CHAPTER 22 ENGLAND UNDER HENRY THE SIXTH

PART THE FIRST

It had been the wish of the late King, that while his infant son King Henry the Sixth, at this time only nine months old, was under age, the Duke of Gloucester should be appointed Regent. The English Parliament, however, preferred to appoint a Council of Regency, with the Duke of Bedford at its head: to be represented, in his absence only, by the Duke of Gloucester. The Parliament would seem to have been wise in this, for Gloucester soon showed himself to be ambitious and troublesome, and, in the gratification [满足] of his own personal schemes [阴谋], gave dangerous offence to the Duke of Burgundy, which was with difficulty adjusted [put into order].

As that duke declined the Regency of France, it was bestowed [授予] by the poor French King upon the Duke of Bedford. But, the French King dying within two months, the Dauphin instantly asserted his claim to the French throne, and was actually crowned under the title of Charles the Seventh. The Duke of Bedford, to be a match for him, entered into a friendly league with the Dukes of Burgundy and Brittany, and gave them his two sisters in marriage. War with France was immediately renewed, and the Perpetual Peace came to an untimely [happening too soon] end.

In the first campaign, the English, aided by this alliance, were speedily [fast] successful. As Scotland, however, had sent the French five thousand men, and might send more, or attack the North of England while England was busy with France, it was considered that it would be a good thing to offer the Scottish King, James, who had been so long im*ed, his liberty, on his paying forty thousand pounds for his board and lodging during nineteen years, and engaging [promise] to forbid his subjects from serving under the flag of France. It is pleasant to know, not only that the amiable [friendly and easy to like] captive at last regained his freedom upon these terms, but, that he married a noble English lady, with whom he had been long in love, and became an excellent King. I am afraid we have met with some Kings in this history, and shall meet with some more, who would have been very much the better, and would have left the world much happier, if they had been im*ed nineteen years too.

六级/考研单词: infant, parliament, wise, ambition, offend, assert, throne, renew, perpetual, hectic, im*, liberty, lodge, engage, prohibit, amiable, captive, noble, superb