

By the advice and persuasion of Wykeham, the king was induced to pull down great part of the Castle of Windsor, and to rebuild it in the magnificent manner in which it now appears; and the execution of this great work he committed entirely to him. Wykeham had likewise the sole direction of the building of Queenborough Castle, and he acquitted himself so much to the king's satisfaction in the execution of these employments, that he gained a considerable place in his master's favour, and grew daily in his affections; for, from henceforth, the king continually heaped upon him preferments both civil and ecclesiastical.

The first ecclesiastical preferment which was conferred upon him, was the rectory of Pulham, in Norfolk, by the king's presentation, dated the 30th of November, 1357. On the first of March, 1358-9, he was presented by the king, to the Prebend of Flixton, in the church of Lichfield, and on the 10th of July, 1359, he was constituted chief warden and surveyor of the king's castles, of Windsor, Leeds, Dover, and Hadlam; and of the manors of Old and New Windsor, Wichemer, and several other castles, manors, and houses. The king seems at this time to have been very intent upon carrying on his buildings at Windsor ; for we find that the next year workmen were imprest in London, and out of several counties, by writs directed to the sheriffs, who were to take