necessary that he should be there. Accordingly, after a short
time, he was arrayed again in his royal robes and insignia, and
conducted down to the hall. Here he had a ceremony to perform of
creating certain persons earls. Of course it was his counselors that
decided who the persons were that were to be thus raised to the
peerage, and they told him also exactly what he was to do and say in
the programme of the ceremony. He sat upon his throne, surrounded by
his nobles and officers of state, and did what they told him to do.
When this ceremony had been performed, the whole company sat down to
the tables which had been prepared for a banquet.

They continued their feasting and carousing to a late hour, and then
amused themselves with various boisterous games common in those days.
In the court-yard of the palace a pillar was set up, with pipes at the
sides of it, from which there were flowing continually streams of wine
of different kinds, and every body who pleased was permitted to come
and drink. A part of the amusement consisted in the pushings and
strugglings of the people to get to the faucets, and the spilling of
the wine all over their faces and clothes. The top of the pillar was
adorned with a large gilt image of an eagle.

The next day there were more processions and more celebrations, but
Richard himself was, fortunately for him, excused from taking any part
in them. In the mean time, the people who managed the government in
Richard's name heard the news that the French had learned, in some
way, the tidings of King Edward's death, and had landed in the
southern part of England, and were burning and destroying all before
them. So they made all haste to raise an army to go and repel the
invaders.

It was finally concluded, also, to appoint Richard's two uncles,
namely, John, Duke of Lancaster, and Edmund, Earl of Cambridge, as his
guardians until he should become of age. Some persons thought it was
not safe to trust Richard to the Duke of Lancaster at all, but others
thought it would be better to conciliate him by treating him with
respect, than to make him an open enemy by passing over him entirely.

Richard was considered, at this time, a very amiable and good boy, and
it was generally believed by the people of England that, with a right
and proper training, he would grow up to be a virtuous and honest man,
and they anticipated for him a long and happy reign. And yet, in a
little more than ten years after he