ess
continued. Indeed, the prince was so feeble in body, and so dejected
and desponding in mind, that he was well-nigh incapable of taking any
part in public affairs. His brother, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster,
remained for some time in Aquitaine, and was engaged in continual wars
with France, but at length he too returned to England. He was a man of
great energy of character and of great ambition, and he began to
revolve the question in his mind whether, in case his brother, the
Prince of Wales, should die, the inheritance of the kingdom of England
should fall to him, or to Richard, the son of his brother.

"My brother Edward is older than I," he said to himself, "and if he
should live till after our father the king dies, then I grant that he
should succeed to the throne. But if he dies before the king, then it
is better that I should succeed to the throne, for his son Richard is
but a child, and is wholly unfit to reign. Besides, if the oldest son
of a king is dead, it is more reasonable that the next oldest should
succeed him, rather than that the crown should go down to the children
of the one who has died."

The laws of succession were not absolutely settled in those days, so
that, in doubtful cases, it was not uncommon for the king himself, or
the Parliament, or the king and Parliament together, to select from
among different claimants, during the life-time of the king, the one
whom they wished to succeed to the crown.

All were agreed, however, in this case--the king, the Parliament, and
the people of the country--that if Edward should survive his father,
he was the rightful heir. He was a universal favorite, and people had
been long anticipating a period of great prosperity and glory for the
kingdom of England when he should be king.

In the mean time, however, his health grew worse and worse, and at
length, in 1376, he died. His death produced a great sensation.
Provision was made for a very magnificent funeral. The prince died at
Westminster, which was then a mile or two west from London, though now
London has become so extended that Westminster forms the west end of
the town. It was determined to bury the prince in the Cathedral at
Canterbury. Canterbury is in the south-eastern part of England, and
was then, as now, the residence of the archbishop, and the religious
metropolis, so to speak, of the kingdom. When the day of the funeral
arrived, an immense cavalcade and procession was formed at
Westminst