In 1290, Queen Eleanora was the mother of nine beautiful princesses, to whose care and education she devoted a great deal of time. They occupied a retired portion of Westminster Palace, which was called in consequence, Maiden Hall. One of these princesses entered a convent, not long after the ninth one was born, and during the same year three others married. The rejoicings that attended the nuptial ceremonies were suddenly brought to a close by a dreadful calamity. It had been arranged that the little Queen Margaret of Scotland should go to England to be educated under the guidance of Queen Eleanora, but she died on the voyage. This sad event was disastrous to Scotland, and threatened the prosperity of the whole kingdom, by severing the bond that would have united it had the marriage between Margaret and Edward been consummated. [[A.D. 1291.]] As soon as the king heard of Margaret's death he started for Scotland, bidding his beloved Eleanora to follow as speedily as possible. But before he reached his destination a messenger overtook him with news of the queen's dangerous illness. She had been attacked with fever while travelling through Lincolnshire, and prevented from proceeding. Edward turned back instantly, and everything was lost sight of excepting that his dear wife was ill and suffering. Notwithstanding that he pushed forward with utmost haste, he arrived too late, for the queen was dead. King Edward's grief was so deep for a time that he was unable to attend to public affairs of {174}any description. He followed the corpse of his wife for thirteen days, stopping at every important town to have a funeral ceremony performed at the largest church where all the neighboring priests and monks assembled for the purpose. As the royal bier approached London the officers and principal citizens met it, clad in black hoods and gowns, and marched in solemn procession to Westminster Abbey. Queen Eleanora was buried at the feet of her royal father-in-law. Besides the beautiful monument in bronze for which King Edward paid an Italian artist £1700, he erected others in the shape of a cross in memory of the _chère reine_, as he called his wife, at each of the places where the funeral procession halted on the way to London. The last stopping place was the one now called Charing Cross, a perversion of the original French, which signified "dear queen's cross." Eleanora of Castile was sincerely lamented in England; for as Walsingham says of her: "To our nation, she was a living mother, the column and pillar of the whole realm. She was a godly, modest and merciful princess, who consoled the sorrow-stricken, and made those friends that were at discord." During the reign of Edward I. and Eleanora, sculpture, architecture, casting in brass and bronze, and wood-carving were encouraged, and many beautiful specimens of these branches of art appeared in England.