Part 25 (1/2)

~b.u.t.tery~: a storeroom where liquors and other provisions were kept.

~Baynard's Castle~ has given its name to one of the City wards.

~The Duke of Buckingham~ secured the crown for Richard III., and then being insufficiently rewarded rebelled against him, and was executed in 1483.

~George, Duke of Clarence~, brother of Edward IV., first sided with his father-in-law, the Earl of Warwick, then joined his brother in 1471.

With justice, therefore, Shakespeare called him 'false, fleeting, perjured Clarence. He was accused of treason and found dead in the Tower in 1478.

35. AMUs.e.m.e.nTS.

~Tournament~: a sham fight at which knights, mostly on horseback, used to show their skill.

~Twelfth Day~: twelve days after Christmas, formerly an occasion of great festivities, which have now nearly died out.

~Morris-dance~: a _Moorish_ dance to an accompaniment of bells and tambourines.

~cresset~: a kind of lantern formed of an open brazier filled with combustible materials.

~demilance~: a kind of horse-soldier armed with a short lance.

~mummeries~: entertainments performed by men in masks.

~Curfew~: the bell rung at eight o'clock at night as a sign to put out all lights. Ancient towns having much wood were liable to serious fires.

36. WESTMINSTER ABBEY.

~Thorney~, Isle of Thorns; _ey_ and _ea_ meaning island, as in Anglesey, Chelsea, Winchelsea.

~precinct~: the limit of the ground belonging to a church or other inst.i.tution.

~commissioner~: appointed to see that the work was carried out.

~Sir G. Gilbert Scott~, born 1811, died 1878, was the greatest modern English architect.

~took sanctuary~: fled for shelter to the abbey, whence she could not be taken without violating the privileges of the Church.

~William Caxton~ set up in 1476 the first printing press in England.

~coronation chair~: under this is the famous stone brought from Scone by Edward I., over which all the Scottish kings had been crowned since about 800 A.D.

37. THE COURT AT WESTMINSTER.

~Star Chamber Court~, in which cases were tried before some members of the Privy Council and two judges without a jury. This was established in 1487 to restore order because great lords and landowners used to frighten juries from giving true verdicts.

~bear and ragged staff~: the arms of the Earl of Warwick consisted of a bear erect and hugging a rough stake. (See pictures on pp. 111, 113.)