During a successful campaign against these people Edward fell sick, and
died in 1307. He left orders for the Scottish war to be continued till
that restless and courageous people were subdued.

[Illustration: THE FRENCH KING ENTERS INTO A SECRET ALLIANCE WITH
BALIOL.]

Edward was called the English Justinian; yet those acts for which he is
most famous were reluctantly done because of the demands made by a
determined people.

During his reign gunpowder was discovered by Roger Bacon, whereby Guy
Fawkes was made possible. Without him England would still be a
slumbering fog-bank upon the shores of Time.

[Illustration: ROGER BACON DISCOVERS GUNPOWDER.]

Young Edward was not much of a monarch. He forgot to fight the Scots,
and soon Robert Bruce had won back the fortresses taken by the English,
and Edward II., under the influence of an attractive trifler named
Gaveston, dawdled away his days and frittered away his nights. Finally
the nobles, who disliked Gaveston, captured him and put him in Warwick
Castle, and in 1312 the royal favorite was horrified to find near him a
large pool of blood, and on a further search discovered his own head
lying in the gutter of the court. Turning sick at the gory sight, he
buried his face in his handkerchief and expired.

The nobles were forgiven afterwards by the king, who now turned his
attention to the victorious Scots.

Stirling Castle and the Fortress of Berwick alone remained to the
English, and Robert Bruce was besieging the latter.

The English, numbering one hundred thousand, at Bannockburn fought
against thirty thousand Scots. Bruce surprised the cavalry with deep
pits, and before the English could recover from this, an approaching
reinforcement for the Scotch was seen coming over the hill. This
consisted of "supes," with banners and bagpipes; and though they were
really teamsters in disguise, their hostile appearance and the
depressing music of the bagpipes so shocked the English that they did
not stop running until they reached Berwick. The king came around to
Berwick from Dunbar by steamer, thus saving his life, and obtaining
much-needed rest on board the boat.[A]

[Footnote A: Doubtless this is an error, so far as the steamer is
concerned; but the statement can do no harm, and the historian cannot be
positive in matters of this kind at all times, for the strain upon his
memory is too great. The critic, too, should not be forgotten in a work
of this kind. He must do