The Comic History of EnglandÀ Beckett, Gilbert Abbott
History
The Comic History of England
À Beckett, Gilbert Abbott
Great Britain -- History -- Humor
It was not till the year 1274 that Edward thought of returning to
England, and he sent over to order his coronation dinner on a scale that
would have done honour to a mayoral banquet. The bill of fare included
so many heads of cattle, that the shortest way to get through the
cooking would have been to light a fire under Leadenhall Market, and
roast the whole of the contents by a single operation. If such a feast
had really taken place, it was enough to put the times out of joint for
a twelvemonth afterwards. On the 2nd of August, 1274, Edward arrived at
Dover, and on the 19th of the same month he was crowned at Westminster
Abbey, with his wife, Eleanor. This was the wonderful woman who was
erroneously alleged to have sucked the poison from her husband's arm,
a feat that has had no parallel in modern times, if we except the
individual who undertook to swallow liquid lead and arsenic before a
generous British public, and who, by surviving the operation, gave great
offence to a portion of the enlightened audience. Edward, on coming to
England, found plenty of loyalty, but very little cash; and though
he had no objection to reign in the hearts of his people, he felt
the necessity of making himself also master of their pockets. A crown
without money would have been a mere tin kettle, tied to the head,
instead of the tail, of the unlucky dog who might be compelled to wear
it.
The king turned his attention to the unfortunate Jews, who seemed to be
tolerated in England as human bees, employed in collecting the sweets
of wealth only for the purpose of having it taken away from them. Edward
literally emptied them out of the kingdom, for the purpose of plundering
their hives more effectually. He allowed some of them their travelling
expenses out of England, but even this was more than they required in
many cases, for the inhabitants of the ports saved the Jews the cost of
their journey by most inhumanly drowning them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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